by Amity Cross
“You look shell-shocked.”
I glanced up at Candy and grimaced. “Pay day.”
She frowned. “Didn’t you get paid?”
She sat next to me on the couch and peered over my shoulder, not at all worried about personal boundaries. I’d gotten paid, but it was an amount I’d never thought I’d ever be worth.
I was sitting in the common room they had set up in the Starscape offices, having been let out for the rest of the afternoon after another script meeting. It was pretty cool here with all the plush couches, a huge TV on one wall, a fully kitted out kitchen, and there were even some old-school arcade games. The boys of the office, who had a competition going to see who could knock each other off the high scores, were always hogging them.
Candy whistled when she saw the balance. “What are you doing right now?”
“Right now?” I asked, glancing at her.
“Yeah. Let’s go shopping!”
“You want to go shopping with me?” She was a glamorous actress, and she wanted to hang out with me? The world had gone absolutely crazy.
“Yeah,” she said like it was the dumbest question in the universe. “I don’t want this to sound awful or anything, but…” She reached out and ran her hand through my hair.
“Are you coming onto me?” I blurted before slapping a hand over my mouth. Oh, crap. I hadn’t meant for that to actually come out of my stupid hole.
Candy didn’t seem to mind, and she started laughing like a madwoman. “Oh, god no,” she said. “You’ve got nice hair, but I think it would look even better with a little trim. I know a great salon we can hit up. You can get your hair cut, and I can get my nails done.”
I picked at my long tresses and shrugged, my ugly duckling thoughts from earlier coming back to haunt me. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”
Her eyes began to sparkle, and she bounced up and down on the couch. “Makeover!”
I felt the blood drain from my face. “Makeover?”
“Oh, don’t look so panicked,” she said, waving her hand at me. “You’re beautiful, Lux. All I want to do is help you make it shine. Besides, it makes me happy, and now is the perfect time. We never get an afternoon off after a table read. They don’t need you until tomorrow, right?”
I eyed her with mounting suspicion. “No…”
“Let me make you over! Please.” She gave me puppy dog eyes and stuck her bottom lip out.
Candy was so beautiful and fashionable, I guess it couldn’t hurt to get a few pointers from her. I didn’t know anything about this stuff, and maybe I could go from being dowdy to hot all in the one afternoon. Scrubbing myself up would get me a sight closer to getting the one thing I wanted most out of life.
Obviously, it was love. Everyone wanted love.
“Say something,” Candy prodded.
“Okay,” I said with a heavy sigh. “I am a blank canvas. Just don’t shave my head. I like having long hair.”
She jumped to her feet and grabbed my hands, yanking me up. “Then we don’t have a moment to lose.”
“There’s a time limit?” I asked, my eyes widening. “I didn’t know we were on the clock.”
“Trust the process,” she said as we made our way to the elevator. “It’s a tried and true experience when you’re with me. If I wasn’t an actress, I’d be a stylist to the stars.”
As the elevator arrived with a cheery little ding and she ushered me inside, I didn’t doubt it one iota.
* * *
Cue the cut scene to two hours later, where I sat in a fancy chair in an even fancier salon in downtown Atlanta.
The stylist Candy had taken me to see was just as glamorous as she was, so I assumed she knew what she was doing. At this point, I was just going with it.
The stylist had cut a couple of inches off the bottom of my hair, then put all these choppy layers through it, and fixed up my fringe so it didn’t hang heavily in my eyes. She finished the cut off by running straightening irons over it and spritzing some shiny spray stuff to make it sparkle.
“Holy shit, Lux,” Candy said, standing behind me and holding her hands in the air, her nails looking buffed and beautiful. “So much better.”
“The world can see your beautiful eyes now,” the stylist said as she removed the cape from around my shoulders. “And it frames your face so much better. You can wear it sleek or mess it up a bit for something more fun.” She ran her hands through my hair and fluffed it up a bit to demonstrate what she meant.
