[Hyde POV]
"Ah. California. The place that looks like paradise, but filled with people that are going to hell."
I went to check out the cars here since this was a place where car modifications happen.
"System, can't I use GPS? I have no idea where to go without it."
[2 rating points to open up the GPS and search function, tailored to 1977 streets. Usage time: 1 day.]
"A-Alright!" I laughed in excitement. "That will make things much easier."
I still have 2.5 points, so I used that to activate the GPS function. I went to Hollywood Blvd first, where I bought 5 cars from a dealership there.
The cars were dusty and untouched for years, but since it was in California, it was not rusted at all. All of them were in a non-starter condition though.
I managed to score a couple of luxury imports there. Two 1969 Porsche 911, which I bought for 10,000 dollars for both of them.
"I have bought 11 cars. I still have 12 empty slots left."
While I was taking a break at an Italian cafe and reading their newspaper there, I noticed people here were pretty casual.
They wore linen shirts and comfy pants as they sat at the cafe, import cars roamed the streets, and girls wearing slutty clothes everywhere.
Some people here were talking about business in the cafe. I didn't realize I had picked a trendy place since I searched for the nearest cafe with a good review in the search engine.
'I should go before people come to talk to me.'
People here were really open and they approached everyone. Wisconsin people like me, we'd rather have our own space.
I called the waitress to bring the check. Suddenly, I saw a familiar face nearby, eating at the same restaurant.
I walked up to the table as I thought it'd be polite to greet.
"Oh god, he's approaching me. What should I do?" The girl covered her face with her hand and whispered to the man, "Do something!"
"Okay, Fine. I'll chase him away." The man said with a sigh. I patted the man's shoulder, surprising him.
"Bruce?"
"STEVEN!" Bruce stood up from his chair and shook my hand excitedly. "My goodness, what are you doing here in California?"
"Finding some non-rusted cars to bring back home. Why are you here?" I asked him casually.
He laughed and said, "Just having a meeting."
"Like usual right?" I teased him slightly, which made him laugh. Him saying that was a code for 'messing around, not doing his job as a local councilman'.
"Bruce? You know this rude man?" The girl stood up and asked with disbelief.
"Ah, you're the clumsy girl." I realized who she was.
"Clum–Clumsy? Excuse me, I'm an actress! I'm also his girlfriend!" She hugged Bruce's arm, for some reason. "So don't stalk me or he'll beat you up!"
"Um." Bruce's eyes shook behind his sunglasses. I narrowed my eyes at him slightly, and smirked.
He has a wife back home, so he realized he was caught.
"We-We're not dating. I'm just with her because… we're waiting for a director to come here and talk about a movie." Bruce stammered, pushing her hand slightly. "Don't get the wrong idea Hyde."
I just smirked menacingly, which made him cower.
She gasped and said, "Hey, you said you're going to protect me from this stalker."
"Stalker?" I was confused. "I came to the restaurant first. You guys had just sat down. You're the stalker."
She gasped, fully offended. "You take that back!" She whispered angrily.
"Calm down Shannon. This is all just a big misunderstanding." Bruce comforted her.
Bruce forced me to sit down and join him even though I was leaving. He didn't want me to misunderstand things, so he told me to wait until the director came to prove he was telling the truth.
Shannon Tate, the girl was a B-movie actress. Maybe C-level, since no one even knew her. She was in one movie and has a little screen time, but she was truly confident that she was a famous actress.
"So you went to Vegas?" Bruce asked excitedly.
"Yeah, won some, lost a lot."
He snorted and said, "That's Vegas alright."
The girl ate her lunch angrily as she was being ignored.
Surprisingly, a woman came to the cafe to meet with Bruce. She was around 30 years old, had a short hair cut, and wore a maroon suit.
"Rockwell, you come to waste your money again?" She teased.
"Don't I know it?" Bruce played along and shook her hand. I also stood up and shook her hand.
"What's this? Your ward?" She teased.
"Hey, he's the one who made the video. The TransAm and Celica race video." Bruce exposed me.
Her eyes widened, full of admiration. "You are? I'm Patty Leigh. I'm a developmental executive for Warner Bros."
"Oh, you're a showrunner." I replied with indifference.
