Chapter 20
Hi, all. Here is the next chapter. Before you begin reading, I need to review some points and ask for your help.
First, DaoistsMthQw, I will definitely have him cover Marvel. I am not sure if I will have him by the rights or work on it, but I will cover it somehow.
Ser_Lanciscazzo: I like that idea and will go with it. I am going to name his daughter after the real Caesar's only daughter and his son after his chosen heir.
Now for the help I need. In The Strangers, the female actors are Tiffani Thiessen as Dollface, Elizabeth Berkley as Kristen McKay, and Alyson Hannigan as Pin-Up Girl. That is set, but I have no idea about the male actors. Any recommendations?
Now, on with the story.
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"Would you consider your father a good dad?" Kelly Clarkson asks the young woman and man sitting across from her.
The young woman is Julia Danny Pinault, the daughter of legendary film actress Salma Hayek and Caesar Espinar. The young man is her older brother, Augustus David Espinar, who is the son of Tiffani Thiessen. At just 22 years old, both siblings are making their mark in the entertainment industry.
Laughing with her brother at the question, Julia replies, "Wow, that is quite a question, isn't it?"
"Well, I mean, come on, we've all seen the home videos," Kelly responds, and a video appears on the screen behind them, showing the siblings as children taking a dance class with their father.
"Oh god, my dad in tights! Please, someone, just kill me," Julia says, covering her face in embarrassment as the women in the audience wolf-whistle at the sight.
"You play dirty, Kelly," Augustus replies with a smile on his face.
"Hey, I know your father, so I kind of had to," Kelly defends herself.
They both laugh at this. Having been teased by their parents and peers frequently, they had become accustomed to it at this point in their lives.
"But really, tell us—was he a good father?" Kelly asks again.
Brother and sister glanced at each other, and after a moment, Augustus said, "Well, I mean, your evidence is right there. I think this was a ballet class our moms made us take when we were, what, 10, sis?"
"Yeah, I think we were 10 at the time," Julia replied, leaning forward to examine the video more closely.
"So you both took ballet when you were younger?" Kelly asked.
"Oh, we took all types of classes as kids—ballet, tap, martial arts, gun safety, languages. Basically, anything and everything our parents thought we should try or that we showed an interest in," Augustus explained.
"Really? So you both are skilled in a lot of different things?" Kelly inquired.
"Yes, and so is our dad, who was almost always there with us. You've heard the saying that you can't have a harder coach than your father, right? That describes our dad perfectly," Julia said with a smile.
"So, he was always there for both of you despite your families' situation," Kelly says, trying not to step on a landmine.
"You mean how both of us were born in the same year to two different mothers?" Julia replies bluntly but with good humor, making Kelly and the audience laugh at her easygoing nature.
"Well, now that you mention it, yes," Kelly answers.
It takes a moment for either of them to respond to this question, considering it has always been a sensitive topic for both Julia and Augustus, as well as their siblings—at least for those old enough to understand how unusual it is. However, given their background and the lifestyle they grew up in, both of them know how to handle this question.
"Ah, you know, I understand how most people perceive my father's personal life now. We no longer live in a time when a man with multiple children from multiple women is held in high regard. In fact, many would label him as reckless and irresponsible in his personal life, which, to be honest, he is. However, here's the thing: our father, as you mentioned, was always present for us. Despite his relationships not working out as he or our mothers had hoped, he was there through it all. If we had a dance recital or a play, he would be there. And if he couldn't make it, someone would record it so he could watch it later," Augustus explains.
"Okay, but come on, Augustus, that's not the same as him actually being here, right?" Kelly replies.
"No, but you have to consider it from his perspective. As children, we always wanted our father to be present for us—at our birthdays, game days, dances, and so on. However, that wasn't realistic. By the time we were six, we already had two younger siblings. Our father was, at that point, the most famous screenwriter and director in the world. There was no way he could be there all the time, even if he had been married to only one of our mothers," Augustus replied.
"Still, that must have been difficult for both of you," Kelly said.
"It was, but looking back now, I can honestly say, and I believe Augustus would agree with me, that I can't really remember a time when he wasn't there when it truly mattered," Julia added.
"Can you give us an example?" Kelly asked.
Both took a moment to answer the question, smiling as they recalled a perfect example.
