Stephen constantly watched over her, he watched over her career. In his mind, he was sort of like a guardian angel to her, watching her image, and making sure she signed the right contracts. This new life was great for Legend, she developed new instincts that she never thought she had. Instincts such as realizing she’s beautiful, realizing she’s a woman, and not a crater, and realizing she could have it all. Something that every girl should realize: it’s their right.
But through her new life came something greater when the month of May showed itself. When May came around, Legend’s life changed drastically, because her true wish came true, among other things. It was a day when Mark left to go back to California for a modeling job, and Legend was coming back to her hotel room after a busy day of shopping.
She entered her hotel room, with three men following her carrying boxes and boxes of new bought clothes; nothing was under a grand. She raced over to her balcony, opened it up, and inhaled the fresh May air, and the three men placed her new clothes onto her bed, and then walked up to her on the balcony. She gave them a tip, and they exited her room, but she still stared at the May sky, and still inhaled the fresh air from her beautiful balcony. Suddenly, she gave out a yawn. She was all tired out from shopping, and so she sat down on the balcony floor, with her new red dress on, and started to take off her red, velvet shoes. Legend slowly closed her eyes, with a smile still on her face, when suddenly a knock came at her door. “Who is it?” She got up and started dusting the dirt off from her behind.
“It’s me, Stephen, open up, I’ve got a great surprise for you.” Legend approached her door and opened it. Stephen came running in with an outrageous smile on his face.
“Alright, what is it?” asked Legend. She was fatigued, so she walked over to her bedroom and sat down on the queen-size bed. She rubbed her feet with pain, asking him again, “What is it you had to tell me?”
“Before I tell you, what’s wrong?” Stephen asked.
“Nothing, it’s just I’m really tired as all. I mean, I just finished doing a show yesterday, and now I’m even more tired from shopping. My feet are really hurting me from those high heels I have to wear on the stage, and my lips are tired from constantly smiling to the people, and the cameras.” Stephen started laughing. “What’s so funny?”
“No, nothing, it’s just you sounded so cute when you said that.”
Legend returned the smile. “Well, what is it you had to tell me?”
“Oh well, I just received a call. As a matter of fact, I received three calls from people who I never had the privilege to talk to before. My whole life, I have been waiting for these calls, and now they have finally come.” Stephen then walked out of the room and walked into her bathroom.
“Um, hello, what were the calls about?” Legend walked over to her bathroom and saw Stephen smiling at the bathroom walls. “What are you smiling at?”
“Well, do you notice something missing from here?” he asked with a laugh, pointing toward the wall, directly over the sink. “Legend, there’s isn’t a mirror in here . . . Why is that?”
“You know why, I already told you that I don’t like to look at myself in the mirror.” Stephen discovered that the huge mirror was on the side of the wall, directly across from the sink.
“Why don’t you like looking at your reflection? You’re gorgeous.” He picked up the mirror and hung it back over the sink.
“Stephen, I just don’t like to, alright? I already told you, the reason is personal.”
Stephen looked at his reflection closely and smiled. “Listen, you have been living in this magnificent hotel room for many months, and the whole time you’ve been living here, I haven’t seen one mirror. Why is that?” he asked with a grin, teasing her for her little phobia with mirrors.
“Stephen, did you come up her to tease me, or tell me something important?” She left the bathroom in an aggravated motion.
“Oh, that’s right, I forgot. Okay, I just received a call from Mark, about an hour ago.”
“Did he get to LA safely?”
“Yes, yes he did. Anyway, I got a call from him today, and he said that John Fisher wants to take your picture. Isn’t that amazing? I mean, right when Mark got settled into his house, he got a call from John, and he knew Mark was dating you, so for that, John told him about how he wants you for a photo session,” he explained, the excitement grew inside of him by the second. But, Legend just stared at him with a puzzled look on her face. She turned away from him, and faced her balcony, the sunlight shining in and reflecting off of her beauty. She had a look of sadness: she didn’t know who John Fisher was. Well, Stephen noticed her look and said, “Aren’t you excited?”
“Stephen, who is John Fisher? I never even heard of him.” She sat down on her blue couch and still faced the sunlight from the balcony. “And when is this photo session going to be?”
“Legend, John Fisher shoots girls for the cover of MG magazine. Legend, that is the top modeling magazine in the world.” Legend widened her eyes. “I already discussed to him about your little phobia with mirrors, as I do with all the photographers, and he said it was fine. Legend, he said he wants you no matter what. The photo shoot is for the cover of the June issue, and we leave in three days, all of us. So, congratulations.”
Legend grew a big smile on her face. She then began to shake her legs, due to excitement, and suddenly jumped up from the couch and gave him a tight hug.
“I can’t believe it, MG magazine wants me to pose on their cover!” she yelled, hugging Stephen tighter. She then pulled away, with happiness on her face, and came up to his lips accidentally. She looked at his lips, he stared at hers, and then pulled away, lingering her eyes toward his forehead. An uncomfortable feeling came to her mind, an uneasy feeling that she never felt before with another man, not even with Mark. She liked it, but she knew he was dating Dina, and she was dating his best friend.
