Simon didn't notice the girl with the camera who was silently watching him in the crowd. Hearing Janette's words, he just smiled and said, "What, are you planning to live there for a while?"
Janette nodded honestly: "Yes, if I could be like you, I'd live there for years."
Kathryn had also come back to her senses by this time. Besides her surprise, her curiosity about Simon's past was once again strongly piqued. However, hearing Janette's words, the woman gave her friend a warning glare: "Jenny, don't joke about things like that again."
Janette felt the rare seriousness in Kathryn's words, immediately shrank her neck, and ingratiatingly hooked Kathryn's arm, shaking it gently. She indeed stopped talking.
Simon calmed his slightly increased heartbeat caused by intense concentration of playing. Noticing Janette's small gesture, he smiled and handed the guitar in his arms to Kathryn in front of him, saying, "Could you hold this for me?"
Kathryn reached out and took it, still a little puzzled. Simon had already squatted down and started to sort the money in the guitar case in front of him.
Wanting to go forward and help, but feeling the guitar in her hands, Kathryn could only stand there, carefully holding the guitar in her arms.
Janette eyed the guitar in front of her, reached out, but was stopped by Kathryn. She pouted unhappily and simply squatted down again to help Simon sort the money, even picking up a 5-cent coin to criticize someone for being too stingy and so on.
Soon, all the money in the guitar case was sorted. Even without Janette's hundred-dollar bill, there were still over 260 dollars, far exceeding Simon's expectations.
Leaving Janette to hold a small pile of coins, Simon stuffed the banknotes into his jeans pocket. He took the guitar from Kathryn's hands, carefully packed it into the case, and slung it over his shoulder. Looking to Kathryn, he said, "So, shall we go to dinner?"
"Okay," Kathryn didn't hesitate this time, smiling and nodding. She even actively suggested, "There's a good Mexican restaurant nearby."
"Walking there should be fine, right?"
"Of course, it's just to the north."
"Oh, how will you two get back later?"
"My car is in the parking lot over there."
"What a coincidence, mine's there too, but it's borrowed from the motel owner, a really good guy."
"The guitar is borrowed too?"
"Yes it is."
Janette stood rooted to the spot, staring dumbfounded at the man and woman who were about to walk away side by side. She looked down at the coins she was still holding in her hands. What the hell was going on?
Had she just been... forgotten?
Thinking of this, Janette's anger flared up instantly. With her slightly hoarse little voice, she shouted on the street, "Simon Westeros, if you dare to take another step, I'll throw all these things away!"
Many people on the pedestrian street were once again drawn to the scene.
Simon and Kathryn also turned around, looking at the fuming Janette. Simon quickly went back and with a embarrassed look said, "Sorry, Jenny, here, I'll take them."
Janette clattered all the coins in her hand into Simon's hand, and with a hint of grievance, glared at Kathryn.
Both of them felt a little embarrassed. Kathryn stepped forward and linked arms with Janette. Simon put the coins away, and the three of them then walked north again.
Looking at Janette, who deliberately stood between them, Simon had to make small talk, saying, "So, Kathryn, you just said Jenny's studio is here. What kind of studio?"
"An art studio," Kathryn replied, "Jenny is a painter. When you get rich in the future, you can buy her paintings."
"Oh, definitely."
"I wouldn't sell to a little rascal like you."
"I'll pay a high price."
"No sale!"
"Double the price."
"Pfft!"
"Hehe," Kathryn chuckled. Seeing her friend glare at her again, she quickly said to Simon, "Jenny is really amazing. She actually graduated from Columbia Business School. Buffett also attended Columbia Business School. Simon, you know Buffett, right?"
Simon nodded and said, "Of course."
Kathryn continued, "That year, Buffett came back to Columbia to give a speech, and Jenny debated with Buffett in the auditorium. If it weren't for the dean of the business school mediating, Jenny almost made him lose face."
"That's really impressive," Simon smiled and continued to ask, "Then why did she switch to being a painter?"
Kathryn this time only glanced at her best friend, smiling and no longer explaining.
Janette saw Simon also curiously glance at her and simply rolled her eyes at him.
Chatting casually, the three arrived at a nearby Mexican restaurant. Although Simon had several hundred dollars in his pocket, both women only ordered a $25 set meal. However, Simon still complied with Jenny's 'wish' and used her $100 to order a nice bottle of red wine.
After dinner, Simon also left the motel's contact information with Kathryn before parting ways with the two women.
After paying the dinner bill, Simon still had over a hundred dollars left, enough to last until his convenience store paycheck next week. So, he dismissed the idea of wasting more time on additional part-time jobs.
Having resolved his small financial troubles, Simon then truly settled down in Los Angeles.
Once life enters a repetitive and monotonous state, the days often fly by quickly.
In the blink of an eye, it was Simon's third week in Los Angeles, and the time had entered July.
Outside of working at the store, Simon generally maintained a frequency of two phone calls a week with Jonathan Friedman. The agent did not hide his thoughts from him.
He wanted to turn 'The Butterfly Effect' into a package deal, mirroring CAA's recent package deals.
