"Three hundred dollars worth of paint heavier," I said as we walked to the main open area of the studio where he would hang the backdrop. "I didn't realize how big twelve by twelve was until I started painting."
"I can't wait to see it. We need to go ahead and take a look, because the crew from the magazine will be here in a little while."
I sighed. "I'm sorry I ran so late with it. I was down to the wire with finishing. I just kept tweaking and tweaking and finally yesterday, I was like, I have to stop and let it dry, otherwise I won't be able to roll it up and take it over there. Tabitha's been having a little drama at work, so I've been keeping Isabel more than usual. She's a good girl, and she doesn't mind if I work, but it was just harder making time to really get lost in it while I was watching her."
"What's going on with your sister?" he asked.
I shrugged and shook my head. "She's in retail management, so if they have problems with staffing or whatever, it falls on her to make sure the shifts are covered. I think there's drama, too, but she doesn't say much. It's like she's tired of thinking about it and dealing with it when she gets home, so she just pretends that part of her life doesn't exist. I can tell she's stressed, though. She mentioned something about looking for another job the other day, and that's not like her. She's been working for Patterson & Ray since high school. She's come along way from folding shirts at the little store in the mall back home to managing their biggest New York store. I think when she moved here for the job, she assumed she'd be with them forever."
Drake and I had been unrolling the canvas the whole time I was talking, and now he was standing back, staring at it. I watched as he regarded it with an preoccupied smile. "I know you were saying your sister's stressed with work, and you have been having to watch your niece. But I think I missed a little bit of that at the end there because I was checking out this masterpiece, Macy. Wow! It's no wonder it took you till the last minute."
"Is it too busy?" I asked.
"Not at all," he said, walking around to stare at it thoroughly. "It's amazing. It's gonna make the cover," he said, nodding.
"You think?"
"I really do. It's got that overall grey look, and it's not too busy, but it's striking all at the same time."
It was a cartoon interpretation of the New York skyline with familiar landmarks and buildings, but I did it with a fisheye effect with everything pointing outward from the center. It was made for someone to stand in the middle of it, looking like they owned the city. There were rows and rows of buildings, recognizable and otherwise, radiating out from the center of the fabric—almost two hundred of them—all with little details. I knew when I painted it that Ethan would be the perfect centerpiece for it. I had created it with that in mind. I tried to keep it as grey as possible so that it fit the description of what the magazine wanted for the cover, but I was definitely taking a risk by painting the city rather than something more abstract.
"It is no wonder you barely finished it," Drake repeated, still staring at all the detail. "Let's hang it up and see how it photographs."
"I'm nervous," I said.
"About what? They're gonna love it. I love it. It's gonna make an awesome cover photo, Macy. I'm seriously going to hire you to do other projects in the future. I've never even thought about having you paint one of these for me. Here, help me hang it, and we'll see how it looks when it's photographed. Are you planning on sticking around for the shoot? I'll put you to work if you are."
"I can't," I said regretfully.
Technically I could, but I just didn't feel like I could see Ethan. Twice now, we had extremely memorable nights together followed by me not hearing from him at all afterward. Both times, I discovered that I had undeniable feelings for him, and not just in a he's a gorgeous, famous actor kind of way, but also in an I actually think I could love this guy for what's on the inside kind of way.
"I have a bunch of stuff to catch up on after obsessing over this thing for the last two weeks." It was an excuse, but it was a true one.
"It looks like you obsessed over it," Drake said with a groan as he hoisted the end of it onto the metal bar. He fished it through the loop that ran along the top of the fabric, pulling it on carefully as I fed him the slack. Drake pressed a button that lifted the metal bar into place, and I watched as my work went from horizontal to vertical within a few smooth, mechanical seconds.
Drake took a step back once it was raised to the height at which it would remain for the shoot. "It's so awesome!" he said enthusiastically. "I'm so excited to work with it! Thank you for doing this. Who's idea was it for you to do this, anyway?"
"Ethan's," I said, smiling at how much Drake liked it.
"This is gonna look so good."
"Thank you," I said.
"Let me try it out," he said.
I gestured at the backdrop and I stepped out of the way. "Go ahead."
"Stay there," he said. "Get in the middle where he'd be standing."
"Not me," I said. "I'm not dressed enough for pictures."
"You have on three layers of clothes, Macy."
"I mean my face," I said. Fwop, was the sound I heard as I saw a flash of light coming at me from about three different directions. It wasn't loud, but I flinched at the light and looked around, trying to find the sources of it. Fwop! Went the sound again, and again, lights flashed. "No!" I said. "I don't have makeup on."
"You don't need makeup," he said. "It covers your freckles."
"You're not supposed to notice my freckles," I said. "If I had makeup on, you wouldn't even see them." I stuck my tongue out at him, and he took another photo. Fwop! I smiled, and he took another.
"They're beautiful," he said.
I didn't believe him, but my mom was strict about us kids learning how to take a compliment, so rather than disagree like I wanted to, I thanked him and batted my eyes with a flourish, putting my interlaced fingers under my chin in the silly imitation of someone who was enjoying having her portrait made. Fwop, fwop, fwop, fwop, went the lights as I began to move around.
