Gavin gets his information about who is going to be at what party from his housemate, Zach, who can hack into even high security computers...for him, getting the event schedule of a Beverly Hills banquet hall is an afternoon idyll. Gavin finds the first party that has the editor of WhooNoo on the guest list, & he calls Shay to invite her out to it. As he parks his car outside the stately mansion, he can see Shay is nervous & having second thoughts. "Ready?" he asks her, and she shakes her head. "What are you going to do in there?" she asks him. Suprised & amused by her question, he reminds her this trip is about her meeting the magazine editor...if he wanted to do his performance stuff, he'd have come by himself, as he frequently does. "What if you get kicked out..?" she asks him. He decides she's just stalling now, because she's afraid of all the celebrities milling around the front of the hall. So he reassures her that he won't do anything to attract the management's attention, and that she shouldn't be afraid of the celebrities, either. They're just people, and because of who they are, they are actually more frightened & vulnerable than regular folks: everything they do or say, every mistake or stupid utterance they make gets broadcast across the world. He tells her to act confident & no one will challenge her. Shay finally gets out of the car & heads toward the hall, but he can tell by her unsure gait that she is still nervous & that she will be noticed right away as an interloper if she takes another step. So he steps close behind her & whispers in her ear, "You are the most beautiful woman that has ever walked this planet. You are a goddess: make them worship you." It works beautifully: Shay radiates confidence the way she does when she talks about her designs, and the celebrities do not question her as she approaches & mingles with them.

Gavin does as he promised, resisting the temptation to mock the celebrity guests to their faces, and avoiding notice by the manager. The game room is the safest place for him, he decides & he plays pool with a wealthy socialite who takes a fancy to him. As they play, he discovers she's taken too much of a fancy to him, in fact. At first she is subtle, suggesting that she could help his career along in exchange for his favors, but the more he resists & pretends not to understand what she's saying, the more direct she becomes, until she bluntly offers to pay him to take her upstairs & make love to her. Gavin just as bluntly refuses, but refrains from making a larger scene of it, though he's quite disgusted. What does she take him for?

Gavin quit smoking years ago, but after being treated like a gigolo in the pool room, he needs something to distract him. On the smoking balcony, he is accosted by yet another woman who promises she can give his film career a boost in exchange for his company. Gavin has seen these women do their thing at hundreds of parties just like this one, but, busy with his own project of shaking them up, he's never been subject to this kind of attention. He puts out his cigarette & walks away, but not without noticing first that Monica, the editor of WhooNoo magazine, is smoking out here, too. He decides to find Shay & tell her where Monica can be found, so she can get her thing done & they can get out of here before Gavin has to defend his virtue from these scheming vultures again.

He finds Shay at the buffet, and his smoking 'partner' finds him there as well. As soon as he gets a chance, he tells Shay where Monica is, and just for luck, he whispers in her ear again, "Remember, you are the most beautiful woman in this room tonight, and you are smarter than the whole lot of them together..." before she heads up the stairs. Gavin watches her go: he can see his whispered words have added an extra spring to her step. Of course, he meant every word: Gavin chooses his words carefully, because he tries to never lie if it can be avoided.

Gavin decides to avoid talking to anyone while he waits for Shay, but then he sees someone he actually does want to meet: Mercedes Arthag, owner of the Arthag Gallery of Modern Art. He approaches her & tells her about his work: she seems interested and talks with him about art for awhile. But even with her rich & powerful husband standing right there, she gets aggressively flirty with him.

Thank goodness Bill Arthag decides to step in & defend his territory, not that Gavin was trying to steal it.