6. Danny
Danny
Iwatched Jessica strut out of the room, and my heart sank. I had expected it to end badly, but not in a train wreck like that.
Paige held out her hand, a big grin on her face.
“What’s that for?” I asked, pointing at it.
Her grin widened. “That, my dear brother, was a crash and burn. Pay up.”
I rolled my eyes and pulled a bill out of my wallet. “I’ve only got a twenty.”
Paige snatched the bill and pocketed it. She nodded at the exit. “I like her. You should ask her out.”
I heaved a sigh and glared at Paige. “Did you not just tell me I crashed and burned?”
Paige smirked. “Oh, I know this girl. I’ve been that girl. She’s still into you.”
I let out a loud scoff and headed to the exit at the opposite end of the room. “I highly doubt that.”
Paige followed and continued to needle me. “I have a good intuition for these things. Find a way to make it up to her.”
“I’m not sure that’s possible. Right now, all I want to do is get back to my room and hide,” I grumbled.
“Well, I don’t think you’re going to be able to hide,” she said, already back on her phone. “Britta messaged me. The studio must have seen the interview. Reuben wants to talk.”
“Wonderful,” I muttered. I let it go. I could handle Reuben.
“And you have a bigger problem. The Boss texted and she is pissed.”
Now that thought filled me with fear.
I bit my lip, trying to formulate a plan. “Okay. First things first. We hit Kao’s. It’s around the corner from here, and we’ll get some soup dumplings.”
“You can’t buy her off with food,” Paige warned me. Her phone pinged, and she frowned at the text.
I made my way to the exit. “No, but it’ll make the conversation easier. Trust me. I need you to be on Team Danny. We need to have a united front.”
I suddenly realized that my united front wasn’t next to me. I turned around and found Paige still frowning at her phone. “Everything okay?”
“It’s nothing. The usual crap with Alfie. Don’t worry about it. I’m with you. Team Danny,” Paige assured me, pocketing her phone. “United front.”
The Boss was waiting for us as soon as we walked into the hotel suite. My niece Faye, having turned fourteen a few months ago, had learned to glare at people ruthlessly. She was doing this now over the frames of her glasses, which made it worse.
“You’re pathetic,” she declared.
I’m not going to lie. That hurt.
“I brought you some soup dumplings,” I offered, holding up the bag like it was a prize.
“I’m not ten years old, Uncle Danny!” She snarled, ripping the bag from my hand. “You can’t buy me off with food!”
“Told you,” Paige muttered under her breath.
Faye scowled at us and marched over to the kitchenette where she unpacked the bag. “I can’t believe you didn’t read the books! You told me you would read the books! The only way you can portray Tyrst’an is if you know the story!”
“Faye, I know Uncle Danny promised, but sometimes things happen in life-” Paige stopped as Faye gave her the evil eye. Paige turned to me and patted me on my shoulder. “Sorry, dude. You’re on your own.”
“Chicken,” I shot back at her.
“And to top it all off,” Faye growled. “You didn’t even invite me to the interview.”
Paige and I shared a confused moment together. “You wanted to go see Uncle Danny get neutered?” Paige asked.
Faye huffed. “Jess Richards is my favorite influencer. I tried to get tickets when she first announced she’d be at the convention, but I couldn’t afford it,” she snarled at us.
“How are we supposed to know that?” I asked.
“I’ve been on her Patreon for a year!” Faye shouted.
“Sweetie, you’re on multiple Patreons and follow multiple influencers,” Paige said using her calming tones. “We can’t keep track of it all.”
“Well, maybe if you told me where you were going and who was interviewing you, I could have told you,” she scolded.
“Okay, fair,” Paige relented. “But are you angry about not getting invited or Uncle Danny breaking his promise to you?”
In response, Faye turned her head to scowl at me.
“Thank you for putting it back on me,” I growled at Paige.
“I’m not going down for your bullshit.”
“I can hear you!” Faye shouted. Despite the fact that I was told I could not buy her off, she shoved a small dumpling into her mouth.
Paige gave her a saccharine smile. “Adults are talking, sweetie. Just remember everything is Uncle Danny’s fault.”
I let out a very long sigh. “Don’t we have a call?”
“You think it’s going to be any better than this?” Paige taunted as she pulled out her laptop.
I took a moment to sit down in the kitchenette across from Faye. “I am sorry. I should have listened to you.”
She said nothing. She didn’t even look at me. She did, however, eat another dumpling.
I sat there with a hollow feeling in my chest. Disappointing some fans was one thing. Disappointing Faye was heartbreaking. “Was my performance at least halfway decent?”
She peered up from under her bangs. “It was good. It could have been better.”
“I’ll fix this,” I told her.
She let out a grunt which was almost promising.
