Mask of A Legend

by Stephen Andrew Salamon

  “Come on, Legend, Dina’s right, it’ll be great,” Stephen said.

  “Well–”

  “Come on, it’s not like you’re ugly or something, Mark would definitely have a great time with you,” Dina said. Legend stared at her with fear in her eyes, not knowing what Dina meant by that. But she knew deep inside that Dina was referring to Legend’s past.

  “Alright, I’ll go,” answered Legend. Stephen turned his eyes away from them, and stared at the curtain. He saw the stage lights coming on, and that’s when he widened his eyes.

  “Okay, I better go now, we’ll discuss everything after the show,” Stephen said, walking away from them in a fast rhythm.

  Legend and Dina stared at each other, more like staring down one another, it was a stare that had no meaning. Legend didn’t know if Dina was staring at her in an evil way, and Dina didn’t know if Legend was staring at her in a nervous manner. But, Dina’s confusion went away, and Legend’s grew, when Dina asked, “Legend, do you think Stephen’s nice?” Perhaps she was creating a wound before the salt?

  “Yeah, but that’s all I think of him.” Legend then turned her head toward the curtain, trying to avoid Dina, only because she was nervous about walking up on the catwalk.

  As she stared at it, the women on the stage started talking about Legend. She picked up the microphone with her hand, that was decorated with five diamond rings, and announced, “Now that I explained a little bit about the Justif fall line, I would like to take a moment, before the presentation begins, and tell you about a certain girl who has been recently discovered by the Drakson Talent Agency . . . .” She paused for a moment. Drama queen. “We usually do not do this, but this young woman is amazing, and I want her to feel right at home. Some of you may have heard about her, and others may have not.”

  Dina tapped Legend on the shoulder. “Hey, Legend, why isn’t she mentioning me at all? I mean, I was just discovered, too.” A hint of deep sadness was attached to Dina’s voice, a new voice that Legend never heard come out from her before.

  Legend turned to her. “I don’t know, maybe she’s going to mention your name later on.” Legend faced the curtain again.

  “Now I would like to introduce her. Everyone . . . Legend,” the woman said. The curtain opened up, sounds of hands clapping together entered Legend’s ears. Legend gracefully walked out onto the stage and the audience members sat in amazement. All Legend could see was darkness, mixed in with the flashes of light from the cameras, and that made her frightened. But, as soon as she walked to the front of the stage, there was Stephen, smiling at her, and letting her know through his smile that she is the beauty of tonight.

  As soon as Legend walked back and went behind the curtain again, the woman announced, “Now I would like to introduce the Justif fall line. Our first set of clothing. . . .”

  Later on, Legend sat in a hotel suite, with Stephen by her side, discussing a contract with an older man. She sat there in the room, this man smoking his cigar, and allowed the smoke to go in Legend’s face, by accidentally blowing it toward her.

  “So, Stephen, when will Legend be done with this ‘Justif fall line’ contract?” the older man asked, winking at Legend.

  Yuck.

  “Well, the New York show began today, and we’ve been in New York for about a week now. The show ends in about a week and a half, or less. So, roughly, I say, about two weeks,” replied Stephen as the older man pulled out a contract. “I’m not good at math. . . .”

  “Could you give me a specific date?”

  “Yeah, um, I figure about December fourteenth,” Stephen replied. The man handed the contract over to Legend. “Then, after that, Legend’s going to have a photo shoot for Greyer Modeling magazine, it’s a cover shot, on December twenty-second. So, roughly, she’ll be free on–”

  “Stephen, Neortica is going to be shooting a commercial on December twenty-fifth, Christmas Day. Instead of you explaining to me her entire schedule, could you please tell me if she’s going to be free on that specific date?”

  Legend looked over the contract. “Yeah, she’ll be free,” Stephen replied. Legend signed the contract. The older man shook Stephen’s hand and kissed Legend’s, before he got up from his seat. He walked over to the hotel room door with Stephen saying, “Well, Paul, it was nice doing business with you, and we’ll see you again on Christmas!”

