Hugo rubbed his eyes hard, let out a yawn, and sat dazed at the dining table. Recently the craze of A Few Good Men had been burning hotter and hotter, and his publicity schedule had become more and more crowded. If the number of invitations from TV shows, radio shows, and magazine interviews indicated rising popularity, then Hugo felt his current popularity should be exploding. This was also the busiest period Hugo had experienced in the past year, even more exhausting than during filming, to the point where faint dark circles were already visible under his eyes.
"Move over." Charlize hurriedly walked over, patted Hugo's shoulder, signaling him to sit up straight. After Hugo drew back, she went into the kitchen. "Hugo, help me butter the bread, will you? I'm going to be late." While speaking, Charlize began to pour herself coffee.
Looking at the flustered Charlize, Hugo picked up the hard bread on the table, tore it apart, and began spreading butter inside. "Did the alarm go off too long?" This week Charlize had joined the Beverly Hills, 90210 crew, and her life immediately became busy, everything revolving around the set.
"No, I woke up, but I felt too sleepy, so I said I'd sleep five more minutes…" Charlize muttered resentfully. The five minutes between half-asleep and half-awake in the morning often lasted much longer than five minutes. "When I woke up again it was already twenty minutes later."
"You should be glad at least you did get up, and not an hour later." Hugo chuckled. He himself had not slept well for two consecutive weeks, to the point where his biological clock had adjusted. Yesterday he recorded a late-night radio show, didn't get home until two in the morning, yet still woke up at six sharp.
"I hate you." Charlize grabbed a piece of hard bread from the table and hurled it at Hugo, making him sit there chuckling. Then she lifted the freshly poured coffee and took a sip—her whole face scrunched up. "Hugo Lancaster! You brewed Kilimanjaro again!"
Recently Hugo had found a kind of coffee bean from the Kilimanjaro mountain region at Intellectuals' Coffeehouse. This coffee was a premium bean, rich in aroma, pronounced in acidity, especially after deep roasting produced a gentle bitterness, very suitable for blending. But the problem was that Hugo wasn't blending, only brewing pure Kilimanjaro coffee. That made the acidity terribly sharp; one sip sent shivers down the spine.
"Didn't you see the sugar jar, honey, and milk on the table?" Hugo wasn't fond of black coffee either. He simply liked that gentle bitterness of Kilimanjaro, and when honey was added, savoring it slowly was quite delicate. "I told you, lately I need to stay alert. Without this cup I'd probably fall asleep halfway through recording a show."
Charlize took the buttered bread from Hugo, bit into it hard, forced the coffee down, then went to the table to add honey and cream into her own cup, muttering, "But I don't have enough time!" Yet she still couldn't bring herself to dump the coffee. As Hugo said, she too needed it to stay awake; otherwise filming without energy would be disastrous.
"Late, late, late!" Alex burst out of the room in one go, as if riding the wind and fire wheels, storming straight into the kitchen. "Coffee, coffee, coffee—God, where's the coffee? And bread—oh, ****, I haven't brushed my teeth or washed my face! Breakfast, breakfast… damn, I'm going to be late!"
Alex hadn't intended to listen to any answer, just ranted at himself. Hugo saw him running around doing nothing, like a headless fly dashing about the dining room. "Coffee's in the kitchen, bread I already prepared for you." The usually busiest Hugo was instead the most relaxed today.
"Charlize, put the coffee down, go wash up first—remember, don't turn on the shower, you don't have time." Hugo looked at the two scrambling about, already used to it, because just a few days ago he too had been among those running around mindlessly. Now giving directions was simple. "Alex, you go change clothes first. Today you've got an audition?"
Alex still hadn't landed a job, but Joseph and Kal, two agents, lived upstairs. Obviously his situation had changed somewhat. Though he hadn't signed with Joseph or Kal, they still introduced him to some auditions. If successful, Alex paid a five percent commission; if not, nothing.
"Yes, yes—Burbank, Fox's TV series." Alex anxiously ran back toward his room, only to bump into Charlize who was heading into the bathroom. Yet both were already used to it—complaining with their mouths but moving smoothly, one left, one right, disappearing down the hallway.
Hugo let out a long breath, his weariness slowly dissolving in the aroma of coffee. Today he had no publicity schedule—rarely a day off. But seeing Charlize and Alex so busy gave a fresh sense of vitality, at least better than when the three of them woke up with nothing to do.
"Hugo, what should I wear? A suit, or jeans?" Alex, wearing only shorts, dashed out again, holding a black suit in his left hand and a plaid shirt with jeans in his right, asking aloud.
