Robert Mann's Story

Not many paid any mind to Olivia as she entered the kitchen, most of them way to absorbed in herself. She recognized a few significant faces; Candelaria, Chandler, William. All people she had met at premiers or other red carpet events. She doubt they remembered her, they had barely paid any attention to her when they would meet, except when she notices William kept checking her out when she wasn't looking. Mistakenly she looked at him now, catching him as he tried to place a name to her face. Flustered, she was more than happy once Robert showed up, inviting them into the board room.

Watching as most walked past her, Olivia was able to recognize other actors; Elias, Zara, Nathan. Another face struck her as familiar. She had seen the boy with dreads one time when she had a meeting with Robert Mann. Surely it was the same boy in the waiting room as her, there weren't many people who looked like him. Olivia looked to the ground, already in her mind her father's lecture began. Shaking her head, Olivia followed the crowd into the conference room, sitting on the other side of Zara. Olivia had never officially met the girl, she had always seemed so intimidating.

Olivia quietly cleared her throat, leaning toward Zara, "Heard our characters are bfflz, so that means they'll end up hating each other by the end of season 1." She joked, watching the seats fill up, noticing that two were missing. Olivia looked down to the face of her IPhone, the time read 3:07pm. Already they were a little behind.

Olivia enviously glanced over at Chandler and Candelaria, they seemed to command the attention of the room. Although these actresses had a few years on her, Olivia felt a tinge of jealousy that most likely the reason people would tune into XOXO is for them. Not only that but Chandler had gotten the role Olivia had originally auditioned for. If anything Chandler should've been the skank, Olivia thought, and herself the nice girl. It made sense, but Robert Mann was the one running the show.

She thought back to what he said when she called crying, demanding any other role but skank, "You have this sexual energy that's compatible with anyone while you're acting. If I put any other actress in this role the show will flop because the scenes will be cheesy and dull. But with you...it can work." Now she was sure he was just making up some bullshit excuse, but it worked, and she was here now.

Hopefully things wouldn't get too out of hand. Not many people ever pushed Olivia to get angry. Most people thought of her as this docile flower, but she had been through enough for a lifetime. She didn't like to curse, or appear unladylike, but given the situation Olivia didn't mind throwing a punch from time to time. Smirking she remembered as her friend, Cameron, had taught her how to punch. It was just outside of the boxing club he boxed at. He kept saying she was throwing pillows, but when she practiced it on her cousin later that week, she had gotten into trouble when her cousin ran crying to her parents. Snapping back to reality, Olivia looked at Mr. Mann expectantly, crossing her legs gently and propping her elbow onto the table so she could rest her chin onto the palm of her hand.

---

"You all should know this from reading your scripts - as I'm sure you all have done - but here's what I'm planning for XOXO: Elias, who do you play again? Oh yes, that's right, Ryder. To make things simple, Ryder and Veronica, the skank, are going to become friends with benefits, hook up buddies, keeping it a secret from the rest of the group for the hell of it. But Ryder's youngest sister is going to get in a car accident, and Veronica is going to be the only person who is able to get to him. As in, they're going to fight and have hot sex. Predictable, I know. I need the two of you to start the foundation of that bond. I need the two of you to start talking, at least about your characters and the bond they share. I need complete cooperation here, slaves."

"As for you, Zara... you look particularly beautiful today. Hannah - that's her name, right? - is in love with Ryder. Mostly because he was the only one who didn't pay attention to her. She's constantly throwing parties to catch his attention, and of course he shows up, but instead of kissing her neck, he's fondling some other skank. Uh, not Veronica, Olivia. A random skank, not an important skank like you, sweetheart. So I'm going to need the two of you - Zara and Elias - to try this out. I need you to tell me what needs to work, what needs to change, how well the two of you can act it out. Zara, you must be all over Elias, and Elias, you'll notice, of course, and you'll find it amusing, but... who the hell cares? She's just another chick, right? Another chick you can dick."

