renner
League Member
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2004
- Messages
- 178
- Points
- 0
- Age
- 40
- Location
- Oakland, TN, USA
- Website
- www.fetchquest.com
Mike's Notes:
This was posted over in PTC for their Elite Championship tournament. I figure I might as well post it here now.
----
Here's what we know so far...
Steve Knox was a professional wrestler, currently working for New Frontier Wrestling while also working for a Texas-based independent promotion called the Squared Circle. Although he liked to boast that he was "awesome" and on a level above other wrestlers such as himself, he was really kind of your average guy and lived a relatively normal life as a wrestler.
He was the second son of a famous professional wrestler-turned-actor, the late Earl Knox, who died seven years ago. His older and younger brothers, Soren and Simon Knox, were also professional wrestlers, both of whom competed for a rival promotion called PRIME. Of the three brothers, Steve boasted the most success and was also said to be the brother with the most pure talent.
But see, none of that mattered right now to the two people he would have the misfortune of talking to on what was supposed to be an ordinary Tuesday.
* . *
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008; Waffle House, Dallas, Texas
It was a sunny day in Dallas, Texas. Hardly a cloud filled the sky, and it was peaceful, if a little too hot.
To begin with, Steve Knox was in Dallas because of his continued commitments to the Squared Circle. Traditionally, Tuesdays were the days in which tSC would run a show, a weekly endeavor that aired locally in certain regions of Texas. The Squared Circle used to air nationally, but low ratings and the abrupt death of its owner spelled the doom of the Squared Circle's flirtation with the national spotlight. Steve joined the promotion not long after it lost its national deal, but nevertheless took it by storm. It was only natural that, eventually, the national scene would knock down his door with a battering ram and storm the kingdom that he worked hard to build.
So, he signed with New Frontier Wrestling, and rebuilt his kingdom out of a material that he often described as "pure awesome", if only because he often never thought of other adjectives and usually fell back on that one word.
Second of all, Steve was in a Waffle House. He was here primarilly because they were the closest restaurant within walking distance of the hotel he was presently staying at.
Steve Knox sat in one of the corner seats of the Waffle House, clearly uncomfortable with the situation that had presented itself. He wore a black T-shirt bearing his likeness that said "AWESOME PERSONIFIED" on the front and "STEVE KNOX: ROCKING NFW WITH HIS AWESOME" on the back, and a pair of dusty jeans. His brown hair was unkempt, as if he hadn't even done anything with it since waking up, which could explain the sacks of dark-colored skin underneath his eyes. Nevertheless, Steve clearly looked like he wasn't planning for any sort of major meeting.
Sitting to his left was a pretty black-haired girl, clearly in her very early 20s. If she and Steve Knox stood side by side, it would be clear that he would be ten inches taller than she was. Unlike Steve, she looked like she cared much for her appearance. Her makeup was lightly, but correctly placed on her face. Her hair was neatly combed and Steve could swear that it glowed. She wore a fancy, lacey, short-sleeved blue shirt, and a pair of black jeans.
Sitting in front of the two of them was a man. Unlike the couple seated before him, he was clearly in his early 40s. His hair was slick, shiny, black, and probably loaded with so much oil that it could be set ablaze with the slightest spark. His hair was coupled with a seemingly sinister-looking black mustache and a goatee. He wore a khaki-colored suit with an atrociously, criminally gaudy blue and red tie. His feet, sitting on the table, were clad in snake-skinned shoes. His appearance was wholly a lot like the snakes that were sacrificed in the name of making his shoes. As if mocking the very description of his hair, he had a lit cigar in his mouth.
Steve Knox wanted just a simple breakfast, he really did. Maybe he wanted a couple of waffles, maybe some syrup, some butter, and a glass of milk. Maybe he'd just have some toast. Maybe he should've just said "screw the Waffle House", gone to the supermarket, and bought a box of Lucky Charms, because he always thought they were magically delicious.
Anything, anything was better than the one-two punch of Alexandria Malone and William Wilkerson.
