CHAPTER 7
Lola walked into Koi, a few minutes late for her dinner meeting with Ari Emmanuel. The usual LA excuse- traffic was a bitch. Knowing downtown LA on a Friday night she really should have thought to leave the house earlier but she had been on the phone with Justin, venting some of her nerves. He had told her about when he had been in a similar situation, the infamous Lou Pearlman/RCA vs. *N SYNC court battle. He told her how the entire group had to start over when it came to management. Each and every guy, including Justin, who had only been 18 at the time, thought that their careers would be over. The would be flash-in-the-pan, one hit wonders, forever the butt of future jokes. But in a story of triumph that would be mentioned in every interview *N SYNC would do in the future they had prevailed through the situation. And weirdly it made her feel better about her own situation. *N SYNC had gone on to have great and long careers, and Justin and JC achieved even more solo success after the *N SYNC hiatus.
But this evening was about Lola and her own personal battle. Apparently it was very hard to get a meeting with Ari but with some shameless flirting she had been able to get his assistant to squeeze in a dinner meeting. She had heard stories about Ari Emmanuel, how he was ‘the biggest douchebag in show business’ but she had also heard about how he went to bat for his clients against studios, salary demands, casting issues and artistic differences. She hoped that the latter would be true for her.
Smoothing out her high waisted brown skirt she took a deep breath and asked the hostess where Ari Emmanuel’s table was. The hostess quickly looked up and pointed to the door that lead to one of Koi’s private rooms. Koi was one of many LA hotspots and because of that they catered to the every whim of celebrities. The slight snub by the hostess was yet another small reminder of where she fell in the social order of LA.
Lola remembered when she had still been in private school and had learned about the feudal system. With the few kings and royal court members being at the top and moving down to the serfs and slaves, which were the majority of the population. It was one of the first situations of a structured class system. More than likely it had set the stage and allowed the class structure that she was currently living in to mutate and take control of the lives of those that lived in it. But in the feudal system you were stuck in the social class you were born in. Lola only hoped that the difference between now and then would be that she could move up in the chain. Lola frequently thought about her time in regular school and the small lessons she had learned that showed up in her everyday life. At the time the lessons in the classrooms and the lessons in the halls differed greatly but they both affected her way of thinking.
But when she got the job as Jordan Burke she got an on set tutor along with the other teens on the set. The playground lessons were over and the Hollywood lessons began. And the Hollywood lessons affected her more than any girl in the hallways ever could have. The backstabbing was obvious and opposed to hidden, calculated as opposed to juvenile and everywhere as opposed to scattered.
Taking another deep breath Lola knocked and turned the knob to enter the private room. Ari was talking forcefully into his cell phone, every now and then letting the F-bomb fly out of his mouth. He didn’t look up when Lola entered the room so she sat down across from him. At her place was a plate of Sesame Encrusted Lobster Tail and a glass of sake. She wrinkled her nose at the dish.
“You were late and I am on a tight schedule. The lobster here is good.” Ari had hung up the phone without saying goodbye to the person on the other line. Ari stuffed a large piece of his own Kobe Filet Minon Toban Yaki into his mouth and stared intently at Lola as he chewed. Lola in turn quietly cut into the lobster and chewed with her eyes looking right back at him. She wanted desperately to look away but she felt like she was being tested and she intended to pass. She wished he would alleviate her discomfort by telling her if he was going to manage her or not but only after both Lola and Ari had finished their dinner did Ari decide to speak up.
“If I take you on as a client, and that is a big if, you will not be doing any movies or television as a surfer. You will not go near the water, your characters will not live in a beach house, they will not be lifeguards, they will not go sailing, they will not know how to swim, shit they will not even be shown taking a bath.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking. I want-”
“This is not about what you want or your artistic aspirations. This is about blockbusters and studio films, money and numbers.”
“Okay” Lola nodded. “Really I’m willing to do whatever to get my career going again.”
“That’s what I like to hear. Now I assume because you have been out the business so long you don’t have any people,“ Lola shook her head ”Well we will have to set that up. I don’t care what you have been up to since ‘Making Waves’ went off the air. You could have joined a cult, killed chickens in a field, danced around them and let people tape it Elliot Mintz can spin it into a positive.”
“Elliot Mintz. Isn’t he Paris Hilton’s publicist? Doesn’t she keep him busy enough?” Lola smiled.
