Chapter Twenty-five
‘Hey, nice to meet you – I’m Gem,’ she said, holding out a waiflike hand to shake mine.
‘Oh wow, hi,’ I said, starstruck. ‘I know who you are, I didn’t realise it was you I’d be working with.’ I gave Phoebe a death stare. What the hell?
‘Neither did I,’ Phoebe said, frantically checking her phone. ‘We got the booking through a… Sparkle Productions.’
Gem nodded. ‘Yes, that’s me. We always keep things on the down-low with new bookings, so there’s no advance pressure.’
‘Great idea,’ I said, with a nervous laugh. Feeling all the pressure RIGHT NOW instead.
‘I’m Abi’s agent,’ Phoebe said, going in for a handshake. ‘Phoebe Barrington.’
‘They have you listed as Jemima Andams upstairs?’ I said, putting two and two together. ‘It must be a typo in your surname.’
Gem gave me a wink. ‘It’s fine. I do it deliberately to confuse people. My name is synonymous with Eva’s and her performance is a surprise, so it’s better for us if people don’t know I’m here.’
‘Eva Mavareaux?’ I whispered.
‘The one and only,’ Gem replied. ‘We’ll be doing make-up for her and a couple of her friends.’
Blake must be one of them. I hadn’t realised he was such a global megastar. I really needed to watch that Outlaws programme – I was clearly missing out.
‘Do you bring your agent along to all your bookings?’ Gem asked with a grin, smoothing her hands over her peroxide bob. She must have been ten years older than me, and had that cool, rock-star thing going on, with green cowboy boots and plenty of eyeliner.
‘God, no,’ Phoebe said, ‘I’m just here for a quick coffee before Abi starts and then I’ll get going. Leave you guys to it. I’m on a guest pass.’ She held up her lanyard as proof.
‘You’re welcome to hang out in the crew canteen,’ Gem said. ‘But obviously we can’t have anyone else in here but the two of us.’
‘Absolutely!’ Phoebe gushed. ‘Why would I want to be in here when there’s the whole of Venice to explore?’
‘I’ll grab a coffee, then get started,’ I said, still reeling from the no-advance-pressure surprise. ‘Can I get you anything?’
‘White, no sugar, would be great,’ Gem said. ‘But there’s no rush. I wasn’t expecting you for another hour, so take your time. Have a wander around. There won’t be a lot of breaks once we start, I’m afraid. You know what it’s like.’
‘I sure do!’ I said, taking one last look around the room. There was a rail full of gowns and suits in silvers, purples and black velvets stood to one side. We would be the last stop for the stars before they took to the stage, well, some of the stars – and Blake must be on our list for make-up. It was the only thing that made sense. ‘I’ll be back in half an hour.’
‘Enjoy!’ Gem went back to her make-up stack, checking through one of the layers.
I shut the door, turned to Phoebe and we both silently screamed, then ran down the corridor, not breathing a word. The problem with these backstage corridors was that somebody was always listening.
‘What is going on?!’ I whispered, once we were far enough away. ‘How is this happening?’
‘I have absolutely no idea,’ Phoebe said, as we joined the coffee queue. ‘You’ll have to quiz her once you’re on your own. Apart from anything else – she’s supposed to be in London working on the set of Moonmen.’
‘Is this Blake’s way of letting me work it all out for myself, do you think? That guy really is something else!’
The girl behind us tapped my shoulder. ‘Are you talking about Blake Thomas?’ she asked, quietly. I panicked, not sure how to respond, as she continued. ‘Apparently he tried it on with one of the wardrobe girls yesterday, so keep an eye out, but you didn’t hear it from me.’
‘Oh wow, thanks for the warning,’ I said, with a smile.
‘Next, please?’ We were at the front of the queue.
‘Two white coffees and a chocolate flapjack,’ Phoebe said, waving her pass around.
‘He’s definitely here, then,’ I whispered into her back.
‘Yes, but we already knew that.’
It was like attending the UN General Assembly with all the different nationalities represented in the coffee room. There was obviously a strong Italian contingent, but the big stars liked to have their own crew with them too, so make-up artists and stylists had been flown in from all over the world to attend. I didn’t even like to guess at the collective carbon footprint sitting in this canteen.
‘I’ll see how much Gem will tell me if we get chance to chat,’ I said, blowing on my coffee. ‘What’s your plan? You’re not going to sit in here all day, surely.’
‘Correct,’ Phoebe said in staunch agreement, ‘I’m going shopping in Venice for the rest of the day and will come back for the wrap party tomorrow night.’
