Chapter 8 #2
“Well, I find it really interesting how Indie used makeup to help you hide in plain sight. What if, instead of creating a portfolio based around a specific theme, she demonstrates her proficiency by transforming the four of you into someone no one will recognize?” Felicity turned her attention to me.
“Then you can go somewhere public and photograph the guys interacting with other people to prove you were able to use your skills to disguise some of the most famous faces in the world.”
“It’s not half-bad,” I said, rubbing my chin as I turned the concept over in my head. I was willing to bet that no one else applying to ACM would submit something like what Felicity was proposing.
The only problem was the actual models themselves.
What if the Heartbreakers weren’t interested in helping me?
Xander and I hardly knew each other, and I’d only just met Oliver and JJ.
On top of that, they were leaving for tour at the end of the month.
Why would any of them want to spend their remaining free time helping some random girl they didn’t know?
I turned to Xander hesitantly. “What do you think?” I asked, crossing my fingers underneath the table.
He offered me another one of his endearing grins. “Sounds like a blast. I’m in, and it shouldn’t be hard to convince the rest of the guys to help. Only problem is we’d have to get this done before we leave for tour. Will that be enough time for you?”
My heart leapt. “I’ll make it work.” After all, ACM was just my backup plan. I couldn’t spend all of November making prosthetics. I needed time to practice for my audition.
“What about by next weekend?” he asked as I finished off the last of my nachos. “Would that be possible?”
“Depends on how detailed my concepts are,” I replied, brushing salt off my hands. “Why?”
“Soul Harvest starts next weekend,” he said. “One of Stella’s favorite bands is performing, so she’s flying in to visit Oliver, and he’s taking her to the concert. I planned on third wheeling, but what if we all tagged along?”
I perked up in my seat. “Hey, that might actually work.”
Soul Harvest was an LA music festival that took place during the two weeks preceding Halloween.
Most attendees dressed up to celebrate the holiday, and while not as popular as Coachella, Soul Harvest pulled in enough big-name headliners to generate crowds.
Not only would it be the perfect place to stage a photo shoot—no one would bat an eye at four guys in costume—but the thought of a famous band gallivanting around a music festival unbeknownst to the other patrons made me grin.
“Wait,” I said, enthusiasm fading as another thought occurred to me. “Will we even be able to get in next weekend? Tickets sell out fast.”
“Normally, no, but you don’t have Courtney in your back pocket,” Xander said as he unlocked his phone. “That woman can make anything happen. She’s a freaking genie.”
“Who?”
“Our manager, remember? Trust me, she’ll have no problem getting us tickets.”
And he was right. Courtney responded to Xander’s text in seconds, asking how many tickets he wanted. We needed four in total: two for the other half of the band, one for me, and one for Felicity. Five minutes later, Xander’s phone buzzed again.
“We’re in,” he announced.
Well, shit. Courtney must really be a genie.
“Perfect,” Felicity said, rubbing her hands together as she turned to me. “Now you just need to come up with four makeup designs, right?”
“Yeah.” But that was easier said than done.
The next half hour was spent debating potential looks for each of the boys. Felicity’s idea for my portfolio was brilliant, but I still wanted my work to be cohesive. We took turns throwing out different concepts until Xander suggested one that made me pause.
“What if you paid homage to Halloween by turning us into classic monsters? It wouldn’t be hard. There are a ton to choose from. Vampires, werewolves, mummies, zombies, Frankenstein, the devil—”
“Actually,” Felicity interrupted, “Frankenstein was the scientist who created the monster, not the monster itself.”
He shot her a look. “You know what I mean. The creepy green dude with the flat head and weird bolts sticking out of his neck.”
“British lit isn’t my thing,” she responded, brushing red curls over her shoulder, “but how have you not read Frankenstein?”
“How do you know I haven’t?” he shot back.
“Oh, please,” she said with an exaggerated eye roll. “That wasn’t an accurate description of the monster at all.”
“Fine, you caught me, I used SparkNotes for that one, but the point isn’t to be accurate,” Xander said, which made me laugh, because I too had skimmed an online study guide instead of reading the book.
“The point is for Indie to portray the monster in a way that nonliterary folk such as myself will recognize.”