Alexandria Malone was Steve Knox's girlfriend, to put it simply. She was also a professional wrestler, one of those upstart female wrestlers who fought against men even if they were larger than herself. Alexandria was also the younger sister of Joey Malone, a sort of a modern-day professional wrestling legend who retired five years ago due to a nagging injury to his left knee. Alexandria tended to hang around Steve because he never saw her as being "Joey's sister" like so many others did, and eventually, they ended up dating. She was a flighty person, often thinking on whims and often saying things that might undermine whatever Steve was saying. She was also frequently perky and chipper, and tended to just try to have as much fun doing whatever she's doing rather than trying to do it right.
William Wilkerson, usually known as "Willy", was a movie producer from Los Angeles, specifically Hollywood. He was known in some circles for producing action movies, particularly the sub-genre of the "buddy cop movie". Apart from his specific genre, Willy was also known for being a snake in the form of a man. He was a sneak, a philanderer, and didn't seem to care about anyone except himself. He offered temptations to his potential actors and then snatched up as much profit for himself as he could off of their hard work. For example, ten years ago, he had managed to discover a true talent hidden in the gutter of entertainment known as professional wrestling, and was quick to offer him a big movie role. To the surprise of many, this wrestler-turned-actor thrived as an actor and wound up with two big movie successes in "Crime Doesn't Pay" and its spiritual successor, "Police Brutality".
That man was Earl Knox, the father of Steve Knox.
After Earl's untimely death, Willy tried to find a new man to be the face of his newly formed movie empire. Unfortunately, even seven years later... Willy had not yet managed to recapture the lightning in a bottle that was Earl "the Pearl" Knox.
That wss why he was here, meeting with Steve Knox... he was looking to see if Steve had inherited any of his father's sense of showmanship and acting prowess. At the same time, however, Alexandria Malone had dropped by to have a completely unplanned breakfast with her boyfriend.
This rather untimely double meeting was making Steve's syrup-covered waffles feel mighty soggy.
The only thing more awkward with this unexpected meeting was the unexpected and completely awkward silence that permeated around the table. Steve remembered just a few seconds ago when Willy and Alexandria almost literally walked up to him at the same time and greeted him at the same time, and ever since then, the only thing that happened was them sitting down.
Finally, Willy cleared his throat, and decided to try and get down to business, "It's time we talked, Steve."
Unfortunately for Willy, Alexandria had been trying to speak as well, "So, Steve! When are you going to order some waffles for me?"
The sound of two conflicting voices talking at once caused all talking to stop. Alexandria gave Willy a dirty look, and Willy responsed with a look that would cause a snake to immediately molt, leaving behind its skin, and then flee in terror. They apparently have mutually decided to take a stance of hating each other.
Steve Knox, in a distant corner of his brain, thought to himself that he'd rather endure an hour of Mike Randalls' knife-edged chops than another minute of this tension.
He sighed, "Alex, let the guy talk. The sooner he talks, the sooner he leaves and I can actually have breakfast."
He frowned upon looking at his syrup-covered and rapidly cooling waffles. They mocked him.
Alexandria grumbled, but she conceded Steve's point and just kept quiet while Willy spoke, "Steve, you remember me, don't you?"
"You're hard to forget, Willy," Steve said, with a voice that sounded more like he had some level of disdain for the man sitting across from him. In truth, all members of the Knox family knew this guy, and they all distrusted him just from the way he conducted himself.
"You flatter me." Willy said, not a hint of sarcasm to be found in his voice, "Anyways, Hollywood beckons, Steve."
"Pardon me?" Steve asked. Somehow, he didn't think this was going to be as simple as he thought, and this thought alone made his waffles mock him even more.
"I'm saying that we want to see what you're made of. I'm here to offer you a chance to go beyond where you're at now. Not merely a wrestler, but as an entity of entertainment." Willy said. It should be noted that he liked to use the term "entity of entertainment", partially because he liked to tell people that they'd be able to transcend entertainment mediums, and mostly because he thought the alliteration made him more intelligent.
Alexandria looked at Willy like he was an idiot, which Willy simply shrugged off.
