Rise To Stardom - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Meeting With An Agent
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Opening the door of his hotel room, Kyle was immediately bombarded with a singular question from Ryan.

“Did you win?!”

“Well I’d appreciate it if you moved away first” Kyle calmly replied, watching as Ryan’s face was just inches away from his.

Steven who was lying on his bed while pressing his smartphone, spoke without even raising his head up.

“Welcome back man”

“Thanks Steven. And yes Ryan. I’m going to L.A, same as you” Kyle answered both of them.

“Aw yeah!” Ryan pumped his fists up in the air while Steven just chuckled and said;

“He was a bundle of nerves the whole time you were gone.”

“Well I appreciate you looking out for me man” Kyle gratefully said while tapping Ryan’s shoulder a few times, after which he then proceeded to slump on his own bed.

Just as he did, Ryan suddenly heard his personal phone beep and then, picked up the phone call from Katie with another fresh bout of nervousness.

“Hey babe. So how’d it go?” he said, trying to maintain his cool.

“Hmmm. Uh huh? You did?! That’s great! See you soon then!” he cut the phone call in a jovial tone.

Slumping his shoulders in relief, Ryan also slumped onto his bed but the other two in the room immediately whipped their head over, a singular word recoiling in their heads.

‘Babe?!’ they inwardly questioned in curiosity.

Sure there was no rule against contestants being in a relationship on the show but most people would rather just avoid it all together since this was a reality show and their private lives could be publicized to a certain extent if they weren’t careful.

‘I did have my suspicions… Guess I was right then’ Kyle thought to himself, already dismissing the thought from his head.

Steven on the other hand, satisfied his curiosity by asking and Ryan willingly obliged, seemingly as if he hadn’t even been trying to hide it… although he did ask for Steven to keep the information on a low.

Just as the two were conversing, a hotel attendant suddenly knocked on their door and all three, quickly directed a gaze at themselves, wondering who had requested for room service.

“Good Evening Mr. Kestis. There’s someone who would love to meet you downstairs. Would you also like to meet him or should I decline his visit?” a female voice rang from the other side of the door.

Visibly confused, especially since he didn’t remember anyone who would want to visit him, much less have any reasons to want to talk with him, Kyle swiftly got up from the bed and opened the door while calmly asking;

“This… person. Did they give you a name?”

“Ah yes. He called himself Oliver Stone” the pretty hotel attendant replied with a small nod.

‘Oliver… Stone?’ Kyle thought to himself.

The only Oliver he had ever known in his two lives so far was the Oliver at the retirement home, but most had just resorted to calling him Ollie as a nickname.

Although Kyle was originally against the idea of meeting his sudden visitor, due to the fact that said visitor had a name he was familiar with, he decided to go check them out.

“Alright then. Thank you. Please lead the way” he respectfully gestured to the hotel attendant whilst telling his roommates he’d be back in a few minutes, hopefully.

Making his way down into the lobby while trailing behind the attendant, Kyle was soon shown to the man whom had wanted to meet with him.

Sitting on one of the comfy couches present in the elegantly designed lobby, Oliver upon spotting Kyle, instantly flashed him a small grin.

Kyle on the other hand, had a wave of surprise wash over him as he stared at the suavely dressed man in a suit with his slicked-back, stylishly-gelled, dirty-blonde hair and a briefcase in his hands.

Having done her part, the female attendant quickly left the two of them to their meeting and went about attending to her other duties.

“I do apologize for the sudden visitation but, if you don’t mind, would you like to move over to the restaurant just opposite here. I hear they have some delectable dishes” Oliver politely offered.

“Sure” Kyle calmly replied.

Soon enough, and in no less than three minutes, they were both already at said restaurant, dishes served before them as per their orders.

Oliver footed the bill of course.

Quietly scrutinizing as he sipped on his boba tea, Kyle remained silent, waiting for the suited man to speak.

“Let me be direct Kyle. I want to be your agent” Oliver broke the silence while placing both his Business and ID card down on the table.

He was basically doing this as a show of proof and honesty, to let Kyle understand that he wasn’t trying to scam him in any way.

Leaning over, the bespectacled young man gently retrieved the business card and then pushed the ID card back to Oliver while speaking.

“You gave me solid advice while handing that $100 bill over. That isn’t something a scammer would do” Kyle began.

“Besides, I doubt the production team and the guards would allow just anyone to waltz into the hotel contestants are situated at” he concluded while leaning back on his chair.

With a nod of his head, Oliver then spoke again.

“Well I just wanted to be honest with you”

“I understand” Kyle replied and then curiously asked;

“But why me? I’m pretty sure there’s no shortage of talented individuals you can find lying around in Hollywood, right?”

Oliver chuckled a bit at that and then began to speak.

“True. But I haven’t seen anyone in my entire life improve so fast within a span of just three weeks and mere days. That’s enough reason for me to be interested in you” he hinted at Kyle’s rapid growth.

“They all may not have noticed it like I did, especially since they never saw you perform before the show…”

“But I did. I saw you amateurishly sing just once, as a busker at a park. And then, the next time I witnessed you sing again, you had improved by leaps and bounds”

“That kid, is one of the makings of a star. And I want to be the one to take you to the very top with that kind of talent” Oliver finally concluded.