  “Yeah, and take care of this beauty,” Paul said. He looked at Legend, and Legend looked at Stephen.

  Paul exited the room and Legend walked over to the hotel room window, saying, “My God, your room has a balcony, mine doesn’t!”

  “Yeah, well, I’m the special one here,” he joked.

  “Yeah, whatever, your Daddy probably paid for it.”

  Stephen let out a big laugh.

  “Oh, that was harsh, that was really harsh, Legend.”

  She opened the balcony door and walked out into the December night. Breathing in the cold air, it helped to melt some of the anxiety away from her chest, rejuvenating her spirit again.

  “So, what time are we all going on this double date?” she asked, looking up at the sky at the clear night. Her eyes widened to the sight of stars, because the clouds, in the past, covered up the sky’s beauty for a long time, that Legend almost forgot how beautiful it really was.

  “Well, in about an hour,” he replied. Stephen entered onto the balcony and walked up to Legend. They stood by each other, motionless, staring in the same direction that led up to the heavens and he tried to see what she was looking at. “So, um, you like stars?” he asked. The coldness was causing him to hum his words, but he still craved to stay next to her.

  “Yeah, I love them. . . . You see that star over there? That star is a part of a famous constellation, better known as Orion. . . . . All of the stars you see up there have a history, a meaning to them that very many people aren’t aware of. I guess that’s why I like to look and study them, because people look at their beauty, but don’t look at their history, their meaning, their inner beauty. That must sound very stupid coming from a girl like me.” She became embarrassed at letting him know her true love for the heavens.

  “No, I find it very interesting, and intriguing. I mean, I have to admit, I never would have imagined that a girl, as pretty as you are, would have any liking for stars. All the pretty girls I met were only interested in one type of ‘stars’, that’s movie stars.” He moved closer to her, without her realizing it.

  “Well, this pretty girl does like them.” She panned to his eyes quickly and shot her blue pupils at him with anger. It was like he hit a soft spot on her, causing her mind to defend her character.

  “I didn’t mean to get you upset, I was just being honest,” he said in sincerity. She looked at him with calm eyes again, and then looked back at the heavens.

  “It’s okay, I like it when a person’s honest with me. . . . Throughout my whole life, everyone I met has been honest to me, too honest, but in the wrong ways,” she explained. Stephen took off his sports coat and put it around her.

  “How do you mean?”

  Open up to him, please.

  “You know . . . such as making fun of me . . . and saying mean things about my . . . looks. But, overall, they were actually telling me the truth. Nevertheless, you were being honest with me in a good way, and I’m not used to that. So, I apologize.” She felt like she was beginning to come closer to Stephen’s heart, and that terrified her.

  “People used to make fun of your looks? Why did they do that?” He couldn’t believe her. “You’re beautiful!”

  “Well, thank you, but I wasn’t always like this, Stephen. In the past, I used to have . . . well, I used to have a single pimple by my mouth.” Legend didn’t want to reveal her true past, so her inner soul caused her to lie, only to protect her true wish, and never allow it to be revealed. Her true image was still stuck in her mind, her ugliness. She didn’t want Stephen to know about it, but she still didn’t want to lie. So, she stretched the truth.

&n
bsp; “You had a single pimple? That’s not bad at all. Let me tell you something, there was a girl, back at the model search, who had a mask of acne, and you’re complaining about a single pimple,” he explained. Legend’s eyes suddenly widened. “Now, that girl probably is made fun of on a daily basis. But, with one pimple, I’m sure that whoever made fun of you, was just jealous.”

  “Well maybe that girl, with the acne, wasn’t made fun of at all. I mean, how do you know she was made fun of?” Legend knew her own reflection was that girl.

  “Because her face was covered with it, I couldn’t even see her skin,” he laughed.

  Legend looked at him with evil eyes.

  “And you think that’s funny? I’m sure that girl was beautiful inside, but scumbags like you can’t see that.”

  A blanket of confusion went over Stephen’s mind.

  “What are you getting all defensive about? I’m sorry if I made you upset about that, but I was just being honest again,” he said with a hint of sadness. He still didn’t know any better.

