Beautiful People - Chapter 12: Chapter 12

Everyone in the kitchen went dead silent, staring at Sharise and her phone. All the women and Jay had looks of abject horror on their faces. Vera's stomach was turning over, remembering that mortifying time in junior high when she bled through her jeans in the middle of class and spent half an hour panicking over how she was going to get up without anyone noticing. She had managed to make it to the bathroom doing a weird crab walk with her backpack held oh-so-subtly over her ass, but her bully had overheard her tearful phone call to her mom asking for a pickup. The following months were ones she preferred not to remember.
Sharise alone looked calm. Clicking her phone onto speaker, she set it on the counter. "Tell Jasper to turn around."
"You didn't bring a backup tampon?" Vera said, stupidly.
"I just said I use a cup, you dumb bitch," Carmen snapped.
Vera winced. "Sorry. I have an IUD. Haven't had my period in three years."
"Well good for fucking you, but I'm currently bleeding in the back of the fucking limo on my very fucking white pants and I need to know how the fuck you're gonna fix this."
Sharise pinched the bridge of her nose between two fingers. "Jesus Christ, Carmen. Tell Jasper to turn around."
"He says we can't." Carmen's breathing was noisy and rapid. "We're stuck in this stupid traffic jam because of the road closures."
"So you'll be late. It doesn't matter. Turn around. Vera will find something else for you to wear." Sharise looked at Vera, who had panic rising like bile in her throat.
"We don't have anything ready."
"There must be something. You have thousands of ideas." Sharise stared at her with this cold intensity in her eyes. Vera would have jumped off a bridge before letting her down.
"The blue dress?" She spread her hands helplessly. "It's beautiful and fits like a dream."
Jay crowded in closer to the phone. "The blue dress is great," he said. "We don't need to change the hair or anything, the crown would totally work with it. Different vibe, but--"
"It won't be the same kind of moment," Vera said, thinking about all those wasted hours, this amazing look that would never see the light of a camera flash.
"That doesn't matter." Sharise crossed her arms over her stomach. "Carmen, tell Jasper to turn around."
"We can't! The traffic! Jasper says we wouldn't make it back to the theatre before the show started."
Sharise's jaw was set. "So you don't walk the red carpet. That's a loss you'll have to take."
"She has to walk the carpet!" the PR girl protested, elbowing in beside Jay. Vera had already forgotten her name, but she had limp blonde hair and a fiery passion in her brown eyes. "We don't have another big event lined up until July. If we let this go she'll lose all momentum."
"We can make it up later. I'll find something."
"If I don't walk the carpet it'll look like I'm giving in to Troy and Marina. They'll steal all my glory. Can you imagine the headlines? I'll look like such an asshole if I show up to accept the award but not to talk to the reporters. They'll wonder why I'm avoiding them. They'll think I'm hiding something--"
"Why don't we drive down and meet her?" Vera said. Her hands were shaking, picturing Carmen there in the car living every girl's nightmare on steroids. "It'd be faster. Jay and I can take the blue dress down and change you there--"
"You won't make it in time," Carmen sobbed. "I'm already half an hour late for when they wanted me. By the time you get here the show will have started--"
Sharise was nodding at Vera approvingly, silver beads clacking in her hair. "We'll get there. I'll find a way around the traffic."
Vera nodded back, then pushed passed the staring people and dashed down the hall to the closet, Jay following. He grabbed his makeup case while Vera gathered up the blue dress and dug through the boxes for the appropriate necklace and earrings and bracelets and rings, the rings were key, the crescent moon and the stars--they wasted a full minute arguing over shoes until Jay finally gave in on the silver platform sneakers. Then they were sprinting back down the hall to the door where Sharise was putting on her shoes, still speaking soothingly to Carmen on the phone, their call now on video.
She held out a plastic bag to Vera. "Her cup."
Frantic, Vera dumped her armload of things on Jay and ran back down the hall to Carmen's bedroom. She had never been inside but there was no time now to admire the spare blue-and-white decor, only to stumble into the ensuite and shove the little off-white silicone cup into the bag, trying not to think about where it had been.
Minutes later the three of them and the PR girl piled into Sharise's car, Lily forgotten somewhere behind. There was no room for her anyway. Sharise handed her phone and a container of wet naps to Vera while she started the engine and hit the gas, tires squealing as she tore away from the curb. Carmen was still hyperventilating on the screen. A slight red puffiness marred the ethereal look of her made-up face.
"How long do we have?" Sharise asked.
"Forty-five minutes," the PR girl said.
Expression grim, Sharise nodded.
"You better drive so fucking fast," Carmen said.
"Calm down, girl." Jay leaned up between the seats, over his armload of clothing. Vera turned the screen so he could get a better look. "You're gonna mess up your pretty face. It's just your period."
Carmen laughed hysterically. "All you fucking people who don't get periods anymore need to shut up. It's just a period. Fuck you. It's never just a fucking period."
"Okay, okay."
Sharise swore viciously as a light turned red and she slammed on the brakes. All her passengers snapped forward, then smashed back into their seats. "What route did Jasper take? I need to avoid this traffic."
"How should I know?"
"I'll look it up." The PR girl pulled out her phone. After prodding at the screen, she said, "Turn left at the next light. We might be able to get around it."
Sharise was wound tight as the thread through Vera's sewing machine: her shoulders tense, her jaw clenched. Seeing her worried enough to give up on her calm facade made Vera's throat ache.
