Mask of A Legend

by Stephen Andrew Salamon

  “Alright, Mr. Drakson, when do we leave?” asked Legend. She handed William the contract and still stared at Stephen.

  “Please, call me William, and we leave in about an hour.” Legend turned to face him with shocked eyes.

  “An hour? But I have no time to go home and pack my belongings. Also, that means I have to drop out of school. My God, I never thought of that,” said Legend. Her nerves, though frozen from the cold room, came to life again, and she looked at her mother for comfort.

  “What belongings do you have, you poor, white bitch?” Dina mumbled.

  “What did you say to me?”

  “Oh, nothing, all I asked was ‘why would you give up one hundred thousand dollars for school? I mean, I admit, you really shouldn’t drop out.” Dina then looked at Stephen’s eyes and they pointed toward Legend. The jealousy set in again. “Well, you know what, I wouldn’t drop out if I were you. I mean, education is highly important, especially in the 90s. With me, I get bad grades as it is, so I really have nothing to lose. But, with you, Legend, you’re a straight ‘A’ student, and you do have something to lose.”

  Legend grabbed the contract away from William, asking, “Mom, what should I do?”

  “Follow your dreams, Legend, you could always go to school again. You’re a very intelligent girl, you’ll make the right choice.”

  Legend looked at Jenny.

  “Jenny, how about it, what should I do?”

  “Well, it’s your choice.”

  “I know, how about I just try it out for these three weeks? After that, I’ll come back home and continue school. I mean, all I wanted was to prove that I could be equal with the beautiful girls,” Legend uttered to Jenny. “Should I do it?”

  Jenny didn’t know how to answer, so she pondered over it a bit. “Well, Legend, I would do it.”

  Dina gave out a very small laugh. “Yeah, I bet you would if you got the chance, fat ass,” Dina said under her breath.

  Legend turned to her. “You know what, Dina has helped me make up my mind. I guess I’m going to London tonight.” Legend handed the contract back to William. “I think I made the right choice. How about you, Dina, do you think I made the right choice?”

  Dina’s anger grew inside of her after Legend’s words.

  “Um, yeah, Legend, yeah I do,” replied Dina. She stared at Stephen, but his eyes viewed only Legend’s beauty once again. “This is going to be quite an experience. . . .”

  Yes, quite.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Legend boarded the private jet before she hugged her mother and Jenny. She said her goodbyes, and headed over to the stairway of the plane where her adventure shall begin, an experience that she wanted for a long time, consisting of her beauty versus the world. This experience, that she began, would begin when she first stepped foot on the plane. She knew it.

  She climbed up the stairs, but with a shaky rhythm, and her teeth gleamed out its brightness through her smile. The wind blew vastly through her blonde hair, strands that were beautiful now. Her mother and Jenny watched Legend turn around to see her last glimpse of them. It was the last to Legend’s mind, because she desired this to last forever. A fairy tale. She wanted to go on the plane, and have it take her to a fantasy that every girl dreams of, a make-believe of riches, fame, and luxury. A dream that would cause her to leave her past behind, and travel to a future of fortune.

  She turned back around to face the plane, her feet lifting off the last stair and levitating over the front part of the doorway to the jet. She then placed her foot down on the jet’s blue carpet, and pulled her body inwards toward the cabin, filled with luxurious, blue and gold seats. A cabin that was filled with champagne, seeming like a mansion through Legend’s blue eyes. She sat down in her seat and watched Dina and Stephen sit down opposite her.

  Dina grabbed his hand, gave him a small kiss on the lips, and Legend still stared at them. The small kiss led to a bigger one once the plane lifted off the ground and Stephen looked at Legend for a moment; he had to catch his breath from Dina’s mouth. But, when he looked at Legend, Dina knew she had to cause him to look at her instead. So, she went on kissing him. Stephen lost sight of Legend’s beauty once again, but through their kissing, Stephen would still stare at Legend from time to time and imagine that he was kissing her instead.

