A Home for Jesse

Chapter 1-1

Chapter 1

“C’mon, Eliot!” Jesse’s on the phone with his good-for-nothing agent who has never managed to get him anything better than being a f*****g extra. It’s lunchtime. He’s at a payphone outside the set of the TV series he’s currently working on, as an extra of course, and he’s at the end of his tether what with there being no other job in sight for him.

Jesse rubs the back of his neck. Things have turned from bad to worse since his so-called boyfriend dumped him a month ago. Max had simply walked out one day and left Jesse high and dry without enough money to pay for the apartment they’d rented together.

The landlord has been hounding him for the rent money, saying that Jesse has to vacate the place unless he pays for another month. Jesse cringes at the thought of what he has in his wallet. There are the paychecks from his job as an extra-c*m-PA and the part-time work that he’s been doing at a fast food joint, but they don’t even begin to cover the high cost of living in Hollywood. It wasn’t so bad when Max was there to help share the financial burden, but now? Jesse is so frustrated that he just wants to scream and lash out at someone, anyone—Max, his agent, the landlord.

Jesse listens to what Eliot has to say. He clears his throat.

“Uh, no, Eliot. I don’t have that much time. It doesn’t have to be anything major. Just, you know, something a bit better than whatever you’ve thrown me so far.”

Jesse restrains the urge to slam the phone down. He’s still seething with resentment as he remembers an audition he’d missed and how Eliot had forgotten to tell him about it. Yeah, right, like he doesn’t know how unimportant he is to Eliot. Whatever. The man is still his f*****g agent and it’s still his f*****g job to find Jesse auditions that he so desperately needs.

“What? What did you say?” Jesse has almost missed Eliot’s next words. “Oh, okay, that sounds cool. Yeah, okay.”

Jesse hangs up the phone feeling more positive than he has for the past several days. The audition that Eliot was telling him about sounds promising though it still doesn’t solve his immediate problem—where he’s going to sleep tonight. The landlord has been unyielding and as of now Jesse is homeless with almost no money to his name.

Jesse turns around and flashes a polite smile as he walks past a guy talking on his cell. He tries to act normal.

* * * *

Trey nods back at the extra walking past him. Trey loves people, and he especially loves getting to know the people he works with. He has noticed—Jason?—on the set a few times, but then, who wouldn’t notice that face?

The man’s gorgeous and he could easily be mistaken for a model. As far as Trey can tell from the few lines the man has had, a good actor as well.

Trey is brought out of his reverie by the woman he’s talking to.

“Oh, yeah, Kimberly. What was that?”

He met Kimberly on the set of Theater High where they both played high school students. He clicked with Kimberly right from the beginning. She’s fun and funny, smart, and cute as a button. They keep in touch with each other, going on the occasional dates even though they’re no longer working together.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll get the role, babe. You’re awesome like that.”

Trey nearly jumps out of his skin when someone suddenly thumps him on the back, shouting in his ear and laughing like a maniac.

“Damn it, Brent!” he yells as he whirls around to see who it is. “No-no-no, Kim. It’s not you. It’s that weasel face Duncan again. He’s jealous of you.”

“What did you say? Is that Kimberly?” Brent laughs as he tries to snatch the phone from Trey. “Lemme talk to her.”

Trey cackles with laughter as he pushes Brent away. “Sorry, Kimberly, Brent was completely overreacting just now, totally embarrassing.”

“f**k you!”

“Got to go. My boy here wants some attention now. I’ll see you soon, yeah?” Trey clicks his phone shut with a grin and he and Brent pummel each other playfully as they walk back to the set with Brent proclaiming to all and sundry that he would never ever be jealous of anyone who’s close to Trey.