Her knowing of him dating Dina, and her with Mark, prompted her to ask, “So, does your love know about it?”
“You mean Dina?” He still stared at her lips.
“Yeah, I mean Dina, does she know about my photo shoot?”
“She’s not my love, and no, no she doesn’t know yet. Not even your love knows about it.”
“Mark is not my love . . . at least not yet anyway.” She didn’t want Stephen to know she had any sort of feelings for Mark, rather her feelings of confusion were for Stephen.
“Well, anyway, after the ending of the show today, Dina went to her hotel room immediately and stayed there ever since. She’s been in there for over three hours, getting ready for our date tonight,” he said. Legend turned away from him, her lips vanished from his sight, and a sad look surfaced on his face.
“Oh, you’re going on a date tonight?” She wanted him to say ‘no’. Legend still held up her guard, the wall that held in her kindness, generosity, and overall, her inner beauty, toward him. The guard that allowed her feelings toward Stephen to not be shown. But, every time she looked into his black eyes, the guard would vanish a little bit more.
“Yeah, me and Dina are going to some premiere for a movie tonight,” Stephen said. He caught another glimpse of her lips as she turned to him again. Stephen had to put up a guard. His guard consisted of him not allowing his feelings for Legend to be known to her. The reason for that was he knew he was dating Dina, and that she was dating his best friend. For that, his newfound morals allowed him to put up a guard to Legend, while she was slowly bringing hers down. But her beauty forced his gate, shield, his guard to have a hard time at being put up, and Legend could sense that.
“I’m glad to see you and Dina are happy. Well, at least I’m glad to see that you’re happy with her.” Legend took out a picture of Mark from a desk drawer that was directly behind her. “I’m really happy with my sweetie, even if he is in California right now,” she added with confidence, but yet a little hesitation, as if she wanted to make Stephen jealous of Mark.
“Well, I’m glad to see that you�
�re happy with him, and I’m happy with Dina.”
Legend put down Mark’s photo and walked out onto the balcony.
“That’s good.”
“Anyway, you better start packing your bags, because in three days we’re going to introduce Legend to California,” he said. She walked off the balcony and entered her hotel room.
“Wait a second, you said you had three things to tell me. Well, what are the other two things?” She stared at his eyes heavily.
“The second thing was that you and Dina are going to be living at my house, in Beverly Hills, for a little while. I figured since you’re already out there, doing an MG modeling cover, that a lot of other contracts will be handed to you, as well as to Dina. . . . And the third thing is something that I can’t tell you right now. All I’m going to say is it’s something to do with television, and that you’re going to be doing it this November,” he explained. She still stared heavily into his eyes.
“That’s not fair. I mean, if a person tells you that they have something to say to you, and then they don’t say it, then why do they say anything at all?”
“Well, maybe I just want to build your aspiration to high level, and your excitement. Listen, Legend, I have to go and see Dina right now, but what I want you to do is start packing. Tomorrow you have one photo session to do, and then your schedule is free. So, start packing, and then rest, because LA will take a lot out of you.” He then turned away from her sight and walked toward the door.
Legend suddenly walked fast up to him. “Stephen, why is it that you treat me so well, and with Dina, you hardly guide her with her modeling career?”
Stephen turned around to face her. He gave a deep breath, and looked at her eyes, reached out his hand and caressed her face. “Because you’re a special girl, and I want to make sure that your career is just right.”
She turned away from him and gazed at the balcony.
She turned back to face him and said with great hesitation, “Stephen, I know we’re just friends, but I want your honest opinion. This has been bugging me for a long time, but here it goes. . . . I know that I’m an idol to a lot of people, but–” She gave a deep breath. “Alright, I want to know, am I the most beautiful girl you’ve ever seen?”
He gave out a small smile, it was like he found it funny. “Legend, where did that come from?”
“I don’t know . . . it’s just I’m beautiful to everyone else, at least I think I am, and I know you judge many girls by their looks. So, I know that you’ll be honest, and that’s why I want to know if you find me beautiful. I know Mark does, and everyone else, but I want your honest opinion.”
He opened the door up and walked out into the hallway. “Legend, you know damn well that I always say you’re beautiful. As a matter of fact, out of all the girls I have known in the past, I gave, and still give you the most compliments out of them all. . . . If you don’t believe me, then try looking in the mirror sometimes, and you’ll know that answer.”
Legend walked out into the hallway. “It’s not that simple. Stephen, I have to talk about something important with you. I mean, I know you have a date with Dina, but this is majorly, highly important, and it involves you and me.” Stephen widened his eyes.
He knew it was about her liking him. But his positive outlook caused him to make a mistake as he asked with a pushy and confident voice, “You like me, don’t you?”