"One time, just to make it to a playoff game for my little league team, my dad walked off the set of a $100 million motion picture. It cost millions of dollars in delays and nearly led to the studio he was working for suing him. But he didn't care. He wanted to be there for a game I didn't even get to play in, by the way, because it mattered to me. Just so you know, I wasn't very good at baseball," Augustus said with a smile.
The audience erupted into wild applause, and Kelly looked at him in disbelief. "Wow, that's incredible! Really?"
Augustus nodded, a smile on his face as he remembered that day. Yes, he didn't get to play, but his dad was there in the stands, watching alongside all the other dads. It was an unforgettable moment in his life.
"What about you, Julia?" Kelly asks.
After thinking for a moment, Julia replies, "Well, my dad once spent $100,000 to produce one of my high school plays that he was asked to direct."
"Wait, what? Are you serious?" Kelly responds, clearly shocked.
Nodding her head, Julia confirms, "Yes."
"Hey, don't forget to share everything," Augustus interjects, laughing for some reason.
Opening her eyes wide, Julia adds, "Oh, right! My dad also passed me over for the leading role during auditions, giving it to one of my classmates instead. He said my acting was too underwhelming for the role of Juliet. I think he just didn't want to see me kiss a boy in front of him."
The entire audience bursts into laughter. Given Caesar's reputation, they could easily imagine him behaving that way, even towards his own child.
"No, no, your acting was really that bad back then, sister," Augustus teases, earning himself a playful slap on the shoulder. This only makes the audience laugh even harder.
-1998-
I can't see into the future, but I don't need to in order to predict how things will turn out. The momentum generated by Titanic was simply too strong for any biographical musical to overcome. No matter what we did, it just wasn't going to surpass Titanic at the box office. Even though I experienced being stabbed and Jennifer had a hit song, it wasn't enough to make a significant difference. Not that Selena didn't perform well.
On January 19, 1998, Selena was released nationwide to rave reviews. Some were even calling it the best biographical film since Schindler's List, which I felt was a bit of an exaggeration. Nonetheless, the audience loved it, as shown by its $20 million opening week, only about $10 million less than Titanic. It was an impressive start, all things considered. However, it didn't have Titanic's staying power, as evidenced by the slight dip in its second week, when it earned only $19 million. It was clear that it would soon lose momentum. Current projections suggest total earnings will be either just below or just above $100 million, which would mark it as my first script to fail to gross $100 million if it didn't make it past the mark.
That wasn't a curtain, however, and with Jennifer's debut album about to be released, WB was hopeful that it would boost ticket sales for the movie. I was confident it would, especially since I already knew the album would reach number one. I had some doubts, considering it was being released a full year earlier than originally scheduled. However, thanks to Q-Productions for allowing Jennifer to cover Salena's biggest hit, "Como la Flor," which had reached the number three spot on the pop charts and the number one spot on the Tejano music charts. There is little doubt that 'On the 6' will also be number one.
There was some pushback from the media, as accusations of profiting from Selena's death began to surface. It didn't matter that we had the family's permission to make the movie; what counted was that it made for a good story. Some even went so far as to accuse Abraham of exploiting his daughter's name for financial gain. However, being the professional he was, Abraham was ready for these criticisms. He released records showing that all the profits his family received from the movie had been donated to several charities, including D.A.R.E. and Toys for Tots. This effectively shut down the dissent.
It was already public knowledge that I had donated my writer's fee from the start. Although my original intent was to waive it entirely, my agent insisted I take a small fee of $25,000, which I subsequently donated to Feeding America. Jennifer joined me by donating half of her salary to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. In fact, most of the cast chose to donate to charity after learning about our contributions. This caught the media off guard, as it was too late for them to retract the negative things they had been saying about us. Plus, our charitable actions likely helped boost ticket sales in that first week.
Despite all the good news I was hearing, it didn't matter to me as I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling and wondering when the call would come. The call that would bring news of Tiff or Salma going into labor was all I could think about lately. I couldn't focus on my upcoming projects, my chance to direct a TV show, or even a movie in the future. Nothing mattered to me right now. Not even the alluring figure of Jennifer beside me, dressed only in a thong and tank top, could distract me from the impending birth of my children.
Even now, as she lay on top of me, I didn't think of her as my girlfriend, nor did I believe she saw me as her boyfriend. Yes, we were having sex and occasionally sleeping together, but that was the extent of our relationship. If anything, we were both bored and had our own needs. Neither of us was willing to risk the media discovering that our relationship was fake or that one of us was cheating on the other. So, we did the only logical thing we could: we started having sex with each other like an actual couple. However, any feelings beyond sexual attraction and desire simply weren't there. At least, that's what I thought. I had no clue how Jennifer felt about it, but I didn't ask either.
