“You’re saying somebody recorded what happened in that room that night?” Tommy demanded an explanation.
“Mm … hmm …” Amber nodded while sucking on her lollipop.
“And you have this tape?”
“Yeup,” she raised her brows twice.
“I want to see it,” he stared her down.
Amber giggled, “What will you give in return?”
Tom grimaced, “What? I just want to see what’s on the tape … how do I know you even have it?”
“I have it, Tom, US … having wild raw sex with five other people in my bedroom, it’s a 2 hour tape of real entertainment … even though it’s too short if you ask me, I think we were doing that for more than 2 hours … but we only have a 2 hour tape … so …”
Tom covered his face with both hands, he shook his head, somehow he was convinced she was telling the truth as he recalled the dreadful morning after. “I want the tape, Amber, I can’t let you have it.”
She laughed, “Like I said, what do I get in return?”
“You want money? How much? I’ll get it for you …” he talked softly so no one could hear, he led her to a corner away from the set.
Amber laughed again, “I don’t want your money, Tom, I think I’m making more than you do.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, “Then what? What is it that you want from me? What are you trying to do here? Ruin me? What are you gaining from all this?”
“Hey … just chill, okay? A sex tape is nothing around here, Tom, everyone is keeping a sex tape somewhere … you’re such a rookie, but it’s a valuable trade object … so I want to trade.”
He put one hand on the wall next to her face, he leaned closer, “Trade with what?” his jaw clenched.
Amber’s smile softened, she blushed at the sight of his ice blue eyes. She pulled out the lollipop from her mouth and stuck it on Tom’s lips, pushed it in his mouth. “I want what your girlfriend had with you … a one on one … no tapes this time, just you and me …”
Tom pulled back away from her, he didn’t let her finish the sentence.
“And you can have the tape!” she was half shouting.
“No!”
“Oh come on … are you afraid your girlfriend will find out? I promise I taste as sweet as this lollipop.”
“Anything … but not that … I won’t do it,” he said with heavy breathing.
“Not even for the tape?” she twirled her lollipop in her mouth.
He shook his head, it felt light.
“Suit yourself … like I said … a sex tape is a valuable trade, I can always trade it for something else with someone who’s willing,” she said as she was walking away.
Tom grabbed her arm, “Wait …” but his heart fought it, no words came out of his mouth.
“Think about it, Tom … you have my number.”
**********
Charlie couldn’t stop talking about how happy she was about The Night Film project, she couldn’t believe her luck that Maxine granted her the time off to do it. She could finally use the camcorder her mom gave her.
His mind was somewhere else, between what’s in the tape and what he had to do to get it. Weighed his options if he didn’t retrieve the tape, what would happen to it? Who was Amber going to trade it with?
“Are you even listening to me?” Charlie’s voice interrupted him.
He rubber his eyes, “Yes, baby, I’m really excited for you … I’m sorry, I was distracted.” He pulled her close to his embrace.
“What were you thinking about? Work?”
“No … nothing … I just remembered Vicky said I had an audition tomorrow morning, I almost forgot.”
“Tommy …” she leaned her head on his chest as they laid together on the sofa. “What if Maxine invited someone to her gallery? Someone who’s not her lover? Someone who knew us personally?”
“Don’t you think she’s already done that?”
She shrugged, “But … wouldn’t that be a breach of contract?”
Tommy inhaled deeply, “It’s a vague agreement, Charlie, she basically can do whatever she wants with those pictures and we really can’t do anything about it … without the contract, I wouldn’t have a job and you wouldn’t be in school … we knew that before we signed up.”
“Yeah … but …” Charlie struggled.
“Who did she invite to the gallery? Someone we know?”
“No … it was just a hypothetical question,” she lied.
“Well … if she did bring someone in, it’s really out of our hands now,” he had bigger problems he needed to worry about than Charlie’s hypothetical question. Something that could potentially ruin everything.
“Are you okay with that? Random people looking at our naked pictures? Making love?” she asked.
Tommy looked at her puzzled, “That’s a weird question to be asking now, don’t you think? You know I did it because you insisted that we do it … if you’re asking me now … yeah … it’s done, it’s out there and we don’t have any rights over it.”
“Are you saying this was my idea?” his question hit a nerve.
He rubbed his face in distress, “No … I don’t mean it that way, I wanted to do it because I wanted you to get what you want, the school, the job, your dreams … all of it, Charlie.”
She sat up, “You’re saying you didn’t want anything for yourself out of it? The job, the career, the fame? Working with all those celebrities? They’re buzzing your name in the media, they say you’re the one to look out for next year … aren’t you excited about that? We’re moving really fast here … you especially, all thanks to the contract we signed together.”
Tommy burst out in a sarcastic laugh, he surprised himself, “Yeah … it’s all good, Charlie, but honestly … I think you’re enjoying the better end of the contract than I am.”
“What does that mean?” she didn’t like what he was insinuating.
He shook his head, he didn’t want to be the asshole who complained how hard he had to work to support her dream, not to mention he was being blackmailed as a result of their decision. “Nothing … I’m just saying … this job is not easy.”
“And you think my job is easy? At least you’re making money out of it … I have to owe you my tuition … but I’ll pay you back, every cent, I told you that.”
“It’s not that, Charlie … I don’t mind that at all … I just.”
She stood up, it was too late for him to explain, “It sure sounds like it, Tom, I told you … I’ll pay you back.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m tired … I’m just gonna go home,” she picked up her bag.
“Charlie! Please stay baby … I didn’t mean it like that.”
But she was already out the door.
**********
Under normal circumstances, he would’ve ran after her, took back what he said, groveled over her, told her how much he loved her and made love to her like the world was going to end.
But there was nothing normal about his circumstances, his head felt like it was going to explode. He looked for Jeremy instead. Told him everything. The contract, the agreement with Maxine, the pictures, the drugs, the orgy and the tape.
“Oh … man …” Jeremy muttered, he felt depleted just listening to Tommy’s recent problems. “What are you gonna do?”
“I have to get that tape,” Tommy paced back and forth.
“Are you gonna sleep with her?”
“No! If I could find out where she keeps it …”
“Oh, no, man … that’s not a good idea … breaking and entering? Stealing? She would know it’s you … that’s a whole other problem you don’t need.”
“I can’t just let her have that tape … ’cause it didn’t look like she was going to keep it for herself … that thing could circulate God knows where … who knows what would happen after that?” Tommy ran his hands through his hair.
“I don’t know, Tom … this is pretty fucked up, either way, you’re fucked … you need to keep Charlie in the dark before you make any decisions … or … you can come clean to her, tell her everything … one less problem solved.”
Tommy shook his head, “She’ll leave me, she’ll hate me.” It would be the worst fate for him.
“Amber doesn’t want your money … with the looks of it, she just wanted to sleep with you … what if she decides to give the tape to Charlie?”