Drake must have taken about ten pictures of me in all. He caught me posing in the most ridiculous ways before I stepped out from in front of the backdrop, thus taking myself out of the picture. His camera was hooked to a monitor, and he was able to instantly review the pictures he took of me on the crystal clear, high definition screen, which showed every freckle on my cheeks.
"Look at your dimples," he said, showing one of me smiling."
"Makeup, stat!" I said, seeing all my imperfections.
Drake switched to the next photo, and because it was one of me being silly, it was easier for me to focus on what I should have been focusing on all along… "Look at the backdrop!" I said when it finally caught my eye.
"Isn't it great?" he asked.
He switched to the next few pictures, and rather than focusing on me, I imagined how the backdrop would look with Ethan standing in front of it, and I smiled at Drake, who was beaming from ear to ear as he reviewed the photos.
"They're gonna love it," Drake said. He motioned toward the backdrop. "Technically it's theirs, I think, since they commissioned you to do it. I think that's how they worded it in the contract. I didn't really read the whole thing. It was like three pages. Anyway, I think they can take it when we're done if they want it, but I'll let you know if they don't."
"I'm not worried about it," I said. "I don't have any use for it, anyway. If they don't take it, you should keep it."
"I'll take it, if you don't mind," he said.
I shook my head as I began walking toward the place in the middle of the floor by the door where I had dropped my bag. Drake followed me.
"I don't mind at all," I said.
"Can you wait for me to cash the check they give me today, or do you want me to write you a check right now?" Drake asked.
"I'm fine waiting for you to cash the check as long as it's not gonna be weeks or anything."
"It's not," Drake said. "I'll have cash for you tonight
or tomorrow at the latest. I'll call you. Are you sure you don't want to stick around for the shoot?" he asked. "It'd be fun to see them react to your work."
"It won't if they don’t like it," I said, laughing.
"They will," Drake said.
I had already strapped on my messenger bag and was reaching out to hug him goodbye, so he just went with it.
"Please don't forget to delete those photos of me," I said.
"I love them."
"I don't."
"I'll let you know how it goes with the painting," he said, holding the door open for me.
"Thanks. And thanks again for that canvas."
He smiled. "You're welcome. It was just an old, cheap one. You’re the one who made it something beautiful."
Chapter 13
Ethan
Ethan Prescott was the last one to arrive at Drake's that afternoon for the photo shoot. One of his co-stars, a woman named Elsa Carpenter, was also being featured in the magazine, and Drake photographed her first. She wasn't being featured on the same level that Ethan was, so she didn't have any wardrobe changes.
Drake had been using a white backdrop for Elsa's shoot, and it was still hanging in front of the one Macy had painted when Ethan got there. Drake had an assistant, and there were a few representatives from the magazine, but he had done a good job of creating a relaxed atmosphere. Drake's studio was roomy, and he had on some groovy folk-rock that set the mood.
"Hey Ethan, come on in!" Drake called over the sound of the music.
Drake walked over to his computer to turn down the volume. He had to shake the mouse in order to turn off the screen saver, and by the time he did all that, Ethan was close enough to the computer that he could make out what was on the screen. The monitor was gigantic—the size of a small television—thirty or forty inches, at least.
"We were just wrapping up," Drake said.
Ethan saw from his periphery that Drake was facing him with a smile, but he couldn’t help but focus on the computer screen. There were what must have been a hundred photos, probably more. All of them were tiny thumbnails, and he could tell that the majority of what he was looking at were pictures of Elsa that Drake had just taken. There were other photos at the bottom of the screen, though—only a few—but there were some at the bottom that were definitely different than the ones of Elsa.
Ethan squinted at the screen as he took another step forward. "Who's that?" he asked. He glanced at Drake only to find that Drake was extending his hand out to greet him, looking as if he hadn't even heard Ethan's question. Ethan greeted Drake with a warm, eye-to-eye smile even though he was preoccupied with what he saw on the screen.
"Elsa and I were just finishing up," Drake said. He gestured at the cluster of women who were talking to Ethan's co-star. "Karen's got your suit and stylist over there. They've got some clothes for you in the changing room as well. They'll get you fixed up while I finish with Elsa. I think we're planning on getting a few of you together before they send Elsa home."
Ethan nodded since none of this was news to him. "Who was that?" he asked. He gestured to the screen, which had switched to a display of whatever album Drake was playing. "Those pictures that were up a minute ago."
"That's from our shoot," Drake said, smiling and gesturing to the wide-open studio area and the women who were standing on the far wall. Drake gestured with a flick of his head for Ethan to follow him as he started to walk toward the women. It was obvious that Drake didn't intend to say any more about the photographs on the screen, so Ethan instinctually put out a hand, stopping Drake in mid-motion.
"You okay?" Drake asked, seeing Ethan's expression.
"Can I see them really quick?" Ethan asked, pointing at the monitor.
Drake shrugged. "I don't see why not," he said. "I'm gonna be showing them to Elsa and Karen in a minute when we're all done, but I can show you a few right now if you like. It won't be quite the same with you, but you can kind of get a feel for my approach by looking at these. Keep in mind that a lot of my art happens in the editing."
