Beautiful People - Chapter 22: Chapter 22

Carmen sat with her spine very, very straight, her back still to the door. Jay removed his brushes from the vicinity of her face - for her safety or his, Vera couldn't guess. Maybe both.
In a shockingly calm voice, Carmen said, "I think I misheard you."
Sharise shook her head, then realized Carmen couldn't see her. "You didn't."
"I thought you said that Troy Dicks sent me flowers."
"He did."
A startling giggle burst out of Carmen. "Stop it. Who are they really from?"
Sharise pushed out a small sigh. She handed the bouquet to Vera, who disappeared entirely in the swathes of rustling petals and fluttering greenery and almost toppled over under its weight. Then Sharise squeezed past the forest of flowers to hand the card to Carmen.
Wrinkles climbed Carmen's brow as she stared at the ivory vellum. Everyone else stared at her.
"Well?" Jay demanded. "Is it really him?"
"Apparently."
"What the fuck?" Jay jabbed his makeup brush in the air. "That asshole is up to something."
Clearing her throat, Carmen flicked the card with one expensively manicured nail. "Congratulations on your big premiere. I'm so sorry for everything. You're still my leading lady. There's a little heart, and then his name."
"Holy shit," Vera said, voice muffled in the jungle of the bouquet.
Giggles bubbled up out of Carmen's throat, faster and faster until they erupted into outright cackles. She shook so hard that her robe slid from one slim golden shoulder. Then she leapt from the stool and waved the card over her head, looking completely feral as she glared around with half-complete makeup. "What the fuck is this?"
"It sounds like a peace offering," Lily suggested.
"Troy hasn't tried to contact me since he went internet official with Marina Taylor literally days after telling me he didn't want anything serious. And now he wants to call me his leading lady? This is gross. It's insulting."
"I agree with Lily." Sharise spread her hands. "Maybe he finally realized that he treated you badly and wants to make amends."
"He's realizing that now? Pathetic." Tiny diamonds glittered in her false lashes as Carmen narrowed her eyes. "Did Marina dump him?"
Lost somewhere in the depths of the colossal bouquet that she could barely keep upright, Vera wondered if maybe the point of it was just to create exactly the situation that was unfolding: Carmen questioning, suspicious, thrown off her game. If Troy could unbalance her poise, she might slip up, even slip right off the edge and sabotage her own premiere. That would leave the way open for Marina to become the star of the festival.
Then again, Vera didn't think Troy was smart enough for that. Or that he cared enough about anyone else's happiness other than his own, not even his girlfriend's.
"Does it matter?" Sharise asked. "You're the one on top right now. What would you lose if you take it in good faith that he wants to support you?"
"You're right. I am on top right now. He's probably so mad that he doesn't get to have any of that glory rub off on him." Carmen threw out her arms but couldn't fit them all the way around the enormous bouquet. Ivory petals slipped free, wafted to the floor. Vera was about to keel over under the weight. "Look at this thing. It's a monstrosity. This just screams I know I made a big mistake."
"Can someone please take this bouquet before I pass out," Vera wheezed.
Sharise hustled over to help. Together, they wrestled the prodigious posy onto a tiny round table, which creaked alarmingly at the load. Vera slumped to the bed, gasping out her thanks.
Carmen had kept talking, oblivious to Vera's near-death experience. "Troy can see exactly how much everyone loves me right now." She flicked her hair back over her shoulder. "He regrets cheating on me. He wants me to forgive him. Sure, it's probably because he wants a piece of my shine. But he's grovelling for it. Doesn't this look like grovelling to you?"
"The very definition of it," Jay agreed.
Publicist Cora piped up for the first time, but only to say, "This is an interesting development, but we do have a schedule here. Could we talk while we work?"
Carmen spent another minute studying the bouquet, as though to prove Cora wasn't the boss of her. Then she settled back onto the stool. Jay and Lily rearmed themselves with their tools.
Vera checked her phone screen and found they were, indeed, running troublingly behind schedule. They needed to get Carmen dressed and out the door in time for her premiere - but also in time for Vera's next client. She couldn't risk Carmen and Marina crossing paths in the hallway. Not yet.
