Rise To Stardom - Chapter 174

Chapter 174: Sweet Summer Child
Overexposure was a thing a lot of Hollywood stars suffered from, especially upcoming young stars and popular celebrities.

Partly, this was usually as a result of their agencies constantly trying to increase their fame or trying to keep them relevant, thereby flooding social media platforms with any and all information about them.

This, on more occasions than one, ended up plastering an oversaturated status on them, and unfortunately, desensitized the mainstream media to them.

As a result, the general public, in the long run, would gradually begin to lose interest in them over time, despite any worthwhile achievements they could, or may, end up achieving in their careers.

That said, this was the least of the Oliver’s concern at the moment as his talent, asides the many tabloids on the Gala Incident last month, had more or less been under the radar.

Still…

“Kyle. How exactly did you get yourself trending in just over an hour after I dropped you off at the comic book store?” Oliver, carrying a plastic bag full of steaming hot donuts, asked his ward, a slightly confused expression on his suave features as he scrolled through his phone’s TweetTalk feed.

Kyle whom was holding a Starluck’s traveler box of coffee, similarly tilted his head in slight confusion as he exited the vehicle, both of them standing before a rented one-storey building.

Walking over, Kyle leaned over Oliver’s shoulder, slightly squinting at the screen of his agent’s smartphone.

The streets were fairly busy in the posh, Lawrence Park neighborhood, no one really batting an eye at either of the two as most, casually went about their days.

Wealthy or famous Hollywood stars living or appearing in the neighborhood, wasn’t a rare sight for the inhabitants living there after all.

“Oh, that. I didn’t even think it’d amount to anything.” Kyle whom had realized the cause, smiled lightly as he began to make his way into the rented building while adding;

“It is the truth after all. I mean, why gauge the entire being of someone on a scale of numbers?”

“You’re right, yes… but, I don’t think you realize just how many people online keep calling you, Giga Chad.” Oliver said, casually walking over to Kyle as he pushed open the doors of the building.

“You’re like a role model of sorts to a whole lot of kids and teens, just so you know. So, whatever they begin to label you on the internet, probably will get attributed to you in real life.” Oliver added as he walked up the small staircase.

Kyle on the other hand, frowned in slight confusion.

“What’s a, Giga Chad?” he asked, slowly turning over to face his agent, a hint of curiosity in his tone, the opened door left slightly ajar.

In response to that though, Oliver halted in his steps, glanced at his ward, blinked a few times in confusion and then, let out a small, accepting sigh in understanding.

Walking over to him, Oliver gently pat Kyle on the shoulder with a proud, fatherly smile and then said;

“You sweet summer child. Keep staying off the internet.”

Frowning even deeper this time, befuddled by his agent’s statement as he walked past, Kyle eventually gave up and followed the suave man in.

…

…

…

The circular, polished, medium-sized mahogany table, situated in the middle of the wide, modern, expansive office and surrounded by three firm yet plush black couches, was filled with neatly arranged boxes of donut and steaming hot coffee.

And no sooner had Kyle and Oliver, admired their handiwork, they heard the doorbell ring.

Casually, Oliver went to open up the door, ushering in and welcoming the people whom were going to be Kyle’s team.

No sooner had they filed into the living room, they all began introducing themselves.

“Owen Silva. I look forward to working with you.” a well-groomed and casual yet stylishly dressed young man in his mid-twenties with dirty-brown hair and brown irises, extended a confident yet firm handshake towards Kyle.

“Kyle Kestis. Pleasure to finally meet you in person.” Kyle reciprocated, with a receptive smile, exchanging greetings with his hired assistant and secretary.

Apparently, Owen, despite being quite young, had the experience of working with a lot of indie bands, novelists and influencers in his college years, each of whom had become fairly popular in recent memory.

Unfortunately, with their fame, came the need for them to search for something ‘better’.

Not that Owen ever minded. He really just enjoyed working for artists in Hollywood and was really good at his job.

“Miguel Reyes. Business Manager.” a sharp-looking man in his late thirties with black irises, introduced himself in similar fashion, his black-hair gelled and a well-kept stubble on his chin.

He was an accountant that was going to be handling and managing most of Kyle’s finances; funding, contacting and processing payments from film studios, gigs, events and the likes.

“Gwendolyn Jobs. Social Media and Public Relation’s Manager. Gwen for short.” a friendly yet professional looking lady with long, ash-blonde hair, light-brown irises and a poised smile on her lips, introduced herself warmly.

“Won’t that be too much to handle all alone?” Kyle asked in concern as he exchanged a handshake with the lady, slightly arcing his eyebrows.

