George was dressed in a casual outfit that morning, a pair of track pants, a tight-fitting polo, and a face cap. On his shoulders hung a gym bag with a towel wrapped around his neck. The gym where he regularly worked out was located on the other end of town, on the first floor of the apartment building where he lived. But that morning, he decided to do it there, at the private sports complex where most stars visited. He had a pass since a friend worked the gate, and he didn’t look out of place since his face wasn’t an uncommon one in the industry.
It took him back to the time at Scottsdale Entertainment when the actors and workers alike all seemed to have a bad opinion about Rina and he would walk past them, unable to do a thing about it. George smiled and nodded in silent greeting as we moved past the sweaty bodies, who had first halted when they saw him. But he heard the gossip the minute they thought he’d stepped out of a hearing distance. They all wondered what he was doing there, and if he didn’t have any shame, especially after his unceremonious dismissal from Scottsdale Entertainment for defending Rina Power. They all held their opinions they thought it was a foolhardy thing to do, to support a woman whose career had already hit the rocks.
“I heard Joel Osteen also kicked her out,” one of them sneered with her fake boobs and false high-pitched octave. “I was beginning to feel bad for her when the stories first started flying all about and she continued to deny them. But what broke the camel’s back was Joel’s interview. He didn’t even deny the fact that Rina must have forced him into giving her that role. The poor man probably realized he was doing himself more harm than good and had to send her back onto the streets where she belonged. Serves her right, you know? She’s such a bitch. Let her go bitch to the crazy people out there.”
A roar of laughter resounded around them, and George’s hands folded into fists. He couldn’t act right then, especially because he would get sent out of the complex before he accomplished what he was there to do.
“If I were Joel, I would probably have done the same thing, only much sooner,” another one of the ladies said. George recognized her from a TV series. He had never worked closely with her before, but Isaiah had worked on her set and said she was a premium bitch. “I have always hated her, especially how she keeps her head in the air like she knows it all like she’s some untouchable being. She always got all the good roles and stole lead roles from under our noses. She must have been sleeping with the producers. That’s the only logical conclusion now that we know the kind of person she is.”
George sighed, wondering if that was all the ladies did every morning when they gathered together to work out and play sports. He’d been there for about two hours and he’d heard them move from one gossip to the other, even between themselves. As each lady arrived, the gossip moved from them to another member of their clique until the subject matter arrived and they had to move to another topic. It was the sickest thing George had ever witnessed and he felt his IQ had dropped remarkably just from watching them.
But his patience soon paid off as he saw the one person he’d been waiting for all morning. Her blonde hair gave her away, packed up in a very sleek high ponytail and her bangs covered her forehead. She held a tennis rack in one hand and a tennis bag in another and was dressed in the sports outfit, a visor hanging from the strap of the bag.
“Hey, ladies,” she greeted, hugging a few of them. “Why are you all gathered here?”
“We saw George,” the first lady was fast to provide. “He had the nerves to show his face around here after everything. You were the reason he got kicked out, right?”
“When you put it that way, it makes me look like a bad person,” Regina said in a tone that made George feel like ants were crawling all around his body. “I wasn’t exactly the reason he got kicked out. George was acting like he had more power than the actors Scottsdale Entertainment sign under them, and he needed to be put in his rightful place. I just happened to be the one to draw the board’s attention to it that day. I felt bad about it later that night though. Poor thing probably doesn’t know where to get his next income from since he has no one to manage anymore. Rina Power might have been the greatest way out of penury for him, but at this rate, she will soon run out of money to buy her own groceries. What are they going to do then?”
A snicker. “Maybe she will sell that car of hers. That should hold her for a while, don’t you think?”
“That car is actually the latest model,” one of the ladies who had been quiet all the while, whispered. “I had my brother check it out when I saw her drive it to Scottsdale. It costs a fortune. If she could afford that, just imagine how much her net worth would be.”
“I’m sure she loaned the car from someone to show off,” Regina sneered. “There’s no way it belongs to her because I can guarantee that Rina Power has nothing to her name.”
“You sound like you know something the rest of us do not.”
Regina basked in the moment, blowing on her nails, before looking around to check if anyone was listening in. George had on air pods that gave the appearance of him listening to something else, but in fact, it was turned off.
“Gather round ladies, because I am about to share the sweetest tale.” She paused for a few seconds for the dramatic effect. “A very reliable source told me that they saw Rina coming out of the production house where they work.”
“That’s not so strange.”
“They only produce X-rated movies.”