"And you, Candelaria, with the beautiful name, you are essentially playing yourself, am I correct? Bianca, your character, has strong feelings for Joseph - William Hemley, that's you, you're Joseph. You're going to deny it, of course, but the two of you are best friends, and you're always calling him, asking him to hang out with you. For once, Joseph gets to friend zone the one girl who actually has feelings for him, meaning, he's completely oblivious to her feelings and is always nice to you, always going to be with you when you're 'bored' or 'hungry.' The two of you, start buddying up. The two of you are going to be inseparable."

"But not completely inseparable... Joseph is in love with Veronica, remember? You gotta feel sorry for the guy. He's actually going to catch Veronica and Ryder in the act; I know, it sucks. Your task, William, is to practice being in love with Zara. I don't see how that would be hard for you, the girl's gorgeous, but just tell me how the chemistry goes later."

"And Nathan ... Trent is in the background in this one. Watching everyone fall apart. You know everything, you see everything, and you're going to be blackmailing all of them. In fact, you've got your eye on little miss Bianca. Of course you're attracted to the girl; she's wealthy enough to catch his eye, right? He doesn't particularly like the girl, the two get into more fights than real conversation, but he finds it fun. He likes it. So, weasel your way into our beautiful Candelaria's life. That shouldn't be hard; she doesn't bite. Not often, anyway."

"Our favorite jokester, Gregory! Danny, your character is a riot, the scenes we have for him are hilarious. He's intrigued by Cindy, that is, Chandler's character, and is always trying to get some fun out of her, but as fun as she is, Cindy only thinks the two of you are friends - which, right now, the two of them are. But it will grow into something larger, let me assure you. I need you and Chandler learn to be comfortable around each other. Start talking, spend some free time together. Just learn how to relax when the two of you are together, laugh, smile, so that the friendship is natural on camera."

"And last but not least, Chandler, Cindy Peters is not a very large part in XOXO just yet. She's kind of in the background, but she's going to be the mediator for every relationship. Everyone's spilling their guts to Cindy Peters, because she's the girl who keeps her mouth shut all the damn time. You have the same homework assignment as Danny, but otherwise, that's it. Your time in the spotlight will come later, the screenwriters are still working out the kinks of your grand debut."

"You guys didn't expect homework, did you? No, you are going to be working your asses off. I expect only the best from you, because I know you're capable of it."

"Meeting adjourned. Workers, stay after. We have some technical matters to discuss."



---



"You heard everything that just happened. You know exactly why I put those people together. Elias and Olivia are not the people you would imagine to be good friends... find a back story for that. Writers, that's for you. Be creative, show me what you got and I might even consider giving you a job. All of the pairs are a little unexpected. Zara and Elias, the silent but beautiful statues... Candelaria and William, the ex-es... I felt a little bad putting them together, really, but the script was originally like that, believe it or not. You can all guess the drama just waiting to be caught on screen. William's bound to try to get Olivia out of her shell, probably into her pants... Danny and Chandler? I know Chandler would most definitely be repulsed at the idea of them having to be friends. Work with it."

"I want all of you to keep an eye on all of them, but pay a little more attention to your roommate. Or for some of you, roommates, as I announced earlier in the very beginning. If you can, if you're daring, steal a diary entry, a phone, anything. I expect to see results. A meeting will be held in two weeks; bring something big by then."

Danny watched her closely after he spoke, but only out of the corner of his eye. She seemed to be intrigued by his question at least, which he guessed was a good thing. He had also noticed that she kept glancing at him as well as he walked, the same way he would do to people when he didn't want to face them directly: apparently it was a smaller world than he had realized, or wanted. Regardless, she simply nodded at his quesiton, and kept silent for a while before giving an answer. For reasons of this, Danny knew not: after all, he barely knew the girl.

