“Wow, I’m almost scared to go,” I said, and gave a nervous chuckle.
“Yeah, I can’t really see you getting drugged and turning up in a video acting naughty.”
I just nodded.
“What I can see you doing is being stone cold sober and turning up in a video acting naughty. Just so you know, the bathrooms and side rooms will probably be wired. If you pick someone up, bring them back here. We’ll just add it to Adrienne’s private collection.”
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if she was joking. My stomach announced that it was empty. Tyler took pity on me and fed me.
I WAS ORDERED INTO the shower to get ready. I came out to find Mark, my personal makeup person, waiting for me. As soon as I saw him, I decided walking around naked was not a good idea. I pulled on shorts and a t-shirt. He ordered me to take off the t-shirt. My hair and makeup were done. Adrienne came in, checked me, and had him fix some things.
I found that Kendal had packed my good suit, the one that Jennie Wesleyan had bought me. I was soon dressed and presented to the girls. Tyler winked at me and Kendal just rolled her eyes. Adrienne wowed us. She came out in what had to be a custom minidress made up of thousands of red sequins. She added red three-inch heels. I know that she sells sexy, but all I could say was ‘OMG!’
Before we left, I showed Adrienne and Tyler the newest business card app that Kendal had found. I set up a folder with tonight’s event and date. I then scanned Tyler’s business card and took a quick picture of her. Right on cue Kendal’s phone pinged and so did Tyler’s. I borrowed Kendal’s phone and showed it to Adrienne. It had Tyler’s contact info and her picture. I had categorized Tyler as a VIP and written a quick note. Kendal had set up all the categories, everything from Accountants to VIPs. All I had to do was spin through the list and select everything that applied.
Then Tyler showed Adrienne what I’d sent. It was a virtual business card with my picture and a link. The app had found her cell number and sent her a text. If it couldn’t find a cell number, it would look for an email address and send an email with the information. She tapped the link, and it connected to my website that Lily had set up. It had my portfolio, bio and ways to contact me. Another button added my contact info to Tyler’s phone.
Adrienne was not leaving until I set her phone up too. She didn’t have a website, so we sent them to her Facebook fan page. I explained how the contacts were sent to everyone on my team. I set hers up to send the contacts to Tyler’s phone. I had to set up Tyler’s phone to receive them and send back any of hers. It took a few minutes as their phones synced.
I set them up to receive all my contacts from tonight. That way Adrienne didn’t have to take her phone with her. Of course, I had no idea where she would carry it. We were finally ready for the party.
WE ARRIVED AT A WAREHOUSE in the garment district that was being used for the party. Out front, there was a long red carpet lined with paparazzi and entertainment-show reporters. I saw Hollywood Central and smiled, remembering their interview of Kara and me on the beach in Florida. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but it was only a few weeks.
When the door was pulled open, I stepped over her and got out first, which clearly surprised Adrienne. I then blocked the view as she got out. When she stood up, I whispered in her ear that I did it to guard against any panty shots. She gave me a peck on the cheek and we faced the flashes. There was an ‘X’ on the carpet, about halfway up. I got Adrienne there and then stepped to the side so she could have her moment. She then motioned me over. We spent a few minutes there, and then the next car pulled up, so we went inside.
We found they had a makeup area for touch-ups. We went in and she slugged my arm.
“I about had a heart attack when you jumped over me to get out first. That was very sweet of you. Next time, warn me.”
“Sorry, I panicked when I realized I’d forgotten.” I leaned close. “So, did you go commando?”
I actually got Adrienne to blush. She wouldn’t tell me, either. We left the makeup room and hit the party.
Talk about an education. I had no idea that fashion included everything, from guys who made their suit from their grandmother’s curtains, to models that had on a small, sheer cloth and were basically nude. Then there were some cool clothes.
We worked the crowd, and there was a surprising amount of business being done. We soon worked out a system for managing our contacts: for Adrienne’s we put an ‘A’ at the start of the text section. Mine got ‘D,’ and if it was both it got a ‘B.’ The ‘B’ was used for contacts where Adrienne initiated the conversation on a modeling job. That way it would be put under her company. We agreed that any business I found because of her invite, she got 10% on. It was only fair because I would never have gotten in the door without her help. What she didn’t know was that I put all my stuff from that night under ‘B.’
We made two full circuits of room in two and a half hours. By the time we made it around the second time, we were talked out. I was beat and ready to go. As we went to the exit, we were directed to a side room. We found that we had three press requests for interviews. They had rooms set up that looked like mini studios. We did the three interviews and came back out.
We were then directed to another room. Throughout the night, I had pointed out designers or clothes that I thought looked nice. There were several big bags of clothes waiting for us. Adrienne glared at me.
“Did you promise to wear anything?”
“No. But I did say that some clothes looked nice. Was that bad?” I asked, giving her my best innocent look.
She rooted through some of the bags and smiled. I guess I was forgiven. I checked the sizes of the clothes and they would all fit me. I looked at Adrienne.
“How did they know my size?”
“It’s on your website.”
“Oh, don’t I feel stupid.”
I looked around and only saw a couple of other bags for other people. I couldn’t figure out why we were getting the lion’s share of stuff, so I asked Adrienne, and she had a thought.
“Do you think it might have something to do with your little phone app? That thing is genius, by the way. We could make big bucks reselling it.”
I just shrugged. We had to have help getting everything out to the car. When we got back, Kendal and Tyler were lounging around in pajamas and sipping wine. We had three carts packed with bags. The girls helped us unload the carts.
Three-quarters of the clothes were for Adrienne. I wanted her to try on all the underwear. All three of them just laughed at me. Then Tyler got excited. One of the bags had envelopes in it. She read one of them.
‘David,
It was so nice to meet you. Please stop by your local tailor and get fitted for our latest ...’
I looked at Tyler with a blank stare. Adrienne and Kendal cracked up when Tyler made a rude gesture. Finally, Adrienne explained it to me.
“The designers select a few people to get their next line of clothing. You get in front of cameras a lot and designers love that.” She sorted through the cards. “Let’s see, Calvin Klein, Armani, Tommy Hilfiger ...” She listed several others. She also had an impressive list of her own. “We’ll go to my tailor tomorrow and get measured. They can then ship it to your home.”
“But I’ll rarely need high fashion; I don’t get invited to many events.”
“That’s okay. We’ll tell them not to send you a bunch of suits. They also carry casual wear. I would bet you’ll need a tux for Prom.”
“Could you call Hannah and make sure I get something that goes with both your dresses?”
“Dream on. I think you freaked out her boyfriend.”