Mask of A Legend

by Stephen Andrew Salamon

  “Which one are you referring to?” Stephen asked. They both got up from the couch and walked slowly over to the girls. Dina and Legend stood at the last step and waited for them.

  “Is that Mark?” Legend asked with a smile. To her, she saw the most beautiful being staring at her. She saw long, blond hair and blue, deep eyes as she stared at Mark. An instant crush.

  “Is that chick Legend?” Mark asked. He stared at the most beautiful being ever, while Stephen saw the same as he looked at Legend’s beauty.

  “That’s Mark,” replied Dina. She and Legend stepped off the last step and slowly started to walk up to them.

  “Legend’s the one in the white,” replied Stephen. They, too, began to slowly walk up to the girls. “Now, Mark, please don’t act the way you normally do.” Stephen knew Mark would act like a jerk in front of Legend anyway, and that’s what he wanted him to do.

  “Why hello, Miss Legend,” Mark said. He grabbed Legend’s fragile hand and kissed it ever so gently. Stephen looked at Mark with confusion in his eyes, he didn’t know why he was acting like a gentleman. “You are more beautiful than Stephen told me.” Stephen finally figured out the reason for Mark’s sudden change in character. It was a mask, a mask that Mark wore to Legend. It was mask that Stephen never saw him wear before, a mask of a complete stranger, a mask of a gentleman.

  “Oh, I was referring to Dina, and Legend,” Stephen said, noticing Dina looking at him in a strange way. “I said that Dina was beautiful, and that Legend also was the same.” He then walked up to Dina and gave her a kiss on the face. Stephen saw the jealousy in Dina’s eyes, rage that was caused by what Mark said, the same that he felt when Mark kissed Legend on the hand. “You are my little angel,” he said to Dina’s eyes while Mark and Legend still concentrated on each other’s lips. Stephen knew his place, he knew, for the time being, that Dina was his girlfriend. His realization caused him pain, he didn’t want to be in that place anymore, he wanted Legend to take it instead.

  “Are you ready to go out on the town, beauty?” Mark asked Legend. She gave out a little laugh. Legend saw a gentleman when she stared at Mark’s face, hair and blue eyes. She was full of lust, smitten by Mark’s mask.

  “Yes, yes, I am,” replied Legend in a flirtatious voice, wrapping her arm around Mark’s forearm and walking away from the stairs. Dina wrapped her arm around Stephen’s, and they all began to walk through this massive lobby with a feeling of royalty, pride and glamour as people stared at them with smiles. They walked outside into the New York winter, wind blowing against Dina’s black dress and Legend’s white evening gown. The wind flowed through Legend’s long, blonde hair and Stephen caught this beautiful sight, staring very heavily at it. It was like his eyes would starve if they didn’t look at Legend for more than five minutes.

  While Stephen stared at Legend, Mark handed a piece of paper to the valet and said, “Here, sir, it’s a red Cadillac.” The valet grabbed the piece of paper, Mark pulled out a fifty-dollar bill and handed it to him. “Here’s a little something for Christmas.” Stephen saw the fifty-dollar bill being taken by the valet, and suddenly became confused even more. He knew Mark was greedy, and that he would never attempt to give away money so freely. But then, Stephen turned to Legend again, and saw the way she was smiling toward Mark. That’s when he knew that Mark’s mask was working on her.

  “That was so kind,” Legend said. Mark grinned toward her while the valet ran off to retrieve the Cadillac.

  “Oh, it was nothing,” replied Mark.

  Stephen let out a big laugh. Everyone turned around to face Stephen, and that’s when Legend said, “What was that for?”

  “I was just thinking of something funny,” Stephen replied.

  The valet pulled up in Mark’s Cadillac.

  Then Legend turned toward the Cadillac, and watched its beauty shine as a street light reflected off the red paint. “You have a nice car,” said Legend toward Mark. The valet exited the car and ran over to him with his keys.

  “Well, this isn’t mine, my real car’s in California.” Mark grabbed onto her hand and guided her toward the passenger’s door. He opened it and Legend entered this massive automobile, but she still stared at Mark’s blue eyes. It was as if she was in some sort of a trance when she stared at them, a trance that Stephen has every time he stares at hers.

