"It's pretty lucky Apple is so photogenic. The camera loves her, which is why, I suppose, she was so successful with YouTube in high school. She has a natural beauty I think, too, a trusting face that people can relate to. As her mother, I was proud, and a bit terrified that her videos took off so fast. It makes sense, however, that they would. Apple is beautiful, and other girls think they can get something genetic by slapping a few chemicals on their face and calling it a day. Unfortunately for them, that's not the way it works. No, I think her success is 50% talent and 50% God given beauty. I don't think it was always easy for her though. As much as kids can be adoring, they can also be very cruel. Before she got big, really big, we tried to filter out all the negative or inappropriate comments, but it then became a job too large for any one person. Even before that, the kids she knew in real life were relentless, calling her 'naturallyapple' instead of her real name and mocking her in general. Of course, I'm sure they were eating their words at some point, but we decided to home school her in the graduating year because it became impossible for her to go to school without some semblance of teasing. There was a time where I think she contemplated giving it up altogether. I'll admit, I thought it was a bit narcissistic and vain, as far as hobbies though, but after I realized she enjoyed it, loved it, I never once wanted her to stop making them. It's a shame that she did.
Of course, happiness is all we ever wanted for our Apple. I think she could have been far more successful if she had cultivated her own brand and stuck with it, rather than accepting the offer from
Lord & Taylor. She was excited though, and even if Apple is a smart girl, even a savvy one, she got too excited. She does well for herself, yes, but the possibilities could have been endless. I just hope we don't come to find out that it was all a waste. I don't want my little girl living with regrets. They work her into the ground there, and it's rare she comes home anymore these days. I don't think I've seen her since New Years Eve, which is coming pretty close up on a year. The past three years, her visits have been less and less frequent, something that I chalk up to the fact that her time isn't her own anymore. I don't even think she dates. Well, regardless, we love her, will support her, and if she ever decided to leave NY and quit her job, as parents we'd be okay with that too."
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APPLE: Babe, I'm sorry, I won't be able to make your birthday.
ALIVIA: We know, Apple.
APPLE: No, really I am. It's just this deadline, this new campaign is so important ...
ALIVIA: Whatever, Apple.
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"
I'm a minimalist so that I don't have to feel bad about never being home."
- Apple Holt.
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(1) NEW VOICEMAIL MESSAGE
"It's Miriam Stoltz calling. Apple, I wouldn't be contacting you unless this was important. You and Arthur broke up ages ago, I realize that. For all I know, you don't even live in New York anymore. If that's not the case, then it needs to change. You need to come back.
You owe me."
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There were all sorts of cliches about time standing still, about how her eyes never left the road. In retrospect, it was hardly her fault. The man walked out in front of her, his walk glazed with the affects of Jim Bean. A cigarette was sloppily hanging from between two fingers. He looked at her, right before she hit him. It seemed as though everything was faster than it actually was. If you read this anywhere else, there might be a line or two about existence, about how your karma will catch up with you and make you bleed. This was grittier than that, darker than that. For a moment, right before the crash, she imagined that he was a deer, and that his body would be a trophy. Unfortunately, that was not so lucky. White knuckles, shaking and possible of popping, were hard on the steering wheel for only moments. Self preservation ruins you, rather than protects you. He was still breathing, that much she knew. He would live, but the consequences seemed far more severe in that moment than looking back. Her choice to drag him by the collar and off the street was not a choice that she remembers making.
Banging down the door of the Stotlz house seemed like the only logical thing to do. And when it was Miriam Stoltz to answer and not Arthur, Apple allowed herself to be shushed and brought inside. The comforting hands of a mother warmed her chilled heart, and Apple didn't seem to notice that Arthur was off causing mischief, something she had usually berated him about, but otherwise respected in a way that a girlfriend should. "
Tell us what happened Apple, we need to know everything." Funnily enough, the headlines printed and then died, and the man recovered no worse for wear. But her cherry red car sat unused in the back of the Stoltz's garage before it eventually vanished. Arthur was ignorant, bewildered maybe, by the crisp way the break-up was handled. She had to move to LA for work. There was a million reasons, really. They'd never make it, they fought all the time anyway and there was no use in even trying. She slipped quietly into something else, abandoning success and the promise of something quite fulfilling for an office chair. Her family sat, waiting every holiday for her to show up and she never came. She was only half as busy as she pretended to be. Secrets kill you.
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APPLE: Liv, I'm stopping in Montreal on my way to NY.
ALIVIA: Okay.
APPLE: Please? Tell mom. I love you, I'll see you next week.
ALIVIA: I'll believe it when I see it.
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