"I don't know," Steve said, already looking like his wonderful day has now been struck with a steel chair and he hadn't even stepped inside the arena for tonight's show yet, "Why not go to Simon? I'm sure he'd love the opportunity to act. God knows, the only reason why he wrestles anyway is to be noticed by someone like you."
Willy merely smiled at Steve. Steve couldn't help but think about that smile. It was like Willy was the serpent offering Adam and Eve the fruit of knowledge, knowing full well that it would lead to their banishment. Nevertheless, Steve broke from that train of thought just in time to hear Willy speak again.
"How do I put this?" Willy asked, rhetorically, "He's not at your... level."
"Level?"
"He's just getting rolling. He's yet to find his stride, so to speak. You, on the other hand... you're a different story. You're out there, on your own, you've become one of NFW's brightest stars in such a short span of time. People are talking about you, Steve. They want to see your brand of... what is it that you seem to say a lot?" Willy said, ending with a question that even Steve wouldn't find hard to guess.
"Awesome." Steve responded, rather non-chalantly.
"Yes, yes, exactly," Willy said. He took a puff of his cigar and let the suffocatign cloud of smoke drift into the air, "We, no, Hollywood... needs your brand of... awesome. Yes. Which is why I want to ask you to do a commercial."
Steve paused. The comment flew out there almost anti-climatically and fell on Steve Knox like a dead fish. His hesitance to initially respond to Willy was further compounded by looking down at his waffles again. He feared that not only were the waffles mocking him, but they were growing soggy.
"A commercial." Steve repeated. He sounded incredulous.
"Yes." was Willy's response.
"Featuring what?"
"Old Spice."
"Old Spice." repeated Steve with a noticable amount of irritation.
"Old Spice."
Steve Knox thought about that one for a while. Alexandria, meanwhile, looked at Steve, then looked at Willy.
"He's more of a Arm & Hammer type of guy." Alexandria Malone said.
Willy shot a look at Alexandria, something resembling what a snake might look like if it were actually surprised and yet not planning to suddenly leap out and bite someone. Although one should try to picture the image of Willy suddenly jumping out of his seat with his mouth opened in the attempt to take a bite out of Alexandria.
"You know what deodorant he uses?" Willy asked. Although he meant it to be a rhetorical question, Alexandria decided that now would be a good time to perk up and be her flighty self.
"Of course I do. We're totally dating." Alexandria said. To emphasize her point, she leaned her body against Steve's and tried to snuggle up. All this does is cause Steve to slowly look her way, with a look on his face best described as "what in the hell are you doing?"
"How wonderful for you." Willy said in a comment that was dripping with sarcasm. He then turned back to Steve, "What do you think, Steve?"
"What do I think?" Steve asked. A torrent of thoughts washed over Steve's mind at the moment, but one struck at him the hardest, "Honestly, I don't mind, but... I have wrestling commitments as it is. How would I find the ti--"
"Taken care of." Willy suddenly interrupted, "I had a little talk with your bosses."
"You talked to CRAIG MILES? Willingly?" Steve asked.
"I admit that he wasn't the most sociable of individuals." Willy said, taking the moment to once again remind people that it was his god-given right as a lord of Hollywood to piss upon the idea of "no smoking".
Steve looked to Alexandria, confused, before he looked back at Willy with a serious look on his face, "He tried to set you on fire, didn't he?"
"Once or twice." Willy said, so frighteningly quickly that it was likely true. Despite the fact that it may or may not have been true, though, Willy kept his snake-like grin on his face, "You haven't answered my question. Are you in, or are you out?"
Steve looked down at his now-soggy waffles, and frowned. Their mockery of him was now legendary, even as they died a syrupy death.
"Fine. I'm in." Steve said, his tone sounding like someone defeated who was about to succumb to selling out to The Man.
"Wait, you're what?" Alexandria objected. She gestured wildly to Willy, who was now happy because he had what he wanted, "This guy's a total creep and you just go along with him?"
"Technically, little girl, I'm a friend of the family." Willy responded, all manner of sincerity lost in his voice. He had no interest in Alexandria, her attitude, or her apparent dislike of him. In fact, Willy decided that this meeting was adjourned, and he stood up. He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a card before handing it to Steve.