  Stephen opened up the back door, and allowed Dina to enter, while he and Mark still waited outside of the car, like gentlemen. Once the girls were in, Dina automatically nudged Legend on the right shoulder and asked, “So, do you like him?”

  Legend turned to see where Mark was, and discovered he was trying to open up the driver’s side door. She then looked to see where Stephen was, and discovered he was just about to enter on the other side of the car. That’s when Legend replied in a fast way, “Well, yes, yes, I think so, well, I think I like him a lot. I mean, he’s such a gentleman.”

  Mark then opened up the driver’s side door when suddenly his eyes caught sight of the valet. “Um, I’ll be right back, I forgot to thank the valet for bringing me the car,” Mark said as Stephen entered the car also, and looked at Mark with a grin. It was a grin that meant ‘Mark was good at wearing a mask, a mask that didn’t allow his true colors to shine toward Legend’.

  Mark ran over to the valet, and looked at him with sinister eyes. “Can I help you, sir?” the valet asked, rubbing his short, black hair and looking at Mark with a smile.

  “Yeah, I want to know if you could break a hundred? Better yet, just give me the fifty that I gave you, and I’ll give you this.” Stephen held up a hundred-dollar bill toward the valet. The valet reached into his pocket, pulled out the fifty, and handed it over to Mark. “Thanks,” Mark said. He grabbed onto the fifty, but still held onto the hundred.

  “Wait a second,” the valet said, noticing Mark still held onto the hundred.

  “See ya later,” said Mark. He ran over to the car, opened the door, and turned on the engine. The valet ran to the car in a speedy rhythm, while Legend and Dina looked at him with confusion. But Stephen didn’t look in confusion, for he knew what Mark’s greedy mind did. He drove off in a fast motion and the valet started to run after the mansion on wheels.

  “What happened? Why is he running after us?” Legend asked. She looked in the rear-view mirror, and saw the valet become smaller the further they drove.

  “Oh, um, because, um, he began to talk dirty about you, and I became angered with it. So, I called him a few mean names, and I guess that’s why he’s running after us,” replied Mark. Stephen let out a silent laugh. “You know those valet workers, they always have to talk about something, even a beautiful woman like yourself,” he added. Legend started smiling at him, and Stephen did the same.

  Legend’s smile was due to Mark being everything she wanted out of a man. Mark was perfect for her, and that caused her teeth to gleam and her face to lift while her smile began. But the definition of Stephen’s smile wasn’t that simple. He smiled, only because Mark wore that mask so perfectly that Stephen wanted it instead. He smiled because Mark was so good at seducing women, but this was the first time that he saw him wear the mask so heavily, so perfectly, that it was like he was another person.

  As they drove, Stephen turned off his smile and watched Legend in a serious gaze. He watched as Legend’s eyes only stared at Mark’s face, and Mark’s stared at the road. Stephen was jealous of Mark’s mask, he became jealous of his best friend for the first time. But Dina also became jealous once again, staring at Stephen’s eyes looking at Legend’s face only. Dina became jealous once more at Legend’s mask, a mask that she didn’t know Legend wore. An unknown masquerade.

  The jealousy was still in Dina and Stephen’s minds when they came to a building that was decorated with lights, and held a red carpet that stretched all the way toward the street curb. Mark exited the car, handed a valet his keys, and went directly over to Legend’s door. He opened it and grabbed onto her hand, while Stephen exited his door and grabbed onto D
ina’s. They all walked on this carpet toward the building that read, ‘Frederick’s Palace’ in big letters. “What is this place?” Legend asked.

  “Oh, it’s a restaurant that serves the best gourmet meals on this side of Manhattan,” answered Mark. They all entered this building and as soon as they walked in, every person turned to look at Legend, as if she was a candle that lit the souls of humans’ lives, and caused a smile to appear on their faces. They all smiled at her, and Mark felt proud to hold onto her hand. Mark realized he had something special when he held onto Legend, but his definition of ‘special’ is that everyone was envious toward him. Mark began to love it, he loved the fact that everyone stared at his so-called ‘date’, loving the attention.

