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Created by Diane Brown, Buena Beach is an online soap opera, giving up all the juicy details of some of the hottest guys and gals of Buena Beach, a small town in Southern California. Check back everyday for a new episode here on HelloBeautiful.com.

Chris

At 4:59 on the dot, Chris shuts down his computer, grabs his keys, and takes leave of his sparsely decorated City of Buena Beach cubicle. Emotions heightened as they are every day at this time, he practically skips to the shiny silver convertible Mercedes coupe that he keeps telling himself he’ll have paid off by 2012, maybe even sooner if business picks up at the café. Just four months ago, he and best friend Alice emptied their shallow pockets to open the Buena Beach Café right in the heart of bustling downtown Buena Beach.

When they first made the investment, the two-block district was laughable in comparison to nearby centers, like Long Beach. But, being quaint and off the radar screens made the area chic. With chic would come trendy business people, followed by young Hollywoodians and funky bohemians. Then, the masses of wannabes, who’d come to town after a write-up in the LA Times or InStyle magazine. Chris saw the café’s potential as clear as a non-Southern California day, but Alice remained pessimistic.

Committed, but pessimistic, which was fine for Chris because her worry bred tenacity. In the last few weeks alone, she’d cut costs by finding two new vendors, hired a highly touted pastry chef, and picked up several extra shifts, a big deal considering her full-time job as Vice-Principal of Buena Beach High.

Chris loved being at the café. For him, it provided a sanctuary from the haunting memories of his past. Today, the place was near empty as he walked in, the clanging bell on the door announcing his arrival.

Jen looks up from her cup and releases the hand of her companion to flash Chris a winsome smile. He shoves a hand in his front pocket and pulls out a twenty, which he slaps down on the young man’s gargantuan calculus textbook.

The guy, Micah, looks up at Chris and smiles without a word of thanks. Just takes the twenty, gathers his belongings, and stumbles away.

“Same time tomorrow, okay Micah?” Jen calls. Crumpled papers, calculator, and pencil case struggling to remain inside the guy’s threadbare backpack, he gives Jen a quick nod before exiting.

“Seat’s nice and warm,” Chris says, lips unable to contain his near perfectly aligned teeth.

After a juicy kiss, “So are you,” Jen returns.

Chris takes a sheepish scan of the room before scooting his chair back a tad. “We’d better be careful.”

“Why? No one’s here. Besides, it’s so much more fun, being risky.”

Chris isn’t so sure, but he takes her hand under the table anyway and gives it a squeeze. What can he say – he’s crazy about her. But what he’s doing is immoral, even illegal. And if Danny ever found out…

“Hey, how’s your dad?”

Jen slurps her mocha, neglecting to wipe away the bit of whipped cream that’s accumulated beneath her nose. “Fine, I guess.” She shrugs, adding “Annette picked him up from the hospital. Just another anxiety attack.”

“We were all kind of worried about him.”

“Yeah, right. I’m sure all of you are just waiting for something terrible to happen to him so you can kill each other, fighting to get his job.”

“Not me. You know this…,” he looks up, waving a hand at the original wooden columns and the brick fireplace in the corner and the massive pastry case, “is where I want to be. I mean, perhaps Mario…”

Jen nearly spits out her last sip. “Wait, wait. I forgot to tell you. Get this – Dad thinks I hooked up with Mario.”

If Chris had a drink, he would have nearly spit his out as well. “What?”

“Well, you know how I stopped there this morning, right?”

“You did?”

Jen’s brow furrows as she recollects. “Oh. Well, yeah. I forgot you weren’t there when I dropped off some coffee. But, I left my little secret sign on your desk.”

Channeling Zorro, it was Jen’s routine to fan three small post-it notes to form a Z in homage to her middle name, Zari, which was her mother’s maiden name. Chris had been so frazzled with impending deadlines and meetings that he likely didn’t even notice. But an obvious question loomed in his head. “Why were you bringing coffee by?”

Jen shrugs with an air of nonchalance. “Well, I knew you had that big meeting this morning, so I figured you wouldn’t have time to pick up coffee. And, I was right, right?”

That she was. In fact, for Chris, she was more than just right. She was perfect, even with the whipped cream, now dried and flaky, on her face. “Right. Come on – we’d better get to work.” He pulls her up and escorts her behind the counter, where he hands her a black apron with her name embroidered in white cursive. She takes the apron and drops to the floor, then grabs him by one of his belt loops.

“Come on. Let’s take a quick break first.”

As the adult in the relationship, and her boss, his response should be a firm and resounding ‘no’. But when her delicate, warm hand makes it’s way under his shirt onto the small of his back, all control over the situation is lost. He’s as whipped as the foamy, frothy drinks they’ll be serving to the pre-dinner-and-a-movie crowd sure to be arriving in just minutes.

At least there’s the bell on the door.

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For 2024’s iteration of MadameNoire and HelloBeautiful’s annual series Women to Know, we knew we wanted to celebrate the people who help make the joys of film and television possible. To create art is to create magic. This year, we spotlight Hollywood Executive’s changing the face of cinema.