Beautiful People - Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Coffee with Sharise wasn't exactly the bonding experience Vera had hoped for. If she was going to have to deal with walking in on scenes like the one in the kitchen on top of Carmen constantly forgetting her own plans, it would really help if she at least knew for sure that Sharise was on her team. But they had barely ordered before Sharise's phone went off. She took the call, leaving Vera on her own to babysit Sharise's coffee and burn her tongue on her own latte and try not to think about Troy's naked ass.
She claimed a small, rickety table by the window and tapped her foot impatiently against the sticky tiles, wondering if it counted as sexual harassment to let your employees catch you fucking. Not that she was about to waste the chance of her lifetime on a frivolous complaint like that, but still. It was the principle of the thing.
Watching two cute girls folding their hands together and smiling mushily at each other on the other side of the busy coffee shop, Vera crossed her right leg over her left and took a scalding sip of coffee. She might be lonely and way out of her depth right now, but at least she wasn't missing Alex.
Outside, Sharise paced up and down the sidewalk, phone pressed to her ear, free hand gesticulating emphatically. She was wearing high-waisted pants again, these ones in loose, creamy linen, and a sleeveless, high-collared top that shone sunflower-yellow against her dark skin. In the soft glow of the sun she looked gorgeous. Despite her bitter words about Carmen "selling her body", she clearly cared enough to dress well herself. And with that stunning face--pouty lips, cheekbones for miles, deep, intense eyes--Vera could have seen her succeeding as a plus-size influencer if she had wanted to. She wondered how much Sharise's model mother had to do with her negative attitude about the whole business.
Sharise put her phone away long enough to collect her coffee before it rang again. With a sigh, Vera opened her notes app to work on a new blog post. So much for bonding with her new co-workers.
By the time they got back to the house, Troy was gone. They waited for Carmen to answer the door, just in case; she appeared in a floral silk robe and lingerie, but at least she wasn't naked. Draping herself against the doorframe, she fluttered her eyelashes.
"I think you two were here earlier. I'm sure I heard a scream."
Vera laughed sheepishly. "Uh, I—"
Letting out a cackling giggle, Carmen threw her thick curls back over her shoulders. "It's okay. Troy was so into it he didn't even notice."
She turned and swanned away down the hall to the kitchen, Sharise and Vera following in her wake like good little cygnets. "He's actually so funny. When he gets in the mood he kinda goes into this whole other world and starts acting like he's a porn star or something." She put on a low growly voice. "Oh, yeah, you like that, baby. Doesn't my dick feel so good?" She snickered. "Sometimes it's hard not to laugh."
Suddenly what Vera had witnessed didn't seem so hot anymore. She was grateful for Carmen's oversharing. "So, are you two actually dating, or—?"
There was a smug twinkle in Carmen's eyes. "You thought we were faking it for the fans."
"Well, yeah."
With a wide grin, Carmen put one palm against her cheek. "I mean, you aren't totally wrong. This's all just fun. We're not dating. We're both focusing on our careers right now."
There was a subtle twist about the way Carmen made her excuses that suggested she wished they were, in fact, dating.
Carmen floated over to the fridge to get herself a bottle of water. "You must be single, or you wouldn't have been able to fly down here for a month just like that."
"Not everyone's partners are so jealous," Sharise said, crossing her arms over her stomach.
Vera was surprised to find the anger was still there, simmering just below the surface. "Yeah, I'm single."
"Oooh, I sense drama." Grinning wickedly, Carmen leaned her elbows on the counter and turned the full weight of her overwhelming gaze on Vera, who really hadn't meant to talk about this but found herself doing it anyway.
"My ex cheated on me with his best friend," she admitted. "They'd been seeing each other for like two months before I found out."
"Oh my God, that's terrible," Carmen said, her beautiful face a picture of abject sympathy. "Sharise, her ex cheated on her!"
Sharise leaned against the far wall, her delicate brows pinched together. "I heard."