Yes, Mr. Crankshaw, I know your name Danny raised an eyebrow slightly at the formality she had given him. Most people that knew him either stuttered out some form of formality, or called him by Danny. It wasn't uncommon for formalities to be just that, but he hadn't been expecting it from a complete stranger. True, he had figured out that she would be working on the set, which would most likely explain her use of formality towards him, but Danny had a knacking feeling that there was more to it. Perhaps she was submissive, easily establishing herself at the bottom of the pyramid? Maybe it was just because she had a job that she felt to be inferior to his own. Danny didn't know yet, he didn't have the information, but he knew it would come. It always did.

Floyd. Presley Floyd. At first hearing her name, Danny instantly recited her name in his head to the theme of the James Bond movies. What? It wasn't his fault that he grew up with a kick ass agent as his iconic hero. Pushing that aside, he mentally rolled the name across his imaginary tongue. Presley Floyd. Flows quite nicely, isn't hard to remember. I like it. He finally came back to reality, having her name run a few more times through his head in her tone. Quite formal as well, just like her earlier statement. Interesting, to say the least. Granted, many people told him that he could get a little too formal, but he brushed them aside: he needed to make up for all the times he said 'Yo', and... well, you get the idea.

"Well, nice to meet you Miss Floyd." He let out softly after his long thought process. If she heard him or not, it didn't register as they reached the top of the hill and Presley checked her phone. Danny had no need to, as he accurately guessed that they had only been walking for no more than 5 minutes. It was weird how Danny could accurately measure how long they had been doing an objective, and yet when it came to times themselves he could never keep up. Throughout the next twenty minutes of walking, Danny thought about very little besides his own situation. There was the fact that he still wasn't very comfortable with being around a bunch of bigwigs with famous names, while he would be stuck at the bottem. It he was correct in the hierarchy system the actors would have set up, he would probably get lumped in with the other workers, if there were any others besides Presley.

When they arrived, Danny muttered something that he wasn't sure if Presley heard or not, but he doubted she would understand it anyway. "Ostavʹ nadezhdu vsyak syuda vkhodyashchiy..." Yeppers, Danny let loose some Russian. Now, for those that don't understand the harsh language, Danny was quoting the most famous line from The Inferno by Dante Alighieri, 'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.' With that depressing little entry to the estate, he knew that he was going in with the wrong mindset, but he also knew that this little adventure could turn ugly fast.

Just as Presley did, Danny entered the meeting unnoticed and silent - as stated before, Danny had a serious skill for entering and exiting without being noticed or even cared about. This skill may not be as refined as Presley's seemed to be, for nobody even looked at the girl, even when the meeting ended. Regardless, Danny remained by the door and listened to the 'ever glorious' Robert Mann speak about their jobs and such. As Rob continued on his speech, Danny's eyes scanned the room, intrigued and yet barely interested in what he saw. There was the obvious two that seemed to soak up everything, William and Chandler. Then there was the Latina Candelaria - which not only was difficult, but surprisingly hilarious to pronounce, but not in a bad way. Danny knew about these three the most, but that was given: famous people were famous, therefore well known. Then there were the others who weren't: The silent Elias, the goofy Nathaniel, the frozen Zara, the strict Olivia, and himself. Among the actors were bunches of people who Danny could only expect to be the workers, and he was shocked to see how many there were. He hadn't expected Mann to go this crazy for hired help.

Speaking of Mann...

Our favorite jokester, Gregory! Danny, your character is a riot, the scenes we have for him are hilarious. He's intrigued by Cindy, that is, Chandler's character, and is always trying to get some fun out of her, but as fun as she is, Cindy only thinks the two of you are friends - which, right now, the two of them are. But it will grow into something larger, let me assure you. I need you and Chandler learn to be comfortable around each other. Start talking, spend some free time together. Just learn how to relax when the two of you are together, laugh, smile, so that the friendship is natural on camera."