"Have your people call my people." Willy said, before he turned on his heel and walked away from the table, leaving Alexandria and Steve to their own devices.
Alexandria slid away from Steve, and then stared at him as he tried to start on his waffles, "Why did you agree to that? Who the heck is he?"
"Him?" Steve asked, a mouth half-full of soggy waffles, while pointing his fork in the direction of Willy, who was now outside of the Waffle House and already on a cell phone. He looked at Alexandria, and she nodded, "My father's producer, back in the day."
Steve slowly swallowed his piece of waffle.
He set down his knife and his fork.
"Like he said, he's a 'friend of the family'." Steve said, putting up finger quotes upon the words "friend of the family". It was clear that he was being sarcastic, that Willy Wilkerson was the furthest thing from a friend there ever was.
Alexandria picked up on this, "Well, if you don't like him that much, why'd you agree to do the commercial?"
"Despite appearances, my dad trusted this guy well enough to let him handle his movie career," Steve said, "I figured I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and at least agree to it. It's only a commercial."
"Only a commercial? You just agreed to doing something along the lines out selling out to the Man." Alexandria said. She stood up, and looked down at Steve, "Filming things is all in good fun until you do it for profit, you know."
"You think I agreed to it because I wanted to profit from it?" Steve Knox asked. He didn't really look up at Alexandria when he asked that, he was concentrating on his next piece of waffle.
"I thought you were the type of guy who wouldn't compromise his ideals for a couple of extra dollars, you know," Alexandria said, she threw her hands in the air, her voice rising strong enough to be heard by most of the Waffle House, "How wrong I was! I swear, next you'll be walking around wearing a jacket that resembles a NASCAR vehicle, and speaking nothing but the language of the shill."
With her louder point made, she spoke a little lower, "You know what? I think I'll pass on breakfast. I think I lost my appetite."
Annoyed, Alexandria Malone spun around, letting her hair whip out in the air in front of Steve before walking away. Steve watched her leave, and then sighed. He held out his arms and called out to seemingly no one.
"Why does that girl infuriate me so much?" he pondered.
Steve Knox looked down at his waffles again...... even half-eaten, they still mocked him.
This was posted over in PTC for their Elite Championship tournament. I figure I might as well post it here now.
----
Here's what we know so far...
Steve Knox was a professional wrestler, currently working for New Frontier Wrestling while also working for a Texas-based independent promotion called the Squared Circle. Although he liked to boast that he was "awesome" and on a level above other wrestlers such as himself, he was really kind of your average guy and lived a relatively normal life as a wrestler.
He was the second son of a famous professional wrestler-turned-actor, the late Earl Knox, who died seven years ago. His older and younger brothers, Soren and Simon Knox, were also professional wrestlers, both of whom competed for a rival promotion called PRIME. Of the three brothers, Steve boasted the most success and was also said to be the brother with the most pure talent.
But see, none of that mattered right now to the two people he would have the misfortune of talking to on what was supposed to be an ordinary Tuesday.
* . *
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008; Waffle House, Dallas, Texas
It was a sunny day in Dallas, Texas. Hardly a cloud filled the sky, and it was peaceful, if a little too hot.
To begin with, Steve Knox was in Dallas because of his continued commitments to the Squared Circle. Traditionally, Tuesdays were the days in which tSC would run a show, a weekly endeavor that aired locally in certain regions of Texas. The Squared Circle used to air nationally, but low ratings and the abrupt death of its owner spelled the doom of the Squared Circle's flirtation with the national spotlight. Steve joined the promotion not long after it lost its national deal, but nevertheless took it by storm. It was only natural that, eventually, the national scene would knock down his door with a battering ram and storm the kingdom that he worked hard to build.
So, he signed with New Frontier Wrestling, and rebuilt his kingdom out of a material that he often described as "pure awesome", if only because he often never thought of other adjectives and usually fell back on that one word.
Second of all, Steve was in a Waffle House. He was here primarilly because they were the closest restaurant within walking distance of the hotel he was presently staying at.
