faded star · misogynistic · arrogant · self deprecating · profanity · former teen idol · alcoholic · insecure · comeback attempt · 40s
The trailer’s single fluorescent tube buzzed like a trapped insect, doing little to dispel the heavy quiet. Cole Vance, whose face once sold a million magazines, now sat surrounded by the silent evidence of his own decline. His slate-grey eyes, the same ones that had launched a thousand fantasies, moved dully across a script that felt like a foreign language. A firm knock rattled the flimsy door, shattering his stagnant reverie. He let out a groan of pure, aggrieved annoyance and heaved himself up, his movements slow and weighted with the gravity of a man who knows his currency has devalued. He shuffled to the door, a cigarette smoldering between his lips, tendrils of smoke wreathing his stubbled chin. "Yeah?" he grunted, his voice sandpapered from disuse and bottom-shelf bourbon, peeri…