Beautiful People - Chapter 21: Chapter 21

Vera drank half her cup of smooth Italian espresso in one gulp, scalding her throat, then leaned back in the rickety café chair with a groan. "It's too early to be alive."
"Welcome to Venice, babe. No beauty rest for the wicked." Jay sipped his espresso demurely. His big brown eyes were far too bright and alert for so early in the day. He'd even found time to do his makeup, a dramatic swoop of shiny gold eyeliner. It was downright rude of him to look so awake when Vera still felt thick with jetlag.
One more swallow finished the whole of her small cup. "This is fabulous coffee, but I'm offended by the size of it. I could really use a jug."
"When in Rome."
"Did the Romans die of caffeine withdrawal?"
Jay laughed soft as the morning sunlight warming the cobbles beneath their feet.
"Do you ever stop complaining?" Lily muttered from Jay's other side.
Across the narrow canal, a thin woman wearing a long floral coat dress and a spangled yellow headscarf walked briskly at the head of a small entourage. Vera lowered her hexagonal sunglasses to squint over the gold rims. "Am I seeing things, or is that Fatima Bhatia?"
Jay stretched his legs out under the tiny café table, doing a much better job than she of pretending he wasn't staring after the famous designer. "Sure is."
"Oh my god!" Vera craned her neck. "Did she come out of that hotel? Is she staying there? How creepy would it be if I just swam across the canal right now to talk to her?"
"Beyond creepy. I would literally never want to be seen with you again."
Fatima Bhatia rounded the corner and slipped out of sight into a shadowed street. Sighing, Vera dropped her chin into her hand. "I still can't believe she never called me back. I tried so hard."
"Yes, I know, you've been moaning about it for a month."
"I have not been moaning. I just don't understand why she didn't want to dress Carmen or Marina or Andre for the Venice Film Festival."
"She probably thought you were going to annoy her by throwing your designs at her like all the other wannabe designers who harrass her."
"I would not have done that," Vera said, even though she definitely would have done that. After all, this stylist business was only supposed to be a stepping stone to her end game – her own fashion line. Even if she hadn't touched a design for months. In fact, the last time she'd sketched an idea was right after moving in with Sharise. Her creative well was dry as under-moisturized skin. She frowned. "What is she doing here? Do you think she's working?"
"Schmoozing at the parties, probably." Jay shrugged, gold tassels on his sleeves glittering as they caught the light. Vera had picked that shirt for him. "I bet she's going to that yacht party Andre's producer is throwing tonight. Everyone who's anyone will be there."
"God, tell Carmen that, please. Somehow we can't convince her to go."
"Yeah, somehow. A certain blonde-haired somehow who also happens to be the only reason you care if she goes."
Vera huffed and rolled her eyes. "This is literally the party of the season. I still can't believe Carmen doesn't want to go just because Marina will be there."
"Isn't that the whole point of your matchmaking scheme? To make all this nonsense go away?"
"Yeah, I guess."
Jay laughed. "Oh, I forgot. The real point is so that you can tell everyone you work with all the biggest Hollywood stars and don't have to sneak around anymore."
"Excuse me." Vera prodded his arm. "I'm not the only one here who's been sneaking around. You're a double agent, too."
"Rude. Don't make me sound as guilty as you feel. Besides, I never said it wasn't a good plan." Jay's watch buzzed, and he glanced at it. "We should head up. Carmen will be here soon."
Vera pushed back her chair and gathered up her empty sketchbook. Venice's scenery and people, while beautiful and interesting, were not the source of creative inspiration she had hoped they would be.
They walked the twenty paces down the uneven street to the hotel. Juggling jewelry case and bulging purse, Vera hooked the hotel door open with her elbow and let Jay precede her inside. When she let go, the door almost smashed Lily in the face. Vera didn't notice.
"It is a good plan," she insisted, following Jay up the stairs. "A party is a perfect place for Carmen to accidentally run into Marina. Lots of witnesses means nothing can get too out of hand, and drunk Carmen is way more likely to be forgiving than sober Carmen."
"Girl, I already said I think it'll probably work. Didn't you get Sharise on board?"
"I talked to her." Vera bit her lip. "She isn't opposed."
"But?"
"But you know she's too principled for matchmaking. I'm working on it."
"Working on it? That party is tonight. Work faster."