Steve Knox sat in one of the corner seats of the Waffle House, clearly uncomfortable with the situation that had presented itself. He wore a black T-shirt bearing his likeness that said "AWESOME PERSONIFIED" on the front and "STEVE KNOX: ROCKING NFW WITH HIS AWESOME" on the back, and a pair of dusty jeans. His brown hair was unkempt, as if he hadn't even done anything with it since waking up, which could explain the sacks of dark-colored skin underneath his eyes. Nevertheless, Steve clearly looked like he wasn't planning for any sort of major meeting.
Sitting to his left was a pretty black-haired girl, clearly in her very early 20s. If she and Steve Knox stood side by side, it would be clear that he would be ten inches taller than she was. Unlike Steve, she looked like she cared much for her appearance. Her makeup was lightly, but correctly placed on her face. Her hair was neatly combed and Steve could swear that it glowed. She wore a fancy, lacey, short-sleeved blue shirt, and a pair of black jeans.
Sitting in front of the two of them was a man. Unlike the couple seated before him, he was clearly in his early 40s. His hair was slick, shiny, black, and probably loaded with so much oil that it could be set ablaze with the slightest spark. His hair was coupled with a seemingly sinister-looking black mustache and a goatee. He wore a khaki-colored suit with an atrociously, criminally gaudy blue and red tie. His feet, sitting on the table, were clad in snake-skinned shoes. His appearance was wholly a lot like the snakes that were sacrificed in the name of making his shoes. As if mocking the very description of his hair, he had a lit cigar in his mouth.
Steve Knox wanted just a simple breakfast, he really did. Maybe he wanted a couple of waffles, maybe some syrup, some butter, and a glass of milk. Maybe he'd just have some toast. Maybe he should've just said "screw the Waffle House", gone to the supermarket, and bought a box of Lucky Charms, because he always thought they were magically delicious.
Anything, anything was better than the one-two punch of Alexandria Malone and William Wilkerson.
Alexandria Malone was Steve Knox's girlfriend, to put it simply. She was also a professional wrestler, one of those upstart female wrestlers who fought against men even if they were larger than herself. Alexandria was also the younger sister of Joey Malone, a sort of a modern-day professional wrestling legend who retired five years ago due to a nagging injury to his left knee. Alexandria tended to hang around Steve because he never saw her as being "Joey's sister" like so many others did, and eventually, they ended up dating. She was a flighty person, often thinking on whims and often saying things that might undermine whatever Steve was saying. She was also frequently perky and chipper, and tended to just try to have as much fun doing whatever she's doing rather than trying to do it right.
William Wilkerson, usually known as "Willy", was a movie producer from Los Angeles, specifically Hollywood. He was known in some circles for producing action movies, particularly the sub-genre of the "buddy cop movie". Apart from his specific genre, Willy was also known for being a snake in the form of a man. He was a sneak, a philanderer, and didn't seem to care about anyone except himself. He offered temptations to his potential actors and then snatched up as much profit for himself as he could off of their hard work. For example, ten years ago, he had managed to discover a true talent hidden in the gutter of entertainment known as professional wrestling, and was quick to offer him a big movie role. To the surprise of many, this wrestler-turned-actor thrived as an actor and wound up with two big movie successes in "Crime Doesn't Pay" and its spiritual successor, "Police Brutality".
That man was Earl Knox, the father of Steve Knox.
After Earl's untimely death, Willy tried to find a new man to be the face of his newly formed movie empire. Unfortunately, even seven years later... Willy had not yet managed to recapture the lightning in a bottle that was Earl "the Pearl" Knox.
That wss why he was here, meeting with Steve Knox... he was looking to see if Steve had inherited any of his father's sense of showmanship and acting prowess. At the same time, however, Alexandria Malone had dropped by to have a completely unplanned breakfast with her boyfriend.
This rather untimely double meeting was making Steve's syrup-covered waffles feel mighty soggy.
The only thing more awkward with this unexpected meeting was the unexpected and completely awkward silence that permeated around the table. Steve remembered just a few seconds ago when Willy and Alexandria almost literally walked up to him at the same time and greeted him at the same time, and ever since then, the only thing that happened was them sitting down.