  “No, guys like you are too honest. You only look at beauty from the outside, and totally deny the inner part. If you see a girl who isn’t exactly pretty, you make fun of her, like you’re doing now. You see, Stephen, that’s why I didn’t want to go out with you, because I knew the way you were,” Legend yelled. Her anger grew with each word she spoke. “And I never want to go out with you – you’re a pig.” Stephen’s eyes showed confusion toward her. She automatically stopped her yelling and looked into his undefined eyes. Legend saw she was too defending toward him, because he was laughing at a girl who really was Legend, but he didn’t know, and she knew that.

  “Listen, Legend, I’m sorry for that, alright? I mean, I didn’t know that was your soft spot, I didn’t realize you were deeply into inner beauty. . . . And also, I’m sorry if you misjudged me, because that’s exactly what you did.”

  Legend walked back into his hotel room. “Misjudged? What do you mean?” Legend wanted to drop the argument, but something allowed her to go on with it.

  “Because I do look for inner beauty also, it’s just I don’t practice it,” he replied, walking back in also and heading toward her. “I look for inner beauty, as well as outer beauty. I mean, maybe I look for outer beauty more, but I’m only human. All I was trying to say before, was you shouldn’t complain about one measly pimple you had, compared to a girl who had a mask of acne. I was trying to say that you’re lucky, Legend.” He stepped up to her face and stared at her blue eyes. It was like he was staring at a lost love, and she was staring at her soulmate.

  Dang.

  Legend was baffled once again, she didn’t know whether to put up her guard or not. She liked Stephen tremendously, but she knew he was dating Dina, and also knew he only accepted the outer beauty, which was something that Legend doesn’t have. Legend knew everyone saw beauty on her, but she didn’t, and that’s what made her mind confused even more when it came to her feelings toward him.

  Whenever Legend looks in the mirror, her reflection reminds her that she doesn’t belong in this lifestyle, that she doesn’t belong with him. She’s not invited into this world of beauty, only because her reflection wears a mask of acne, which is her real image. Nevertheless, she was able to get past that, and put on a mask of beauty, which isn’t her real image, and live a lifestyle that she always dreamt of. “I’m sorry,” she said. She looked into his eyes and tried to reveal her true pain to him. She put down her guard a little notch that consisted of toughness, and allowed her true inner beauty to shine through a bit. “I’m sorry, Stephen, I’m sorry for yelling at you.” Legend’s voice was kind, it was a voice that didn’t wear a mask, it was a voice that came from her true soul. “Sometimes, I get really confused about a lot of things. Things that you can never know about. Things that are a part of my own skeletons that I keep locked in a closet. . . . I wasn’t fair to you that I jumped off the handle about such a stupid subject as a girl with a mask of acne. It’s your own theoretical perspective on outer beauty, and I shouldn’t have barked at you for laughing about it.” A tear came down from her right eye and bounced onto her hands.

  “Why are you crying?” he asked, feeling her face and trying to wipe away tears that followed. “Listen to me, Legend, you are the most beautiful girl, I believe, that ever existed. People of this nation are going to see your beauty very soon, and say the same thing. You’re going to be in a commercial, and on the cover of a few modeling magazines this December. You have everything going for you, don’t waste it by crying.” His head moved closer to hers. “Enjoy this moment in your life, because it could be gone like that.” He snapped his fingers.

  “I will.” Her face then moved closer to his. She slowly closed her eyes and his lips came to hers. She felt alive when her lips touched his, alive because her mind wasn’t thinking about her ugly reflection. But, suddenly, as they kissed, she opened her eyes and saw her ugly reflection in a mirror that was directly in front of her. She pulled away from him. “We can’t do this!”

  Stephen opened his eyes. “Why not?”

  “Because, um, because you’re dating Dina, and, and we already decided to be friends. We are only friends, that’s what we decided on.” She was stuttering a bit, like her mouth tried to stop her thoughts from coming out, and continue kissing him. Her confused mind knew she couldn’t be with Stephen, for many reasons. But the main reason was that he only looks for outer beauty, and that was enough to make up Legend’s mind for her.