Eyes closed so Jay could finish his work, Carmen settled her hands in her lap, a picture of perfect serenity. "If Troy wants to grovel, he can fucking grovel."
Unlocking the jewelry case, Vera unfolded a length of velvet and began to lay out the bling she had chosen to go with Carmen's ultra-glam look. As puffs of powder and the tang of hairspray clouded the air, sunlight gilded the whorls of delicate filigreed rings and she found an idea weaving itself together. "You know what would be amazing?" she blurted.
Carmen said, "What?"
"I'm not saying that you should let Troy back into your headlines. But-" She drew the word out as though she was thinking this idea up on the spot, rather than trying to tie the last stubborn knot on a longer plan. "It would fit right into this more mature image you have going on. Being seen as someone who can be on good terms with their ex, I mean."
Publicist Cora hummed thoughtfully. "It's not a terrible idea. What if we posted something to your socials tomorrow thanking him for the bouquet?"
Vera winced. "Yeah, that could work." She glanced at Sharise for support. "Or what if you could be seen talking to him in public? Like, say, at the yacht party tonight."
Carmen brushed the idea away like an annoying fly. "I'm not going to the yacht party. I'm having dinner with Merry and the producers tonight."
"Actually," Publicist Cora said delicately, tapping at her tablet screen instead of looking at Carmen. "Merry has asked that the dinner be moved earlier so that he and the team can attend the yacht party after. He's hoping you'll join them there as well, of course."
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Carmen made a disgruntled sound without moving her face an inch under Jay's brushes. "They think that party is more important than me? Their star?"
"They're not cancelling," Publicist Cora reassured her hastily. "Just rescheduling to an earlier time." She bit her lip. "But that party is a great networking opportunity."
"Everyone who's anyone will be there," Jay put in.
"You know how much work gets done at these things," Sharise added smoothly.
"Stop!" Carmen threw up her hands, her eyes still closed. "Why are you all ganging up on me about this fucking party? Bad enough that Andre asked me to be his date, like he suddenly thinks that stupid fake dating idea is a good plan now that I'm the hottest commodity in town."
Vera looked at Sharise, her eyebrows raised. No one had mentioned that to her. But Sharise looked just as surprised.
"I. Am. Not. Going," Carmen said. "End of story. Stop trying to convince me. It won't work."
A horrible sizzle punctuated her proclamation, and the stench of burnt hair fried the air.
Carmen shrieked. "What the hell are you doing!"
The weapon of hair destruction wilted guiltily in Lily's hand. Suddenly the center of attention in a room full of people who rarely acknowledged she existed, red splotches bloomed on her pale face. "It was an accident."
"I don't pay you to have accidents, Layla!"
Jay swept the tool from her hand. "We can't afford any mistakes today. Why don't you take a break."
Lily stuttered something, maybe an apology. When Jay just pointed at the door, she tucked her chin and crept away. Halfway to the exit, she stumbled, bumping into the clothes rack. The protective cloth covering rippled. Vera's heart nearly stopped as several inches of peach ruffles popped into view.
Lily scurried the rest of the way to the door. She let it slam shut after her.
Vera stood frozen, staring at that damn peach suit glowing in the daylight. Exposed. She waited for someone to call her out, to ask her why Marina's outfit was on her rack.
"I swear she's got more clumsy," Carmen grumbled. "Why don't you replace her?"
Jay sighed and tucked his makeup brushes away. "I've been meaning to."
Publicist Cora said, "Alright, enough excitement. We're running out of time. Carmen, I need you to go over that last talking point again."
Carmen rolled her eyes but repeated the talking point. Jay filled the air with a cloud of hairspray. Sharise said something to Carmen, but Vera couldn't hear it over the rushing in her ears.
As casually as she could, she stepped over to the clothes rack and, under the pretense of readjusting the protective cloth, kicked the peach ruffles out of sight with the pointy toes of her exceptionally painful red-bottom shoes.
She turned around to find Sharise right beside her and for a second time in five minutes she almost had a heart attack. But Sharise was still looking at Carmen, tapping her chin with one nail.
