The problem was that you had two shots and then you had wet twins. They had to dry their hair, fix their makeup, and put on new suits. By the time they were ready again, we had to remake the drink. We spent the morning getting that one shot.
“Whoever thought this up is an idiot,” I whispered to Adrienne.
She looked at me, confused.
“How many models do you have sitting around, waiting for us four? Not to mention the cost of all the extra people. By the time they’re ready for the other models, the light will have changed, and you’ll have to redo their makeup.”
“Good point. Keep that to yourself. We can use that as a competitive edge.”
“No, we need to do what’s right. You called it, we need to be professional.”
She looked at me for a moment, trying to figure me out. Then she nodded. She called Deb over and had me explain what I told her. Everyone was so used to letting the producer run the show that Deb never even thought to question him.
There was a short but heated exchange, and then we were doing the group shots. At lunch, they brought out food and we were told to keep in character because they’d be taking candid shots and short videos.
The girls enjoyed teasing me, now that they knew I was straight. I was now ‘boy,’ short for pool boy. They ordered me around and had me go get them drinks.
Each model had a specific drink they were supposed to have. I got yelled at by someone who said they were in charge of ‘continuity.’ Once they explained that the pictures would look funny if they had a different drink each time, I understood. By the end of the day, I was the highest-paid waiter in Miami.
After the group shots, we went back to our first shot and everyone else was sent home. They were all scheduled tomorrow to do their individual shots. Each girl was to be photographed with her specialty drink. Several of them were college girls who traveled from campus to campus; bars would have their drink featured. It sounded like a great gig until they told me about the drunken college guys and the crap they pulled or tried to pull. The campus girls didn’t normally last very long on the road.
Before everyone left, it was announced that the liquor company was throwing a party tonight at one of the nightclubs. Adrienne explained that it was going to be a bunch of the employees that thought it would be great fun to hit on the models. She had to go. The twins and I planned to go to dinner and go to the party from there. I asked Adrienne if she wanted me to come, but she said she had hired extra security for tonight and would be okay.
WE GOT BACK TO THE hotel and I stopped in to see Angel. She was exhausted. Apparently, one of the photographers had snuck in the back and taken candid shots. They had spent all day dealing with that. I asked if she wanted to go to dinner with us and she surprisingly said yes. I told her I had to go run first and I would call her when I got back.
The weather was perfect to run. It was 76 degrees and sunny, with a nice breeze coming off the ocean.
When I got back, the twins told me they had dates tonight. I took Angel to a seafood place I had seen on my run. She would never replace Kendal, but she was okay.
Sunday March 9
THE NEXT DAY WAS BORING as hell. I stood in one place and held the same pose. The only variation was that every twenty minutes a new model with a new drink was in the shot. For almost eight straight hours. I felt like one of those cardboard cutouts doing a ‘have your picture taken with David.’
On the way to the airport, Angel started to open up.
“I don’t know how you do it. I’d blow my brains out if I had to do what you just did.”
“I know. It does give you time to think, though,” I said. “Could we hit a drive-through? I’m sick of overpriced, overrated airport food.”
“Good call. What do you want?”
“It doesn’t really matter, because I’m starved.”
The driver took us to a Cuban place that had takeout. I had some pork dish with rice and black beans, and a funny banana called a plantain. It was much better than going to traditional takeout.
WE DIDN’T GET HOME till eight o’clock and I was a tired boy. When I walked in, everyone made fun of my tan.
It was good to be home.
Chapter 20 – Hometown Hero
Monday March 10
I WAS LIFTING WEIGHTS before school when my phone rang. I got off the leg press to let Wolf have his turn and answered my phone.
“This is David.”
“Morning, Stud,” Missy said.
“What’s up?”
“I have some bad news. I can’t come up this weekend.”
“I was looking forward to seeing you. How come you can’t make it?”
“It’s a family thing. Something came up, and I have to go home. Can I call you next week, and set something up?”
“You bet.”
“Great, I’ll talk to you next week.”
With that, she hung up. Two minutes later, my phone rang again. It was Tami.
“That didn’t take long,” I said as I answered the phone.
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“Missy just called me and bailed on this weekend.”
“Really, what’s going on?”
“I didn’t really ask. We’re talking next week to set up another weekend. I think she has some family obligation.”
“I’m going to have to train you better.”
“Probably, but you have time to get me fixed up.”
“Well, this’ll make your day: Harper broke up with her boyfriend.”
“Actually, that makes me sad. She seemed to like him.”
“Well, she seems to like you, too. That’s part of the problem.”
“I don’t think I’m the solution to this problem. She needs to get over him before I want to get into the picture. I don’t want to be her rebound.”
“I hear rebounds get a lot of sex,” Tami teased.
“Nope, I like Harper too much. Plus she needs to be punished for insulting Mr. Happy. I can’t date her and punish her at the same time,” I said.
“You poor ‘stupid boy,’ dating you would be punishment enough,” Tami teased me.
“Funny girl. Let’s think this through. I like Missy a lot. Harper’s a great gal. I don’t want Missy getting mad at me because I’m seeing Harper, too. It’s just better that we’re friends. I already have too many ‘friends with benefits,’ anyways. I don’t need to add any more right now.”
“What about Lisa Felton?”
“What about her?”
“You just said you didn’t want to add any more ‘friends with benefits.’
“I don’t.”
“Alright, smartass, I’ll do this the hard way. Do you plan on having sex with Lisa Felton?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’re adding to your list.”
“Nope.”
“I give up, what am I missing?” Tami asked.
“The ‘friends’ part is missing. Don’t get me wrong, I think Lisa and I could be friends, but this isn’t about anything long-term. We’ll be like a roman candle: a bunch of explosions, and then nothing.”
“Famous last words,” she shot back at me.
“I have to go spot for Wolf. I’ll call you later in the week. I need to tell you about being surrounded by twenty naked models.”
“Should I get the TV in the lounge set up for that story?”
“I’ll try to keep it PG-13 for Harper’s benefit.”
“I’ll tell her you said that. Bye, David.”
IN MATH, WE HAD A POP quiz. I was glad I’d paid attention to Suzanne at our study session. I would have bombed it otherwise. Everyone who had been on the video chat had a smile on their face as we left class.
After lunch, I had my Dance class. They were pushing to do another number at the next school dance. I told them that the last one was pushing the envelope. Maybe we should skip this one. They kept pushing me until I had an idea.