He took it out and looked, and the name flashing on the screen made his heart skip a beat—Cameron Diaz.
What was worse, Tracy happened to be walking right beside him, her gaze inadvertently sweeping across the phone screen.
From the corner of his eye, Landon clearly saw that the smile on Tracy's face froze instantly, and a look full of questions appeared, but she said nothing, just kept walking and continued talking to the Def Jam producer next to her, as if she hadn't seen it.
Landon couldn't explain it now, nor had he thought of how to explain it.
He subconsciously slowed his pace, falling a few steps behind the crowd, and pressed the answer button.
"Landon! Did you finish filming today?" Cameron's cheerful voice came through immediately. Without even waiting for him to answer, she couldn't wait to continue sharing, "Hey, I signed a new movie today! Starring with Tom Cruise! The movie is called Vanilla Sky, and the character I'm playing is named Julie. My god, I love this character so much..."
"Wow, that's great, Cameron! Congratulations!" Landon was genuinely happy for her.
He knew this movie would be a box office success and a highly discussed work in the future. Although the audience's attention was mostly focused on Tom Cruise, the performances of both Cameron and the other female lead, Penélope Cruz, were quite brilliant.
Being able to participate in a project of this level was undoubtedly very important for Cameron's career.
However, Landon felt a bit frustrated again.
Tom Cruise... this kind of top-tier Hollywood superstar status with global box office appeal was still out of reach for him right now.
In other words, the distance between him and Cameron was actually still worlds apart, and he still had a long way to go before becoming a true "top star."
But thinking that even someone as strong as Leonardo DiCaprio...
He tried to use this genius as an example to comfort himself, but then his thoughts shifted, remembering that at 19, Leonardo had already worked with Johnny Depp on What's Eating Gilbert Grape and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for that film...
Landon immediately felt even worse; his self-comfort seemed pale and powerless.
However, this negative emotion came and went quickly.
Cameron was talking enthusiastically on the other end of the line, even mentioning the interesting story of Landon defeating her bodyguard when she was hanging out with Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu, which made the two actresses shriek in surprise and become full of curiosity about Landon.
Finally, her voice softened, carrying a hint of imperceptible attachment: "Landon, I miss you."
This whisper landed gently on Landon's heart, yet it brought a heavy feeling.
Cameron's passion and directness made him feel responsibility and pressure, while at the same time, the deep-seated desire to reach the top and possess the ability to match all his ambitions became even stronger.
Hanging up the phone, Landon hurried to catch up with the group who had already reached the car.
Tracy was opening the car door and glanced at him; her expression had returned to calm.
As expected, she did not ask anything about the call from Cameron Diaz in front of the others.
Returning to the hotel, Tracy and Landon went into his suite together, discussing the upcoming music release plan after he returned to the set tomorrow.
However, when the business was finished and the room fell into a brief silence, a kind of silent ambiguity began to spread.
Tracy leaned on the sofa, her fingertips tapping lightly on the armrest, her gaze fixed on Landon's face.
At that very moment, the door was knocked on gently.
Landon went to open the door, and standing outside was Eliza Dushku, who had changed into comfortable casual clothes, her hair still slightly damp, clearly having just showered.
There was a hint of a blush on her face, her eyes were bright, and she was holding a bottle of red wine provided by the hotel and two glasses.
"Hey, I thought... maybe we could have another drink to celebrate?" Her gaze crossed over Landon and saw Tracy in the room, but she wasn't surprised at all; instead, her smile deepened, "Oh, Tracy is here too?"
Tracy stood up from the sofa, her posture elegant. She looked at Eliza, then at Landon, a provocative smile appearing on her face.
Landon once again fiercely criticized the decadent capitalist society.
And the one who suffered the consequences of the deepest criticism was perhaps the assistant, Zoe, just a wall away.
She had thought that after the absurdity of the previous night, and with everyone going their separate ways the next day, tonight would finally be quiet.
At dinner, she had seen the intimate interaction between Eliza and Tracy and already felt her worldview needed a refresh, but how could she have expected the late-night "movement" to play again, and even more intensely.
The soundproofing of the walls once again proved to be purely nominal.
All kinds of face-reddening sounds intertwined into a more complex "symphony."
Zoe covered her ears, curled up in the quilt, but couldn't completely block them out.
She didn't understand why things had developed this way, and even less did she understand why she had chosen this room.
A sour feeling of being excluded, as well as some increasingly unspeakable restlessness, made her almost sleepless all night, only barely drifting off in the early hours of the morning.
So, on Monday morning, when Landon was refreshed and ready to return to the A Beautiful Mind set, what he saw was Zoe, who had two unprecedentedly dark circles under her eyes and was in a state of severe lethargy.
Landon frowned, inwardly surprised. What's wrong with this assistant?
In just one weekend, how could her state be this bad?
He even subconsciously sniffed the air carefully—there was no smell of marijuana or anything similar.
On Zoe, there was only the faint scent of perfume and the fresh fragrance of a young girl.
It seems she wasn't "smoking weed." He shook his head and didn't ask further.
But seeing Zoe looking like she was floating when she walked, Landon didn't dare let her drive.
The journey back to the set was, for once, driven by the boss himself.
What surprised him even more was that as soon as Zoe got into the car and fastened her seatbelt, she didn't occasionally poke at him like usual; instead, her head tilted, and within five minutes, she was making even, light snoring sounds, having fallen completely asleep.
Landon looked at her side profile in the rearview mirror, which still couldn't hide her exhaustion even in deep sleep. For once, he didn't hold her "dereliction of duty" against her; he just adjusted the car's air conditioning to a more comfortable temperature.
Arriving at the area where the crew was, Landon parked the car steadily before gently waking Zoe up. "Zoe, we're here."
Zoe woke up with a start, her eyes blank for a moment, then she immediately realized that she had actually fallen asleep while her boss was driving, and so deeply at that.
What made her face turn bright red instantly was that she discovered a small dark water stain on the left shoulder of her jacket—she had drooled!
This discovery made her wish she could immediately jump out of the car and disappear.
It was rare for Landon to see this girl, who always had a bit of a punk vibe, show such an embarrassed, girlish demeanor, and he couldn't help but find it somewhat funny.
But he considerately looked away, pretending not to see. "Let's go, it's time to start work."
The two walked into the set one after the other. Jennifer Connelly, who had been waiting there for a long time, immediately came up to greet them.
Her gaze first lingered on Landon's face, with a hint of inquiry and a little resentment, then fell on Zoe, who was standing beside him with flushed cheeks, evasive eyes, and heavy dark circles.
Jennifer's brows twitched almost imperceptibly, and her eyes darted back and forth between Landon and Zoe, her suspicion quite obvious—Landon, what on earth did you do over the weekend?
You even wore your assistant out like this?