She was taken aback and smiled, "Showrunner. I like that. I'm going to use that from now on."
She said, "Bruce told me you are 'chill'. I really love the way you edited that tv special. You should move to Hollywood. You can become a very famous director."
"He's… a director?" Shannon whispered to Bruce, her gaze towards me completely changed.
"Oh, no. I don't think I will. I like things that are cold. This place makes me sweat."
She laughed a bit and turned to Bruce, having a slightly difficult face. "You know what happened with the last movie, right?"
"You mean, the one I waited for two years, and invested over 2 million dollars in?" Bruce's tone was a bit sarcastic.
"That's the one." She wasn't intimidated and said casually. "It didn't succeed, at all. So I'm really sorry about that."
He was quite serious now. "So you called me again, after wasting all of my money, even sending a new actor to seduce me, to make me invest again?"
"I didn't ask her to flirt with you." Patty was taken aback. "She did that herself."
Shannon nodded slightly and said, "That's true. I did that myself."
Bruce was a bit flattered, but I whispered coldly, "Your wiiffffeeeee."
He cleared his throat immediately. "Ahem!" As he fixed his sitting position, leaning backward slightly, he asked, "So, what is it now?"
"I brought the script here. You might want to check it out first. Hey, Mr Hyde. I have an extra one if you want to read it."
"Sure, why not?"
I stopped reading properly after page 12 and just skimmed the whole thing.
It was unfocused, boring, and it was about a woman's journey after a failed marriage where she met with different men, had sex with them, and cried afterward.
Bruce also was confused by it. Patty talked convincingly, like a sales person instead of a showrunner.
Well, the showrunner was basically a salesman when they tried to get investors for the movie.
"It's very European, very stylish. I think we have a hit on our hand here, don't you think?" She asked with a smile.
"What do you think, Hyde?" Bruce asked me.
"It's boring as fuck."
The two girls at the restaurant froze. Bruce burst into laughter and said, "That's… that's very 100% true. It's really boring as fuck. Pfftt–"
The sound of his laughter made people around us turn to take a look.
"In–In the commercial context, maybe it's a tad boring. But film is all about art, and courage, and boldness–"
"And money." Bruce interjected coldly. Patty was taken aback since this time, she couldn't trick him easily anymore.
"You thought of me as an uncultured swine, someone you could milk for money whenever you need funding." Bruce's tone turned angrier.
Patty was nervous but she kept pushing, "I'm not doing that Bruce. I truly want you to be able to make some money this time."
Shannon bit her fingers nervously, her eyes darting around as she wanted to interject, but in the end, she chose me, the easy target.
"Hy-Hyde– Mr Hyde. You said it's boring… Can you tell me more about that? What makes you say that? Maybe… we can get a clearer picture of what's wrong with this film?"
"Well…" I had listened to a lot of movie critique before, and I knew how to answer her question.
"It's boring because it's pretending not to care if you're bored."
Shannon blinked. Patty smiled slightly, thinking she could get another opportunity to talk and convince us.
I leaned back in my chair. "Nothing happens. And I don't mean explosions or car chases. I mean decisions. The woman doesn't choose anything. She drifts. Men come in, men leave. Sex happens. Crying happens. Then she moves to another city and does the same thing again."
"That's the point," Patty cut in. "It reflects emotional numbness."
"No," I said calmly. "It reflects indecision."
Bruce stopped laughing. He was listening seriously now.
"You keep calling it a journey," I continued, "but a journey means you start somewhere and end somewhere else. This ends exactly where it starts. Same sadness. Same emptiness. Same voiceover telling me how deep it all is."
Shannon swallowed. "But… that's real life sometimes."
"Sure," I said. "And real life is boring too. That's why people go to movies."
Patty crossed her arms. "Audiences are more sophisticated now. It is the 70s."
"They want to be," I said with a sarcastic smile. "That's different. They'll clap because they don't want to look dumb. But they won't come back. And they won't tell their friends to buy a ticket."
Bruce nodded slowly, agreeing with me. It was actually quite normal for movies like this to be produced in the 70s. There was still a heavy European influence on the movie culture.
I flipped to a random page. "Look at this. Three men. Same dialogue. Same bed. Same morning-after shot. That's not symbolism. That's repetition. Who wants to see that unless it's a horror movie and we need to find clues."