Last Wednesday, Simon, at Jonathan Friedman's invitation, went to the WMA headquarters and chatted with Brian De Palma, the director the agent had in mind for his film, for over half an hour.
Brian De Palma rose to fame with 'Carrie' in the 1970s, but Simon knew that he was also the director of Tom Cruise's first 'Mission: Impossible' ten years later, making him one of Hollywood's most renowned evergreen directors.
Therefore, although Brian De Palma taking over 'The Butterfly Effect' would, to some extent, overshadow the script itself, considering the promotional effect of this renowned director's involvement on the entire project, Simon was happy to see it happen.
Originally, everything seemed to be going very smoothly.
However, two days ago, when he called his agent, the agent told him that things had taken a negative turn.
Friedman's initial idea was to use only the artists he represented, but after the script for 'The Butterfly Effect' circulated within the company, some other WMA executives also developed their own ideas for the project.
The agent didn't explain too clearly this time so Simon couldn't understand the intricacies involved, but he also knew that he would definitely have to continue to wait patiently for an outcome. As a newcomer who had just debuted, he naturally couldn't have any influence on WMA's internal power struggles, and at this point, he could only obediently resign himself to be a pawn.
On the other hand, after getting past the initial financial hurdle of the first week, Simon kept only his convenience store job and began to progress some of his other plans.
It was another ordinary Thursday afternoon, but tomorrow was July 4th, Independence Day, followed by the entire weekend. As a result, many people were already in a holiday mood, and the customer traffic in the convenience store was noticeably much higher.
"So, how was today?"
Standing behind the cash register, Simon saw Courteney Cox come over with a pile of snacks. While ringing up the girl's purchases, he casually greeted her.
After working at the convenience store for a short while, Simon discovered that Courteney Cox happened to live nearby and often shopped at this store. Courteney Cox also found this very interesting, and every time she came to buy something, she would specifically chat with Simon for a few words, and the two gradually became familiar with each other.
However, Courteney's mood today was clearly very bad.
Hearing Simon's greeting, Courteney, whose expression was already a bit gloomy, retorted in an ill-tempered way, "I just received a notice that I failed an audition, what do you think?"
Simon smiled and said, "There's no need to be so discouraged. You have such good conditions, you'll definitely have more opportunities. Speaking of which, I'm currently preparing an experimental film. How about you be the female lead?"
"Experimental film?" Courteney eyed Simon's store clerk uniform and teased, "Let's not even talk about whether you can make a movie, first of all, do you have money?"
"When Joe sells my script, I'll probably have money," Simon said, bagging Courteney's snacks. "That's $19.75 altogether."
Courteney handed over two $10 bills, still a bit sharp-tongued: "You've been here for weeks and there's been no movement. By the time Joe sells your script, maybe I'll already be a big star like Michelle Pfeiffer. The money for your script wouldn't even cover a fraction of my salary."
Simon gave Courteney her change and said, "Michelle Pfeiffer shouldn't be expensive, right? But she is indeed a very charming woman. Maybe I'll have a chance to date her in the future."
Courteney weighed the few coins in her hand, rolled her eyes at Simon, and said, "It's rare, you're daydreaming and still haven't given me the wrong change."
After mercilessly hitting Simon with a few remarks, Courteney's mood clearly improved significantly. As she left, she politely said goodbye before picking up her bag and leaving the convenience store.
Simon threw the receipt Courteney had left behind into the nearby trash can. Seeing no customers behind, he was about to sit down and rest for a while when Roger Griffin, the plump owner of the convenience store, sidled over and leaned against the counter, saying, "Hey, kid, using 'making a movie' as an excuse to pick up girls is really lame. If it were me, I would have just asked her out directly. After all these days, I'm getting anxious just watching you."
Simon didn't rise to the bait from this middle-aged fat man who definitely had the intention but not the guts to follow through. Instead, he changed the subject: "I'm not making excuses. Speaking of which, Roger, can I film some scenes in your store when the time comes?"
"You can" Roger Griffin was still very straightforward and direct: "As long as you pay."
"Of course I won't use it for free," Simon smiled. "But I need to clarify one thing first: it'll be a robbery scene."
Roger saw that Simon was not joking at all. He narrowed his eyes, observing him, and quickly said, "Alright, but when you're filming, you'll have to put up a temporary new sign for the store, and no specific address information can appear in the shot."
The film from memory took several weeks to persuade a supermarket to cooperate with filming a robbery scene.
Simon didn't expect it to go so smoothly for him, so he immediately nodded and raised his hand to Roger, saying, "Then it's settled."
Although he secretly didn't think much of Simon's idea of making a movie, just like Courteney, the middle-aged fat man still raised his hand and shook it, saying, "Kid, if you really do make one someday, remember to save a role for me."
Simon also didn't dally, saying simply, "Of course, no problem."
After chatting with Simon for a few minutes, Roger leisurely walked away.
Simon continued to work for another half an hour. When it was time for his shift change, after handing over to the next shift's employee, he left the convenience store with his light grey canvas backpack.