  Legend would turn away and roll her eyes every time she saw him staring at her: she knew he only wanted one thing, but that thing was something that Legend felt confused about. She never had a guy stare at her, and at the same time, show their eyes while she’s staring at them. All the guys in the past always wanted to turn away from Legend, due to her looks, her ugly mask. So for that, Legend never saw another guy’s eyes before, but now she had. She sees a flirtatious glare when he stares at her, but a glare that shows a sort of innocence to his black eyes. A glare that shows a man falling in love, but Legend didn’t philosophize that hard, after all, this was the first time she had ever stared into a man’s eyes.

  Through the first hour of the flight, William was explaining the modeling business to Dina and Legend, but Dina concentrated on Stephen’s lips. William would discuss the business, and Legend would be the only one listening. She felt uncomfortable toward Stephen and Dina, because they kissed, and at the same time, Stephen still stared at Legend. Creepy or lust? She was unsure.

  The second hour through the flight, Dina and William fell fast asleep, though Stephen and Legend stayed awake. They stared out their windows, too afraid to stare at each other. Stephen’s lips were pulsating and had a bit of Dina’s lipstick on them, and for that he tried putting some moisturizer on them. Legend gave a small grin, she thought it was funny, when suddenly air current swept under the plane, causing it to shake. Stephen grabbed onto his seat, while dropping the moisturizer on the ground, and began to show fear in his eyes. Legend saw the fear in his eyes and asked, “So, a stud like you is afraid of flying?” She felt that she had to be tough toward him, brief, to the point. She knew he was a pig, she knew he only wanted one thing out of girls. But, then again, she never was in this position before, the position where she had a man who showed a liking for her. This was a whole new experience for Legend, an experience that she didn’t realize. She was just going with the flow. Legend noticed that Stephen didn’t give any reply to her question. “You’re afraid of flying?”

  “Well, just when the plane shakes like that. So, Legend, how about–”

  “Alright, stop right there. First of all, I’m not going to do anything with you, and secondly, I’m not going to do anything with you!” Legend didn’t want to let down her guard, even though she was devastatingly attracted to Stephen. Every time she sees him, she remembers how he treated her when she had an ugly image.

  “You have quite a sense of humor to you. I never knew a beautiful girl could have a sense of humor,” Stephen stated. Legend turned away from him. She still didn’t want to let down her guard, she thought he was a creep, but still she liked his smile. Damn.

  “Well, this girl does,” she said.

  “Well, before you interrupted me so rudely, I was going to ask you ‘if you wouldn’t mind having some champagne with me?’”

  “I don’t drink!”

  “Come on, this is a special occasion, you’re a hundred thousand dollars richer, and there’s plenty more where that came from,” said Stephen. He opened up a bottle of champagne, poured two glasses and handed a glass to Legend.

  “I said I didn’t want any.” But she gave out a small, small grin. The more she was resisting, the more her guard was weakening in this new experience.

  “Come on, just one drink!”

  “Fine, but the only reason why I’m taking it is because I know you’ll nag me about it all through the flight.” She grabbed the champagne from him.

  “Why are you so mean?”

  Legend took a sip of the champagne. “I’m not mean at all, I just don’t want you getting the wrong idea with me. I’m not like Dina, thank God, and furthermore, you and D
ina are a couple now,” Legend replied.

  Dina moved her sleeping head to the right side of her pillow.

  “Me and Dina are not a couple, we aren’t going out,” Stephen replied.

  Legend gave out a smile.

  “Oh, excuse stupid me, I thought that when I saw Dina checking every single tooth, that you have, with her tongue, something in my mind told me that you two were together. I’m truly sorry.”

  Stephen laughed and said, “Listen, Legend, I just met Dina today. I admit, we are kind of kicking it together very heavily, but that’s all we’re doing. Don’t get the assumption that I belong to her, cause I don’t belong to anyone.”

  “Well, I don’t really care, I’m sorry, but I don’t. . . . Everything is moving way too fast, and when it does, I create this toughness to me, so I’m sorry if we’re starting off on the wrong foot. I mean, I consider myself a highly intellectual young woman. But when a contract, for a lot of money, is given to you, and then you’re placed in a luxurious jet that is leading to a luxurious city, it kind of makes a young woman tough and confused at the same time,” Legend said. Stephen smiled at her; endearing.