"It's intentional," Patty said sharply, her lips twitching a bit.
"So is elevator music," I replied. "Still doesn't mean I want to hear it for two hours."
Bruce let out a short laugh, then stopped himself.
"And here's the real problem," I said, lowering my voice a bit. "You're selling this like it's brave. But it's not taking any risks."
Patty scoffed. "How is it not risky?"
"Because if it fails," I said, "you'll say people 'didn't get it.' If it succeeds, you'll say it's genius. Heads you win, tails you still win."
The table went quiet. Patty's eyes were darting between Shannon, me and Bruce.
She finally gave up and said, "Fine. I don't want to do it either, but I have a boss that made me do it."
"So you know you're screwing me over?" Bruce raised an eyebrow.
"Exactly. But, this time you brought a clever one with you. Bruce, do you know what your nickname is in our industry?"
"What?" Bruce was taken aback.
"The dumb golden cow."
"Hey!" Bruce was offended.
Patty completely changed her tune and said, "They aren't going to let you invest in anything good. But they didn't want you to leave so they are throwing you some scrap scripts."
"You– You know all of this. And you still do it to me?" Bruce felt really betrayed.
Patty shrugged and said, "Why shouldn't I? This is a business. We're not even good friends for me to take care of you."
I chortled and lowered my head as I laughed. Patty turned to me with interested eyes, "You are good. I thought you were like Bruce. Another person to be taken advantage of by the town."
Bruce tapped my shoulder and said, "He's really really smart."
"I realized that. You didn't even go to film school yet, did you? My advice. Don't. A lot of times, they teach you stuff that's really pretentious and churn out very shitty filmmakers instead of the good ones."
I shrugged, and didn't really reply.
"Wait, so there's no movie for me?" Shannon was taken aback.
Patty looked at her softly, pitifully, "Oh Sweetheart. There was never a movie for you. You're just here for eye candy. If he invested in this, we'll pick someone people actually know about."
"You… bitch!" Shannon cursed her, finally taking off her sunglasses and almost leaped over the table to strangle Patty.
I realized who she was now. She looked like Brianna Howey– the mother in Ginny and Georgia tv series.
"Wait. Shannon, I still have another script for you. You're not going to be the lead, but you'll have a lot more airtime." Patty said quickly as she fought off Shannon's hand from reaching her neck.
"I don't care! YOU PROMISED TO MAKE ME THE LEAD!"
Bruce swooped in to separate them while I drank my coffee quietly.
Patty breathed heavily as she was saved from Shannon. Bruce comforted her, saying, "It's alright. You just started. There's still a lot more chance for you in the future to be the lead."
"Ugh!" She groaned.
Patty calmed down, and with a thick face, she said, "Do you want to read the other script? This one is also in development, but I think it's pretty good. Sissy Spacek will be the lead."
"That's fine. I have enough script reading in one day." Bruce said casually, no longer interested in investing in the movies.
"That's too bad." Patty knew when to quit and left after paying for their food.
"Hyde. They think I'm stupid around here." Bruce complained, leaning back dejectedly.
"Then don't be stupid." I said casually.
He grimaced, saying, "You said that like it's easy."
Shannon was exclaiming softly at the side, wanting some attention. "Hmmm…"
I ignored her, but Bruce took the bait. He was a true 70s chivalrous man. "What's wrong?"
"I thought I could be a lead actress now after three years of auditions and small roles. My time is almost up. My agent told me it'll be better for me to find a rich man rather than being an actress."
I turned to her and said, "That's because you have shitty acting skills."
She fumed, completely forgetting she was trying to manipulate Bruce, "Hey! I'm a really good actor! A lot of my teachers are impressed by my acting!"
"Sure. 'You're really good, please pay me more so I can polish your rough edges, turning you into a brilliant diamond.'" I said mockingly.
"You– You're really annoying! Like truly! TRULY TRULY TRULY!" She picked up her purse, then realized something. "Damn, I didn't bring my wallet to take a cab."
Bruce laughed and said, "Don't worry. You can ride with me. Hyde, where are you going now? What are your plans?"
"I'm going to go look around, buy some cars. Then, check into a hotel. I'll leave tomorrow night."
