It is quite clear that August is still part of summer and that is a veritable period to enjoy the pool or lounge on beaches.

It made sense for there to be a whole lot of August splashing being done.

After all the monthly monikers that Alexander had done... the splashes of August and Splashy August should be a fun way to call it.

Of course, to go with that theme and after a day of playing around in the country club pool, Alexander wanted to go back to his little boss responsibilities and make a lot of business "splashes".

He felt that a day was enough to ease his accumulated tension and he should have been re-charged already to do a lot of restructuring and planning for Creed's next endeavors.

Unfortunately, his grandfather thought otherwise and grounded him from being on CREED HQ's premises for a while

Even Miss Galina had been given a no-chauffeuring task unless it was to somewhere relaxing or enjoyable in summer.

Unlike other kids that have to grumble or plead to have summer fun, Alexander had been grounded out of his responsibilities while being forced to relax and have fun instead.

How a lot of kids or even adults want to trade circumstances with Alexander and how Alexander just wanted to trade with them.

It was too bad that this was no swapping-lives Freaky Friday situation and Alexander just had to make the best of it.

As such, he had to go back to the Country Club the next day.

Of course, to get out of the no-work forced vacation, he just brought pen and papers to exploit a loophole.

Resting by the pool and drinking refreshments should still count as relaxing while drafting plans and projects should still count as fun.

Of course, he still has an enviable entourage. Only this time around, there was no little Milla and just Cocky Cox who seems to have timed things out to join him the second time.

In any case, her having more free time and Alexander-tailing than Milla was suspicious. Milla is busy with enrolment matters but shouldn’t Cocky Cox be busy with some other career matters.

"I know that VA work is mostly finished and shouldn’t you be doing some other acting job by now." Alexander asked while he fiddled with his pen.

"It's the summer and this country club of yours has the best activities to do, so..." Courteney reasoned as she twirled the straw in her drink.

It was still suspicious but Alexander just wanted to go on with his mandatory vacation and business loophole with peace of mind.

He had the pen and paper for it... but peace of mind may be too much of an ask given who he's with.

"So, you're just going all out with incorporating business stuff into everything." The whole New Coke tasting was still fresh for her and to think that the boy would sink into that business-minded habit even further.

"I guess." Alexander answered as he wrote ‘Top Gun soundtrack’ and encircled it for further emphasis on his notes. At this point, he'll just consider Cocky Cox's interventions as akin to Milla's Comic-Con Q&As.

"I had no idea that people would take it as far as plotting stuff out while on a mandated vacation." Courteney voiced her thoughts as usual. "I think that takes away the spirit of the vacation itself."

"Don't you have business-mind father figures?" He distinctly remembered her talking about this family fact of hers. "Surely, they've had your family time cut short with these matters."

"Yeah..." Courteney could still remember her mom being exasperated with it. "...but that's only in emergencies and not as blatant as what you're doing."

"You should hear what my grandfather considers as vacation and retirement. He's even more business busy than me." Alexander rebutted while he proceeded to draw a simple caricature of a bucket-headed man.

"How could Old Mr. Creed even top what you're doing?" Courteney was intrigued.

"Well, at his age, he's technically retired and retirement is considered the vacation of a lifetime." Alexander reasoned while writing 'business opportunities' and ‘music expansion’ on the paper.

"I guess he's an advocate of business being for all ages. Maybe that's why he can haphazardly leave a kid like me to lead some of our ventures while an old man like him is busier than ever." He even wanted to make the old man's retirement-busy example to get out of this mandatory vacation but it just got turned down.

Courteney had to admit that Old Mr. Creed seems more business-dedicated than Alex indeed. Of course, she took this chance as well. "Where's Mr. Creed now by the way? I know that he's banned you but he didn't seem to be at your HQ. Is he busy at home?"

"He's producing our next film and is at the filming location." Alexander was talking about Top Gun, of course. "The prep for that film had taken so long and it was only recently that our little production company had a major breakthrough."

From what he knew, Top Gun had been prepping by finding some cast members to fill some slots. The whole film project had done a lot of pre-production necessities since April or maybe ever since last year. Hence, progress seems quite progressive from an outsider’s perspective.

With Reagan's BttF implicit endorsement plus James Cameron's self-endorsement as a director, things had kicked into full gear even more and just recently.