Drake clicked on one of the random pictures of Elsa, and it showed up on a good portion of the screen. It was taking up most of the top of the monitor, but Ethan could still see the thumbnails at the bottom. Both men were standing next to each other, and Ethan reached out to point at the screen.
"What about those," he said.
Drake let out a chuckle. "Oh, Macy," he said. "I took these when she came by to hang the backdrop. She was just being a clown." Drake turned to face Ethan with a sincere expression. "I think you're really gonna love what she did," he said, bragging on his friend. "I had no idea what she was gonna come up with, but she outdid herself."
"Is that it in the picture?" Ethan asked. He took a step closer to the monitor, but the thumbnails were small, and partially blocked by the huge version of Elsa's photo.
"Yeah, that's it, but I don't want you to see it in the pictures. It's even better in person, and it's right over there."
Apparently, Drake wasn't planning on enlarging the ones Ethan wanted to see, so Ethan leaned in to get a better look at them as thumbnails. Drake put a hand on Ethan's shoulder, which made Ethan stop in motion and give him a curious glance.
"Plus, Macy told me to delete those," he said regretfully. "She didn't like them of herself. I don't see why. I think they're beautiful."
Ethan pulled back, looking Drake over as if it was dawning on him for the first time that Drake could have feelings for Macy. "Are you saying you think she's beautiful, or you think the pictures are beautiful."
"Both. But she didn't like them." Drake smiled, remembering Macy posing like a ballerina and then like an ape. "She was being a big clown," he said. He reached out and pointed to the close up of her smiling face. "Dimples for days on that one. I love shooting people with dimples. But she was complaining about the freckles."
"What freckles?" Ethan asked.
"She's got em," Drake said. "Not that many, but she's got some across her nose."
"Can you show me?" Ethan asked.
Drake looked around with a little concern as if wondering if he should show Ethan, meanwhile Ethan was feeling like he could jump out of his own skin if Drake didn't click on the picture immediately. He wanted to push the other guy aside so that he could take control of that freaking computer mouse.
"Can I see that one?" he asked. The background's not even really in it."
It wasn't. Macy's face and hair was taking up most of the picture. There was a little grey around the very edge, but not much.
The women who had, up until then, been content to remain on the other side of the room, now began meandering toward the desk and computer where Ethan and Drake were standing.
"Just click on the picture and let me look at it," Ethan said, finally. His whole countenance was impassive, and Drake clicked on the photograph of Macy with no further argument. Within a second, Macy's smiling face covered the screen. The women who were approaching could not yet see what was on the screen, and because of that, Drake used the opportunity to scroll through the sequence of the photos with Macy.
Straight-faced,
annoyed,
blushing,
smiling
tongue out,
smiling,
laughing,
sadness,
dancing,
monkey,
and one where she was wiggling her fingers with her thumb on her nose and her eyes crossed.
Drake closed the tab, getting the computer back to the thumbnails just before the ladies approached. That whole impromptu slideshow had been entirely too brief, and Ethan found that he was unable to refrain from continuing on the subject of Macy even though the others were now standing close enough to hear.
"I didn't even look at the background," Ethan said, regarding Drake as if those words might be his ticket to seeing the photos again. Drake didn't bite.
For the next minute or so Ethan went through the motions of greeting everyone, but he couldn’t get t
he image of Macy out of his mind. The sight of her smile was etched into his memory—the pure, unadulterated way her eyes squinted up and her cheeks creased as she grinned. Macy wasn't like any other girl. Somehow, she had the ability to make Ethan fall in love with her.
Twice now, Ethan had spent time with her, and twice he had managed to fall in love. This was precisely why every time he spent time with her, he felt in equal parts like he wanted to marry her and cut off all ties. So far, he had been choosing to cut off all ties.
The girls had been talking while Ethan was lost in thought about Macy. He felt an ache in his chest and didn't hear them at all when they must have been talking to him.
"Did you hear me?" Elsa said, snapping her finger in front of Ethan who shook his head. She smiled. "I said you should be proud of me," she said. "Forty-two years old, and I signed up for my first Spanish class." She glanced at the girls from the magazine. "Ethan's got the whole cast and crew learning new talents," she explained. "He dared us to all learn something new by Christmas, and now we're all trying to out do each other." She smiled at Ethan. "My husband's even taking the class with me," she said. "We've always wanted to learn Spanish. We bought Rosetta Stone, but we didn't stick with it. This time, we signed up for online lessons with a real teacher. It's fun. We're studying and everything."
"I've never been dared to learn a foreign language before," Drake said, making us all laugh.
"Why isn't she here?" Ethan asked. He looked straight at Drake with a slightly annoyed expression.
Drake seemed a little taken aback by the unexpected question. "Why isn't who here?" Drake asked.
"Macy. I thought she was coming to this since she painted the background."
Drake shook his head. "She was here earlier when she dropped it off, but she was tired. I think it took her until the very last second to finish the project. She said something about keeping her niece a lot lately." He smiled and pointed at the other side of the studio. "I really think you're gonna love it, though. She did a beautiful job."
Suddenly Starstruck (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective Book 4) Page 9