Finally, Willy cleared his throat, and decided to try and get down to business, "It's time we talked, Steve."
Unfortunately for Willy, Alexandria had been trying to speak as well, "So, Steve! When are you going to order some waffles for me?"
The sound of two conflicting voices talking at once caused all talking to stop. Alexandria gave Willy a dirty look, and Willy responsed with a look that would cause a snake to immediately molt, leaving behind its skin, and then flee in terror. They apparently have mutually decided to take a stance of hating each other.
Steve Knox, in a distant corner of his brain, thought to himself that he'd rather endure an hour of Mike Randalls' knife-edged chops than another minute of this tension.
He sighed, "Alex, let the guy talk. The sooner he talks, the sooner he leaves and I can actually have breakfast."
He frowned upon looking at his syrup-covered and rapidly cooling waffles. They mocked him.
Alexandria grumbled, but she conceded Steve's point and just kept quiet while Willy spoke, "Steve, you remember me, don't you?"
"You're hard to forget, Willy," Steve said, with a voice that sounded more like he had some level of disdain for the man sitting across from him. In truth, all members of the Knox family knew this guy, and they all distrusted him just from the way he conducted himself.
"You flatter me." Willy said, not a hint of sarcasm to be found in his voice, "Anyways, Hollywood beckons, Steve."
"Pardon me?" Steve asked. Somehow, he didn't think this was going to be as simple as he thought, and this thought alone made his waffles mock him even more.
"I'm saying that we want to see what you're made of. I'm here to offer you a chance to go beyond where you're at now. Not merely a wrestler, but as an entity of entertainment." Willy said. It should be noted that he liked to use the term "entity of entertainment", partially because he liked to tell people that they'd be able to transcend entertainment mediums, and mostly because he thought the alliteration made him more intelligent.
Alexandria looked at Willy like he was an idiot, which Willy simply shrugged off.
"I don't know," Steve said, already looking like his wonderful day has now been struck with a steel chair and he hadn't even stepped inside the arena for tonight's show yet, "Why not go to Simon? I'm sure he'd love the opportunity to act. God knows, the only reason why he wrestles anyway is to be noticed by someone like you."
Willy merely smiled at Steve. Steve couldn't help but think about that smile. It was like Willy was the serpent offering Adam and Eve the fruit of knowledge, knowing full well that it would lead to their banishment. Nevertheless, Steve broke from that train of thought just in time to hear Willy speak again.
"How do I put this?" Willy asked, rhetorically, "He's not at your... level."
"Level?"
"He's just getting rolling. He's yet to find his stride, so to speak. You, on the other hand... you're a different story. You're out there, on your own, you've become one of NFW's brightest stars in such a short span of time. People are talking about you, Steve. They want to see your brand of... what is it that you seem to say a lot?" Willy said, ending with a question that even Steve wouldn't find hard to guess.
"Awesome." Steve responded, rather non-chalantly.
"Yes, yes, exactly," Willy said. He took a puff of his cigar and let the suffocatign cloud of smoke drift into the air, "We, no, Hollywood... needs your brand of... awesome. Yes. Which is why I want to ask you to do a commercial."
Steve paused. The comment flew out there almost anti-climatically and fell on Steve Knox like a dead fish. His hesitance to initially respond to Willy was further compounded by looking down at his waffles again. He feared that not only were the waffles mocking him, but they were growing soggy.
"A commercial." Steve repeated. He sounded incredulous.
"Yes." was Willy's response.
"Featuring what?"
"Old Spice."
"Old Spice." repeated Steve with a noticable amount of irritation.
"Old Spice."
Steve Knox thought about that one for a while. Alexandria, meanwhile, looked at Steve, then looked at Willy.
"He's more of a Arm & Hammer type of guy." Alexandria Malone said.
Willy shot a look at Alexandria, something resembling what a snake might look like if it were actually surprised and yet not planning to suddenly leap out and bite someone. Although one should try to picture the image of Willy suddenly jumping out of his seat with his mouth opened in the attempt to take a bite out of Alexandria.
"You know what deodorant he uses?" Willy asked. Although he meant it to be a rhetorical question, Alexandria decided that now would be a good time to perk up and be her flighty self.