Bruce grinned and said, "Great. Why don't you come live with me? I have a place here, in Malibu."
"Oh that will be pretty nice. I wanted to go to the beach." I said casually. "Just for that, I'm going to tell you something else."
"What?" He asked, confused.
"Patty… will… return…" I said with a deep, ominous voice.
…
At the beachfront Malibu house, Bruce changed into a short pants and tank top, laying down on a sunchair. Shannon was there too for some reason, but she didn't wear a bikini.
She kept complaining to Bruce, until even he was tired of it.
"Hyde, are you sure Patty will come again?" He asked.
"Sure. That's her only chance. It also explains why she said the 'boss' thought you're a dumb golden cow instead of herself."
"Stop calling me that." Bruce was flabbergasted.
I laughed and said, " So, she's aligning herself with you. Unrespected, unappreciated. She'll tell you stories that'll make you relate to her."
"She'll come, bringing something that she 'personally' cares about, but the boss is too stupid to see it. Another unappreciated, unrespected project that is actually pretty good."
Bruce nodded and said, "So, she's going to still try to pitch me a movie?"
"Why not? She'll just wait until you have some wine in you– possibly because you're angry at being disrespected. This time, she will actually treat you seriously, so don't worry about that."
"Good." Bruce smiled and eased himself into the chair. Bruce was born and raised in Wisconsin, where people assume a conversation happened in good faith.
Even if he was raised rich, it was still in Wisconsin. That's why he got trapped in the Hollywood transactional conversation fast.
I enjoyed this though, since every move was politics, which was something I had accustomed to in the 2025 work culture.
"Now, bring Shannon out with you. I want to enjoy the sun while it lasts." Bruce chased us away.
"I don't want to go with him!" Shannon complained.
"I also don't want to go with her." I said, fully offended.
She gasped in shock and said, "Hey. A pretty girl is keeping you company. The very least you can do is say thanks."
I snorted, "There's no way. I'm travelling to get some peace of mind. I'm not carrying a headache with me."
"HOO!" She gasped, offended by my words. "Oh, I'm so going with you."
"No you're not."
"Yes! I am!"
"No you're not."
" I AM COMING WITH YOU–"
The car door slammed before she could finish the sentence. We drove in silence for a full minute.
Then she leaned over suddenly, fingers curling into my collar like she was angry at it. Her lips crashed into mine. Messy, reckless, like she was trying to prove something instead of enjoying it.
I didn't stop the car. I didn't kiss her back either. She got confused and pulled away.
"You always do this?" I asked calmly. "Argue until you don't know what you want anymore?"
She stared at me, breathing hard, cheeks flushed, furious that I wasn't playing along the way she expected.
"You're unbelievable," she muttered, rolling her eyes back.
"Yeah," I said, turning my eyes back to the road. "That's what they all say when they want to avoid accountability for their own actions."
The rest of the drive was quiet. Shannon was quite manipulative too, so I better watch out around her. She reminded me a lot of Jackie, only she's more vicious.
With Jackie, what you see is what you get.
I dropped her off at her house instead of bringing her with me. She slammed the car door, but it wasn't my car, so I didn't even bother with it. At least she had closed the door.
I spent the evening buying cars till I got bored of it.
I already have 20 cars in my storage. I could even return home tonight if I wanted to, but it would be too soon to get to Wisconsin, which will make everyone suspicious.
I kept buying cars, till I got like 40 of them.
Patty did come to the beach house like I expected her to, bringing a script with her.
I checked online, and found the same movie title in 1983. It has the same plot, produced under Universal, and it got more than 40 million on the box office on the budget of 2 million dollars.
I didn't want to convince Bruce though in case I was wrong about it. Maybe the era would make the collection smaller, or it could even flop too.
Patty invited Bruce and I to a party that night. It was the first time Bruce was ever invited to a party with named stars so he was quite happy about it.
I was bored, and the star was someone I didn't know, and didn't care about. But Shannon was also there.
She drank too many drinks, and flopped down on the couch, unconscious. Then, I saw a sleazy guy coming towards her, touching her skin and leering at her.
"Oh no." I mumbled flatly and walked towards them.
(Read up to chapter 92 on my patreon.
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