Cocky Cox's eyes seem to gleam from that though and Alexander realized why she's interested in where his grandfather is. Or maybe the true answer to that plaguing suspicion that he had of her clinging unto his vacation trip.

"Don't tell me you want a part in that?"

Courteney didn't even care if she was found out and just went with it. "Yes, I do. That's a movie and someone like me would want a part in that."

Well, that explains her free time and presence around him even without VA work. Alexander had some qualms though. "I thought you had that Misfits of Science thing in the bag. If you're actually interested in our movie project, wouldn't that conflict?"

"I dropped that or simply put... the production dropped me out of nowhere." Courteney didn't really want to talk about it... but she had to since she had to make her case.

Alexander had his thoughts drift to his butterfly effect again. Misfits of Science was sort of Cocky Cox's little platform to stardom but now... she had been kicked out of it for some reason.

The variables of "reasons" are what mostly decide whether actors can get to be a part of a cast or not. As it turns out, "reason" is what originally got her a part and a new "reason" is probably what got her out of it.

If that wasn't a shift in history, then he didn't know what is.

Alexander's interest in his Chaos Butterfly influence had always been high and a significant turning point was technically right beside him.

He even put down his pen and paper due to this sudden development. "You should have headed to Creed Pictures directly and not waste your time here."

"I am actually on the wait-list for the female lead, Charlotte Blackwood, already." Courteney answered with a bit of embarrassment.

"I take it that you want to appeal to my grandpa for the part." Alexander had to laud her for that initiative and he hummed with an inquisition. "So... you tagging along with me in this country club isn't exactly for the prior reasons that you say it is, right?"

"Of course, I also wanted to accumulate creator points from you." Courteney blushed from being found out but she had to come clean. "Your Alex Creed name is your persona for screenwriting and Top Gun is clearly your project. Also, if I'm being honest, I'm genuinely curious about how you relax."

"Well, with the cards your using, you are probably set as a heavy contender for the role." Compared to the others in the contention, Cocky Cox really maximized the advantages she has.

Just a heavy contender, not the role directly? Courteney was a bit appalled. "Could it be that you find my sneaky methods to be disgusting? Tricking you is a bit underhanded, isn't it?"

"It's not that. I'm actually impressed at the rational strategy you used, so you have my thumbs up." Alexander was all for tricks as long as it isn't damaging or harming the things that he finds important.

If he's offended by every trickery against him, then he'd be at warring terms with his pranking grandpa all the time.

"The role you’re going for is sort of an instructor persona for pilots. You have to get around your youthful 21-year-old vibe to truly beat the others." As rational as her strategy is, he was even more rational when it involves major projects. "You're a big contender for your prior participation with Creed Entertainment's projects but you have to be perfect for the part as well. After all, it's a multi-million-dollar movie that you want to be a part of."

"Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" Alexander had pretty much given her the tip she needed to truly win the role. It still wasn’t guaranteed since she’d have to convince the true producer and the director for it.

"I think so." Of course, Courteney understood as the gleam in her eyes had become much clearer. "Thank you for your understanding and the tip, Alex."

If it was other productions that she had approached with this tactic, she might not have gotten far and been kicked out already.

For other productions, the disgusting case scenario was very likely and she might even have to resort to Hollywood’s unwritten rules. In fact, Courteney had been quite aggrieved by these unwritten rules as this was why she lost her Misfits of Science role in the first place.

Fortunately, Alex or the Creed family did not seem to like employing such an unsavory practice when doing business. She had just been reminded of how business-minded they are.

Courteney was even ready to go all out with shamelessness... but it seems she didn't need to. Creed is said to have stemmed from the adult film industry but their methods don’t really point to that kind of San Fernando Valley origin.

------

Unbeknownst to the relieved actress that didn't have to resort to a more extreme exchange, Alexander actually had a different exchange in mind.

If she were equating them to how Hollywood usually transacts, then she was wrong since he wanted to deviate slightly from it.

This was why he emphasized 'prior participation to Creed Entertainment's projects'.

Cocky Cox's Bulma role still had a lot of factors to consider and depending on how things would go... he'd have a lot of data to go with.

The whole correlation between VA and actress popularity would be explored... and the camaraderie strategy would be a step further with role-giving than necklace-gifting during birthdays.

Alexander wasn't sure if this would fit August's Splash theme or not but the ripples of Cocky Cox's different career choices should have a lot of interesting developments to look out for.