Danny couldn't really call this homework: after hearing it, it sounded more like a weird mixture of 'toruture' and 'character research.' He knew enough about Chandler to know that attempting to act high and mighty would get you killed by this bitchy miss. So basically, Danny had to act exactly like himself, keep his snide comments to himself, and try not to piss her off first day with his own views, because he knew that they wouldn't see eye to eye on anything if they talked too much together. So Danny made no attempt to move at all when the meeting had been adjourned. He waited until all of the other actors walked by him before sauntering out himself, but not before catching a few words of the worker's meeting. Don't blame Danny for being snoopy, blame his ears if you have to for being unnaturally good. He didn't catch much other than 'You know why I put them together' before he walked far enough away not to hear them and headed towards his room.

Basically, Danny had felt like Robert Man had issued him a challenge in the very first day. 'You're going to have to be able to play with the big leagues to stay here, kid.'

Oh my friend, it seems you are going to be more useful than I thought during this journey. Danny thought to his bottle of vodka in his bag, which was still around his arm. Because if this goes as bad as I'm thinking it will, this escapade will go south fast for the Russian.

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"I want all of you to keep an eye on all of them, but pay a little more attention to your roommate. Or for some of you, roommates, as I announced earlier in the very beginning. If you can, if you're daring, steal a diary entry, a phone, anything. I expect to see results. A meeting will be held in two weeks; bring something big by then."

And so Robert Mann capped off the speech with his customary, more-dramatic-than-necessary flourish. Vaguely, Keith supposed that he was going to have to get used to it, now. All the theatrics, the drama, the over-the-top actions and reactions…

Not for the first time, Keith wondered if he should just call it quits. Cut his losses while he still had his sanity intact. This place, full of fake people and their fake, fake words was the worst place in the world for him. But then he glanced down at the battered folder in his hands and remembered. It's for the music, Keith. It's always been for the music.

Everyone else was leaving. They scuttled and slinked and slid, oozing out of the room like a trickle of surly ants. Keith lingered, barely glancing at his co-workers. He wouldn't follow. There was still some unfinished business to attend to, after all.

"The scores," the aspiring musician said bluntly, holding his folder out to Mann with a steely look in his eyes. It was only supposed to be a cover, this musician thing, but it would be a lie to say that he'd ever considered it as such. Music…it defined him. And by God was it infinitely more preferable to all this gossip mongering business.

Yes, he knew what he was getting himself into when he signed up for this insanity. But he also knew what he was truly here for. And by the knowing glint in Mann's eyes, he knew it, too.

"Ah," Mann said, plucking the folder from Keith's stiffly proffered hand. "Now, that was certainly fast! Looks like our little virtuoso has been working hard, hmm?"

Keith gave him a flat look. "Don't call me that. It's creepy." And it was. Truly.

But instead of the intended effect (i.e., get the hell away from me), the comment soared right over Robert Mann's head like a badly aimed paper airplane. He didn't even reply to the statement; the man only grinned and leaned slightly forward. Perfectly warm and charming. One hundred percent businessman smile. And yet, there was something calculating in his expression that made Keith feel uneasy. Behind that teddy bear smile was a shark's grin. Keith was suddenly reminded, with startling clarity, that this was the man puppeteering the entire fiasco. The man who wasn't afraid to manipulate others, who wasn't afraid to dissect them—any one of them. Person by person, piece by piece, tear out their hearts and then leave them lying there—a quivering, broken mess.

For one paranoid moment, Keith wondered if Mann was conducting a secret reality T.V. show of the damn reality T.V. show itself, before common sense smacked the logic back into him.

Just. Calm down, focus. He's all smile and no teeth. All lure and no rod. Just, just whatever you do…don't bite.

Mann twirled a finger at him.

"I meant it, you know. Writers that impress me get a job."

"I'm not interested in screenplay," Keith found himself saying. Distantly, he realized that this was the most he'd ever said in a single day, at least for a long time. Thirteen words. Sixteen, if you counted his coffee order from earlier. ("One coffee, please.") Damn, he was really getting soft.

Robert Mann chuckled.