  “You said that you don’t really care about me and Dina supposedly going out. So, that means that you do care a little bit, because you said it like that.”

  “No, it is a term people use.”

  “So, does that mean you care or not?”

  “Listen, Stephen, I really don’t care for the mind games you’re playing with me about that word ‘care’. Meaning, that I do mind for the way you are playing with my brain. And what are you smiling at?”

  “No, I’m sorry, it’s just you are so beautiful, it makes me want to smile.”

  “That is the first, I mean, the worst pick-up line I have ever heard of,” Legend said. She looked at him with a serious face and hoped he didn’t catch on to her mistake in words. This was the first time any man has ever used a pick-up line on her, and that initiated a smile in her mind. But, her smile vanished when Stephen caught on to her mistake.

  “Wait a second, you said ‘first’ pick-up line. Are you trying to tell me that no guy as ever attempted to pick you up?”

  “If you mean ‘ask me out’, yes, I have had plenty of experiences.” Legend then stared at her window and saw her ugly reflection in it. She stared at her acne-filled face and became startled. It was as if her mask of beauty was causing her to lie more, lie about everything to a guy she first met. She didn’t want to be known as a liar to herself, she felt that the mask of beauty was enough to be called a lie. So, she turned away from her ugly reflection and turned to Stephen once again. She didn’t want the mask of beauty to change her into a liar, so she said, “I mean, yes, that is my first pick-up line, but don’t let it go to your head.” She still didn’t let down her guard, the invisible wall of sarcasm, toughness, and overall, the guard that just wasn’t her character.

  “That’s amazing how no one has ever asked you out on a date before.” He lit up a cigarette.

  “Excuse me, but it is not amazing, I just haven’t been interested in guys. Also, please extinguish that cigarette, it is against the law to smoke in a closed compartment such as an airplane.”

  “Well, this airplane belongs to me and my father. So, it’s not against the law!”

  “Oh, I forgot, you’re the one who practically runs this modeling agency. Well, if you don’t put that cancer stick out right now, then I will rip up the contract and go back home, while forgetting about your agency,” said Legend in a forceful manner.

  “I do not run this business, I just help him out,” Stephen said. He drowned his cigarette in his glass of champagne.

  “Well, please, enlighten me, explain what it is you do?”

  Suddenly, Dina started to open her eyes.

  “I mainly help my father, by picking out girls who I know have what it takes for this business!”

  “So, that’s your father’s secret to success, having a horny, studly young man, like yourself, to choose the girls after you kiss them. I see now, so if your organ points to the girls, that means they’ll be supermodels. Boy, I wonder what will happen if those girls would actually use your organ, I bet they would have happy riches and fortune.”

  Dina listened to them talk, but pretended she was sleeping.

  “If you are referring to my penis, then you are wrong. First off, I do not choose any girl who I kiss, I didn’t kiss you . . . yet. And secondly,” Stephen explained when Legend jumped in.

  “What do you mean, yet? Listen to me, from here on out, we are only going to be friends. I want to be extremely professional in this business. I mean, I didn’t even realize I was going to be in this business. Furthermore, I didn’t realize I would be in this business with an ass like yourself.” Stephen began smiling again. “What are you smiling at again?”

  “No, it’s just you remind me of someone. I think it was some girl with acne on her face. Yeah, that’s it, she acted the exact same way as you,” Stephen replied. He was so happy that he remembered. “Her last name began with a C.”

  Legend became scared, but at the same time, angry. She was angry that he remembered that girl for her acne, not for any other part of her body. Shallow. Most people remember a person by the way they act, but he remembered that girl for the way she looked. The resentment built in Legend’s mind, realizing that girl with the last name of ‘C’ was here. That’s when the fear set in, the anxiety that she will be ‘found out’, the fear that her mask of beauty will be known. “Well, whoever this unattractive girl was, I’m sure she was beautiful inside.” She turned to the window and saw that girl in her reflection. “And also, you shouldn’t judge girls by their appearance!” She saw Stephen ready to speak, so she said, “Listen, I’m getting kind of tired right now, I’m just going to go to bed. Wake me up when we get there!”