A shocked look came to her beautiful face. Stephen was so sure she would come up to his face and give him a kiss. “Well, um, no,” she replied. “How dare you try to figure out my mental thoughts with such a pushy tone? That was rude and highly conceited of you to say. But of course I should have known you would say something like that, only because you’re a pig.” His smile turned straight. “I wanted to talk to you, because I have to say something important to Mark. I wanted you to call him up for me, and tell him that you think I love him. Therefore, he would say his feelings about me to you, and then you could tell me, so I wouldn’t sound like an ass when I say ‘I love you’ to him.” She then paused, took a breath and added, “Stephen, you know how I feel about you. You know that I want to just be friends, but of course, knowing that you’re a pig, and are only looking for beyond beautiful girls, you had to try again at me, and see if my feelings changed. Well, Stephen, they haven’t, I want only to be friends with you, and that’s it!”
“Listen to me, Legend, I know you have some sort of feelings for me, and don’t say you don’t. I know you have to have some care for me, but you still hold up your guard, and keep me away from your feelings.” His voice grew louder at every word he said. “You are–”
“No, none of that is true. You know damn well that I’m with Mark, and you’re with Dina, and for that, our feelings are not for each other, they are for them.”
He entered her hotel room again and closed the door.
“No, Legend, I see the way you look at me sometimes, especially when we’re alone together, talking about anything. You give so many signs, so many signs that I thought I didn’t know the definition of. But now I realize that you do care for me, I know the definition of you.”
She ran over to her balcony and entered it.
“What are you talking about? I’m yelling at you, how could you know, right now, that I like you, if I’m angered toward you?” she shouted.
He lit up a cigarette quickly.
“Because, if you didn’t like me, or have feelings for me, then you wouldn’t have been so defensive when I said that you liked me. As a matter of fact, we wouldn’t be having this argument right now. As a matter of fact, you wouldn’t have allowed me to come back in here and yell at you, but you did, only because you’re in denial of your feelings toward me!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.
“That is B.S.: you think that you’re so good at judging another person’s character, when you’re directly the opposite. You know, we always have stupid arguments like this one, and for that, I let you in because I’m used to arguing with you.”
“Answer me one thing, Legend, one thing, and then we’ll forget that this argument ever happened. Why, of all people, did you ask me if I find you beautiful, when I always say that I do? And don’t tell me it’s because I know beauty when I see it. I didn’t buy that at all.”
She looked about, and around the New York skyline: she didn’t know what to say. Her confusion grew like a tumor, but she knew she had to say something quick, so he wouldn’t think he stomped her and caught her in a lie about her feelings. “Because, well, um, because I know you always look at girls, and for that–” She paused. It was the wrong thing she started to say, so she switched her words. “Because I wanted to see if you could say that to me again!”
“But why?”
“I don’t know!”
“What do you mean you don’t know? Legend, why did you ask me that a little while ago?”
He stomped her words again, she didn’t know what to say. Her consciousness became greatly jumbled toward her feelings for him, feelings that she didn’t know she had. “Listen, I don’t know why I asked you that, but I think you should leave right now, before we say anything that we’ll regret.” Her eyes began forming a shield of tears.
“Fine, I’ll see you later,” he said. He turned away from her and walked back into the hotel room. As soon as he turned away from Legend, her shield of tears broke, and out came tears with a definition that was unknown to her. She felt her tears, and looked at them. She then ran into her hotel room, and walked up to Stephen before he reached her door.
“Stephen, wait . . . I don’t want you to leave on a bad note. . . . I don’t want our friendship to be misinterpreted before you leave,” she cried. He looked at her tears, saddened by them. “You are like my best friend, Stephen, and I don’t want to lose that. . . . I’m a Chicago girl, who got discovered a few months ago, and now my life has changed. . . . I’m confused about a lot of things, especially my feelings toward Mark. I mean, I never loved anyone, and I don’t know if I love him. .
. . But I know for sure that I love you, but only as a friend.” He immediately gave her a tight hug, never wanting to let go.
“I’m sorry for making you cry, Legend . . . I never wanted to do that. . . . Listen to me, this is my problem, and I have to face it. All I know is I have strong feelings for you, but I’ll get over it, it’s not your problem.” He pulled away from her hug and looked at her eyes.
“It’s not?” She stared at his eyes also, and suddenly started to come closer to him.
“No, it’s not,” he replied. She closed her eyes and his lips touched hers. Rapidly, she pulled away from his passionate kiss and frantically opened the door.
“Um, okay, well, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, Stephen standing there with misunderstanding. “Um, yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow, have a nice time with Dina tonight.” She then pushed him out in the hallway.
“But wait.” She closed the door in his face, ran over to her bathroom, and at the same time, felt her warm lips. “What have I done?” she asked herself, closing her bathroom door, and then kneeling by the sink. Suddenly, she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror she hadn’t seen for a long time. “What are you doing, Legend?” she asked to her ugly reflection. “He is such an incredible guy, but you can’t date him, you’re too ugly. . . . Plus, you’re dating Mark.” A tear came down from her left eye, making its way down her face, and fell to the floor. “You just have to hold your ground, and not allow him to take over your feelings. You have to stay clear of him and concentrate on your career. What career? This is ridiculous, I’m wearing a mask, I’m cheating the system. He’s falling for you, Legend, and you know it, too. But the thing is, he’s falling for something that’s not real, for something that’s a mask. Just stand clear of his relationship with Dina, and no one will get hurt.
Mask of A Legend Page 18