  “I want you more than Dina. Can’t you see that?” he pleaded. His mind became clouded at why she doesn’t want to get near his heart. Stephen never was in a relationship where a girl would be so hard, and so judgmental toward his heart. He wanted Legend so badly, but he knew, at that point, it would be a challenge to get in her heart. It would be a struggle, mission, and a job to find a pathway into her soul, and finally have that lead to her heart. “I want you so much, Legend.”

  She started crying even more. “No you don’t, you only want my…forget it. Listen to me, we’re only friends, and that’s that. Please, Stephen, I want us to be just friends.” A draft blew in from the opened balcony window, and dried her tears away. “Besides, I know you wouldn’t want to hurt Dina like that. You’re her dream, Stephen. You’re the only thing that she wants out of life, please don’t take that away from her.”

  “But I thought you didn’t like Dina that much. I mean, I got the impression that you hated her,” he said.

  Legend turned away from him and began walking toward the bathroom. “There’s a lot of things that you don’t know about me, like I said before. Yes, it’s true, I don’t really care for Dina that much, but she’s still a girl, like me. I know that I would be hurt if someone took away my ambition in life, and that’s why I don’t want to take away hers.” Legend then turned around and faced him.

  “You’re right, I don’t know if I could live with myself, if I hurt her. I mean, she’s nice, generous, kind, and overall, beautiful. Maybe being friends is the best thing for us,” he said. His feelings toward Legend grew and faded, grew and faded, and that caused him to say the most reasonable explanation for him only being friends with her.

  “Well, there’s a lot of things that you don’t know about her as well. Let’s just leave it at that,” she said, continuing to walk toward and into the bathroom. She turned on the light, adding with a smile, “Now, please tell me what your friend is like, so I’m not surprised tonight.”

  “Nope, I want you to be surprised. All I’m going to say is he’s nothing like me, and you’ll probably argue with him more than you did with me about two minutes ago,” Stephen laughed. “So, friend, I’ll meet you down in the lobby in a little bit. . . .”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Stephen waited in the lobby of the hotel and smoked a cigarette, pondering about what Legend told him. He looked up at the lobby’s red ceiling and came across a crystal chandelier that shined its beauty down to him. “How do they clean that thing?” he asked,
looking at the crystals reflecting off the red lights. He looked at it more closely as he tried to put an analogy together, but it was an analogy that his mind couldn’t handle, due to so much confusion. His analogy consisted of Legend, being the chandelier, and him not being able to reach it. He then looked over at a painting that hung high on the wall, and tried to put an analogy together that was similar to the chandelier one again. Every object that he looked at caused his mind to create some sort of analogy, an analogy that would help his enigma go away toward his feelings for Legend. But, suddenly he saw Mark in his view, and forgot about the mission for the correct analogy, or explanation, and concentrated on putting out his cigarette in an ashtray that was right in front of him. He walked over to his friend, gave him a hug and said with laughter, “You asshole, I didn’t think you were going to make it.”

  “Of course I’m gonna make it, I want to get laid tonight,” Mark laughed, pushing his long, blond hair behind his ears. “I want to get laid, majorly, Stephen.” Stephen’s smile turned to a small grin. “So, who is this chick anyway?”

  “Oh, um, well, her name is Legend.” They sat down on a red couch.

  “Is she like the other girls you set me up with in the past? You know, easy, easy, easy?”

  “Well, as a matter of fact–”

  “Dude, is she hot?” Mark asked. He began to reach in the pocket of his sports jacket, and pulled out a box of cigarettes.

  Stephen knew the way Mark was like. He knew Mark only wanted one thing out of a girl. But, to Stephen, this was the greatest moment of his life, only because he knew Legend wouldn’t like his best friend Mark for that. Stephen realized that he would have another chance with Legend, if Mark shows his true colors toward her, and allows his selfish side to be shown. “Well, you just have to see for yourself,” replied Stephen. Dina and Legend walked down the long staircase that led to the lobby. “You just–”

  “Dude, is that her?” Mark caught sight of Dina and Legend as they walked down the staircase.