"I'm on it, don't worry." Vera huffed up the stairs after him, ankles creaking in her brand new, aggressively tall Louboutins. "You want to know how confident I am that this plan will work? Marina's premiere is the day after tomorrow, right? I told her team they could credit us publicly for her styling. That's how sure I am."
"Sweet Jesus. You'll expose us both if you're wrong, Vee."
"Trust me, Jay."
"I trust that you have more to lose than me."
Jay unlocked the hotel room and gestured for Vera to enter first, giving her a little bow. With a sniff, she tossed her treasures down on the linen bedspread.
"Neither of us will be losing anything. I promise."
Lily rolled her eyes very loudly.
A rising babble of voices drifted between the wafting lace curtains.
"Carmen's here," Jay said.
"Oh my god. I'm not ready." Vera turned back the protective sheet on the clothing rack by the door. Grabbing the first garment bag in the row, she carefully covered the clothes again and then hustled to hang the dress from the bar above the window.
Jay peered down through the other window at the clamour outside the hotel. "They still can't get enough of her. Cora is a genius."
From the moment Carmen had arrived in Venice, she couldn't set foot outside her hotel without the paparazzi blinding her with camera flashes. She acted like she couldn't see them, continuing whatever conversation she was having with Sharise or Andre or her publicist Cora until they stepped into a boat that zipped away down the canals. But she was always giving face, always walking at exactly the right pace with her arms positioned just so to show off her impeccably styled clothes - always helping the photographers get exactly the shots they wanted.
And after months of not seeing her, they wanted.
Back at the start of the summer, Carmen had dropped that drunk poolside selfie she had bullied Vera into, both of them looking hot as fuck. Speculation ran wild when Carmen's fans recognized the hot pink cheeky bikini Vera wore in the picture as one of Carmen's, and only grew more frenzied when they realized Vera was dating the famously lesbian Sharise Carter (Vera had seen the word throuple before it got too weird to read gossip about herself). And then, on Cora's orders, Carmen had gone underground for the summer. No media appearances, no parties, her social media wiped. It was a big ask. Carmen only succeeded because she had been spending every day on set, filming her next project with Andre.
In her absence, Marina and Troy finally left the "we're so happy that we must flaunt it everywhere" phase, vanishing to Europe for a long, quiet holiday. The gossip eaters found a multi-layered YouTuber scandal to keep them satisfied. Vera's brush with Carmen's spotlight turned into more work, and parties, than she had time for. She rarely spent more than one or two nights a week with Sharise despite living together, both of their schedules too hectic. The temporary roommate situation seemed to have become permanent, as Vera certainly didn't have time to do any apartment hunting.
As summer faded, the studio had rolled out the press for Carmen's Merry Sanders film. A hum of interest turned into a buzz. At least one article printed those words that Carmen would never admit she wanted to hear - Oscar potential.
It seemed as though the Red Carpet Incident had at last been forgotten (not the memes, though. Those were here to stay for a while).
As the first toes pinched into stilettos for the Venice Film Festival, Carmen's project was the must-see film. Yet no one had seen her, the star, for months. They missed her. But they didn't miss her as she had left them, notorious for wearing her own menstrual blood as an accessory. They missed her as she used to be, the ingénue who was destined for greatness. Which was exactly how Carmen wanted it.
And Vera was prepared to dress her for greatness.
Sure, maybe her little bubble of secondhand fame and the accompanying party invitations had meant she'd missed a few phone calls from designers and thus didn't get all of her first-choice dresses. And maybe she had never managed to get through to Fatima Bhatia for the gowns she really wanted. But she'd still styled killer outfits for the photocalls and glamorous parties that the hottest three stars of the moment -- Marina, Andre, and Carmen – were attending, and for the upcoming premieres she was taking it to the next level. This was her moment.
So here she was, in Venice, peeling the cover off a ruffled peach-pink suit as Carmen climbed the stairs, ready to be made fabulous for the premiere of her Merry Sanders film. The timing was perfect.
Or it would have been, if the decadently feminine peach suit she had hung above the window was for Carmen.
"Shit!" Vera muttered, zipping the suit back up.
"Problems?" Jay asked from his spot by the mirror, where he was nudging his makeup brushes into a straight row on the small baroque table lit by the glow of the lamp Lily was setting up.
"I put out Marina's suit from yesterday by accident!" Vera tore the hanger from the wall hook and dashed across the room to the clothes rack under its protective sheet. She couldn't let Carmen see the suit - she would recognize it immediately. "This should not have happened. I'm dressing three celebrities here, two of whom are mortal enemies. I can't blow my cover until we fix that. I had a system!"