“Oliver, your agent, has a good eye for specialists like me. Also, my resume speaks for itself.” the lady in her mid-forties confidently replied, earning an approving nod from Kyle.

His agent was the coolest.

Gwen, as Oliver had previously informed him though, worked for Jasmine at the earlier phases of her career, balancing two important duties at the same time without fail.

If not for the fact that the woman had quite the messy disagreement with the lady’s agency for forcefully pushing nonsensical agendas back when a young Jasmine wasn’t anywhere near as influential as she was now, she’d never have been fired from her work.

Unfortunately though, the way the tale had been spun against her, made it hard for her to find solid work anywhere despite her capabilities…

That was until now.

“Stuart Jones. Tour manager.” the next guy with dark-blue eyes introduced himself with an amiable smile.

His was a more approachable demeanor, his sandy-brown hair parted down the middle to fall on his sides and his features, pleasant on the eyes.

That said, Stuart had worked for some pretty popular indie bands and a few mainstream artists in the past so he was perfect to aid Kyle’s team with scouting out potential live-stage opportunities and the eventual managing of his future tour.

“Camille Morales. Legal Counsellor. Pleasure to meet you.” the only professionally-dressed individual in the room with her neatly coiffed golden-blonde hair and dark-green irises and beautiful features, introduced herself.

Instantly, Kyle whipped his head in his agent’s direction, his shock evident and his, eyes seemingly asking;

‘How in incarnation did you get her to be on the team?!’

To that, Oliver simply shrugged as he took a seat on the couch alongside everyone else whom was making themselves at home…

Or office, to be specific.

It would be their base of operations after all.

That said, Oliver hadn’t given Kyle any information regarding whom his Lawyer was going to be so this, really came as a shocker to him.

“Like Gwen said, Oliver has a good eye for people. And he’s very persuasive to say the least…” Camille answered Kyle’s question without even asking, her eyes briefly glancing in his agent’s direction.

“Oh I’m sure. Welcome on board.” Kyle shook his head in acceptance, receiving Camille’s handshake with a receptive smile as he recalled his agent’s status screen from memory.

___________________________

{Oliver Stone} – 45 years

Managerial Duties › Level 17

Talent Scout › Level 15

Skills – [Polymath], [Persuasion].

___________________________

Putting his thoughts aside though, Kyle still found Camille’s presence here, amazing.

Honestly, if not for the fact that the popular lawyer whom had cleared Jack Derp’s name, one of the greatest actors of all time in Hollywood from a defamation case by his ex-wife, Amelia Herd, had to watch her baby grow up, she’d probably never have left the legal scene for so long.

Still, now that she was back, the fact that Oliver had gotten to her before anyone else, was a testament to just how fantastic of an agent he was.

All said and done though, now that everyone was settled, Owen then asked;

“Apologies if this seems like I’m overstepping my bounds already but Kyle, what is your goal in Hollywood?”

To that, everyone else in the room nodded in curiosity, wondering what the young man’s aspirations were.

Considering how amazingly fast his trajectory in Hollywood was, most in the room, figured that he must’ve had some big goal driving him to ascend to new heights constantly.

And at the same time, if they also knew of his goals, they’d be able to weave a systematic plan, one that would facilitate him achieving his goals even faster.

However, Kyle, having taken a sip of his coffee, placed the cup down and gave an answer none of them were expecting;

“Someone I can be proud of, always. That’s my goal.”

“Everything else is secondary, really.” Kyle added, his tone calm, composed and honest.

Right from the start, Kyle’s goals had never changed.

Even as he kept rising and rising to fame and fortune, that singular ideal of his, remained firm, immovable and grounded.

And it was that singular goal and belief that made him put his all into everything he did without fail.

Because, asides from wanting to be proud of himself, he also wanted Ollie and the gang, wherever they were, alongside all of his loved ones in this current world, to also be very proud of him.

That was it.

Nothing more, nothing less.

“Huh… that’s… that’s unexpected…” Gwen, spoke for everyone this time, none of them expecting something so simple from a Hollywood star of his caliber.

“Curious…” Owen quietly added, a thoughtful expression on his features.

The reason why all of them found Kyle’s goal… or was it drive, so unexpected, was because a typical Hollywood star was either after fame, money or power.

Even if they had a lesser goal, it was still within the spectrum of those three major reasons.

As a result, Kyle’s goal seemed very out of place for all of them, one they were still finding very hard to simply accept.

That said, it’s not as if Kyle didn’t have actual goals.

Which is why he then raised three fingers up.