“Fair enough, but don’t expect any surprises for your birthday,” she said, peering inside the bag of Lay’s Xander had given her before shaking it up, presumably in search of the best chip. “You’ll be receiving a copy of Mary Shelley’s classic and nothing else.”
Xander opened his mouth but was cut off when the doors to the laser tag arena swung open and rattled against the wall. Oliver and JJ sauntered out preening and singing their own praises for winning a second round in a row.
“Always so extra,” Xander muttered under his breath. Then, with a gentle nudge to my side, he said, “What do you think?”
Of Oliver and JJ’s performance? My confusion lasted a full second before I realized he was talking about his suggestion for my portfolio, not his friends. “Halloween is my favorite holiday,” I told him, “so believe me when I say I love the idea.”
“But?”
“Do you know who Jack Pierce is?”
He shook his head. “Not a clue.”
“He was a makeup artist who worked for Universal Studios during its classic horror period. People call him the monster maker because he designed some of the most iconic monster makeup looks in film history. Think Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolf Man,” I explained.
“There’s a reason why the image of a hulking guy with a square head and electrodes on either side of his neck comes to mind when people think of Frankenstein’s monster—that’s how Jack Pierce reimagined him. That was his design.”
“So you don’t want to do classic monsters because you feel like you’d be copying this Jack Pierce guy?” Xander asked.
“Copying isn’t the right word. People have been doing monster makeup for years. It’s more like I don’t want to tackle something that’s such a quintessential part of cinema makeup history. Besides, I’ve done vampires and werewolves and other scary stuff before. Where’s the fun in that?”
Xander nodded as if my rambling made sense, which I wasn’t sure it did, but I appreciated the gesture. “All right,” he said. “Guess that means we have to go back to the drawing board, huh?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry.” I shifted in my seat, and the movement pitched my purse from my lap.
“Don’t be,” he said. “This is what brainstorming is all about.”
Stretching an arm under the table, I fished around for my bag.
When I found it, I pulled it up and ran my finger over the Jack Skellington key chain clipped to the zipper.
As a kid, The Nightmare Before Christmas was my favorite movie, but I didn’t get to watch it often because it scared the living daylights out of Violet.
She preferred tamer Disney classics like Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King.
After a moment of reminiscing, a new idea unfolded in my mind, and I straightened in my seat.
“What is it?” Xander asked, eyes narrowed in question.
A grin stretched across my face. “I’ve thought of something brilliant.”
“Why do I have a feeling I’m not going to like what you say next?”
Ignoring his comment, I said to Felicity, “How hilarious would it be if I turned each of the guys into a Disney character?”
“Oh my God, yes! I love it,” she replied, her entire face lighting up.
We both turned to Xander with hopeful expressions.
“There’s only one way I’ll agree to this plan.” He crossed his arms as if whatever he said next would be nonnegotiable, but it was obvious from the gleam in his eyes that he was joking. “I want to be Captain Jack Sparrow.”
“Jack Sparrow?” Xander’s condition was so far out of left field that it took my brain a moment to process what he said.
And as I turned the concept over in my head, it occurred to me that Jack would be an easy character to recreate.
I wouldn’t even need to make a prosthetic.
“I can do that. Shouldn’t be difficult at all.
Also, I was thinking Oliver would make a good Beast?
” His hair was long enough that I wouldn’t need to buy a wig.
Felicity nodded in agreement.
“So we have Beast from Beauty and the Beast and Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. Any other suggestions?” I asked. Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty crossed my mind. I’d had a crush on him as a little girl, but a clean-shaven human prince didn’t make for a very good disguise.
“What about Hades from Hercules?” Felicity suggested. “He’d be good for Alec.”
I tapped my chin in consideration. “Yeah, actually, that would work well.”
Figuring out the first three character looks was easy enough, but coming up with a fourth and final concept for JJ proved to be more difficult. Xander pulled out his phone and googled Disney characters, but the result didn’t help.
“There’s always Simba,” he said, but the suggestion was half-hearted.
Finally, it hit me. “JJ can take a joke, right?”
Felicity scoffed. “He better. That boy deals out jokes like presents at Christmas.”
Excitement bubbled up inside my chest. “Good, because I have the perfect idea.”