He Was Going Somewhere, Part Ii

...Oliver had saved up the cash to buy into his employer’s franchise, bought his own store, aggressively courted every rancher in the countryside. Soon enough the cash flow was well in the black, so Oliver and the bartender wed, bought their own house and were soon expecting, he cared nothing for what the people said. Jack, still drinking, played the Hollywood scene, was a fixture of the wild nightlife, soon he was in the tabloids again when he knocked up a girl he knew one night. He managed to keep working in film, supporting roles were the best he could get, with alimony and child support he found himself slipping into the red. When he crashed his car into his front door he was quickly shuffled off to rehab, in what would be the first trip of many, the addiction had a grip on him bad. But still he managed to get some work, and when folks saw his face on the air, they’d look at Oliver, mumbling how, “That brother never went anywhere.” Now Hollywood is a hot-bed of rumors, and a disturbing percentage are true, soon tales spread of Jack’s early acting days, and all the things a new actor has to do. Rumors of giving favors to producers, insinuations of oral sex, some said that was why her drank so damn much, and why relationships left him vexed. Whatever the case, on the internet, the rumors became an ongoing meme, his reputation thrown in the toilet by GIFs and infographics obscene. Oliver, back in fair Nebraska, really had no reason to complain, he had three kids and sold big equipment to half the ranchers on the Sand Hills range. Nobody was making memes out of him, no reporters were snooping through his trash, tabloids were not undermining his marriage, and he was making more than enough cash. He had six stores and a seventh coming, and a hundred acres tied to his home, a life or both family and friends sincere, the general public did leave him alone. The only thing that could worry Oliver was what would happen to his brother Jack? How many stars had walked down that same road, and how many of them had never come back? Though Jack’s state would weight hard on his mind, and hear feared to see him drowning in despair, Oliver couldn’t help but laugh at the folk who thought it was he who was going nowhere.