*Standing disclaimer: This story is about the smoking fetish. If that's not your thing, you won't enjoy it. Please don't bother leaving a comment about how bad or awful or disgusting smoking is as it won't change a thing. We all die, right? If people choose to smoke, that's their business.
*********
"Are you serious?"
"As a heart attack. But here's the deal. This offer won't be on the table long. If you don't say 'yes' someone else will. And I have it on good authority Scarlett Johansson is considering the role."
"Well, she'd be perfect for it, that's for sure. She's got exactly what they're looking for and she's gorgeous."
"Abby, listen. You're a lot better looking than she is. She's just better known and landing a lead like this could turn that around very quickly."
"But if she wants the part, she's got it. We both know that, Howie."
"Look, that's why I'm telling you this. The director wants you, Abby. You're the fresh face he's looking for and if you move now, you've got a really good chance of getting the lead. Up 'til now, I've managed to get you two roles. The first had three lines and was what we call 'a good start' in this business. Last time, you played a small but important supporting role to Scarlett and that got you noticed. If you don't take this, there may not be another offer—ever. But if you do, it could change your life."
"Yeah, in more ways than one," she lamented.
"Tell me if this helps. Dylan Michaels looks like he's going to get the lead."
"Dylan? No way! He's only got one role on his list of credits."
"Fresh faces, kiddo. Remember? You guys had great chemistry and now you could both be playing leading roles in this flick. What's holding you back? I know you like the guy. Hell, you damn near threw yourself at him the entire time you were on set together."
Abby sighed and said, "Why is it when a woman let's a guy know she likes him it's 'throwing herself at him'—or worse, but if a guy does it he's just being persistent?"
Abby knew the answer. It was the same kind of double standard that had always existed where men and women were concerned. Men had conquests. Women were sluts. It wasn't fair, but it was the way too many people still saw the world and probably always would.
Then again, she had thrown herself at him. And why wouldn't she? He was to-die for gorgeous and still had a kind of boyish charm about him one didn't find in more experienced Hollywood actors. Fame had a way of turning them into other people; jaded people Abby Denton didn't much care for. But Dylan Michaels was raised in a small town in rural Alabama and he was not only gorgeous but a true gentleman.
While her mind wandered, Abby knew that many men had said the kinds of things her agent just told her. She really was beautiful. She'd been a modestly successful model in San Diego for two years before someone from her agent noticed her and talked her into reading for a part in a movie. She was as smart and sophisticated as she was beautiful and she'd knocked it out of the park in her reading, landing her first role. The part was small but it got her noticed and three months later she read for her second and got a supporting-actress role to Scarlett Johansson, no less.
In spite of her beauty, Dylan paid virtually no attention to Abby during the entire shoot. He was polite. He was friendly. He was even helpful. But he seemed to have eyes for Scarlett Johansson alone and no matter what Abby did, he barely even noticed her. In a selfish kind of way she considered it fortunate that Scarlett paid no attention to Dylan and at one point even asked him if he was some kind of stalker when she saw him staring at her for the umpteenth time. "You're a nice kid," she told him. "I'm not trying to mean, but I'm just not into you, okay?" letting him know to knock it off.
Abby overheard that when Scarlett had been just outside the studio smoking a cigarette and Dylan had casually followed her—again—and was standing somewhere he thought she couldn't see him as he watched her. Abby was disgusted by it. Not so much by Scarlett's endless need to smoke during every break, but the way Dylan followed her around like a little puppy dog. Even when he wasn't following her, he was watching her. Sure, she was pretty, but Abby was beautiful yet he was obsessed with Scarlett and unaware Abby was even alive. Howie had to be right. She was famous and Abby wasn't. End of story. What else could it possibly be?
"So what do you think?" she heard Howie ask again.
"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about something," she told him. "I want the part, but I don't think I can do it the way it's written. Can you talk to the writers and maybe have them..."
"Listen kid. It doesn't work that way in the business." Abby found it incredibly annoying the way her agent constantly referred to working in Hollywood as 'the business' when he had one and only one client—Abby Denton. And the 'kiddo' thing was ridiculous as he was maybe five years older than her, if that. She'd never asked but she guessed Howie to be about 30, give or take a year or two. "The writers get the final say and no one—and I mean no one—can change a single word without their permission. So you either take the part as written or someone else will."
The movie was called The Long Road to Recovery, and the script required the lead actress to smoke—a lot. Her character, Karen Powell, was a recovering addict, loved and supported by her former boyfriend who still wanted her back. Over time, they'd drifted apart as she'd become hopelessly addicted to pain killers and alcohol. One night, several months after she left him, she OD'd. The moment he learned about it, he came to see her in the hospital and begged her to get into rehab. He was there for her throughout the entire ordeal, supporting her, loving her, and encouraging her. In the end, she overcame the addictions to pills and booze and married the only man who'd really ever loved her for herself. The only thing she couldn't quit was smoking, and he didn't care because his love for her was so strong.
Abby would be required to smoke in nearly every scene of the entire movie over many weeks of shooting and that meant during each of the dress rehearsals, as well. The problem was she'd never even tried it before. Nearly every one of her friends had experimented with smoking either in junior high or high school, and a couple of them had started smoking and still smoked, but it was something Abby had always managed to avoid.
Now she was being presented the opportunity of a lifetime—her own lead in a major motion picture—and she was torn about taking it. It not only meant fame and future roles, it would mean more money than she ever seen in her life by far. They were offering her $250,000 which was ten times what she'd made in her last gig. As much money as that was to her, she knew Scarlett Johansson could demand (and get) ten times that amount. So she was not only the fresh face the director wanted, but a basement bargain for those backing the film financially.
"How much time do I have to decide?" she asked him. "Oh, and when does filming start?"
"Filming starts in five weeks, and I'd say you've got about five hours to let me know. If you wait even one more day, this may not happen."
"I've never smoked in my life, Howie. Not once."
"Then we'll get you a coach. Hell, they've got coaches for every damn thing in this town! People who know nothing about the military play Special Forces guys all the time. Same with cops or doctors or CSI types. You name it and there's a coach for it."
"Can you get me another fifty grand?"
"Maybe. If you're willing to sign the contract right now, I might be able to pry another 50Gs out of them but it seems pretty unlikely. Just keep in mind that from at least one perspective, you're a potential liability for them. If you bomb, the movie bombs so that fresh face thing has a flip side to it. Don't forget that."
"Just try, okay?" she said with a sense of resignation and mild disgust. "I'll take it regardless, though. I can't say no to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity like this, but I'd like the extra money as a kind of down payment for destroying my health and paying for my own rehab to quit those disgusting things several months down the road when we're done shooting, but I'll do it for 250k if they won't budge."
"That's my girl!" Howie said excitedly having long ago calculated his cut of the deal. He was a relatively new, still-unknown agent and Abby was his ticket to bigger and better things. For both of them, this role was a stepping stone to a potentially very bright, very lucrative future...in the business.
Two days later, Abby was in the office of some very important Hollywood executives with Howie and her new lawyer in tow. They'd agreed to another $25,000, meeting her halfway, but wouldn't budge another inch. After reviewing the contract, her lawyer showed her where to sign and Abby had the leading role.
As she left their office, she nearly ran right into Dylan Michaels who was standing just outside the door with his own agent and attorney.
"Dylan?" Abby said trying to contain her excitement.