"Of course I do. We're totally dating." Alexandria said. To emphasize her point, she leaned her body against Steve's and tried to snuggle up. All this does is cause Steve to slowly look her way, with a look on his face best described as "what in the hell are you doing?"
"How wonderful for you." Willy said in a comment that was dripping with sarcasm. He then turned back to Steve, "What do you think, Steve?"
"What do I think?" Steve asked. A torrent of thoughts washed over Steve's mind at the moment, but one struck at him the hardest, "Honestly, I don't mind, but... I have wrestling commitments as it is. How would I find the ti--"
"Taken care of." Willy suddenly interrupted, "I had a little talk with your bosses."
"You talked to CRAIG MILES? Willingly?" Steve asked.
"I admit that he wasn't the most sociable of individuals." Willy said, taking the moment to once again remind people that it was his god-given right as a lord of Hollywood to piss upon the idea of "no smoking".
Steve looked to Alexandria, confused, before he looked back at Willy with a serious look on his face, "He tried to set you on fire, didn't he?"
"Once or twice." Willy said, so frighteningly quickly that it was likely true. Despite the fact that it may or may not have been true, though, Willy kept his snake-like grin on his face, "You haven't answered my question. Are you in, or are you out?"
Steve looked down at his now-soggy waffles, and frowned. Their mockery of him was now legendary, even as they died a syrupy death.
"Fine. I'm in." Steve said, his tone sounding like someone defeated who was about to succumb to selling out to The Man.
"Wait, you're what?" Alexandria objected. She gestured wildly to Willy, who was now happy because he had what he wanted, "This guy's a total creep and you just go along with him?"
"Technically, little girl, I'm a friend of the family." Willy responded, all manner of sincerity lost in his voice. He had no interest in Alexandria, her attitude, or her apparent dislike of him. In fact, Willy decided that this meeting was adjourned, and he stood up. He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a card before handing it to Steve.
"Have your people call my people." Willy said, before he turned on his heel and walked away from the table, leaving Alexandria and Steve to their own devices.
Alexandria slid away from Steve, and then stared at him as he tried to start on his waffles, "Why did you agree to that? Who the heck is he?"
"Him?" Steve asked, a mouth half-full of soggy waffles, while pointing his fork in the direction of Willy, who was now outside of the Waffle House and already on a cell phone. He looked at Alexandria, and she nodded, "My father's producer, back in the day."
Steve slowly swallowed his piece of waffle.
He set down his knife and his fork.
"Like he said, he's a 'friend of the family'." Steve said, putting up finger quotes upon the words "friend of the family". It was clear that he was being sarcastic, that Willy Wilkerson was the furthest thing from a friend there ever was.
Alexandria picked up on this, "Well, if you don't like him that much, why'd you agree to do the commercial?"
"Despite appearances, my dad trusted this guy well enough to let him handle his movie career," Steve said, "I figured I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and at least agree to it. It's only a commercial."
"Only a commercial? You just agreed to doing something along the lines out selling out to the Man." Alexandria said. She stood up, and looked down at Steve, "Filming things is all in good fun until you do it for profit, you know."
"You think I agreed to it because I wanted to profit from it?" Steve Knox asked. He didn't really look up at Alexandria when he asked that, he was concentrating on his next piece of waffle.
"I thought you were the type of guy who wouldn't compromise his ideals for a couple of extra dollars, you know," Alexandria said, she threw her hands in the air, her voice rising strong enough to be heard by most of the Waffle House, "How wrong I was! I swear, next you'll be walking around wearing a jacket that resembles a NASCAR vehicle, and speaking nothing but the language of the shill."
With her louder point made, she spoke a little lower, "You know what? I think I'll pass on breakfast. I think I lost my appetite."
Annoyed, Alexandria Malone spun around, letting her hair whip out in the air in front of Steve before walking away. Steve watched her leave, and then sighed. He held out his arms and called out to seemingly no one.
"Why does that girl infuriate me so much?" he pondered.
Steve Knox looked down at his waffles again...... even half-eaten, they still mocked him.