  With Stephen, every time he stares at Legend, he knows she is something special. Stephen’s definition of ‘special’, is Legend’s beauty, her eyes and her hair, while Mark’s definition is the attention he gets from her beauty.

  Dina knew Legend was special, but the meaning she held in her mind was something that ate her alive. She knew about Legend’s inner beauty, she knew Legend was a kind, gentle, but strong being. But now, Dina sees Legend’s outer beauty, and that causes her jealousy to rise every time she stares at it. Jealousy is the definition of ‘special’ every time Dina stares at Legend. Envy and attention are the definition of special every time Mark stares at Legend. And lastly, love is the definition of special every time Stephen stares into the eyes of Legend, the eyes that reflect beauty, the eyes that Stephen wants to only look at him.

  They sat down at a table, while people still stared at her, and had their own meaning of special when they caught her beauty in their sight. Legend, Dina, Mark and Stephen all talked for an hour, they talked about everything. But the topic of beauty came up, and that’s when Mark knew he had to put on his mask even more. “So, Mark, tell me your version of beauty. What do you look for when you see a girl? I mean, so far I know that you’re a supermodel like Stephen, so you must get a lot of girls coming up to you for a date. So, what do you look for when you see these girls?” Legend asked. Dina and her took a drink of champagne from their crystal glass, simultaneously.

  Mark looked at Stephen, and winked his eye unnoticeably. He then stared at Legend very heavily, and replied, “Well, before I became well-known in the modeling field, I used to look for average girls. You know, girls who treat you as they would want to be treated? But then, once I became famous in modeling, I got more serious with girls. Meaning, I looked deeper into their, I guess you can say, character.” Stephen then laughed unnoticeably, he knew Mark was selling lies to them. “I look for inner emotions . . . inner character, inner beauty. When I look at a girl, I could tell what their emotions are, and usually they’re the wrong emotions.” All Stephen could do was shake his head and smile.

  “What do you mean?” Dina said. Stephen picked up his glass of champagne and started drinking it heavily.

  “Well, usually all the girls I dated in the past either were bitches, or else plain out gold-diggers. I guess that’s why I’m still a virgin,” Mark replied. Stephen widened his eyes and coughed up the champagne he was drinking.

  “You’re a virgin?” Legend asked. She was falling in love with him right there. But she was falling in love with a mental mask that Mark wore.

  “Well, um . . . yeah, I mean, I don’t like to spread it around, but it’s true. I want a girl who I could fall in love with, and then allow myself to give her love, by having sex, and that’s the way I could show her my feelings.” Dina and Legend looked at him with a straight, caring face, while Stephen just looked at him with a huge, sinister smile. “Great, now I’m embarrassed.”

  Legend grabbed his hand. “Don’t be.”

  “Yeah, don’t be,” said Dina as if she was also falling for Mark’s mask.

  “Yeah, yeah, don’t be,” said Stephen. “Boy, you’re really spreading it on thick,” he added in a silent way.

  “It’s Stephen’s turn now. What do you look for when you see a girl?” Dina asked. Legend began smiling.

  “He looks for big breasts, and clear skin,” Legend said. Stephen’s jealousy caused his face to create a sinister form to it.

  “No, Legend, that’s not what I look for,” defended Stephen. He looked at Legend with anger in his eyes.

  “Yes it is!”

  “No, it’s not!”

  “Okay, then tell us what you look for,” Legend said. Dina looked at her and then stared at Stephen with suspicious eyes. Dina knew the conversation was beginning to only be between him and Legend.

  “Yeah, I want to hear your views also,” Mark said with a crooked smile, wrapping his arm around Legend.

  Stephen looked at Legend, and at the same time, knew his views on what he wants out of a girl. His definition was Legend, that’s what he wanted. But then he turned to Dina, and saw her eyes as they stared heavily at his. That’s when he knew he couldn’t say his real views on beauty. So, he decided to cut corners, and say his views, without them knowing he was talking about Legend. “Well . . . when I look at a girl, I admit, I do look for beauty. . . . I mean, that’s my major job in the first place, I look for beauty and sell it. . . . But, um, well, I look for the inner part also. I mean, I look to see if the girl’s intelligent, funny, and caring, but yet strong at the same time,” Stephen explained as he stared at Legend. “I look at the girl’s eyes, and see if I could somehow imagine what she wants to see, that would make her smile. That’s when I try to create my character, so I would see, all the time, that girl’s grin . . . that prosperous image that every guy wants to see. . . .”

