Page 47 of Studious
So Danny is starting to become a friend. A sexy, gorgeous friend I have the hots for.
We go to the kitchen, and I hand Danny a package of marinated steak tips, then start pulling out ingredients for a salad. “Do you mind being in charge of the grill? We have a stovetop one.”
“I’m good with meat,” he says, and there’s that naughty spirit I want to tap into.
While he heats up the grill pan, I wash and chop vegetables. He pitches in wherever he can.
When we all sit down to eat, my mom beams at us. “Danny, thank you so much for helping.”
“Thanks for having me over.”
“How is work?” she asks. “What’s it like being a lawyer?”
“I love it—the formalities of the courtroom, putting together all the pieces of a case and figuring out how to present it to a judge or jury. Hell, I even love those old, downtrodden midcentury modern courthouses with their terrazzo flooring, smoke-stained ceilings from decades ago when it was legal to smoke inside, and rickety elevators that crap out on you when you have a hearing at eight thirty, eleven flights up. Something about those places—all the stories every day in all those courtrooms—really gets to me, and I love being a part of it.” He turns to me. “What do you think of the office, now that you’ve been with us a little bit?”
“It’s the best place, I swear. Someone’s always doing something interesting,” I say. “And I’ve never worked at a place where the higher-ups take the time to chat with the staff about what they’re working on.”
Danny nods, biting into his steak. After he swallows, he says, “Yeah, we’re all part of the same team. Or maybe we’re all little boats in the same flotilla, headed the same direction.”
“Do you have good clients?” Mom asks him.
“Very much so. I tend to like our clients and believe in what we’re fighting for. I think it would feel soulless if I were trying to defend something I didn’t believe in. Although the lawyer in me thinks that could be an interesting challenge.”
“Can you tell me about any of your cases? Or is that all confidential.”
“The identities of my clients are generally not confidential.” He twists his lips. “For example, I represent a gay porn star who is suing for sexual harassment.”
She sets down her fork and focuses on him. “Oh, that’s interesting.”
“We have to overcome all sorts of prejudices with that one, but I’m hopeful we can win. Just because he gave his consent for one thing doesn’t mean he gave it for everything, especially when he was clear about what he would and wouldn’t do, and with whom.”
“Go get ’em,” she says.
Danny nods. “The wrinkle, though, is that the studio is suing Velvet back for breach of a ‘personal services’ agreement.” He chuckles. “Yeah,thatkind of personal services. Ordinarily, you can’t sue someone for specific performance of a personal services contract because of the Thirteenth Amendment against involuntary servitude. But because he’s an actor, he’s a unique ‘commodity,’ which is treated differently. They’re trying to show he turned down projects he was under contract to act in, so they’ve lost profits and he owes the money. They’re saying no one else can, uh,performlike he does.”
Ain’t that the truth. Although, while Velvet’s as hot as hell, he’s got nothing on my fantasies about Danny.
“Of course, the reason he refused those projects was because he didn’t want to perform with the dude who was harassing him. So it’s messy.”
“How can the other attorney even represent this studio and the sexual harasser?” Mom asks.
“There’s two sides to every story,” Danny acknowledges. “While I like to go in there all fired up that I’m on the side of truth and justice and the other person broke the law, I’m sure there’s another interpretation. And even if the other guy is a horrible human being—one, he’s still entitled to legal representation, and two, sometimes the attorney can effect change from the inside. I like the opposing counsel, and I know her heart is in the right place. I have faith that justice will prevail, no matter how naive that sounds.”
“So, when’s the trial?”
He chuckles. “Not for quite a while. Months, or even years.”
Mom sits forward. “What will you do in the meanwhile?”
“Oh, that’s not the only matter I’m working on. I have plenty to do. I have another case that’s going to trial soon.” He turns to me. “You won’t see me for days when that happens. I live and breathe the case when I’m in trial.”
“Does that mean Velvet just has to wait?” I ask, continuing to ignore the fact that we’re talking about a porn star with my mom.
“Yeah,” Danny says with a “What can I do?” gesture. “LA courts are backed up. He won’t get to a jury for a long time.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re helping him,” Mom says. “And that you’re helping Alden. When are you going clothes shopping?”
“Tomorrow,” I say.