Three short raps rattled the door.
"Fuck!" Vera whisper-screamed, slamming hangers along the rack in search of the gown that should have been right at the front. She could have sworn she'd put it there last night.
"Relax," Jay said, strolling across to the door. "Count to four. You're doing great."
"Is she, though?" Lily muttered, but she might as well have not said anything for all the attention they paid her.
Vera threw the sheet back over the rack of clothes and kicked a stray peach ruffle out of sight just as Jay pulled the door open.
Sharise swept in, looking stunning in a lace dress and violet lipstick, fresh box braids woven with lavender and nails a pearly white. Her presence was like stepping into a calming sound bath. Vera's panic vanished with a single warm look from those deep brown eyes. Nothing could go wrong that Sharise couldn't fix.
"Well?" Carmen demanded from the middle of the room. Vera had barely noticed her come in, but as soon as she looked at her, her intensity was overwhelming.
"This isn't the Teen Taste Awards anymore, boys and girls." Jaw creaking, Carmen turned her spotlight gaze onto each of them in turn. "This premiere is unofficially the start of my campaign for an Academy Award. Every move I make for the next five months will be watched like I've never been watched before." That luminous stare landed on Vera, making sweat pop out on the back of her neck. "It starts today. It's the Academy we need to impress here. Don't fuck it up."
She settled onto a brocade stool like an exclamation mark.
Everyone exhaled at once. The air tingled.
Vera hung the new hanger onto the hook and peeled off the protective layer to reveal the right outfit this time, thank god. A sequined emerald green gown, backless, with dramatic billowing sleeves that pinched at the wrists, a column skirt, and a narrow deep neckline – it echoed the serious-with-just-a-hint-of-fun tone of the Merry Sanders film, and was still sexy, but was also something Vera never could have imagined Carmen wearing before she first stepped off the plane in LA all those months ago. Especially not with the classic pin curls and subtle pop of dark purple eyeliner that Jay was going to give her.
They got to work. Publicist Cora reviewed talking points with Carmen. Lily sulked over the hair torture devices. Sharise supervised, but it wasn't necessary.
"Gorgeous," Sharise said softly to Vera. "I'm impressed. You've brought the girl such a long way."
Vera threw her a smile without turning from her last-minute crusade against any hint of dust or lint that may have hitched a ride on the green garment. "How are things going with her? You know. For tonight." She kept her voice low.
"The party is a hard sell." Sharise stifled a sigh. "You know that I still think it's none of our business."
"I thought Carmen's happiness was your business." Vera pinched a tiny puff of dust from one sleeve.
"It is. And if I'm honest, I think she's still avoiding Marina because she knows she will forgive her if they actually talk."
"See, that's why it's such a good plan. They want to be friends again. We just have to give them a chance."
Sharise wrinkled her nose, and Vera forgot why she was picking at specks of dust because that was probably the cutest thing she had ever seen.
"This kind of scheming isn't me, Vera."
"It's just a party." Vera pouted at her. "And she's lonely, fresh off house arrest. She's ready to start schmoozing her way to an Oscar. What better time for her to spread her wings like a butterfly emerging from its shell?"
"Cocoon."
"Yeah, that."
A knock rattled the door again. Jay and Lily didn't look up from Carmen, and Carmen, her back to the door, didn't turn around. Cora kept reciting talking points.
Sharise edged the door open a crack. "Yes?"
A muffled voice, some laughter, and then Sharise's arms were full of the biggest bouquet Vera had ever seen, scarlet and gold and ivory petals overflowing the metallic silver paper wrapping.
"Someone sent you flowers, Carmen." Sharise nudged the door shut with her hip.
"Ooh, I have an admirer." A smile bowed Carmen's lips. "Are they pretty?"
"Beautiful," Vera said. "Someone wanted you to notice them."
"Who sent them?"
Sharise opened the card. The room went quiet. Jay set down his brush and picked up another one. Lily plugged in a hair torture device.
Pursing her lips, Sharise flipped the card over to look at the back.
"Well?" Carmen closed her eyes so Jay could dab something onto her lids. "Sharise? Who wants to celebrate me on my big day? Oh, they're probably just from Merry, aren't they? Or the studio."
Brow wrinkled, Sharise looked at Vera, then back down at the card, then at Carmen.
Finally, she said, "Troy Dicks sends his congratulations."