  “Dude, that’s bullshit, you only look for beauty, everyone knows it,” Mark said. Dina laughed with him, but Legend still held a serious look on her face. It was as if Legend knew he was talking about her. But then she turned to Mark, and smiled, it was like she went into the trance again when she stared at Mark’s face and thought of his mental mask.

  “No, I mean, I used to look for that a lot . . . but now I think, somehow, I look for the inner part of a girl, too,” Stephen said. It was as if he didn’t know his own character. Legend was beginning to change his views on beauty, only because she was the most beautiful being he ever set eyes on. That’s what caused Stephen’s unsureness about the question.

  “Listen, dude, it’s alright to only look at beauty from the outside. I mean, look where it got you. It’s a talent. You discover some of the most beautiful women in the world, and for that, you allow their dreams to come true, and allow money to come into your hands,” Mark said. He knew his friend Stephen was beginning to feel anger, and he wanted to calm him down. Mark didn’t want Stephen to get upset about such a simple subject. But what Mark didn’t realize is that Stephen was getting upset, only because he didn’t want Legend to believe he only looks at outer beauty. Stephen didn’t want her to believe he was a pig. Nevertheless, Stephen knew he was a so-called pig, he knew he only looked for outer beauty, and that caused his confusion to grow. Skeletons.

  “All I know is I don’t only look for outer beauty, I do look for the inner part also,” said Stephen.

  “Well, like I said, it’s a talent, and you should be proud of it. I mean, Legend is going to become famous in no time at all, she already began that journey, and all because of you,” Mark explained. Dina started to feel jealous again. She became jealous because Mark didn’t mention her at all.

  “What I don’t understand is where does this talent evolve from? How does a person develop it? When you saw me, what did you see?” Dina asked Stephen. She wanted him to say all the things that Mark said about Legend, and therefore her question had much deeper meaning than what Stephen thought.

  “When I saw you and Legend–”

  “Well, what did you see when you saw me?” Dina asked forcefully, but still held a smile on her face. “I mean, I was just wondering.” Dina discovered that her question was too forceful. She didn’t want her jealousy toward Legend to be known.

  “When I saw you, I saw kindn
ess, honesty, and beauty,” he replied. Dina realized the mask that she wore was the wrong one. She wanted to wear a mental mask that was just like Legend’s character, a mask that showed kindness, honesty and everything else that Legend had. Dina felt that Stephen would fall in love with her if she had that character, but now she realizes that he only mentions the inner parts of her, and only mentions a few parts of her outer beauty. Dina wanted him to say beauty, beauty and more beauty when she asked that question. But, instead, he only said beauty once. With Legend, he says the outer, as well as the inner, beauty equally. Legend was perfect in his eyes, as well as everyone else’s, and that created jealousy under Dina’s mental mask. A ticking bomb.

  “What did you see when you saw me?” asked Legend. Mark poured himself another glass of champagne.

  “When I saw you, I saw strength . . . honesty . . . kindness . . . beauty. I saw your eyes, how they reflect smiles onto other people’s faces. I saw your beautiful hair, and the way your sense of humor caused me to laugh,” Stephen said. He then turned to Dina and saw jealousy in her eyes. “That’s what I saw in the both of you.”

  “How did you know that you wanted to make that a career? I mean, how did you develop that theoretical perspective on outer beauty, and actually have that theory work for you, and make you who you are today?” asked Legend. She then turned toward Mark and smiled.

  “I know how he developed it,” Mark said with a smile after he took a swig of his champagne and stared at Stephen. “Remember, Stephen? It was when we were eight years old, and your father took us over to that ice cream shop down on Rodeo Drive.”

  Stephen laughed, “Oh, yeah, I remember, that was the day he sat us both down and asked us what we wanted to be when we got older.”

  Legend and Dina had confusion on their faces. “Well, tell us, what happened?” Dina asked. The waiter came to the table and placed another champagne bottle on it, while taking away three empty ones.