"Woah, woah, hold up—who said anything about screenplay? No, I'm talking about a real, honest-to-God position in the music industry. Official composer of music for XOXO. Toss in a few recommendations here, a few suggestions there, and boom, what do you know—instant credibility, rocketing you to the top."

…Alright, forget the not biting thing. Keith was snagged, and he knew it, too. Hook, line, and sinker. But, in his defense—did it really count as manipulation if he was aware of his employer's machinations? Admittedly, it was more on the side of willful stupidity…but this was a cause Keith could get behind.

It's always been for the music.

"I'll see what I can do," Keith finally said.

Twenty-two words. Seventeen sheets of music. Two actors to humiliate. And one deal with the devil.

---

Veronica Lutz, the skank, is secretly obsessed with comic books.

Ryder St. James, the heartbreaker, is a fanatic collector of Beanie Babies.

Both are intensely ashamed of their respective hobbies and go to insane lengths to keep them secret. Unfortunately, fate has other plans. Through some extremely convoluted coincidences and a bit of divine intervention, they learn each others' secrets. Bound together by the supreme power of embarrassing avocation, the two brave the harsh, judgmental gaze of the world around them and—


...I don't even know what the hell I'm writing.

Without warning, Keith crumpled up the paper in front of him and tossed it in the rubbish bin.

Alright. Take twelve.

When Ryder St. James isn't wooing girls or breaking hearts, he's hang gliding.

One day, a freak gust of wind sends him careening off course. As a result, he crash-lands in Veronica's bedroom. Because that's how things work. Naturally. (Shut up, logic.)

So there they are, one devilishly good-looking fellow in a divinely good-looking girl's bedroom. After the customary exchange of death threats, the two quickly reconcile and, being hormonal teenagers, naturally decide to—


Crackle-thud. The sound of another paper finding its way to the rubbish bin.

Take thirteen—

Every night of the new moon, Veronica Lutz sneaks into her family's basement and practices voodoo magic. It's an outlet for her inner turmoil and insecurities, you see. Because year-long grudges and plots of revenge are perfectly healthy activities.

Anyway. Miss Lutz is furious with Ryder for some reason or another (who was Keith to understand the alien mind of teenagers) and so she makes plans to curse him. But then she decides that a simple cursing isn't enough, so she creates a mini-Ryder voodoo doll and sticks a billion pins in him. She mails the entire gruesome ensemble to him on his birthday.

Unfortunately for her, she's in such a blind state of rage that she forgets to omit the return address on the package. So Ryder soon figures out who his creepy offender is.

He confronts her about it. She vehemently denies everything. In fact, she more than denies it. She blames the entire thing on her imaginary friend, Charles. Naturally, Ryder is concerned about her mental state. But instead of doing the sensible thing and dragging her to a doctor, he decides to make out with her. Because insanity is hot, or whatever.

…And the two lived happily ever after.

Crumple. Rubbish bin.

Keith was not a creative writer. His art was sound, not words. These pitiful and downright sad attempts at character development were quickly flatlining into nonsense, and honestly? His sleep-deprived brain wasn't really helping, either.

He had to go clear his head.

---

There, silhouetted in a halo of unearthly light, was the most wondrous creature Keith had ever laid eyes on. A smooth, glistening body. A curved, perfectly-proportioned frame. Sleek, beautiful legs. Flowing velvet cloth that hung like heavenly tresses.

Slowly, as if disbelieving of the sight before his eyes, he inched ever closer. Once he was close enough, he reached out and brushed the shining letters—golden patterns over dark skin.

STEINWAY & SONS

Robert Mann really did go all out. Here, in this lovely half-shuttered room, was a glorious Steinway piano.

He'd always wanted one. Always. Unfortunately, the closest he'd ever gotten was a dinky old electric keyboard scavenged from a yard sale.

This was something in a whole other league.

He ran his fingers over the keys and thought immediately of the song that—thanks to Elias—had been playing through his mind for the better part of the day.

And so he played.

And so he remembered.

It's always been for the music.