Turning my head from side to side, I twirled my finger around a lock of hair and found myself wondering if Jude would like it. Damn it. Would the self-destruction ever just quit it?
Candy’s eyes lit up, and I knew she’d just had an epiphany. “I know the best clothing store for you.”
I smiled, her excitement beginning to infect everyone in the salon. Running my hand through my new hair, I allowed a surge of confidence to overwhelm me. If I wanted to put myself out there and find the things I wanted most out of life, I had to be the best version of myself. Unfortunately, when that thing was love, looks played a huge part in it.
“Okay,” I said. “I’m ready to submit.”
Candy clapped her hands together. “You won’t regret it. I have a whole wardrobe planned out for you, Lux. You’re going to look hot.”
Glancing at my reflection one last time, I took out my phone, snapped a picture, and sent it to Melody with a text that read: New city, new haircut.
I wasn’t sure what time it was back home, but I instantly got a reply. America suits you, hot stuff.
After I’d paid for my haircut, we walked a block over to the mall where Candy seemed to be intimately acquainted with every store in the place.
Ushering me into a huge store, which seemed to be the target of her coordinated fashion strike, she began to pick out things for me. From first glance, they seemed to sell all denim and T-shirts with a mix of accessories with a rocker boho fusion thing going on. I kind of liked the idea and began running my fingers over a few things that caught my eye.
“So, what’s with you and Jude?” Candy asked, and I flushed before I could compose myself.
“Nothing.” I tried to sound casual about it, but she made a face that suggested she hadn’t missed anything.
She tried to hide a smile. “He was very focused on you this morning.”
“Everyone focuses on the new girl,” I said, trying to shake it off. “He’ll get over it soon enough.”
“Here.” She handed me a slinky, black dress, and I took it without complaint.
“What’s with him and Tessa?” I asked, treading a fine line between heartache and not giving a shit. “I mean, they don’t seem that well suited.”
“I know, right? They’re on and off so much it gives us all whiplash,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “I honestly don’t see why he keeps going back.”
“Ratings?” I asked, wondering if their relationship was all for show.
“I don’t know,” Candy replied, picking up a slate gray T-shirt that had a cool geometric design on the front in silver. Holding it up against me, she added, “If it was just for the cameras, then I doubt they’d fawn over each other on set like that. At least, I wouldn’t if it was me. How do you like this top?”
Looking down, I nodded. “I like it.”
“It’s your style. Totally rocker.” Grabbing my hand, she tugged me through the racks of clothes. “I know! We need to get you cutoffs.”
“Cutoffs?”
“Jean shorts,” she explained. “What do you call them in Australia?”
“Shorts?”
Candy waved to a sales assistant, who hurried over with a huge smile on her face. She obviously recognized her, and I began to feel like a fish out of water. I didn’t know how she could ever be used to all the attention.
“My friend Lux needs a whole new wardrobe,” she declared, shoving me forward. “Can we start a room?”
“Right away!” The girl beamed, taking the clothes from Candy a
nd beckoned at me to follow her toward the back of the store.
It only took five minutes for Candy to whirlwind through the entire place and bring me one of everything. She perched elegantly on the padded bench outside, waiting as I tried on all the things she’d picked for me.
“So how do you like Atlanta?” she asked from the other side of the curtain as I changed into the top and shorts.
“It’s different,” I said, pulling the curtain back so she could see how I looked.
“Yes and yes,” she declared, pointing to the top and shorts. “I guess it would be different. I’ve never been to Australia.”
“You’d like it,” I said, sweeping the curtain closed so I could try on the next round of clothes.
“So, what was the deal with the elevator?”
I froze, half undressed. Staring at myself in the mirror, I hardly recognized the girl who looked back. I’d been so shy and awkward with Jude in that elevator and somewhere along the line… I don’t know. Something had changed, something more than my entire life being upended.
