The inner circle, well, that’s been closed to new applicants for a long time now.
“Book me a dinner,” I tell Kieran, “for tonight. Make it for two at La Rodolfo’s at 8 o’clock.”
“May I ask who will be joining you?” he asks.
“I don’t like your chances,” I tell him.
“They may want to know,” he says.
“I’m sure my name will be sufficient to secure a reservation,” I tell him. “Now, call.”
He goes off and does his thing while I sit in my chair for a few minutes.
I’ve been spoiled by movie set trailers and lavish green rooms. It’s been a while since I’ve done an interview somewhere this low-budget. Sure, it was just a remote, but I’m finding myself frustrated they didn’t think fit to provide me with a better chair.
Oh well.
I pull out my phone and find the new number, leaning forward to check my teeth in the mirror.
“Hello?” the voice answers.
“Hey, is this Emma?” I ask.
“Yeah,” she responds. “Who’s this?”
“It’s your favorite movie star,” I tell her. All right, I’ve enjoyed fucking with her, but that one was just corny.
She sighs and says, “What do you need, Damian?”
“I was just calling to invite you out for a ‘welcome to the set’ dinner,” I tell her. “I was thinking La Rodolfo’s at 8 o’clock.”
“I’m sure they wouldn’t have anything,” she says. “They’re booked out months in advance.”
I give a slight chuckle. Not enough to come off as over-the-top conceited, but just enough to help her to the realization.
“Oh,” she says. “Famous movie star and all; right.”
“Yeah, so what do you say?” I ask. “They’ve got some of the best Italian cuisine in the city.”
“Who else is going?” she asks.
“It’d be just you and me,” I tell her.
Right about now, you might be asking yourself why I would invite a woman like Emma out to dinner.
She’s not very well-connected, and I haven’t really seen anything in her performance that would make me want to get closer to her on a professional level.
On a personal level, she’s attractive. She’s a leggy redhead, like Kandice from KNTV-LA said. She’s also pretty well-endowed, and her bright blue eyes provide a welcome contrast to her dark red hair. Yeah, she’s attractive, but so are a lot of other women, and other women would bring a lot less paparazzi.
Besides, she’s a bit judgmental for my tastes.
The real reason is my cousin’s a big fan of hers. I guess he was up late one night and caught one of her movies on cable.
Normally, that in itself wouldn’t lead me to extend a dinner invite to someone, but I do owe Nick a favor after I introduced him to Liam Neeson as “the guy who flashed Céline Dion after the Grammys.” While it’s true that Nick wasn’t at the Grammys, and I’ve never heard any reports of Céline Dion being flashed at all, Nick’s been more vocal about the whole thing than I think is really necessary.
I hate dealing with my family when I don’t have to—especially extended family. You know, I never knew I had so much extended family until I started making movies. Isn’t it funny how that works out?
I don’t like the guy nearly enough to invite him to dinner with Emma and me, but I figure I can probably get her to sign a few things without compromising my godlike, unapproachable air on the set.