‘Will you indeed.’
‘Yes, and it’s perfectly legit for me to be at it, as you can sign me in.’ Phoebe uncrossed her legs and leant in. ‘And that’s where the Ryans will be. That’s where everyone will be.’
‘Well, I’m glad you’ve got your party attendance all worked out – that’s the main thing, right? By then I’ll have seen Blake and we’ll know what’s going on. He must be after something,’ I said, keeping my eyes peeled. I recognised precisely no one so far, which was no surprise and almost a relief at this point. It would be nice to have an anonymous couple of days, ideally avoiding Blake Thomas, wherever he was. I needed to think up some suitable ‘thank you, next’ retort to deliver at the wrap party in case we bumped into each other. I walked Phoebe to the lift and bleeped her in. ‘You know where you’re going, don’t you?’ I said, suddenly concerned she might try and hunt down Jacob Elordi.
‘Yes of course! I’m not an idiot. I’d stick out like a sore thumb if I stayed around here anyway. I’m not quite glamorous enough to be mistaken for A-list and I’m certainly not… crew,’ she said, with faux-disdain.
‘That’s for sure. Off you go. Straight to the front door. DO NOT give them any reason to confiscate my pass, and – ergo – any chance you might have of attending the wrap party.’
I went back to the coffee bar and messaged Holly.
Me:Have you seen Tony? Did you give him my letter? How did he look? What did he say? Tell me EVERYTHING.
Holly:Missing me then? Not yet. I’m biding my time. I was planning to pop over this afternoon – or maybe for breakfast tomorrow. I didn’t want to jump on him the second he got back.
Me:JUMP ON HIM.
Holly:DON’T SHOUT AT A PREGNANT WOMAN. I’ll get it done, don’t worry.
I grabbed two coffees, my third of the day, and made my way back to Gem. The caffeine palpitations, combined with my general level of excitement, had me very much on the edge.
‘Hiiiii,’ I said, turning the handle with my elbow. ‘I’m back and ready to go!’
‘Ah, brilliant.’ Gem took her coffee with a grateful smile and shut the door. ‘OK, so we’ve got three in for the awards ceremony – Eva and two of her close friends – and this year it’s a masked ball, so we’ll be building individual masks from scratch and layering them on with make-up. The way Faye and I normally do it, is that I work on the client, and she grabs whatever I need as I need it. Then once I’m finished, she takes them through to wardrobe and does any little touch-ups, while I prep for the next person. There will be a constant stream of runners waiting to help us and I’ll walk Eva to the stage area myself in case she needs any tweaks between here and there. Does that sound good?’
‘Perfect. Like a beautiful Hollywood conveyor belt.’
‘If it goes well, yes. A very slow conveyor belt.’ Gem looked dubious. ‘Look, we haven’t worked together before, but you came highly recommended, so I’m hoping we’ll get into a flow quite quickly. Faye had a family emergency, which is why you’re only here for the tail end of the week. Sorry that it’s such a weird booking.’
‘Not at all – I’m just happy to be here. Honestly, I’m a quick learner and will work in whatever way works best for you.’
Gem nodded. ‘We have Eva in at twelve, so we’ve got a good hour to run through everything. Each of the stars will have two hours in make-up and an hour in wardrobe, which is through there.’ She lifted a curtain and there was a whole other section full of outfits – the rail of sparkles that was in the make-up room earlier had been wheeled in and a tall man with tiny dreadlocks was stood next to it, steaming a silk dress. He stopped and gave me a wave.
‘Benji – Abi,’ Gem said, introducing us. ‘Abi – Benji. Abi is assisting me today.’
‘Welcome to the team,’ Benji said, warmly.
‘Hi,’ I said, trying to stay focused. This was unbelievable. I must not screw this up. I must not screw this up. I put my coffee down on the table. I did not need any more caffeine.
‘Benji is wardrobe for the three of them. You’ll be an extra pair of hands for him, as well as helping me.’ Gem dropped the curtain and I followed her back into make-up. ‘I’ll quickly talk you through my kit, so you know what goes where and how I do things.’
‘Great!’ I said, cheerily.
‘And just ask me anything as we go, OK?’
‘OK.’
Gem looked like a golden pixie under the lights, the sequins on her jumpsuit throwing out sparkles on the black curtains. She handed me an apron with Team GA discreetly stitched into the top, and a feeling of pure pride swelled up inside me as I put it on. I’d always wanted to play Goal Attack in the netball team, but Holly always got it – and look at me now – an entirely different GA on a whole other level.