I leaned down so I could look her in the eyes. “Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”
She focused her gaze on the bowl of soup in front of her. “Well. There is one thing.”
“Tell me,” I said leaning on the table.
Her spoon poked at a dumpling, poking it down below the broth and then letting it pop up again. “So, a bunch of my friends I know from online are here and are going to a party-”
I knew this game all too well. I held up my hand to stop her. “You asked your mom, and she said no?”
She grimaced.
I gave her a small smile. “Sorry Boss, nice try though.”
“Danny? Meeting is about to start,” Paige called out from the living room area.
I sat down in front of the laptop. Paige took her position on the couch, tapping away on her phone. Britta and Stella were already online.
“Brilliant performance, Woobie!” Stella called out. “But you really screwed the pooch with the books.”
“You watched it?” I asked, half-amazed.
“My grandson set it up for me before he went to school.”
Britta snorted in derision. “It’s not all bad. At least people got to see you perform.”
There was a blip and Reuben Sinclair appeared with the rest of my crew. “Danny-Boy!”
I gritted my teeth, doing my best not to be annoyed with him. It was difficult. I was annoyed by his smile. I was annoyed by his hairline. I was always annoyed with Reuben, but I had to play nice as he was the executive producer for the show. I forced a grin. “Hello, Reuben.”
“We’ve got ourselves in a pickle, Danny-Boy. You know that right?”
“I am well aware of the situation,” I said calmly.
“Mmm-hmm. Well, the good news is that you at least stirred up some good publicity. Most of the people who have not read the books seem to think you’re perfect for the role. But that’s only a third of the audience. Guess who’s the other two-thirds?”
“Toddlers from age three to four?” I quipped.
“Funny,” Reuben deadpanned. “It’s the book readers, Danny. You’re going to have to figure out how to get them on your side.”
“I’m sure we’ll turn them around with the studio’s help,” I replied, knowing what he was going to say.
“Oh, the studio is staying away from you kid. You’re radioactive.
You’re going to have to fix this on your own if you want to show up in Hall G at SDCx2.
My suggestion? Win over that Richards girl.
She was at least impressed with your performance.
Get her to endorse you, everything will be smooth sailing from there. ”
That part I wasn’t prepared for. I glanced at Paige as she pinched the bridge of her nose out of frustration. “Sure thing, Reuben. I’ll get right on that.”
“Excellent,” Reuben gave me a grin.
I hated that smile. I wanted to punch those teeth in.
“One question for you, Reuben, old buddy,” I said, keeping my frozen grin in place.
“Ask away, Danny-Boy!”
“Have you read any of the books?” I said with all the innocence I could muster.
It wasn’t a punch to the teeth, but it might as well have been. Stella covered her mouth to stop from snickering. Britta and Reuben scowled at me. I heard a bark of laughter from across the room and looked up to see Faye laughing. I counted it as a personal victory.
“Good luck, Danny,” Reuben grunted at me and logged off.
“Go fuck yourself, Reuben.” I said once I was sure he was offline.
“That was awesome,” Faye called out, still laughing.
“You shouldn’t be pissing off the studio, Danny,” Britta scolded me. “And I can tell you right now that Richards woman won’t be taking any of my calls.”
“She’s still here at the convention. I’ll track her down,” I replied, while at the same time wondering if I would survive the experience.
“Already working on it!” Paige called out from the couch.
“Be ready to pour on the charm, Danny. I’ll see what I can do to sway any of the press,” Britta grumbled as she signed off.
“It’ll be fine, Woobie,” Stella reassured me. “Just be you, and everything will fall into place.”
I watched her get up and walk away from the computer, forgetting to log off. “That boy is so screwed,” I heard her mutter.
I closed the call and turned to Paige. “Any thoughts?”
Paige dropped her phone on the side table and heaved a sigh. “She has a panel she’s participating in at six tonight. Other than that, pretty sure she’s getting a turkey leg.”
“I need ideas, Paige.”
She pulled herself off the couch. “We’re lined up for the trailer filming the day after tomorrow. Find her and get her to watch. Maybe get that Brayonna and Bennet couple to come along, so she’s not alone when she hangs out with us.”
I frowned, shaking my head. “I don’t think she’s going to listen to me.”
“She will,” Paige said, going back to her phone. “Trust me. She still has a thing for you.”
Faye appeared and slammed a stack of eight books down in front of me. “If you want to impress Jess Richards, this is what you should be doing in your free time.”
I glanced at the books in astonishment. “You brought all eight books with you?”
“No, I bought them downstairs at the con. This is the special edition with the sprayed edges,” she explained and pulled off the top book, shoving it in front of me.
I took the book and sighed. Right now, I had three women mad at me. Two, I knew, would eventually forgive me when I made up for it.
I had no idea how to appease the third.