"Hey, James, what's goin' on?"
"Nothing much, you?"
"Ah, I'm chillin'..."
James and Dan would call each other from time to time, generally just to talk about random stuff. They would talk about their day, projects they were working on, or random happenings in the industry.
"Actually, I got myself a girlfriend."
"Really?"
"Yeah, haha... but don't sound that surprised about it. Dick."
"My bad... What's she like?"
"She is sweet. I like her a lot. Hopefully, she's the one."
"Woah, you might want to slow down there, you've just met her."
"Hahhh, yeah but, she is really nice and she is so beautiful."
"Well, that's well and good, but you also have to watch out, there are women out there looking to trick a guy like you."
"You think I'm someone who can be easily tricked?"
"I don't know, but you should be careful nonetheless."
*Ring, ring*
A phone begins to ring in the background of Dan's call.
"Ah, that's her, I'll call you later."
*Beeeeeep*
*Sigh*
----------------
James met with Sigourney some days later after that call.
"What did you order?" James asked Sigourney, as he looks around the restaurant, not exactly sure what he is even searching for.
"A fillet. You asked me that already."
"Oh yeah, I did... My mind seems to be drifting lately."
"Yeah, I've noticed..."
"But, wow, you look beautiful...-"
Sigourney gives James a look for half a second.
"-Ah, right, I already said that too, haha. My bad."
"You know, I called you because I wanted to talk to you about our relationship."
"Yeah, I guessed as much."
"I wanted to break things off, cordially."
"Yeah, I figured."
"I obviously don't want it to affect our business relationship and I don't want things to be awkward or for us to not talk to each other... Will you say something?"
James took a second to process what he was going to say next, not wanting to mess up his words.
"...Right, I obviously don't want to end things on bad terms either and it would be very unprofessional if this affected our work in any way. I still care about you and wish you nothing but the best, honestly."
"...Yeah, sounds good, I'm glad we could come to an understanding," Sigourney said, as she started to grab her purse and get up to leave.
This confused James so he reached out his hand to stop her and said:
"Wait, what about your fillet?"
At that comment, Sigourney paused abruptly and stood still. She kept staring in the direction of the exit but seemed to regain her composure after a second.
"...Your mind seems to be perfectly intact now," Sigourney said, letting out a small laugh, and smiling slightly.
After she left James leaned back in his seat, watching as the waiter came with both their meals, contemplating what happened.
They were having a perfectly good date. Sigourney decided to break things off with him, which seemed inevitable to James as they had drifted apart after the movie premiere. They both became busy and Sigourney ended up accepting another movie deal as well as some sponsorships. They both also stopped making time for each other, not explaining why to each other either.
Some tacit agreement was reached that they both outlasted their relationship, at least it seemed that way.
James tried his hardest to be cordial, somewhat expecting this breakup, he even planned what to say to her afterward. What James said was an amalgamation of what he came up with, but after he said it Sigourney seemed to have gotten upset and stormed off.
James remembered something similar happening before, with Catheryn.
Catheryn.
Right. Catheryn reacted the same way.
Did I say something wrong? James thought.
Is it the way I said it? I don't think there was anything wrong with what I said, both times. My words seemed perfectly normal.
Is there something wrong with me? Did they just not like me anymore?
James pondered.
What happened?
I thought... I thought we were fine. And I thought we ended things well, at least me and Sigourney did, better than with Catheryn... I think.
*Sigh*
"Ahhh, here we go, the filet mignon, one 8 oz steak..." The waiter who took their order arrived and finally placed all their dishes on the table. The waiter was relieved to have taken the weight off of his arms and to have delivered their order without dropping anything.
"I hope everything is to your liking and that both of you enjoy your meal," The waiter said, smiling, as he bowed and made his way back to the kitchen.
"Yeah, thank you," James said to the retreating waiter.
James put his napkin in his shirt collar and started to enjoy his meal, grabbing the fillet and placing it on his plate as well. He savored both meals and ordered a glass of wine while he was at it.
It actually might have been the best meal he's ever eaten.
"Am I going crazy or something?"
-----------------
James started to look for real estate. He wanted to find land where he could put his studio as well as locations where he was going to build future parts of his enterprise.
He might as well start buying now before the prices became too sky-high. The land didn't even necessarily have to be too close to the current hustle-and-bustle, as eventually, the scene would expand for Hollywood.
Studios would also begin to open up locations in other states, as filming would be done all over the US to fit certain movie scenes and scenarios.
James just wanted to be able to have these locations in proximity to each other, so that they could work in tandem and cooperate better if he tried to integrate certain projects.
It wasn't that huge of a deal and other studios were able to work past this limitation in the future, especially with the internet being able to solve communication issues. But James knew just how big he wanted his company to go, so he might as well plan carefully.
James would regret it if he didn't do so now and inconvenienced him in the future.
Maybe he should hire an architect, or get some sort of real estate planner.
*sigh* How much money would that be?
Well, let's just buy the land and save the rest of the plans for later.