“I wouldn’t recommend him if I thought she would be in the way. He is feed up with her crazy shit. Here is his card, call him tomorrow and set up an appointment. Tell them I sent you.” Ari finished off the drink that was in front of him, “Now will I have to deal with anyone else’s managers, publicists, agents, whatever.”
“Sorry… I- I don’t understand.”
“Are you dating anyone? Anyone in the business who has people I will have to deal with?”
“Ooh… well sort of… I guess I am.” Lola picked at the fingers nervously under Ari intense stare, “Umm Justin Timberlake. But its new so I don’t know.”
“Johnny Wright, Ken Sunshine… okay I can deal with them.”
Ari reached into his briefcase, which was by his feet and handed Lola a stack of papers. “CAA contracts,” he simply said, “have these looked at by a lawyer, but you won’t find a better deal out there, stop by my office and drop it off with my assistant.” Taking out his BlackBerry he looked up his schedule, “This Wednesday at 3 is good for me. We’ll talk about some upcoming projects that you can get your feet wet with.”
“Oh that’s sounds great but Wednesday is not so good for-” Lola went to interject and tell Ari that she had plans but he simply waved her off.
“My schedule is busier than yours, you can cancel.” Ari snapped and stood up from the table. Lola followed suit and stood up, they shook hands and Ari’s cell phone rang so she let herself out.
Waiting for the valet to bring her car she thought over the night and the dinner. And she smiled.
This time she was back in the game.
:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:
Justin had called twice that morning but she couldn’t bring herself to call him back. Not yet. She had told him all about the meeting with Ari that she had three nights ago and he had been almost as excited as her. He insisted on taking her out dancing to celebrate and celebrate they did! But she couldn’t call him yet because he would inevitably ask her when her appointment with Elliot Mintz was. And since she had yet to call Elliot Mintz’s office she didn’t want to talk to Justin and have absolutely nothing to tell him.
Her cell phone sat in her lap and Elliot’s business card sat next to it. She simply had to pick up the phone, dial the number and make an appointment. But she couldn’t seem to bring herself to do it.
Picking up the business card she read it for what was probably the thousandth time since she had gotten it. Really she wasn’t exactly sure what was holding her back this much. She figured that part of her was scared because if Elliot said no he couldn’t help her then the high she had been on the past few days would be gone and she really didn’t want to lose it. But if that happened Lola was fairly certain that Justin would be able to lift her back up. She was beginning to depend on him more than she wanted to but she like she did with a lot of things she simply rolled with it.
She had had the initiative to fax the contract over to her uncle who was the partner in a law firm in New York City. He had told her that it was a pretty standard contract and she should sign it with confidence. But the next step was to call Elliot Mintz and set up an appointment and that she was having trouble with.
Getting a wave of confidence Lola picked up the cell phone, quickly dialed the number before she lost her nerve and waited for someone to pick up.
“Elliot Mintz’s Office” A cheerful gay man answered the phone. Lola was lucky enough to get an appointment that afternoon because according to Patrick, the receptionist, Paris had cancelled yet another appointment. Lola didn’t especially care how the opening had come about just that she had filled it. Now she just had to be sure that she didn’t blow it off due to nerves, which she sometimes had a tendency to do.
Her little Maltese poodle, Holly hopped up on the couch and settled her head in her master’s lap. Smiling Lola couldn’t resist scratching behind Holly’s ears and rubbing her belly a little. “Hey baby” Lola cooed and Holly looked up at her with adoration, “want your friend Justin to come over, huh baby.” Holly wagged her tail and started panting heavier than she had been before. “Would you like that baby” Lola grabbed a tennis ball from off the floor and threw it into the kitchen. While Holly ran after the ball Lola grabbed her phone and called Justin.
“Hey baby” Justin smiled into the phone. He had been recording and was on a lunch break. He would have called Lola but earlier he had called twice before and got nothing but her answering machine. He wanted to ask her about what was going on with her meeting with Elliot Mintz. The night she got the contract from Ari they had gone out to Hyde to celebrate. The two of them danced, drank, smoked a little in the VIP lounge and Lola had let him feel her up in the corner. All in all he counted the night as a success.
“Hey I just wanted to tell you I got a meeting with Elliot Mintz at 2:30 this afternoon.”
“So soon? That’s great!” Justin smiled.
“Yea apparently Paris Hilton cancelled her meeting with him so he was free” Lola admitted. “What are you doing?”
“Recording” Justin said simply. He was in the studio with Timberland playing around trying to get new ideas for an album. So far no inspiration was coming. His last album he had had inspiration coming out his ass due. Which at the time had been a good thing but looking back it let too many people into his life and allowed them to analyze his music and his private life.
