Parker and Serena, the day after the OD
LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY pickparker)
To say she’d been a tad worried all day would have been an understament. There’d been an air of tension and worry over the set the entire day and Serena should have just been grateful to be able to leave at the end of the day. She was going to see what she could about Hadley as soon as she could but as she walked by the production offices an idea formed in her mind and she decided impulsively to stop by and check on Parker, after all not only was this type of scenario hell for a producer but it was also his brother that was a but involved (or a lot involved depending on what rumors you listened to). She nodded to a few people she knew as she entered the building chatting with Talia near Justin’s office for a moment before she knocked on Parker’s closed door.
Hell was possibly an understatement. He had three phone lines (in his office, personal cellphone and business cellphone) and all three were going off the hook. Everyone was in a frenzy, and so many were looking at him with pleading eyes: Fix this. But he couldn't. Hadley had screwed them all over. What had she been thinking? Doing drugs the night before a shoot? ODing? Okay, obviously there were deep seated issues, and obviously he was incredibly worried for her health, but he was also frazzled down to the bare bones. He hadn't slept a wink since he had gotten the call, and he'd been non-stop ever since. There was so much damage control to do, he felt like he was swimming in it. And Pres! He was worried, and he was disappointmented and .... what had happened to good sense? Under different circumstances, he'd be sympathetic. He would be, when things calmed down. But right now Hadley Keaton ODing was the first order of news in any type of tabloid, web blog, anything. So it was understandable he was more than a little bit crazy right now.
"Who is it?" Parker almost barked. It wasn't usually in him to sound so harsh, but it had been a long, tiring day and he was sick of people asking him 'what next? Why would your brother do that? Don't you have a better grip on her? What next?!"
Serena paused before answering she did her best to ignore the harsh tone in his voice. Obviously Parker had had a hell of a day and she understood that. “It’s Serena” She informed him in her warmest voice. “Is it safe to come in?” She teased lightly “Or is it walking into the lair of the beast….and if that’s the case I’ did a horror flick once, I know protocol.”
"Serena." The rough edge of his voice smoothed down a little, and he nodded at her to come in, though she couldn't see it. He clarified, vocally. "Sorry. Door's open." His voice was a little hoarse from the lack of sleep and the strains of stress. "It's safe. A fucking disaster, but safe."
“I’m quite accustomed to disasters” Serena assure him as she pushed the door open and stood in the doorway for a moment hazel eyes flashing sympathy and slight worry as she took in the sight of the obviously frazzled Parker. “I just wanted to see how you’re holding up, ask if there’s anything I can do, keep in mind that leaving you alone is a perfectly acceptable answer. “
"It's fine," he said, waving his hand, ushering her to come in. He could probably use a small break from being frazzled, though he'd be sure to return to it soon. "But if you want, you can close the door and fill up a cup of coffee from the machine in the corner." He didn't typically like to boss his friends around and extend their offer of favors, but today was the exception to all rules, he figured. "How am I holding up? Well... probably just as well as you're imagining."
“Well if it’s how I imagined” She obligingly closed the door behind her and set her bag on the flor before retrieving a cup of coffee for him talking as she did so “You’re freaked out over how to get these scripts re done, alternately worried and pissed at Preston and Hadley and wondering why the hell you decided you wanted to work in Television at all. “ She set the full cup of coffee on on his desk as she sat in the chair across from him ,stretching her long leg out as she leaned back in the chair. “Am I even close?”
He took a long gulp of the coffee, waiting to feel the familiar buzz regenerate his mind. He'd been slipping into the fatigue that generally hit after a caffeine high, and now another energy boost would be well needed. "Yeah. That's about it. Hey, do me another favor? Grab the noose from the back of my door?"
“No,you can’t hang yourself” Serena offered a slight smile as she shook her blonde head. “I’d miss you, lots”
It was incredibly inappropriate to make suicide jokes after Hadley had overdosed, it occured to him, but he shook the thought away. "Good to know. " He jammed two of his fingers into his temple and sighed. "How's it going out there?"
“Well you have a bunch of people who are psyched to get a four day weekend” Serena pondered his question for a moment “And others who are worried as all hell over Hadley, Preston, or both. It’s pretty much insane”
Parker closed his eyes for a moment, just long enough for his body to react in a way that pleaded for sleep, and then opened his eyes again. "I'm disappointed in both of them. And I'm pissed as hell. I'm worried. But mainly, right now, I'm pissed. This makes me a bad person and I can't bring myself to care right now. Do you have any idea why she would have done that? Out of everyone, you probably knew her the best."