Kyle seemed to be deep in thought over his words and after musing over it for a bit, he asked another question.

“How’re you so sure I wasn’t just holding back the first time you saw me sing?”

“Believe me Kyle, with my wealth of experience managing artists and musicians, I knew what I saw wasn’t a fluke at all” Oliver replied, confidently crossing his arms across his chest.

With an understanding nod, Kyle stared at Oliver for a few more seconds, his hands fiddling with the business card in his hand, after which he then curiously questioned;

“There’s no agency present on your business card… I’m guessing you’re a free agent?”

“Yes. I am” the suavely-dressed man replied and then asked;

“Does that dissuade you from accepting my offer?”

“Because I feel like I should also inform you right now then that I don’t have the best connections”

“I, however, do have a fair few that are really, really good…” he added.

“No. Not at all. I don’t mind. In fact, I’d much rather prefer that” Kyle responded and Oliver’s face brightened up.

Honestly, Kyle understood that working with a free agent rather than an agency wasn’t particularly the best offer for someone new who wanted to make a stand in the industry.

However, he was also of the belief that it was always more beneficial in the long run as an artist is given as much freedom as they wanted regarding the things they wanted to do, with all of the resources focused on them alone.

A free agent basically ensured those kinds of demand would be easily met with little to no issues.

This was much better than having to haggle for resources in an agency that could throw an artist under the bus at any time the moment they began to give out bombs, or slowly fade out of and into obscurity in the general public’s minds.

“So will you accept my offer?” Oliver asked again, his voice hopeful this time.

Pondering for a few seconds, a bunch of thoughts began to filter through the young man’s head.

If he was being honest with himself, he very much knew that reaching the very end of the reality singing TV show was going to be an almost impossible task, especially with Lily, Steven, Katie and Ryan being the monsters that they were.

Compared to their skills which had probably been honed for a very long time, he on the other hand, still had a long way to go.

Of course he had a system but it didn’t mean he was always going to be dependent on it and truth be told, even if he did decide to depend on it, he doubted if he’d be able to catch up within the short time frame the show was going to run for.

So, it was always better to have a back-up plan in case things ended up not working out.

Seemingly having given even more thought to the matter after a few more minutes, Kyle then spoke up.

“Well, I guess you have yourself a deal then Mr. Stone”

Oliver’s face immediately broke into a happy grin when he heard those words but Kyle wasn’t done.

“However, you should know that I’m still in my final year of college…”

“Is that all? Then it won’t be a problem. We can take it easy till you’ve graduated of course” Oliver replied in an assuring manner.

“Also, I won’t be hindering you in between the show with any sort of jobs or gigs. That goes without saying” the agent added genuinely.

Nodding his head in appreciation, Kyle then watched as Oliver retrieved the contract for the terms and conditions from the briefcase he had brought with him from the very beginning.

Reading over the contract with complete concentration and a lot of prudence, Kyle’s sapphire eyes kept scanning the document in his hand for almost more than twenty minutes.

During this entire period, Oliver who wasn’t even disturbed by the time the young man was spending on scrutinizing every nook and cranny of the contract, just enjoyed his meal in peace.

In fact, he was glad that Kyle was being so meticulous about it as it meant that he probably had a very good head on his shoulders at his young age.

That was something every aspiring star definitely needed.

Satisfied with the clauses and the terms of the contract that basically gave him his complete freedom, Kyle signed it and handed it over back to Oliver.

“You sure took your time. That’s good” the suited man said with a light smile.

“It was necessary” Kyle replied and then proceeded to eat his food, the silence between he and Oliver comfortable.

About ten minutes later, after eating his fill, Kyle then exchanged numbers with his new agent after which he then further proceeded to stand up to leave the bar as he spoke.

“I guess I’ll see you soon then. Possibly during the show’s two-week break”

“Sure. I look forward to it. In the meantime, I’ll also search up on some nice gigs for you. That’s for after college graduation of course.” Oliver replied, cleaning his mouth with his napkin.

With a nod, Kyle then began to walk out after exchanging a handshake with Oliver.

However, just before he stepped through the automatic doors that led outside, he then turned over to the agent and said;

“Just so you know Oliver, I’m also quite capable at acting… well at least I believe so” he said with a light smile that genuinely surprised the agent as he continued;

“So, if you’re searching up gigs for me to be involved in, throw in a few acting gigs too. I’d really appreciate it”

Saying all that he wanted to, Kyle then walked out of the restaurant, leaving Oliver to let his last few words properly sink in.

* * *

“Is that all Chris was able to get out of him?” Howard asked as he and his assistant producer watched the host’s interview with Kyle replay before them.

Currently, they were done with all of the auditions for the day and the production team was now going through all the footage they had, deciding which was and which wasn’t going to be included when the show started airing.

“Yeah. That kid, he’s a pretty shrewd one” the young assistant producer, Kevin, replied as he and the creative producer kept viewing the clip.

‘Hmmm…’ Howard lightly hummed to himself.

‘He’s quite the secretive little one isn’t he?’ the producer mused further, his head swirling with a few more thoughts about the young man for quite a while.

“Alright. I have an idea as to how I’ll market him with just this much…” he finally spoke up again, his chubby hands gently stroking his chin with a smug smile.