“Oh I’m sorry I didn’t mean to call and interrupt. Call me when your done.”
“Nah girl I’m on a lunch break. You’re good.” Justin smiled. His past girlfriends had called whenever they wanted without apology. As bad as it sounded and as much as he really did want to he couldn’t always drop everything to bullshit on the phone with his girl, he was busy and other people depended on him focusing on the task at hand. Not only did Lola understand but she wasn’t even slightly bothered by it. “What are you doing till your meeting?” He asked, taking a large bit out of the sandwich Rachel had ordered for him form a deli down the street.
“I’m not sure, I might just hang around my house.”
“Why don’t you come down to the studio.”
“Oh aren’t you working with Timberland today. I don’t want to be in the way.”
“You wouldn’t be in the way. Come spend time with your man!”
Lola giggled into the phone, “Okay, okay” she said, smiling. “I’ll be there soon. Do you guys want anything, food, coffee or whatever.”
“Nah Rachel got us some lunch. Bye babe, see you soon” Justin hung up the phone, smiling to himself.
Timberland looked over at him, “You look like a goofy motherfucker man. Smiling like that.”
“Fuck you man. Do your damn job.” Justin laughed and gestured to the sound board that Timb sat in front of. Justin watched as Timb slid the headphones on his head and listened to the playback of the song just had just laid down.
Just then his cell phone rang, “Hello” he answered without looking at the screen to see who it was. He usually didn’t need to because he customized peoples ringtones, if ‘Everytime We Touch’ (her pick) played he knew it was Lola calling him, “Hey I’m in the lot. What studio are you in?” Lola asked.
“Hey we’re in studio 3”
“Okay see you in a few.” Justin hung up.
“Is Lola coming?” Rachel looked up from her book and asked. Rachel and Lola had only met a few times but both girls seemed to like one another, even if they were a little reserved.
“Yea she is in the lot, she should be here any minute.”
“Good I need some estrogen in here,” she said looking from Justin to Timb to a sleeping Trace, Mike and Eric, Justin’s two bodyguards.
They sat in silence for a moment before Lola came in arms laden down with a tray of coffees, her clutch purse, and her cell phone in between her ear and shoulder. Setting the coffee tray on the end table next to the couch she threw herself down next to Justin, pecking him on the lips.
“Hi. I have to cancel my appointment with Dr. Lupinacci. Lola Dean. L-O-L-A D-E-A-N. It is Wednesday at 2:30. Yes, I realize that the wait will be very long wait for a new appointment. Okay yes that sounds good. Thank you.” Lola hung up the phone and sighed, resting her head on Justin’s shoulder. “Hi baby” she sighed before gesturing to the coffees. “I brought coffee for everyone, I didn’t know your guards would be here though. Rachel you like the Italian blend right?” Lola raised her eyebrows questioningly at Rachel.
“Yea I do.”
Getting up and grabbing one of the coffees she handed it to Rachel “Then this one is for you.” Lola went to go sit back next to Justin
“I don’t think so” Justin said and pulled her into his lap. Lola giggled and planted a kiss on his cheek.
“Oh shit. I was so into the beat I didn’t notice the presence of such a beautiful lady.” Timb put the headphones down and stood to greet Lola. “That’s how you know it’s a good beat,” he said to Justin.
“Hi I’m Lola Dean” Lola put her hand out to shake Timbs hand, but he surprised her by bending down and kissing her hand.
“I know who you are beautiful. Look at you… you’re bringing sexy back. Good for you.” Lola laughed and smiled goofily at Justin.
“Why aren’t you this charming J?” she laughed, sticking out her tongue at him.
“Please this man is a player. You do not want me to be that charming.” Justin laughed,
“Are we getting back to work?” He asked Timb.
“Yea man, we’ll get you outta here early so you can spend the night with your girl.” Timb smiled at Lola and took his seat back at the soundboard.
Justin headed into the booth and put the headphones over his ears. For the next few hours Justin went through some of the songs that may be featured on the new album. He had a lot of songs left over from recording Justified that hadn’t made it onto the album for one reason or another. Being in the early stages of recording a new album he wasn’t sure if he wanted to make a repeat album though.
While he sang he watched Lola through the mirror as she talked to Rachel and, when he woke up, Trace. Watching her interact with his friends and family made Justin involuntarily smile and he knew he was ready for the next step in their relationship.
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