"Uh… what series?" Hugo rubbed his forehead, trying to get his sluggish brain to work.
"A science fiction TV series, budget of three million dollars! It's called The X-Files." Alex answered quickly.
Hugo froze for a moment. He hadn't expected the show Alex was auditioning for today to be none other than the classic The X-Files, the first true supernatural TV series in American history, creating an almost unsurpassed status. Even in 2014 it was still a topic of discussion, running nine seasons in total. If Alex could land a recurring role in this series, that would be amazing.
"Hey, Hugo!" Not getting the answer he wanted, Alex shouted again.
"What role are you auditioning for?" Hugo knew a show like The X-Files should be divided into two categories. If it was agent-type roles, basically that meant part of the regular cast, so a suit was the standard outfit; if it was case-related characters, then the types varied.
"I don't know." Alex spread his hands. "That's why I'm asking you."
"Suit." Hugo said cleanly and decisively. "With a black tie." Alex immediately tossed the jeans in his right hand toward the bed and began pulling on the suit. Hugo scratched his head. "Hey, Alex, don't you have a black backpack with an alien print? Remember to take it."
"Bang!" A muffled thud came from Alex's room. Though he didn't know what had happened, Hugo felt pain just hearing it, the sound was so loud that his face scrunched up. "I'm fine, I'm fine," Alex quickly called out. Then came rustling noises. With a black tie hanging over his shoulder, and fastening his belt with one hand, Alex walked out quickly. "What did you say? Which backpack?"
Hugo stood up, pointed at the hard bread on the table that had been buttered. "I'll find it." Hugo walked into Alex's room. He remembered Alex had stuffed all that superhero stuff into a box, placed on top of the wardrobe. Climbing onto a chair, sure enough, he found it.
Hugo dug out the black alien-print backpack he had in mind. Honestly, it was shoddy workmanship, didn't look like it had any quality, and clashed terribly with Alex's suit. Hugo wasn't even sure if it would help. Although Hugo had achieved good results lately, strictly speaking he'd only attended three auditions in total, so his experience was still lacking. But today Alex was auditioning for The X-Files. At least this backpack might get the interviewer to chat a bit more with Alex—that would already be good.
So Hugo came out carrying the backpack, waved it at Alex who was tying his tie. "Remember to take it, you can talk with the interviewer about your views on aliens." Alex lifted his chin in acknowledgment. Then Hugo shouted toward the bathroom, "Charlize, come out! You're over time!"
"Coming!" Charlize answered. About twenty seconds later, she rushed out in a fluster and headed straight for the dining room. Alex, without needing any reminder, ran straight into the bathroom.
When Charlize had changed clothes, biting on hard bread and ready to leave, Hugo stopped her. "There's still coffee stain at the corner of your mouth." Hugo pulled out two napkins, raised his hand to wipe Charlize's mouth corner, then stuffed one napkin into her hand. "After you finish the bread, remember to clean up." Then he quickly smoothed her messy hair with his fingers, waved his left hand. "Go."
At the same time, Alex had just about finished getting ready, casually grabbed the black backpack, then gulped a big mouthful of coffee—so bitter his teeth clenched—before grabbing two pieces of bread and dashing out. Hugo had no time to make sure about Alex's state, he could only call out behind him, "Remember to check the rearview mirror when you get in the car."
Joseph stepped through the front door, just in time to see Charlize and Alex rushing down the stairs one after the other. In the hallway echoed Alex's reply of "Got it." Hugo looked at Joseph and raised his voice, "Is Kal waiting downstairs?" Today Charlize and Alex were both headed to Burbank, likely Kal would give them a lift. Living here had the biggest advantage of being close to many studios, so even if late, there was still leeway.
"He's waiting downstairs." Joseph nodded, then glanced at the chaotic dining table—coffee stains everywhere, breadcrumbs scattered all over, napkins strewn about, plus a comb, a hair dryer, and one of Alex's T-shirts. The table was truly spectacular. "And you? Why are you up so early today?"
Joseph also knew Hugo had been severely lacking sleep lately, and thought he would catch up on rest.
Hugo shook his head. "Woke up when it was time." He turned back to look at the mess at home. Actually it had been like this every day recently. Whoever stayed home took care of the cleanup. Most of the time it was Alex, but today it was Hugo's turn. "By the way, let's go shopping today. A lot of things really need replacing."
"Like what?" Joseph honestly hadn't realized.
The corners of Hugo's mouth curled into a wide smile. He had been looking forward to this day for a long time.
.....
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