I sighed as I got out the truck, not waiting for anyone to open the door for me like they loved to do,
"So, what is this photo shoot for again?" I look behind him at Natalie, one of our publicists. She had curly red hair and chocolate brown eyes. She had been with us for the past two years and I'm fairly comfortable around her. Mostly because I'm not interested in her and the feeling was definitely mutual. It made things simple, we know where we stand with each other, it was professional, nothing less and without a doubt nothing more. She stepped out out of the truck,
"People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People." I frowned, partly from her answer and partly from the bright Los Angeles sun. I'm the only one who is not enjoying a day off because of this photo shoot and I am none too pleased about it,
"I did that before." She nodded as Carl led us towards the door of the huge warehouse,
"Yeah four years ago. You've been selected again." Me? Beautiful again? I know I'm not the ugliest guy in the world but I thought the first time was just a fluke and here I am making the list again,
"For this year?" She nodded,
"Yep, seems someone somewhere out there think you're hot stuff." I smiled and shrugged as we continued to follow Carl. Carl is my latest security guard, he was strictly business and no girl, no matter how cute she was, was going to penetrate his defenses. I've never seen him having a good time and had once asked Carl about that,
"I have fun all the time, when you aren't around. When you're around I'm working and I take it seriously." I shake my head and smiled remembering that conversation one late night in some random hotel bar when Carl refused to drink with me, he simply sat with me and watched my steady intake of anything and everything alcoholic.
I walked through the door and came to a stop at the sight before me and sighed from sheer annoyance, typical Hollywood where everyone wanted to be more important and impressive than they really were. Even the assistants had assistants and you were a waste of human life if you didn't have a cell phone, pager and a two-way attached to your hip. I've just arrived and already I'm wondering when I could escape. I felt Natalie's tiny hand on my back,
"Ok, we need to get to make-up and hair I guess." I nodded and walked forward, taking tiny steps as I waited for someone to take the lead because I had no idea where I was going. Carl stepped up and indeed led the way, stopping once and practically demanding,
"Mr. Carter is here for his photo shoot. Where does he need to go?" The young man, dressed in all black looked down at the clipboard in his hand,
"Let me see. He should be in makeup as we speak, he's late." He made it a point to look at me when he acknowledged my tardiness in a most disapproving manner. Carl placed his heavy hand on the little guy's shoulder. I wanted to smile as I watched him flinch,
"Well, you guys couldn't start until he arrived correct?" He shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he glanced at Carl's hand before looking at Carl,
"Well, no we-" Carl smiled, it was the most fake smile I had ever seen, worse than Brian at a fan meet and greet,
"See? So Mr. Carter is on time. Why don't you lead us to where he needs to be." He nodded in defeat as he sighed heavily,
"Follow me." I shook my head when I figured out what bugged me about the guy, it was his accent. It was obvious he was from the United States but his phony accent made me think of England. First Madonna now random production assistants were forgetting where they came from. As I was walking towards the makeup room, which really should have been called the makeup area, I noticed there seemed to be two sets. On one side of the huge room was a bedroom motif, the other an antique bathtub. There was no way in hell I'm getting in a bathtub, the last time I did this I was fully clothed and the photo shot had a laid back at home vibe.
I was suddenly greeted by an animated older woman,
"Hi, have a seat." I nodded and stuck out my hand,
"Hi, I'm Nick Carter." She laughed and I could smell the peppermint she was sucking on,
"I know honey. I'm going to do your hair." My hand instinctively ran through my now long hair,
"You gonna cut it?" My question sounded more like a statement, I knew when Natalie uttered the words photo shoot that meant a haircut,
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Is that a problem?" Natalie's voice entered the conversation,
"No, not at all. Saves him the trouble at having to do it." I was greeted with a smile when I turned to look at her and frowned, I had no intentions of cutting my hair anytime soon. I looked back at the woman, still not knowing her name,
"So, what's your name?" Like most people she seemed a little surprised I was asking, I'll never understand why people seemed shocked someone they are going to be working with asks them their name. I didn't want to call out 'hey you',
"Irene." Irene, nice and simple, how did she escape the Hollywood rule to change your name to something unique and exotic I wondered,
"Nice to meet you Irene. I'm ready." She nodded and I sat down at the sink as Natalie and Carl sat on the black leather couch and waited. My eyes were closed and I felt like I was in heaven as Irene's hand washed my hair and her fingers massaged my scalp. A couple of times I heard a few moans escape my throat as I lay there head back and eyes closed, hope I wasn't embarrassnig myself. After the shampoo and conditioning phases were over she sat me in another chair with my back to the mirror so I,
"can't complain during the process." she had said. I only needed, "to worry about the finished product." I tried to get hints from Natalie and Carl, but Natalie would just nod her head and Carl didn't bother to humor me at all. I going to break him before it's all said and done. She was finally done and when I turned around I couldn't help but smile,
"Wow, it looks good. Thanks." Irene smiled as she continued to play with errant strands of my hair,
"No thanks needed, it was my pleasure." She pointed a few yards away,
"There, Sergio is will take care of your make-up."
I nodded and walked over, Natalie and Carl dutifully following, keeping me in their sights. Sergio, he is way too much. He was about my height with tattoos and here he was a makeup artist. If I didn't know better I would have thought the guy could be any number of masculine things, makeup artist never would have entered my mind.
"Hello, Sergio." I smiled and gave a head nod,
"Nick." Sergio stuck out his hand and I followed his direction and sat in the chair. He placed a cleansing moisturizer on my face causing me to sigh and squirm around as I was made to suffer through the worst part, damnit I hate makeup.
Chapter 2
Stranger Than Fiction
Stories
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