“Oh, my god,” Candy exclaimed, taking my silence as an admission that something more had gone on.
“No!” I cried. “Nothing happened. We got stuck in there, we talked a little, and he took my card. I never thought he’d do anything with it.”
“Okay, if you say so,” she quipped, not sounding at all convinced. “He did spend a lot of time looking at you this morning.”
“You said,” I shot back, taking the black dress she’d handed to me earlier off the hanger.
“Deny it all you want, Lux, but you’re shaking things up.”
I rolled my eyes. The only thing I was shaking was the shake ‘n’ bake I bought at the grocery store so I could pretend I was going to actually use the oven in my apartment.
Slipping into the tiny, black dress, I peered at myself in the mirror, hardly recognizing the woman who stared back. And damn, she was a woman. I’d felt like a little girl my entire life, and for the first time, I was my age. With a little help from Candy, I’d morphed from ugly duckling to an elegant swan. Suddenly, I was invincible.
Slipping on the cute, little ankle boots I’d picked out, I did a little twirl in front of the mirror. Not half bad. I wondered if I stood next to Tessa looking like this, would I be able to stack up. Not just in the beauty stakes but in the race for Jude’s attention.
I snorted at the irony. Fat chance. I was just the writer.
“Damn, girl!” Candy exclaimed when I stepped out to show her the dress.
“Do I get a tick of approval?”
She shook her head like she’d been stunned. “Tick.”
Not worrying about the money I was spending, I decided to take it all and darted back behind the curtain to change into my own clothes. When I came out, the sales assistant was there to take everything to the register.
“Feel good?” Candy asked.
I swiped my card and punched in the PIN number. “My wallet sure feels lighter.”
“You know what I like about you, Lux?” she said, turning to face me as I put away my card. “You’re real. This world can be so fake sometimes I feel like disappearing.” She pulled me into a hug. “Don’t let this world jade you, okay?”
I blinked hard, suddenly overcome by how nice she’d been to me. She didn’t have to go out of her way to help me pick out new clothes, but here she was, hugging me and dishing out advice like we were sisters from another mister. Candy was the American version of Melody.
Letting me go, she said, “Now we’ve got the beginnings of a great wardrobe for you, we need to move onto phase three.”
“There’s more?” I asked, already feeling emotionally drained. So much had happened today already, and I was more anxious about how I was getting all this stuff home without the plastic handles cutting off the circulation in my wrists. “How many phases are there in your plan for world domination? And does it include a car service for all of these bags?”
“Yeah, there’s more,” she said like it was obvious. “Now we need to go to Sephora and get you some new makeup.” She pinched my cheek and declared, “We need to put some color right here!”
Episode Nine
Hanging on the Telephone
I stared at the screen on my laptop and adjusted the brightness like it would be the answer for my writer’s block.
I hadn’t felt this daunted by a word processor in my entire life, but it had everything to do with having free reign over an entire episode of Naturals.
Maisy had assigned episode five to me the day before, and since we’d worked out the plotting for the first ten shows, I wanted to get a good start on my contribution. I wanted it to be the best thing since sliced bread, but more importantly, I wanted it to be worth it for all the trouble they went to to hire me.
Since it was still sunny and warm outside, I’d migrated from my kitchen counter all the way over to a cool café around the block from my apartment. Even though I didn’t drink coffee, I ordered a hot chocolate and perched on an outside table with my laptop¸ hoping the change of view would get the creative juices flowing. It was crazy to think that not even a month ago, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to write in public like this. Sitting out here in the sun felt good, and watching people walk past was super inspiring. It gave me the chance to watch Americans in their natural habitat, and it was fascinating.
After Candy’s makeover session last week, I felt like a million dollars. This morning, I’d pulled on an outfit that would make her proud. Acid wash skinny jeans, a cool T-shirt, a black hat, and biker boots. To top it off, I’d slipped on a pair of aviator sunglasses and had even put on a layer of makeup. Candy had said the hat was called a trilby, but that didn’t mean squat to me. It looked cool with my straightened hair and graphic tee, so I went with it. New country, new life, new wardrobe, and new attitude.
