Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

After getting the text from Ava, Aiden quickly made his way towards the location she sent. He didn’t have anything else to do other than going home and playing video games. 

Anyway, Ava was kind of like his boss because she was handling the project from Titan studios. Rejecting her wasn’t a good thing if he wanted to maintain good relations with her. 

Having a connection in Titan studio was a great thing going forward, especially because of how much influence they held. 

“She called me here?. I don’t see her.”

Aiden muttered after parking his car in a parking lot that he found. Ava had called him to a street that was famous for its cafes and restaurants. 

After getting out of the parking lot, Aiden wore a mask and looked around but didn’t find Ava anywhere. Pedestrians crowded the street and some of them were eating at outdoor restaurants. 

He didn’t find Ava anywhere and as he was about to call her, someone tapped his shoulder. 

“It’s been a while.”

As he turned around, he saw Ava standing there. She was wearing a floral dress and there was a smile on her face. 

“You look pretty.”

“What?”

“Uh…”

Aiden made an awkward smile. Those words had come out of his mind out of nowhere, partly because it has already become a habit of him to hit on every girl thanks to Finn. 

Ava was also surprised, not expecting a compliment from him. It felt a bit unnatural to her. 

“Sorry, Finn is used to giving out compliments.” Aiden remarked and Ava finally understood what was going on. 

“I don’t mind.” 

Smiling, she started walking and Aiden tried to get it together before asking. 

“You don’t have any of those meetings with people who control Hollywood?”

Aiden asked, looking at her attire. It was very casual. 

“No, I had a meeting early in the morning with a foreign client. After that, I was free, so I called you up.”

Aiden had a lot of questions hearing that but he didn’t voice them out and just followed Ava on the street. A lot of eyes moved towards her, especially the male gaze but it looked like she was used to ignoring them. 

Many of them were also directed at Aiden but they weren’t quite nice. 

Fortunately, there was no paparazzi around. 

“I heard about your therapy. How’s it going? Any progress?”

Ava asked, breaking the silence. 

“Not a lot but I’m trying. Pills aren’t helping as much as my psychologist hoped. The saving grace is that most of the actors get out of these things with regular therapy.”

“You are going to get better.”

“How can you say that?”

Aiden raised an eyebrow and looked down at her. 

“Do you want to hear that you won’t ever be fine?” Ava asked, giving him a snarky smile and he was speechless for a second. 

‘Yeah, a dumb question.’

Aiden thought in his mind as Ava suddenly pointed at a small archway. He had always felt weird whenever he and Ava had talked.

“Come with me.”

Aiden followed her and after walking for a bit, they came across an old looking, vintage cafe that has a serene air about it. 

They entered it and Aiden noticed that it was mostly empty, barring a few people. At least it was quiet. 

“This is a place where I come often. The coffee is great and it’s good because not a lot of people come here daily. I have come here with celebrities before and they were happy that no one bothered them with autographs.”

Ava explained as they sat down. Aiden looked around for a bit as they gave their orders before turning to face Ava.

“So, why did you call me?”

“Shouldn’t you know that?. After all, the rumours say that you know everything.”

“Don’t joke.”

Aiden’s face fell. One of the effects of winning a million dollars on ‘The Million Dollar Game’ was that people have started treating him as some sort of genius with an IQ on the level of Einstein. It was mostly in a joking manner but some people were serious too. 

He had even read comments asking him to take an IQ test. 

Ava laughed seeing his reaction before becoming serious. 

“There wasn’t really a reason. Like I said, I was free today and wanted to meet you. Didn’t you hear what I said last time we talked?”

“That you want to back me?”

“Yeah, but not like a relationship where one is more influential than the other. Those types of relationships hardly work.”

Ava explained. According to her, a relationship where she’s just using Aiden as a pawn wasn’t a good way forward. Her eyes shined as she looked at him. 

‘He’s special.’

She thought in her mind. 

Her instincts were something that she relied on a lot. They weren’t right all the time but this time, she was pretty sure of it. 

Logic was also saying that as Aiden had kept surpassing everyone’s expectations till now. She felt like if she really went with this approach, then there would be a time when Aiden won’t even need her. 

“So, what type of relationship are you looking for?”

Aiden asked, taking a sip from his cup. 

“One of friendship. Just friends who could back each other up.”

“You do know I’m just starting out in my career. How am I going to back you up?”

Aiden leaned back, curious to know how Ava was going to answer that question. She adjusted a strand of hair from her ear before opening her mouth. 

“It’s a long term friendship.” She said, “I’m sure you will become big in the future and people do say that it’s better to keep friends that you feel would be successful.”

“I have a question.” Aiden asked after a while. “Why does a director of one of the Big 6 studios offer such ‘friendship’ to me? I thought that they were too high and mighty to make friends out of someone who is not walking the conventional Hollywood path.”

“That’s something I can’t answer.”

“I like honesty.”

Aiden looked up at her and after a few seconds, she sighed. In the first place, she knew that she can’t hide her intentions and reasons behind them forever. 

It was better to be honest from the start. 

“Titan studios has pretty complex management and it’s hard to explain everything but in simple words, the board of directors don’t really like me.”

“Why?”

“They think I’m not good enough to be a director. It’s not been a long time since I took the post and it’s been a genuinely hard time. Only the chairman is supporting me but even he can’t do much as there are a lot of objections against me. Primarily because of my age and less accomplishments as a director.” 

Ava frowned as she explained. 

Aiden recalled seeing the photo of the chairman of Titan studios. He was one of the most influential people in Hollywood and was known as highly ambitious as it was only because of him that Titan studios became one of the Big 6. 

His name was Barry Williams. 

“So, you want my help to strengthen your position as the director?”

“It’s more complex than that. I would need to have successful projects under me, movies and series. A big studio earns from multiple things but the face is still movies. The project with Zetflix made me meet you and I’m genuinely impressed till now.”

She smiled and Aiden understood what was going on and looking at Ava, he didn’t feel like she was lying. 

‘It might turn out to be a big connection. Even bigger than Omar.’

Titan studios had most things in Hollywood under them and a lot of actors would get influence in a studio by continuing working with them for years. 

For example, Zero International, one of the Big 6, was a mid-sized studio in the 90s but then, they collaborated with an actor for a sci-fi movie about robots and it turned out to be a franchise later on.

It was still Hollywood’s Top 5 highest grossing franchises and that actor and the studio had since worked on various projects together, helping in each other’s growth. 

“So, you are asking me to be a part of the projects you undertake? As an actor?”

“You are more than an actor.” Ava gives him a grin. “You have a lot of talents and I feel like I could use them in various places. Moreover, it’s just good to have a person to rely on. That’s what friends are for right?”

Saying that, she pushed her hand towards him and hesitating for a second, he shook it.

‘It looks like a pretty sweet deal.’

Aiden thought inwardly. He had been thinking about her since they met at the Oscar after party. She had just seemed like someone he would see a lot back then. 

But then, goodwill had formed because she had helped him to make [Disconnected] reach its deserved audience. 

Thinking of everything, Aiden felt like it was a good way forward for him. With Ava as a connection, he would be able to have some access to the projects that are roaming the office of Titan studios. 

“You are not taking any projects for now, right?”

Ava asked, finishing up her coffee. 

“Yeah, I’m going to take it easy for a while and then, see if I am interested in a script. These days, it’s hard to get my hands on a good enough script.”

“I feel like I might have a few great scripts under me that are only going to pre-production next year. Maybe, you might like them.”