‘Thank you so much for having me here, Gem. I don’t want to be too gushing, but I’ve always been such a huge fan of your work. The prosthetics on Alien Attack were some of the best I’ve ever seen. You totally deserved the Oscar.’
‘You’re very kind to say,’ Gem smiled, delighted.
‘I’m just so pleased to have the opportunity to work with you – especially after the mix-up on Moonmen.’
‘Moonmen…?’ Gem frowned. ‘I’ve not heard of that one – is it a film?’
‘Yes,’ I said, confused. ‘I thought you were working on it too. In London, last month?’
She shook her head. ‘Not me. I was in Australia for most of last month.’ I was starting to look like an idiot.
‘Right…’ I nodded, not sure what was going on. ‘I’d assumed Blake Thomas had recommended me for this job,’ I said, slowly. ‘From Moonmen,’ I added, by way of explanation.
‘Sorry, no – I’ve not heard of him either,’ she said. ‘Oh, maybe I have… isn’t he the cowboy in Outlaws?’
‘Yeah, that’s the one,’ I said, shuddering at the thought of him.
‘I heard something about Outlaws the other day, now you mention it. I can’t think what it was now… Blake… Thomas…’ Gem closed her eyes to summon the thought. ‘No. It’s gone.’
‘No worries, I must have misunderstood.’ Well, either I had, or Phoebe had. Someone had. My mind was a flurry of thoughts, but I didn’t have time to untangle them. Today I had to concentrate like never before and be the best possible version of my work self. The ultimate assistant for Gem. Today was a signature moment in my life and I planned to enjoy every single second of it. I sat down and Gem patiently talked me through each layer of her make-up stack. What she used and what went where, so I could grab things for her while she worked. I nodded, making notes as she went from drawer to drawer, pointing out the creams, pens, gels and sparkles. It was both similar and different to mine, with a lot of American brands in her armoury that I’d heard of, but never used.
‘So, now you know what I use and where everything is, let’s go through the client list,’ Gem said, taking a brown leather book from the table and holding it up so I could see. It was full of photos in plastic wallets. ‘First up, we have Eva Mavareaux, my star client, who needs no introduction – in fact, none of the stars we’ll be working on today do. Eva goes for a very natural skin tone, with a dark eye, lots of eyelashes and a neutral lip. Her mask will be three different shades of green to match her gown, and I’ll be using peacock feathers. The sketches for all three masks are over there on the table.’
I nodded, eyes shining, as she flicked to the next page.
‘Next up, Rosie Ganlon, the Irish actress. Ivory skin, green eyes, her colour palette is browns and golds, and she likes bright, glowing skin for the cameras. She wants an animal mask – a panther – and is bringing yellow contact lenses with her. I’ve got a few different options for the ears, which we can look at. Top shelf of the cupboard.’
‘Very cool,’ I said, trying to imagine the steps to do panther ears under pressure. I couldn’t wait to watch Gem in action.
‘And then finally we have Angelica Fox, the French supermodel. She is wearing a gorgeous orange explosion of a dress and has asked for golds and blues for her mask. Short blonde hair and, brown eyes, she likes a heavy, glamorous look. Should be fun!’
Gem held her hand to her ear and nodded. I hadn’t realised she was wearing an earpiece.
‘OK, we are on. Eva is being walked down to us right now. Benji!’ she shouted.
He whipped his head around the curtain. ‘Yup?’
‘Eva is in with us in five, so you’ve got two hours.’
‘Got it,’ he said, disappearing to take his position.
‘Are you good to go?’ Gem asked, tightening her apron. I nodded. ‘Let’s do it then.’
There was a knock on the door and one of the runners led Eva Mavareaux in, and the Hollywood conveyor belt cranked into action. I smiled continuously, taking coats, gowning up the celebs, helping Gem with everything she needed, and then Benji, before doing any tiny touch-ups. Everything I’d heard about Gem was true. She was a master at work, using the lightest touch and delivering amazing results. Rosie had a very specific vision for her panther mask, and Gem nodded, understood what she was after, and reached for a different make-up kit to start building it, as if she’d always planned to do it that way. Black fur, embedded with jewels. We were two clients in and I was desperate for the loo, but wasn’t sure if I could leave. I walked Rosie through to wardrobe, robed up Angelica and caught Gem’s eye.
‘Is it OK if I nip to the ladies?’ I asked, wincing.
