realvalerialeon

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realvalerialeon Last night I couldn’t sleep so I drove to East L.A. to visit my childhood home where I lived from birth to age ten (no one was home when I knocked lol). It’s been a long time since I’ve been back. Sometimes I wonder if it might’ve been better if we’d never left, but I’m grateful for every opportunity, every challenge…Even if I don’t know how to do it and I’m not sure if I even want it anymore

Valeria stares at the Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? poster on her wall. A film by Disney, adapted from the book by Dr. Seuss, starring Valeria Leon and Patrick Paley, in theaters everywhere Thanksgiving 2014.

It’s the morning of the Platinum Triangle premiere. In her hand is the latest issue of US Weekly. Lily, Joel, and Hailey are on the cover with the headline “PLATINUM LOVE TRIANGLE!” A photo of Lily takes up the bottom third of the cover—it’s of her lifeguarding, her blond ponytail blowing in the wind and the beach behind her. The middle section is of a shirtless Joel surfing and looking his most gorgeous. The top tier is a photo of Hailey sunbathing in a bikini. The bar code is covering her left eye. She’s the capstone on top of the Young Hollywood pyramid.

The article is all about the drama between “rival cousins” Lily and Hailey that’s been happening since Lily moved into the Paleys’ pool house and caught the eye of Hailey’s romantic interest, dream guy Joel Strom. The sub-headline is “TV’s Hottest Teens Duke It Out!” The inside sources are definitely the Platinum Triangle producers. They always do a big PR push before the season premiere. It’s crazy how much they know. Sometimes Valeria feels like they’re in her mind, like the powers that be know her better than she knows herself.

Valeria puts down the magazine and goes into her mother’s bathroom. She opens the medicine cabinet and stands back as she appraises the bottles of pills. She just wants to hold them. She just wants to know that she could.

She hears Leo crying in his room and goes to check on him. She’s babysitting Leo this morning while her mom takes Sophia to get headshots and then goes for a facial ahead of the premiere. At first Valeria thought her mom was joking. Gloria had always threatened Valeria with Sophia, but Valeria didn’t think she would actually go as far as pushing Sophia into the industry just to spite her. Maybe it isn’t spite, though. Maybe it’s necessity. Valeria hasn’t come up with a way to save her family from their impending doom, and the Leons are running out of options.

Valeria lifts Leo out of his crib and cradles him in her arms. He stops fussing and cuddles against her chest.

“Did I ever tell you…?” she whispers, smelling his head.

The US Weekly article mentions Valeria by announcing that Hailey is replacing her on Almost Everything.

Hailey Paley in her acting debut.

Valeria knows she used Patrick’s influence to steal the role out from under her feet. Valeria just doesn’t know why. Is it just because she was there when Valeria got the call and she knew how happy it made her? Or…Valeria walks with Leo back to her bedroom and pulls the Panthère de Cartier earrings out of her pillow case and holds them in the palm of her hand. Does Hailey know her secret?

The doorbell rings.

Valeria puts the earrings away and goes down to answer it, balancing Leo on her hip as she swings open the door.

“I’ve been expecting you,” she says when she sees Lily standing on the doorstep, weighed down by Neiman Marcus shopping bags.

“I just got away from Hailey. We went shopping for the red carpet tonight and got a bit carried away. I’ve been wanting to get over here all morning. Can I come in?”

Valeria was hoping Lily would just forget it and pretend like she’d never seen her coming out of Patrick’s suite at the Montage. But Lily’s too good not to be shocked by bad things; she hasn’t been around them enough to know to keep quiet. Valeria’s ready for whatever explanation Lily demands of her.

“Come on.” Valeria leads Lily into the living room. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Please don’t do the whole I-don’t-feel-a-thing-therefore-I-can’t-be-fazed thing,” Lily says, dropping the shopping bags. “It’s so overplayed. I saw US Weekly. I know Hailey stole your part.”

Valeria puts Leo down so he can play with blocks on the floor. She and Lily sit on the couch.

“I’m not pretending. I’m fine. It doesn’t matter what Hailey tries to do to me…she can’t hurt me where I live.” Valeria shoots Lily a look. “Do you know who told me that?” she asks. “Elizabeth Taylor. Elizabeth fucking Taylor!” Valeria doesn’t admit that it’s something she only heard Elizabeth say in a video she watched under the covers late at night.

“I respect your strength so much, Valeria.” Lily glances over at Leo on the floor. “I know you’d do anything for your family.”

Valeria remains silent. It’s like when she would give interviews as a kid and the reporter would ask a question that intimidated Valeria, a question that was leading or trying to trap her—trying to get her to say something bitchy about another child star or give away something about her dad’s rumored gambling with the money she was making. Valeria would just freeze up. She wouldn’t say anything. She would just stare at the reporter, politely but firmly. She wouldn’t give anything away.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Lily says. “Patrick’s paying off your mortgage.”

Valeria blinks.

“What?”

“That was the deal I made with him. He pays off your mortgage and he never sees you again. I told him I would go to the police and the media if he didn’t. He said no one would believe me, and he seemed so sure of it I was scared he was right. So I figured I would need proof.”

“Proof?” Valeria asks.

“Something to hold against him and threaten him with, something to keep him in his place. So then Patrick was putting on his clothes in the bathroom and telling me how it was going to be: he was going to drive us both home and we were going to act like nothing had happened, raise absolutely no suspicions with Whitney or Hailey. And while he was talking, I went on his phone. The passcode is the day he won his Golden Globe; I overheard Hailey teasing him about it once. I had a feeling there would be some kind of evidence, something between you two that I could use. A text, anything. That’s when I found the photo you sent him.”

Valeria swallows.

“We can go to the police if that’s how you want to handle this,” Lily says. “I think you should, but I understand if you don’t want to. It’s your choice, Valeria. I’ll stand by you no matter what. I have the phone.”

“No police,” Valeria says, her mouth dry. It’s all she’ll ever be known for if the truth comes out. The girl who was raped by Patrick Paley. Valeria refuses to go down in history as a footnote in Patrick Paley’s Wiki. Even if the courts don’t name her because she’s underage, it’ll spread through the industry. Valeria knows how it works. Hollywood never forgets.

“Patrick’s going to pay off the house and help your family financially,” Lily says.

The house. Her true Hollywood house. Valeria can’t believe it.

“You don’t have to worry about the IRS anymore. And Sophia’s going to go to the most bougie private elementary school in Los Angeles. And whatever else you want. Patrick’s not getting away with what he’s done to you. From now on, we’re calling the shots.”

Lily smiles at Valeria proudly. “You’re looking at the new executive producer of Platinum Triangle!”