Serena watched him as he took the moment, saw his body start to slump in that way that yearned for sleep and her heart went out to her friend. “I may have known her best, but that doesn’t mean I really know her” Serena explained after taking a moment to think about it. “Hads and I-we’re complete y different people and we tend not to talk about important things because well we don’t have the same point of view” Her conversations with Hadley bordered on mostly frivolous and only rarely even flirted with seriousness. “I think the only person who really know Hadley, is Hadley” Serena frowned a bit as she said those words out loud that was a sad revelation to come to.
"Oh." He felt bad, of course, but right now his mind was like one big melting pot for the extreme range of emotions he had gone through that day. They were all dwelling, swimming, and no one canceled out the other, so they kept building up until he cracked. "Well, she's definitely a whole different ballgame." But he was trained to look at this objectively. She was on freaking contract, and still she did this. It was irresponsible, she had single-handedly screwed up a lot, embarassed him, embarassed the show, embarassed herself and there were even questions arising as toward whether or not her contract would renew. "But she'll be okay. Which is the important thing."
“Not for you” Serena’s felt bad for Hadley of course, she worried for her friend and all that must be going on with her but the business portion of her mind had clicked in quickly after hearing the news and she knew what Parker must be thinking. “The most important thing for you is to keep the show on track it doesn’t make you a bad person either, by the way”
"I don't want to be... uncompassionate," Parker revealed. "I don't want to be the guy obsessed with image and business and can't pause for a moment to consider someone's feeling. But I'm a producer. I have to ... take care of this stuff. There is no easy compromise."
“Sometimes your job has to take precedent Parker, this is one of those times” Serena assured him “Hadley’s gonna be fine . Preston… well he always lands on his feet right?” Although after getting to know Parker Serena was pretty sure Preston landing on his feet had a lot more to do with Parker’s level head than Preston’s. “The show, well the PR department will figure a way to spin it and she can be worked around for awhile…and when you get tired of Serena’s land of optimism feel free to tell me to shut up.”
"I'm liking the land of optimism," he assured her. "It's better than the 'everything has gone to hell and I want to jump right into hell as get away' land, so please, feel free." He sighed. It was easy to think of the now and then. In a week, this would be dying down drastically. But the actual living the week, figuring out how to do everything day to day? Nope, still made him want to retreat. Luckily, he worked amazing under pressure, even if it nearly robbed him of his sanity. He pulled all nighters on some of his best essays in college. He slept not at all and still managed to pull something amazing out from the sheer amount of pressure cracking down on him.
“You work in TV I’m sure you thrive on working under pressure” Serena mused with a slight shrug, The pace of televisions especially of a serial show was so different from the films she’d spent most of her career on. “I assure you Parker once you guys get past the weekend from hell things will be better, in fact” She paused as she thought twice about her next decision and then just decided to ahead with it. “I’m s sure that come next Wednesday things will be a lot calmer and you’ll still be sane that we’ll go out to celebrate, no cameras no tuxes and no pretentions."
Parker almost snapped. Celebrate? He was in no mood to celebrate! But as soon as the blood rose, it fell again. She was being kind. She was trying to help. And she was mos tlikely right. He could do with an easygoing night out, even if he felt like things would never be easygoing again. He breathed out, savoring the slow, labored breath and letting out the bad. "I would like that," he said after a moment, when he could be sure the words were honest.
Serena was a fairly observant person and being such she noticed Parkers pause, his intake of breath and the look on his face. “I’m sure you will like it” She agreed with a soft smile as she tucked A blonde wave behind her ear. (they had curled if for shooting that morning.) “And I promise you Parker the world is not ending, even though it seems that way right now.”
"I believe that. And as much as I hate to do this... I really do have a lot to get back to." He look at her, face genuinely apologetic.
“Yea, I figured you’d kick me out sooner rather than later” Serena admitted with a teasing smile as she rose from her chair and leaned over his desk to kiss him on the cheek, in a purely friendly gesture. “Since I’m going to assume you’re probably not leaving this office all weekend, I’ll see you Tuesday morning”
He nodded, appreciating the friendly gesture. "I may leave for a shower, and possibly some food but yeah, you're more or less right. See you Tuesday, Rene. And thanks."