No one but Vera had noticed the peach ruffles. Lily's clumsiness hadn't exposed her. She drew in a long breath and tugged at the ends of her hair.
She was going to die of anxiety before this was over if Carmen and Marina didn't make up soon.
Very quietly, Sharise said, "I'm realizing that I thought we would be able to convince her. How can I tell her I plan to go the party even if she doesn't?"
"I don't envy you," Vera said, with feeling. She smoothed the cloth again, checking that every trace of that horrible peach suit was hidden again. She didn't have any more ideas about how to convince Carmen, but giving up on the party plan felt like failure. The scheme depended on it.
"I told some of my old modelling friends I would see them there. I don't want to cancel." Sharise played with the end of one braid, looking so adorably unsure that Vera melted.
"You don't have to cancel. Why should Carmen care if you go to a party that she doesn't want to go to?"
"You're right. But..."
"But it's Carmen."
"Yes."
"You deserve to have fun sometimes too, Sharise."
The corners of Sharise's mouth curled downward, just a bit, and suddenly Vera realized that somehow, she had let all this plotting become more important than the beautiful woman who stood in front of her. What an idiot she was.
"I'm sorry, I don't have any advice," she said, which was true. She had spent months hiding uncomfortable truths from Carmen and then hatching a whole matchmaking plan to avoid admitting them. "But you'll figure out how to tell her. Or not. You always make the right choices."
Sharise smiled at her. "You have such faith in me."
"You're worth having faith in." Her best idea yet popped into her head. "Hey, will you let me buy you a gondola ride?"
That startled a laugh out of Sharise. "A gondola? The cheesiest tourist attraction Venice offers?"
"The most romantic." She shrugged. "And yeah, maybe a little cheesy. You know I'm the queen of cheesy."
"You're a proper fondue pot," Sharise said fondly.
"Not that cheesy. Indigestion isn't sexy." With a gentle palm, Vera smoothed a wrinkle in the lace over Sharise's hip. "Even if we're working, this is our first vacation together. Please let me treat you to a romantic night in Venice?"
"A romantic night in Venice sounds lovely, Vera." The tone of promise in her voice made Vera go a little warm. "I have to check my schedule. My evenings are pretty booked."
"Good point. Mine, too. What about breakfast?" Vera stepped closer, skimming her fingertips over the silk-soft skin on the inside of Sharise's wrist. "Let me bring you breakfast tomorrow. I've found the best coffee in town, if you can stand the tiny cups."
Carmen's voice cut the heat between them like a bucket of ice water. "Vera! Stop seducing my manager and get over here. We are supposed to be working."
Vera sucked in a long breath through her nose. Carmen always managed to find the worst times, and she was getting awfully tired of it.
"Breakfast sounds great," Sharise said quietly, eyes twinkling. "I look forward to it."
"Can't wait, honeybunch."
"Absolutely not."
"Worth a try." Vera pressed up on her tiptoes to drop a soft kiss onto her cheek before turning away.
Wrangling Carmen into the green dress was a smoother process than Vera had expected. Before long, she was spanxed and zipped and tucked and gleaming. And they weren't even obscenely behind schedule. They were behind schedule, though.
Carmen stood in the middle of the room, absolutely radiant, while Jay dusted a last bit of powder over her nose and cheekbones. Sharise pressed a palm to her chest, her eyes bright, proud as a mother sending her child off to their first day of school.
"My finest work," Vera said, wiping a tear from her eye.
Sunlight spilled over Carmen like a spotlight as she turned this way and that in front of the full-length mirror. She pursed her lips, billowed her sleeves, checked out her sequined ass. For once, she had nothing negative to say.
"I love it," she admitted.
"They won't know what hit them," Sharise said.
To everyone's shock, Carmen put her arms around her manager. At an awkward distance to avoid smudging her makeup and because she really couldn't move very well in all that shapewear, but it was a hug.
Sharise's eyes glittered. She patted Carmen carefully on the back.
Then Carmen withdrew and straightened magnificently. Sharise picked up the flowers. Vera pulled the door open.
Down the hall, Marina and her entourage were at the top of the stairs, heading straight toward them.