Hello, my alien lovers!
Like a lot of people, I struggle with mental health issues. I get depressed very often, which sucks.
But I'm lucky to have great friends and to leave in a progressive province that a) gives me acces to some medical support (not enough—don't get me started on the state of healthcare in Canada!!), and b) is a beautiful place where I can drive for an hour and escape from everything.
Nature baths are a great healing tool, as I've found out.
Writing also helps, and I've been making good headway towards finishing Perilous. I cut the number of chapters from 51 to 49, and I just finished writing the first draft of Chapter 34 minutes before I jumped to get this newsletter on the road. 15 more chapters to go!
Yay to Chapter 23!
I know Peyter is a bully, but I secretly love him because he's so insane to write! I had a bully in middle school, but he wasn't nearly as fun as Peyter is.
Enjoy the banter and chaos!
lunus 🩷
If you're new to the story, start with Chapter 1
If you missed the last chapter, Previously on Perilous Love Stars
Maple got annoyed easily and impatient often. But unlike Ermett, who she’d once seen break two toes by angrily kicking into a wall after a frustrating call with Bobool, or Davenport, who's jealous tendencies drove him mad when he was dating Cruz, like that time he’d almost strangled one of the PAs to death after he’d made an inappropriate comment on the line producer’s sexual prowess, Maple rarely got angry. On the rare occasions when she did, she never externalized it.
Anger was a nasty emotion that corrupted most of what it touched, at least in the world of soap operas. A crossed soap character was never going to make good or healthy decisions. Since most of Maple’s moral code was based on watching soaps, she kept anger at bay in her life. She’d also grown up around Cynthia, whose French temper controlled her more than the opposite, and Maple was too obsessed with control to let that go to an unstable emotion like anger.
However, there were always exceptions to the rules. Peyter was the one person on the planet who could drive Maple insane, no matter what. He could push her to her limits with just a smirk, she’d stopped counting the number of times they’d verbally and physically fought.
Peyter dusted off his pristine suit. Peroxide hair and lavender had been his colours since high school. “Well, if this isn’t Mediocre Maple Defleuvier. What do I owe this displeasure to?”
He always talked like a villain from a soap opera. Like Maple, Peyter was obsessed with them, particularly Betteraves & Betrayals. In middle school, where they had met for the first time, the two lonely gay boys had bonded over their shared passion for the drama that the Betterave family offered daily. But when high school started and Maple realized she wasn’t a lonely gay boy but a beautiful woman with dreams and hopes, something broke between them. Peyter developed a bullying habit that has never stopped since then.
He’d sold a daily soap project to a popular streaming platform right after high school, and Maple hoped that meant she’d be rid of him forever. The show tanked in its opening week and was deprogrammed after critics called it “an abomination on every level possible.” Maple had refused to watch her bully’s short-lived achievement. Her acting dreams had died after she graduated from high school, and she accepted that her talents lay elsewhere. Secretly, she still held on to her dream of one day writing for a show like Betteraves & Betrayals.
Peyter was apparently so difficult to work with that nobody wanted to hire him after his show’s failure. Since then, his mission had been to revive the defunct Soapy Magazine into Forever Soapy, a hub for daily soap news and fans, so he could continue harassing Maple on a bigger public platform.
“The displeasure is all mine, trust me.” Maple glanced at the camera hanging from his neck, then at the motel room with the three secret alien teenagers. How much had Peyter seen? “You’re the one following me.”
“How did you recognize me?”
She rolled her eyes. What an idiot that man was.
“I saw you at Marsha’s press conference with the same outfit. You just changed your sunglasses. Have you been wearing the same clothes for three days straight? That’s gross.”
“I own the same seven suits, so I can wear them every day and still be as flawless as I always am, unlike you, who looks like a used condom a dog had chewed and spit back out.”
She grunted, which earned her one of Peyter’s infamous smirks. “What do you want, Peyter?”
He took out his phone and turned the camera on.
“Hi, Soapy Forever community! I’m live with Maple Defleuvier!”
He pushed the phone in Maple’s face.
“Maple, hello and thank you for giving Forever Soapy an exclusive interview, even though your reputation is in the toilet as you single-handedly sabotaged a seven-decade-old show by being awful at your job. How are you feeling? What’s your state of mind right now as you contemplate another cataclysmic failure?”
She closed her eyes, picturing Rosalie’s breathing exercises. A long inhale…
Peyter pushed in further, invading her personal space and forcing Maple to open her eyes. She stepped back.
A smirk distorted his face. “You seem erratic, lost, confused? Are you well, Maple? Have you finally lost the battle against your inner demons to sink into drugs and despair like so many other transgender people? It’s understandable, with so many people hating you and #FireMaple trending nationally for the third time this week alone. Comments? Reactions?”
