Dark Necessities || BOOK TWO || A Jared Leto Fan Fiction

March 2018

Photo by Aditya Chinchure via Unsplash

Basel, Switzerland

Jared sat at the desk in his hotel room in Basel, scrolling through things on his laptop. The tour kicked off that night and he had just gotten back from the final dress rehearsal. Costumes were laid out on his bed and Kennon would pop into his room periodically with a question or an update. Trying to save his voice for the show that night, he was mostly giving monosyllabic answers and head nods in response. 

His stomach was full of knots of anxiety that he was familiar with now. He had almost gotten to the point where he embraced the nervous energy. Almost. Even after years of live performances he still felt the need to vomit right before going on stage. In the past, he'd have dulled his senses with alcohol or women. But these days, his body couldn't handle the exertion of a pre-show fuck followed by two hours of chaotic energy onstage and he left alcohol for select occasions. 

He turned his attention back to the screen in front of him and froze, mid-scroll, when he saw the images. Adrienne was splashed across his screen with sexy windswept hair, sultry makeup, and a wardrobe that looked like it had come out of a pin-up girl ad. He barely registered the story that accompanied the cover and photos. His heart raced at the vision in front of him and he fought the urge to pick up his phone and text her. Instead he dug his finger nails into the palm of his hand and kept scrolling. 

Adrienne Geraci has only been making films for a few years in Hollywood, but her roots to filmmaking go all the way back to her childhood. 

"I was three when I saw Snow White at a drive in theater for the first time. I can remember going in the back of my parents' beat up old Station Wagon and clipping the speakers onto the inside of the car door. I don't remember much about the movie itself because I fell asleep twenty minutes in, but I remember the feeling I had when I was there: the feeling of hope and belonging and excitement of entering an entirely new world. That's when I realized I wanted to make films."

Adrienne has grown quite the reputation, producing films that highlight minority and disenfranchised groups. Recently her production company VANDI FILMS has expanded to include over sixty full time employees and has begun to accept student films and scripts for production. When asked what drove her to create VANDI, Adrienne was blunt.

"The lack of women in Hollywood and film and television production in general is atrocious. When I was in film school, I had one female professor that had experience working in film. One. And when I graduated and began looking for work, I saw that difference exacerbated on the sets I worked on. In general, if you were a woman on a film set, you were usually a personal assistant, in hair and makeup, or in costumes. You might have been with craft services or transportation, but really the actual people shooting and editing and making decisions about the film or television show are men."

And that's where VANDI FILMS fills the gap. The production company, created alongside Adrienne's college roommate Hayley Thomas, has filled its staff almost exclusively with minorities, women, and other disenfranchised groups. And though Adrienne and Hayley both appear to have pretty privileged backgrounds - Adrienne is married to the tech industry's Vishan Rai of international tech giant Rai Industries - they have placed their focus on telling the stories of minorities and increasing diversity within filmmaking itself. Adrienne is wary of producing films about white saviors as well. 

"Its not that I am virtue signaling or anything like that - I fully recognize the privilege I have. I am just trying to use that privilege to shine a light on other people who I think deserve the attention. VANDI is bringing in many people of color and doing its best to diversify who it works with because we recognize that while talent is distributed evenly, opportunity may not be. There are many wonderfully talented people of color within the directing industry, for example, but many of them do not get the support and resources they need to be successful. So that's what we're trying to address and change."

When I went to interview Adrienne, she gave me a tour around her office space. It was a small, cluttered space, filled with paperwork, binders, folders, and a general sense of chaos you'd expect from someone as creative as she is. Her organization process is unique, but she assured me she knew exactly where everything was. 

"I like to work in my own form of organized chaos. I've never enjoyed keeping everything perfect and organized. I think I work better this way - at least in my office where I am creating. The rest of my life is pretty organized."

Jared forced himself to stop. At this point it was masochism. She looked one hundred percent fuckable in the photos, which wasn't helping matters, but reading about her was only making his heart hurt more. The article continued for another three pages and he desperately wanted to see what else she spoke about, but logic kicked in and he forced himself to shut his laptop. Instead he turned his attention to the clothing on the bed. 

He was just about to slip into a loose-fitting pair of pinstriped trousers when a knock came at his door and Kennon popped her head in, not waiting for permission. 

"Oh shit - sorry," she apologized, turning away rapidly. 

"Its fine. What is it?" he asked, continuing to dress. 

"I just wanted to let you know that they're ready to wire you up, whenever you're good for them to come in," she replied. 

"Great. Send them in," he said, pulling a shirt over his head. "And Kennon?" 

She turned to face him. "Yeah?"

"Next time, wait for me to say you can come in," he told her.

A blush rose in her cheeks. "Yeah - I - Sorry. It won't happen again."

He stood still as the sound technicians ran his monitor wires through his clothes and made sure they were set up. He could feel the energy in the entire building grow as time inched closer to the start of the show. Months of hard work and planning and rehearsals had all led to this moment and he still wasn't sure he was happy with the choices he'd made. 

But that wasn't unusual. Indecisiveness was one of the worse qualities he wished he could change about himself. If it was a career, he'd have become an expert in it by now. There were still changes he wanted to make in the show, but Shannon had eventually told him that one more change so late in the game would mean he'd walk off the tour and go back to Los Angeles. So things were as they last left them. 

As Jared walked to the stage, followed by a crew of people, his mind drifted back to Adrienne and the article. He wondered how things would be when they saw each other next. He wondered how Vishan would be when he attended one of the investor's meetings. Would things be awkward and strained or would they be right back to their cheerful, joking selves, just minus seeing each other naked. 

He didn't have much more time to think because someone handed him a microphone and he saw Shannon walk up to his kit as the lights went out in the auditorium. He could hear the audience screaming and he felt his heart start to race. He gripped the microphone and started pacing as the large flat platforms they had suspended from the ceiling began to rise. This was it. There was no turning back.