To Vera, Carmen said, "Seriously, though, you two have so much in common. Sharise's ex cheated on her, too. Has Ellie come back to get her stuff yet, Sharise?"
Vera never meant to be shocked when it was casually dropped that someone wasn't straight. When she was younger she had thought she'd eventually get to a point where she would start assuming everyone was some flavour of queer (or at least that she would get better at recognizing the signs, please, she was so tired of being attracted to straight girls), but outside her loose circle of acquaintances at home, it still surprised her almost every time.
Sharise stared back at Carmen as though avoiding Vera's wide-eyed gaze, palms flat on her forearms, fingertips pressing dimples into her skin. "I thought we were supposed to be working today, not gossiping about our depressing love lives."
Carmen made a show of rolling her eyes, huffing out an annoyed breath as she twisted her water bottle open. "It's okay to have fun sometimes, Sharise. Not everything needs to be so serious. Besides, you two may have depressing love lives, but I'm totally happy with mine."
"Honestly, I'd love to get started," Vera said, bouncing eagerly on the balls her feet. She needed to prove herself to Carmen, and she wasn't going to do that by standing around gossiping.
"You're so cute when you're excited." With a small laugh, Carmen pushed up from the counter. "Okay, then. Let's do this. I'm ready for you to make me a style icon."
Vera hoped she wasn't going to regret the boldness of those words.
"You don't need to stick around, Sharise," Carmen added. "We got this."
For a moment, Sharise pursed her lips as though she wanted to argue, but all she said was, "Okay. I've got some errands to run. Vera has the information she needs, I think. Anything else we can discuss later."
"We'll be fine, Mom," Carmen said, flicking her fingers in a dismissive gesture.
Vera thought Carmen's cutting tone was a little unfair, but the actress had already started off down the hallway without waiting to see if Vera followed. With a small smile at Sharise (who didn't see it, because she had already turned away like all of this was beneath her), she did.
The sight of Carmen's apartment-sized closet would always take her breath away, Vera was sure of it. It was like the hoard of a dragon who was into clothes instead of gold: massive, impressively varied, and criminally underutilized. Morning sunlight glanced off a floor-length mirror in the corner to create a soft glow in every corner of the room.
Unaffected by the sight of so much luxury, Carmen settled onto the powder-pink cushioned seat in the middle and took a small sip of water. "So, what're we doing? You want me to try some of these on so you can see what they look like or something?"
"Well, actually—" Practically buzzing with excitement that they were finally doing this, Vera slung her purse off her shoulder and extracted a small notebook and a rhinestone-studded pen before setting it on the floor. "Yeah, probably some of that. We might need to work on the fit of anything you're gonna wear. Do you have a seamstress you work with?"
Carmen wrinkled her nose. Her robe had slipped off one shoulder, baring a length of golden collarbone that would make angels weep. "I don't know? Bea used to handle that stuff."
Vera paused in flipping open her notebook. "Who's Bea?"
Carmen waved her hand. "A stylist I worked with for like a month or two. We didn't get along. I think Marina hired her, actually. Nice pen." She giggled.
"Oh." Vera hadn't considered there might have been another stylist working with Carmen, but the thought quickly slipped from her mind. "Well, I can take care of that for now. I brought my sewing machine just in case."
"You can sew? You're so talented."
Carmen crossed her dainty ankles, causing her robe to slip further off her thigh. Vera noticed--of course she noticed, how could she not--but compared to the idea of actually getting to style her celebrity crush, the sight of a little bare leg was no distraction.
"I think we should start with overall strategy." Vera tapped her notebook with her glittery pen. "That way we know what we're working towards. What's your style goal?"
Carmen stared at her blankly. "To look good?"
"Of course," Vera said impatiently. "But do you have a specific image you wanna go for? Like a few years ago you stopped wearing modest things and went full sexy. That was obviously an intentional image shift."
Carmen set her bottle down beside her and leaned back on her palms. "I didn't really plan that. I just wanted people to stop treating me like a child."
"Right! And it worked, obviously. So do you have a goal like that now?"