“ You’re harassing me right now, Peyter, taking pictures of my hotel room like some creep—”
“I know Salvatore Suarez is in there with you!” He announced too proudly. “I saw you two together, and you’re on a lovers’ road trip.”
Oh my god. The last thing she needed was for Peyter to start unfounded rumours about her and Salvatore. Did some of what Salvatore said sound very flirty sometimes? Yes—but she’d never crossed that line, not just for professional reasons anymore. Salvatore had lied about the glowing. He hadn’t bothered warning Maple about the divide or the teenagers, which was a disrespectful decision that was endangering all of them right now.
“Please, go away, Peyter. Find someone else to harass. I don’t have time.”
“The fans have been asking you to step down as Betteraves & Betrayals showrunner,” he pressed, ignoring her. “They say you’re not fit to run the show, and frankly, I agree! Just admit it! You suck at this!” he demanded, almost screaming in the empty parking lot. Forever Soapy viewers wouldn’t care, they were used to their star journalist’s outbursts.
Maple felt her calm façade crack as she thought about everyone watching her being bullied in real time. She’d endured Peyter’s barbs and harassment for years, and yet, she felt like she’d never get immune to it. He always knew where to hit, where it’d hurt her the most.
“Fuck you, Peyter.”
She was giving him the content he desperately craved. She didn’t care anymore. She was too tired to pretend.
“Shocking!” he shouted in fake horror. “Maple Defleuvier is attacking a journalist! How low will she stoop?”
Maple sighed, crossing her arms. “You’ve never been subtle, Peyter. That’s always been your problem. No wonder your show was deprogrammed after merely a week. Everyone could see your plot twists days in advance. And, if I remember correctly, your online ratings were so low, SoapRankings.com had to issue a statement explaining why a brand new show was already at the bottom of the ranking.”
He was speechless. Finally.
Maple paused, caught her breath, breathed in. An eagle flew by, a radio crackled somewhere.
She felt light, the anger and fear fading as she focused on her breathing and what she’d always wanted to say to all her haters, all the people that had chosen to attack her and the show instead of uplifting the creative work and the critical messages of inclusions and love she fought so hard for. Storytelling and representation had the power to change lives. Maple was sure of it. Betteraves & Betrayals had changed hers, offering a daily escape from the bullying she faced at school.
“Maybe I’m not the best showrunner,” she continued, “and yeah, I’ve made some mistakes. But I care for my crew and the show. Even if our future is uncertain right now, I’ll always strive to deliver the best show possible for the fans, no matter what. People forget I’ve been watching Betteraves & Betrayals for the past twenty years. I’m also a fan! I understand some people aren’t happy with the turns we’ve taken lately, but my job is to deliver the best stories for the characters we all love. I’m proud of our show and the stories we’ve gotten to tell since I came aboard. No amount of bullying will ever change that.”
Maple watched Peyter’s face crumble as her confidence grew. Feeling emboldened by her speech, she leaned closer, addressing the camera directly. “#FireMaple? If you don’t like our show, stop watching. We don’t need you.”
Then she grabbed the phone from Peyter’s hand and cut the live streaming off.
Her little live declaration would undoubtedly trigger an outcry, but since she was the only person actively working to save the show, she decided to stop giving a shit. The haters could talk, and she’d bring back Daphne to Betteraves & Betrayals if that were the last thing she did. Maybe Bobool would cancel the show, but she’d forever be remembered as the showrunner who brought Adele back.
Peyter didn’t react right away. Maple saw a glimpse of the boy she used to know, lonely and scared. Slowly, he shook his head, composing himself and stepping back into his villainous persona.
Then, the loud thud of a slapping door distracted Maple enough for him to snatch his phone back.
She saw Yellow rush out of the room. When she glanced back at Peyter, he was already snapping pictures of the runaway teenager.
Yellow disappeared behind a corner. She was going to lose him if she didn’t start moving soon!
“Shit!” She started racing off after him. She slowed down and turned back to Peyter. “Don’t publish any of this, Peyter, or I will sue your ass!”
He grinned at her. A wicked, nefarious grin. “Oh, you know how I feel about threats, Maple. Get ready to be front-page news, baby!”
“I mean, she’s not wrong???? why are people watching the show if they don’t like it?”
“You go, Maple! Since you brought sexy aliens into my life, you TRANSFORMED me!! WE HAVE YOUR BACK!!!!!”
“I thought #FireMaple was a meet-cute for Canadian arsonists?… So confused…”
“wooow, she’s a guy?? you can’t tell! science is wild, maaaan.”
Anonymous comments to Peyter Panffer’s live.