“She’ll come around. Tell her about all the jobs and swag we picked up tonight. That should get her attention.”
Tyler and Kendal got thoughtful looks. Adrienne just waved me off. Adrienne got up to head to bed. She gave me a sweet kiss but, to my horror, it felt like I’d kissed my sister. I’d be lucky to have Adrienne as my sister.
Kendal and I stayed up for another half hour. She told me about their night. It sounded like they’d had a good time. Chuck had been picked up and wasn’t here yet. He had the night off and just went out with Tyler and Kendal for fun. Kendal then got sad. I could tell that something was bothering her. Her college boyfriend had officially broken up with her. She also found out that Devin had found a girl back home. She had a bad case of the lonelies.
I took her to my room and put on a pair of shorts. She climbed into bed with me and cried herself to sleep. She just needed someone to hold her.
Saturday February 1
I AWOKE THE NEXT MORNING to Kara crawling into bed with me, on the opposite side from Kendal. I looked at the clock and it was five-thirty. At seven, Tyler came in to wake me up. She crawled up on the bed and plopped down on my chest. I woke to her staring at me with a stupid grin on her face.
“Morning, Lover-Boy. I wondered where all the girls went,” Tyler teased.
I tickled her; that produced a shriek that about made me deaf. Adrienne and Chuck came crashing into the room at about the same time. Tyler giggled.
“Oops, I think they caught us.”
I swatted Tyler’s bottom as she hopped out of bed and kissed Adrienne. Everyone got up and Kara and I got ready for today’s job.
Over breakfast, we planned the next two days. The shoot was supposed to be done by one o’clock. Adrienne had another shoot scheduled at three for the three of us. Then at seven this evening, she had me scheduled to do a shoot with Abby and Andi Ferrell. Sunday, she planned for me to do a solo shoot.
“When did you set all this up?” Kendal asked.
“Last night.”
I didn’t even think to set up anything this weekend. I was kicking myself for not working out some deals. There were a couple that needed me to work right now and I’d turned them down.
“How are we going to pay you?” Kara asked.
“My contract with Ford lapsed at midnight. I’m scheduled to sign a hundred and eighty day deal on Monday,” Adrienne said, then turned to Kendal. “Can we set it up where you get 10% and I get 25%? Then you guys can pay me since I don’t have my company set up yet. That way you can pay David and Kara also.”
Kendal looked at me and I just shrugged my shoulders. She got her phone out and called Tom. I was sure he was pleased as punch to be called at six-thirty in the morning, central time. Once Kendal was done explaining what was going on, he seemed to be okay.
While Kendal was annoying her boss, I told Adrienne about the two hot leads I had from the party. She turned them over to Tyler to get set up. We could always take the red-eye Sunday night. I also had a question, so I took Adrienne aside.
“Did you plan this little window of opportunity?” I asked Adrienne.
“No. The last few contracts have become more and more contentious. They were pushing for a longer-term deal, but I’d made the decision to do my own thing. This time the clock ran out on the negotiations. My lawyer left me a message that we had come to terms and we would sign everything on Monday. I’d been interviewing other agencies as a backup.”
“I just don’t want this to come back and bite me in the butt. I think they’re going to notice when our photos start showing up.”
“Don’t worry; I have a little pull with them. I’ll talk to them Monday and tell them what happened. The way your contract is written, if they don’t find the work, you’re good to go. I do understand your concerns, though. I’ll make sure everything’s okay.”
RAFAEL WAS HAPPY TO see us. The storyboard for the shoot was straightforward. It was three shots. The first was us looking sad and grungy with bad hair. The next was happy smiles and shampoo in our hair. The last was great-looking hair and smiles all around. Sounds simple, right? Not so much.
Everything went well until it came time for the shampoo shots. They had Kara and me get into a shower and dampen our hair, and then she turned the shampoo bottle over to put some in her hand.
“This stuff stinks!” Kara complained.
I put some in my hand and it really did smell bad. I read the bottle. It had all kinds of warnings on it. It was a medicated shampoo for problem hair only.
“What is this stuff?” I asked Rafael.
“It’s a new shampoo made in India,” he said.
He took a whiff and wrinkled his nose.
“Just use it and let’s get this over with,” Rafael told us.
We lathered up and you could immediately feel your scalp tingle. It reminded you of the shampoos made for dandruff. We came out and Rafael took two pictures. The tingles quickly graduated to burning. Kara squeaked and ran for the shower. I wasn’t far behind her. We couldn’t get that stuff out of our hair fast enough. I grabbed the bottle and read the warnings.
‘Do not leave in for more than two minutes. Prolonged exposure may cause blisters and loss of hair.’
I showed it to Kara and she got pissed. She marched out to the studio and laid into Rafael. He read the bottle and cringed. This stuff would never be approved for the US market. Before it was all done, we were given bonuses and had to sign a release stating that we wouldn’t sue if our hair fell out.
The makeup girl worked her magic to fix the damage to our hair. The shampoo had stripped all the natural oils from it. She gave us special shampoo and treatments to use for the next week. We finished up with the last shot.
Kendal signed off and we were done early. The makeup girl gave Kara and me a supply of the special shampoo with instructions on how to use it. We packed up and went to our next job.
WE HAD TIME TO MEET Adrienne at the tailor and get measured. I went through a similar routine as I had when I got the suit for Jennie. Adrienne had talked to the different fashion houses and explained that I didn’t need just suits. She did talk to one about a tuxedo for the prom.
In return for the clothes, they requested that I wear them while I was in New York. They would have a photographer take candid shots of me on the street. These shots would be sent to the press, showing me out and about in their new line. Adrienne gave them my schedule for today and tomorrow. I would need to change clothes each time I went outside.
Something I made sure to do was to call Sandy Range. I had agreed to wear their clothes as part of my last contract. She called Devin and he called me back. I explained what was going on and he didn’t have a problem with it. He was happy with what I’d done over Christmas break and all the free publicity I’d gotten them.
I knew that none of this would be happening if Adrienne weren’t involved. I was just a wannabe model like the thousands of kids trying to make it in this business. The fashion houses wanted to have Adrienne seen wearing their clothes. If they had to pony up for some clothes for me to garner some publicity, that was a price they were willing to pay.
WE GOT BACK TO ADRIENNE’S place to find the first set of clothes had been delivered to the doorman. I went in and tried them on.
“I think they got my size wrong. The pants are too short,” I complained.
Tyler laughed at me.
“No, Honey, that’s their ‘summer trust-fund baby/let’s play in the Hamptons’ look. They’re going to be wearing high-water pants,” she said.
She made me go back in, lose my socks, and put on my boat shoes. I looked like a dork. I came back out and Kendal, Kara and Chuck tried not to laugh at me. Adrienne had no such restraint. They fed me lunch and then we went to the next shoot. Chuck about tackled a photographer when she ran up to get her shots; I’d forgotten to tell him what was going on. Adrienne and I posed, and then we were off to the next gig.