‘Of course!’ Gem laughed. ‘Can you ask one of the runners to grab us some coffees while you’re out there?’
I nodded and ran out the door, where the runners were waiting. ‘Can we get two flat whites please?’ I asked, and one of them was off before I’d even got the words out. I legged it down the corridor, no time to dawdle, checking my phone as I washed my hands.
Holly:Done – hand delivered by yours truly, your personal postwoman. He didn’t read it while I was there, obvs, so I have nothing else to report, other than he was looking FIT.
My heart leapt. She’d sent that message an hour ago, so Tony would have read my letter by now and know how I feel. Oh God, oh God, oh God…
Me:Eeeek It’s like being back at school! Excuse me while I DIE xx
My reply went straight through with a double blue tick as Operation Tony got underway. At least now he knew how I felt and it was his move. The message I’d sent him was underneath Holly’s and was also now blue ticked. Aha. It had finally gone through, and he’d read it – or someone had. Am I too late? As I stared at the screen, my message switched out for the word typing… oh no. He was sending a reply. Argh! I didn’t have time to chat now – I had to get back to Gem. So he’d got my message and read my letter – a double declaration – and he was only just getting round to replying now.
I switched my phone off and ran back down the corridor, almost rolling my ankle as I skidded round the final corner, flying headfirst into none other than Mr Smarm School himself… Blake Thomas. He was flanked either side by runners, with both his gilet, and that supercilious smirk of his, firmly in position.
‘What the…? Watch it!’ His eyes narrowed as he realised it was me. ‘Abi? What are you doing here?’ he said, incredulous, brushing himself down.
‘Hey, Blake, nice to see you too,’ I replied, trying to stay civil. ‘I’m working in the VIP lounge with Gem Adams. I’m a make-up artist, remember?’
‘Well, duh, of course I remember. It was only last month,’ he scoffed, rolling his eyes at the runners, who looked at each other awkwardly. He was so used to having an audience to join in and back him up. ‘Gem Adams, eh? Sweet gig. I didn’t think we’d be mixing in the same er… circles again, after… London.’
‘Well, surpriiiise!’ I said, with a smile. ‘I was head-hunted to be here. I actually thought you might have had something to do with it when the booking came through.’
Blake looked unsure whether to take the credit or not. It was so obvious standing opposite him now that he’d had nothing to do with it. Of course he hadn’t. He wasn’t the type to give someone else a leg-up. He was more of a leg-over kind of guy.
He smiled, cautiously. ‘Why would it be anything to do with me?’
‘Oh, I don’t know… I thought it might have been your way of apologising.’
‘Did I do something to apologise for?’ He either had very flexible morals, or a very short memory.
‘Yes. You forgot to mention you were married.’
Blake held his hands up and looked relieved. ‘Oh that. Fair enough, you got me. I should probably have told you about Cora.’
‘And your kids?’ I said, one hand on my hip.
‘Yes, yes, and the kids. Sorry about that. Does that make you feel better?’
I could see the runner was back with our coffees and waiting outside Gem’s room. I didn’t have time for this conversation – I had to get back. ‘Not really, no. There were a couple of other things I thought you might apologise for, but don’t worry about it.’
I went to walk past and he blocked my path.
‘Look, I’m sorry – OK?’ he said, keeping his voice low. ‘It was a dick move not to mention I was married, I know, but I didn’t think we’d ever see each other again.’ A thought I could easily have had myself only a few weeks ago. How much did I ever really know about all those first-date guys? The one-night-stand guys? Only as much as they told me. It worked both ways. Blake was standing far too close to me as usual. ‘Let me make it up to you?’
‘How could you possibly do that?’ I frowned, annoyed. Staring into his eyes. The same eyes I’d swooned over only a few months before.
‘What if I let you do my make-up for the wrap party? You can show off your talents, anything you like, and I’ll make sure people know how good you are. Try and repair any unintended damage.’
I really had to go. I hadn’t quite finished with Blake, though, so maybe there was something we could do to right his wrongs. I needed to think about it.
‘OK, that might work,’ I said, biting my tongue and trying to smile. Mum always said you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
‘Swing by my dressing room tomorrow around eight?’ he said, with a wink. ‘I’m sure we can work this out.’
I nodded my agreement and Blake let me pass. Creep. I took a moment to gather myself and slowly walked the last few steps to Gem’s room. There was no way Blake was a big enough deal to ever get in here. The runner handed me our coffees and I smiled in thanks, then took a deep breath and walked back in.