As she shifted slightly to bring her face closer to mine, our eyes met, and she smirked at me. I asked, "What?"
Shaking her head, Jennifer replied, "Nothing, just... I've never seen you like this before."
Narrowing my eyes, I questioned, "Like what?"
"Nervous," she said softly.
"Do I look nervous?" I asked her.
Again, shaking her head, Jennifer responded, "Not so much in your appearance. It's more about the feeling you're giving off."
"Hmmm," was all I said in reply.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Jennifer asked.
Honestly, she wasn't quite sure why she was here. Well, she knew why—she was feeling horny and wanted to be intimate. With both her and Caesar in the same city for the time being, and him more than willing and able to satisfy her desires, it seemed only natural that she would visit his place for what was likely to be a quick, yet not-so-quick, encounter. He truly had an impressive amount of stamina, which explained how he managed to get both Tiff and Salma pregnant at the same time.
That said, things were beginning to head down a path she wasn't ready to take again. She didn't love him—not yet, at least—but there was something about him. It was likely the same quality that had drawn Tiff and Salma to him. He possessed that elusive charm that some people have. While some called it natural charisma, Jennifer dismissed it as nonsense. It took much more than charisma to achieve all he had in such a short period. Still, she couldn't deny that there was something about him that made her want to be intimate with him.
I paused for a moment, then voiced my thoughts, "I never thought I would be a father. Honestly, I don't even know what that word means."
What could possibly be said about a situation like that? By this point, everyone knew he didn't have a family. However, some in the media tried to disprove the notion that he had been raised on the streets, only to uncover a truth far worse than they had imagined. His mother was indeed a drug addict, and his father remained unknown to this day, likely just another Jon who had hooked up with his mother one night.
As for where he grew up before leaving to fend for himself, the media discovered that he had been physically abused by the foster care worker who looked after him and the other children. This woman was arrested a few years later for the murder of one of those children, having beaten the poor boy's head in with a pipe because he wouldn't stop crying. The child was only four years old.
All Caesar knew, he learned on the streets and from that horrible woman. This might have been why he signed over his parental rights to Salma. People like Caesar were deeply troubled, as evidenced by his first movie, *Se7en*. What business did someone like him have raising a child? She suspected that this was how he viewed things as the birth of his children drew closer.
"Hey, Caesar, I think you're going to be a great father," Jennifer says to him softly.
"Why do you think that?" I ask her.
"Because you already know what it's like not to have a father. You understand what it means to feel alone, without anyone to care about you. Are you really going to let your own children experience anything like that?" she asks me.
I don't answer her; instead, I lie here looking up at the ceiling until I hear the phone ring.
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Sixteen hours later. That's how long it took for my son to be born. Sixteen long hours during which I did not sleep. I couldn't sleep as Tiff went into labor. I stayed in the waiting room with a few other soon-to-be dads. None of us said a word as we waited. Even those who recognized me didn't come over to talk. To us, nothing else mattered at that moment, not then, not me. Nothing matter any more as I stood in front of the glass window separating me from my son.
Not my movies, not the script I was working on, nor my aspirations to direct a film or my investments. All that mattered was in the room that the glass window separated me from. It was funny; until this moment, I wasn't sure how to feel about the birth of my child. Even when I received the call that Tiff had gone into labor, I felt like a bucket with a hole in the bottom—water was constantly being poured in, only to leak back out, over and over again, with no end in sight.
Now, however, I felt something different. I felt a longing—a desire to be a father to this little man in front of me.
"Hello there, little man," I say to my son as I place my hand on the glass. "Welcome to the world. This fucked up shit hole of a world." I run a hand through my hair.
"I wish I could tell you it's a wonderful world, but it isn't. It took my mom and dad from me long before I knew them. Hell, I don't even remember them. Nothing good, nothing bad. They just weren't there. This world took them from me, consumed them, and destroyed the innocence they once had." I lightly tap the glass, feeling rage at this messed-up place we live in.
"It took mine." I shake my head, fighting off my anger, then let out a deep breath. "That won't be you. That won't be your life. You will remember me, and I will be here for as long as I can be. Until the day I take my last breath, I will be here for you. You have my word on that for whatever it is worth." I say this, then stand there in silence, saying no more.