Silver laughter bubbled from Carmen's lips. "Honestly, I don't know. To look hot."
Vera bit her lip. "Yeah. Okay. That's not helpful. You said you're focused on your career right now. What's your career goal? Maybe we can start with that."
A small, secret smile curved Carmen's lush lips. "Well. It's still in production, but you know I've got a Merry Sanders film coming out."
Vera nodded.
"So obviously he's a super respected director and his movies always win awards and whatever. It's premiering at the festivals in the fall. Merry thinks with the performance I put in, I could try for an Oscar nomination."
Vera was shocked. "Wow. That's--"
"Bold?" Carmen arched her eyebrows conspiratorially. "I know. Sharise is afraid people are gonna think it's a joke because it's my first serious project in years."
"I mean a prestige drama is a big change from what you've been doing," Vera said, but she was literally humming with nerves now. "Oh my God. From child star turned queen of the trashy rom-com to Oscar contender. That's an image makeover for sure. Basically a comeback arc. I love it. I can work with that."
Carmen was smiling indulgently at her. "You think you can do that in a month?"
"We can get it started, at least." Vera scribbled furiously into her notebook. "We should talk a bit about street style because that's your foundation and you have more chances to get photographed in it, but the events are where you'll see the biggest impact. We can plan a couple outfits for each, depending on weather, mood—"
"You've really thought this through," Carmen said, a bemused smile playing on her lips.
"So the big ones: the morning show— You're promoting the Merry Sanders. project there? So something tonally appropriate for that, and that's New York. Could be cold. Maybe something with a coat? And then we've got the Teen Taste carpet--"
"That show is a joke," Carmen said, twirling a long curl around her fingertip. "No one takes it seriously."
"That's what makes it a great event for really making a splash with your new style." Wandering over to the racks, Vera started pushing aside dresses and shirts, eyes and fingers lingering over clashing textures and colours. "It's not so serious, which means we can be a little more flexible. We can do something really fun and eye-catching. That sequined jumpsuit maybe. Or this feathery thing. Or--"
"I'm not wearing that feathery thing," Carmen said. "Can you imagine the headlines? Carmen Juarez murders and skins beloved cartoon character and all she got was this ugly-as-fuck look. That's definitely not my style goal."
Chuckling, Vera slipped the offending garment off the rack and held it up so Carmen could see it better. It was hot pink and aggressively feathered, with an asymmetrical hem. "Picture it with leather pants, though. Or those wide-legged sheer ones you're so afraid of."
Putting her palms to her throat, Carmen pretended to gag.
Vera laughed again and slipped the hanger back onto the rack. "Okay, maybe that's too out there when you're used to pink satin princess dresses. But I swear I'm gonna get you into one of these high-difficulty pieces eventually. I know you can pull them off if we style them right."
"People talk enough shit about me already." Carmen had picked up her phone, nails clicking against the screen. "You're supposed to make me look good, not give people more reasons to laugh at me."
"Who cares what people say about you?" Vera said, pulling several tamer pieces off the rack to drape them over her arm.
"Um, everybody cares?"
"If you feel great in what you're wearing, you shouldn't give a fuck what anyone else says. The more they talk, the better for you, anyway."
Carmen looked up at her from under her eyebrows. "You wouldn't say that if people talked about you," she said, tone icy.
Vera winced, thinking about her measly thirty thousand followers. "Try these on," she said, dumping her armload of clothes onto the seat beside Carmen.
Eyebrows shooting up, Carmen picked up the wide-legged sheer pants that pooled on top of the pile. She held them by her crimson fingernails like they were filthy. "I thought I told you I wasn't gonna wear these."
"Please?" Vera widened her eyes. "We don't have to style you in them. I just wanna see you in some different shapes to get an idea of what's gonna work for you and what isn't. We can talk about other pieces I would love to get for you later, but I think we can work with what you own for now."
Carmen stared at the pants for so long Vera was sure she was going to fire her on the spot. At last, though, she sighed.
"Fuck it. Let's play dress up."