  “Alright, goodnight, and sweet dreams,” he whispered. Legend turned off the lights over her head and reclined her seat. Before Stephen turned off his lights, he stared at Legend and said in a low tone, “Goodnight, Sleeping Beauty.” Dina opened her eyes wide when she heard that, and saw Stephen turning off the lights.

  Dina closed her eyes and kept the jealousy inside still, while saying in a whisper, “That bitch. . . .”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Legend woke to the sight of white, flowered walls and a breakfast cart that filled the hotel room with the scent of pancakes and croissants. She left the luxurious queen-size bed with a strange feeling. “How did I get here?” she asked, walking across the red, velvet rug and proceeding to linger toward a big fireplace. She looked around her room and watched its beautiful shape take control of her mind. Oil paintings at every end of her room and a single crystal chandelier that hung directly in the center of it, the sight was breathtaking. She stepped over to the window, which was on the right side of her, and noticed stunning, soft snowflakes falling and the Eiffel Tower forced its way beyond the flakes into her view. “How did I get here?”

  Stephen barged in her room.

  “Good morning, sleepyhead, how did you sleep?” he asked, lighting up a cigarette.

  “How did I get here?”

  “Oh, well when the plane landed this morning, you didn’t want to wake up. So, I took the liberty of carrying you to the limo, and ending up here.” Legend then looked down at her clothes.

  “Wait a second, who changed me?” Legend asked. She noticed a beautiful, silken nightgown on her body.

  “Oh, Dina did. Don’t worry, I didn’t change you. Dina volunteered for the task. . . . Now, you better eat breakfast fast, because we have to be at this modeling gig in about one hour.” Stephen began eating a little piece of a croissant and added, “Dina and my father are already waiting for us in the lobby, so you better get a move on!”

  “Is this going to be my room for the full four days?” Legend looked out the window again at London’s beauty.

  “Yeah, of course it is, this whole penthouse is yours.” He left her room and she still kept look
ing out the window, smiling. She was full of enjoyment, a sense of awe and wonder, like a child on Christmas morning, a present that they know is theirs. She was on the first part of her adventure into beauty and people loved it. Amazing. She was so excited about doing her first modeling gig that she began to smile more. Alone and happy. But her smile faded when she noticed her reflection in the window. Doom. She turned away from it, and caused herself to come back to reality. Suddenly, fear crossed her mind, a terror that she would screw up this modeling gig by not walking down the catwalk correctly. The anxiety was just leading to one negative thing after another. Her own reflection triggered her to see the negative points of this modeling gig. But, she noticed that when she forgot about her ugliness, she only saw the good points of this modeling show; such as people smiling at her beauty, and the expensive clothes she’s going to model off. This confusion possessed her to walk out of her room and enter another room where Stephen was at. This room, she entered, resembled a small library. Smelled like one, too.

  “Stephen, I was wondering if you can help me practice my walking.” Legend was embarrassed of admitting she didn’t know how to walk.

  “You don’t know how to walk?”

  “No, smart aleck, I mean walking on the stage.” Stephen extinguished his cigarette in an ashtray that was placed on a wooden desk.

  “How about this? After today, I’ll help you out. I’m really busy today, I have four modeling gigs to go to, including this one, and I’m supposed to go to dinner with Dina,” Stephen said. He exited the room and paced toward the hotel room door.

  “But, Stephen–” Legend suddenly looked down and didn’t finish her sentence.

  Stephen stopped in his tracks. He felt bad for leaving Legend behind, so he turned around and saw her standing by the doorway of the library, her beauty allowed him to smile. “Listen, you’ll do fine up there, I promise you that. Don’t worry, I’ll be there every step of the way with you. So if you have any problems, I’ll help you with them,” Stephen said. He exited the room, but walked back in and added, “Oh, by the way, be down in the foyer in about, um, let’s say forty-five minutes. There’s some clothing for you to wear, I put it in the bathroom. See you then!”