The chair opposite slid out, and my head snapped up as Jude sat down. Where had he materialized from? I didn’t care because for once in my life, I knew I looked good, and it felt even better that he was there to see it.
“Hey, you,” he said, flashing a million-dollar smile.
“Hey.”
“I almost didn’t recognize you with the hair and the clothes.” He gestured up and down.
I squinted up at him over the top of my sunglasses. “Oh yeah?”
He smiled, his lips pulling up at one side, and I wished he wasn’t wearing sunglasses so I could see is eyes in the sunlight. “Did Candy take you shopping?”
I laughed and shook my head. “Yep. I can see she has a reputation.”
“Well, you look good.”
My cheeks began to heat, and I bit my bottom lip, glancing down at the laptop. Jude thought I looked good. It wasn’t doing much to curb my crush addiction.
“Are you working?” he asked, tapping the edge of the laptop.
“Trying to,” I replied with a shrug.
“Do you want me to shove off?” He went to stand, placing his hands around the arms of the chair. He tensed, making his muscles ripple. Damn it, I liked his muscles. I liked pretty much everything about him except his relationship with Tessa.
“No,” I replied a little too quickly. “I mean, I could do with the distraction. I’m overthinking it a little.”
He settled back into the chair with a grin. “What are you working on?”
“I’m doing my first episode,” I said. “I’m definitely feeling the pressure.”
“Do you want me to help you with it?” he asked, and I cocked my head to the side.
“You want to help me?”
“Sure, why not? I know the business, I know the storylines back to front, and I know the lingo.”
Hearing the Aussie slang come from his mouth had me smiling more than his offer for help. I should be cartwheeling in glee that he wanted to hang out, but at the little reminder of home, I felt warmth spread through me.
“What are you smiling at?” he asked, trying not to laugh.
“You were
very Aussie just then. It was really nice.”
He smiled and peered at me over the top of his sunglasses. I noticed his eyes crinkled a little at the corners, and it was cute.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, fishing for more information. “I thought you’d be filming.”
“Nothing on the roster for today. We have a night shoot tomorrow. And…” He straightened up and pointed across the street. “I live there. Top floor.”
I followed his finger and peered up at the impressive looking building. It was very cool and modern, and the view would be great from his floor. I tried not to hang on to the fact that it was a mere two blocks away from my little apartment. If he lived there, then maybe he came to this café all the time, and maybe I should start drinking coffee so I could see him outside of the once per week table read.
“It’s nice,” he said, dissolving my daydream. “But I really moved here for the Krispy Kreme on the corner.”
I laughed. “I didn’t peg you for a doughnut man.”
“Lux, I’m a man. I only think about two things, and one of them is my stomach.”
I didn’t have the courage to ask him what the second one was, but I had a good feeling that it was below the belt.
“Red is fast becoming my favorite color,” he muttered, tilting his head to the side.
“Oh, shut up.”
“I’ve got a thing to do now,” he said, smiling to himself. “But I can meet up with you later if you want.”
“Okay.”
“Your place?” he asked, and I lost my breath for a moment. Jude Atwood in my apartment? Oh my.
I pulled a pen out of my laptop sleeve and scribbled down my address on a serviette. “Here,” I said, handing it to him. “I’ll be chained to my laptop all afternoon, so come over whenever.”
He glanced at the address and nodded. “Just down the street,” he mused. To me he said, “I’ll see you later then.”
As he stood and slid the chair back under the table, I said, “See ya.”
Watching as he shoved the serviette into his pocket and walked off down the footpath, I couldn’t help it when my gaze fixed firmly onto his ass. His perfect ass. Seriously, was there any part of him that didn’t look like it was cut from marble and sculpted by an Italian Renaissance artist?
