𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝘼𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛, 𝘽𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙚!

SEVENTEEN - Dismiss Concerns

David's team had picked Carlos to wake him up that morning.

Poor Carlos, he dreaded every day he was in this situation. God knew what David would say when he opened that bedroom door. He wouldn't be surprised if David just fired him one day.

Carlos took his spare keys and unlocked David's door, walking to his bedroom and knocking.

"David, you have to wake up."

He knocked again.

"David, you have a movie to go shoot."

He listened as David groaned from the other side of the door, then walked to open it. David had no shirt on, only boxers, Carlos barely contained his immense shock at the weight loss David sustained within the last weeks. He was pale and thin, like a ghost.

"What is it?" He asked, he tended to wake up in a bad mood.

"Today's your first day of shooting The Man Who Fell to Earth. You have to be there by 8:00."

David nodded and shut the door.

"I can get there myself, you can leave." He said just loud enough for Carlos to hear.

With barely any hesitation, Carlos walked out and left, thanking God that it was over.

David got ready and drove himself to the set, the first time he'd done so in a while. He just wanted some time alone.

he stepped onto the set, workers around him attempting to be subtle with their looks, but they couldn't help but stare. It was David Bowie, how couldn't you?

He sauntered over to the director's area. Nicholas Roeg.

"David, Hello! Nice to see you!" He greeted, putting down a clipboard he was holding.

The two shook hands, "Nice to see you as well." David responded, he couldn't bare to slip out of his formalities.

"I wanted to talk to you to look over the script, and some other concerns I have." Nicholas explained, David sitting down on the seat in front of him.

"Candy Clark should be here shortly." he finished.

David was immediately worried as Nicholas mentioned 'concerns'. What concerns could he have? David had wanted to do this type of role for a good while, this was his chance.

"Let's start with my concerns." Nicholas began, pulling out a letter he'd gotten from Corinne.

"Your assistant has voiced some concerns considering your health, that you struggle with drug abuse?" He said, reading off the letter in his hold.

David sighed and hesitantly nodded, "I'm a user. I don't abuse them." He said.

Nicholas didn't believe him for a second, he'd never known a drug abuser to admit they're a drug abuser.

"Alright. Could you do me a favor and maybe try and stay sober while on set?"

David immediately nodded, the task seemed easy enough. That was reasonable, considering how difficult he was to work with when he was high.

"Yeah, yeah. I can do that." he nodded.

Nicholas nodded in return, "Alright, that's good."

Nicholas decided he wouldn't mention the other concerns he had with David. Corinne mentioned a lot of things in her letter, irritability, suspected psychosis, paranoia, ect.. She also seemed concerned that David may be too caught up in his character, something that happened quite frequently, or that the whole alien thing might put him off a bit. Nicholas couldn't help but think, he couldn't really be that bad. Could he?

*

"You and David Bowie were recently pictured together taking a walk after the Grammy Awards. What was the context of all that?"

Dick Cavett was a polite man. Mari very much enjoyed his show, which she found herself watching just about every chance she had. This is why she was so ecstatic to receive an invite to be on the show.

"We were just on a walk, is all." she briefly stated.

The man nodded, "Oh, I see, I see. So there's nothing going on there?" he asked.

"Nope. Just good friends."

The audience laughed at her deadpan answer. She found it odd, live audiences really seemed to laugh at anything.

"What's he like in person? I hear all kinds of things about the guy but I can't say I've met him myself." Dick asked, his head tilting in the slight.

"He's really lovely. Very funny, talented, all kinds of stuff. In interviews he always seems so shy and unearthly, he's really super nice." She said, watching Dick nod as he listened.

"Have you liked his new album?"

Mari nodded, "Yes, very much. I was listening to Fascination on my way here." she said.

David's new album, Young Americans, had only come out about six days before, and it was already dominating the charts. She was sure he would win awards for the piece, despite being very different from his usual glam rock approach.

"Mari?...Mari?"

"Sorry, just thinking about how Janis Joplin has sat here."

The crowd laughed, the interview continued on just the same.

*

After the interview, Mari went home. Not to lay around and sleep or drink like usual, but to make a plan to fly to Berlin.

The papers her friend was meant to send her finally arrived in the mail that morning, she got a good look at the house and decided she was interested. It was beautiful.

Mari called her assistant and told her to schedule a flight for the next week, schedule some shows too just to fill in the spare time. Mari was stuck in a situation where she had no motivation to write until she got out of New York. She felt like time in Berlin was what she needed for inspiration, maybe New York was just sucking the life out of her. The only thing was, she hated to spend the week alone. Leila, the woman who'd sent her the papers, was a busy woman. She worked as a music producer, the job had her working practically 24/7 lately.

Mari looked between the pictures of the house in Berlin and her schedule, trying to sort something out. She had a bunch of recording sessions scheduled for the week ahead, every single one with David. She knew she could just call his assistant and see if there was time to temporarily relocate the sessions to Berlin, but she hated to be such a bother.

She sighed, leaning back on her couch, deciding she'd forget about it for a while. Maybe she'd get dressed and head somewhere. Just for a walk. Yeah, that could work.

Mari slipped on something casual and went out, thinking a smoke might solve her issues. She was so stressed, she didn't want this house to sell before she got to it. It was almost dark, she knew she shouldn't be out that late, but she didn't care.  She couldn't stay inside any longer.

***