With a reassuring smile, Vera touched her knee gently. "It's gonna be okay."
"It's not okay," Sharise said, not looking at her.
Sharise's pulse jumped in her knee. Vera left her hand where it was and let her thumb smooth small, soft circles around the dimple in Sharise's knee. Sharise huffed out a gathered breath and relaxed her strangling grip on the wheel. Flicking a look at Vera, she flashed the tips of her teeth in a tiny smile that clearly said thank you. Something fluttered in the bottom of Vera's stomach.
They weren't able to get around the traffic. Sharise grew more agitated as they turned corner after corner only to find traffic more congested than before. She detoured down alleys and drove recklessly fast in the rare moments when the road was clear. Vera and Jay kept reassuring Carmen while the PR girl gave Sharise directions, but with every clogged road, their hope began to slip away. They snailed along at the pace of the rosy sun sinking into the horizon.
"We're here," Carmen said. She sounded vaguely hopeful. "We've parked behind the theatre and Jasper's talked to the door people. When you get here we can run in and I can change and then he'll take me out front."
"How bad is it?" Vera asked Carmen. "I know the fabric is thin but it's only been, what, just over two hours since you took it out? It can't be that messy yet--"
"It looks like my pussy got mauled by a fucking tiger." As though that mental image wasn't bad enough, Carmen angled the phone down towards the gory mess of her crotch. Sticky crimson blood marred the snow white bodysuit in the cleft of her thighs, the edges beginning to darken to maroon. "I have a heavy flow," she added, like they couldn't tell.
Vera's stomach clenched in sympathy. "At least you didn't get it on the robe?"
Carmen let out a barking laugh that was half a sob.
"How long do we have?" Sharise asked, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel.
"Fifteen minutes 'til showtime," the PR girl said, and they could all see it on her face. In a voice of utter despair, she added, "We're still at least twenty minutes away."
The engine purred into the sudden silence.
Jay and Vera looked at each other in anguish. They had failed.
Even Carmen had nothing to say. She set her phone down and put her face in her hands.
"Shit," Sharise said quietly, glaring at the cars ahead of them, all at a dead stop in the middle of the road. She was quivering with helplessness. "Shit shit shit. I should've asked before we let you go. I should've made Jasper take a tampon for you just in case."
"You'll have to miss the carpet," the PR girl said.
"We can at least get you changed for the show," Jay said, mustering up an encouraging smile. "You can still accept your award."
"Great," Carmen muttered. "Fucking great."
Biting her lip, Vera watched Sharise putting this all on herself and thought about her teenage self crying in the bathroom with bloody pants. An idea glimmered.
Slowly, she said, "Tampons for tiny tramps."
"What?" Sharise stared at the road ahead like her anger could make the cars evaporate and leave the way clear for them so she could rescue her girl.
"Marina's charity," Vera said. "The one about menstrual products. Carmen, you went to that fundraiser."
Everyone looked at Vera, even Sharise, eyes wide with hope or desperation.
"What the fuck does that have to do with anything?" Carmen asked savagely.
"This is the Teen Taste Awards," Vera said, knitting together the threads of the idea as she spoke. "The primary audience is teens. And that's who the charity is about, right? Kids who can't get tampons and cups and stuff for their periods?"
The PR girl frowned. "What are you saying?"
"Carmen wanted a statement. This can be the statement."
"You're not suggesting she walks the carpet like this," Jay said, sounding utterly horrified.
"Yeah, I am."
Sharise let out a small, disbelieving laugh.
Carmen didn't laugh, just stared at Vera. "You're insane."
Vera was bouncing in her seat now. "Listen. How many kids are afraid of this happening to them? Admit it. We all spent our teen years terrified we would bleed through our pants at school or a recital or in the swimming pool. Can you imagine being that kid and seeing a gorgeous celebrity who wasn't ashamed of her period?"
"Girl," Jay said. "You're on crack."
"Carmen, you can go out there and show them it's nothing to be afraid of. It's natural. It's human. What's wrong with it?" Vera knew she sounded a little desperate. She was trying to convince herself, too.
"It's actually not a terrible idea," the PR girl said slowly. "You can say you're donating the proceeds from Never Enough Smiles to the charity. I mean, you'd have to actually do that, then. But you'd get them a ton of publicity."
"We haven't talked to them about it," Sharise said.
"I can call them now if Carmen wants to do it."
Vera grinned at Carmen, trying to sound totally confident in the idea. "You can own it, I know you can. Act like it doesn't bother you. Let them take pictures. Talk about the charity. Yeah, you'll get some negative headlines. It's gonna be polarizing as hell. But you'll be on every front page tomorrow."
Carmen chewed on her thumb nail. "I hate this idea so much. I hate it. I honestly feel like I'm in the middle of a fucking nightmare right now. I can't believe I'm even considering this."
"You don't have to do it," Sharise said. Then, reluctantly, "But... We don't have a lot of options. It's this, or wait for us to get there and skip the carpet entirely."
The cars inched forward. The sun spread shimmering waves of light low across the pavement.
"Ten minutes to show time," the PR girl said. "You'll be the last one walking the carpet. Every eye will be on you."
In a flash of inspiration, Vera said, "Think about how much Marina will hate it."
"Oh, God." Jay laughed. "She'll lose her fucking mind."
"No one will talk about anything else," Sharise said, glancing at Vera.
Carmen's face hardened. "Fuck it," she said. "I'm gonna go freebleed on the motherfucking red carpet."