'Why the hell am I wearing cargos?'
Shawn asked Matt, the junior creative director whose job didn't mention entailing in celebrity tantrums but he welcomed them anyway from Shawn. Anybody else would be getting a piece of his mind before they had to take a mental oath to never complain fashion to Matt. The man wasn't built for taking orders, except for Jacob, and he made sure everyone, even the biggest of the names, knew that. But Shawn was an exception. They had worked together in their initial career stages when Shawn had a YouTube channel. Matt had edited some parody music videos and sooner they had simultaneously made it to the industry. Allura had helped their works stay in touch. Their bond had gone from professionals to buds in those few years.
'If Jacob says cargos, I gotta have you cargos. He won't take it well if I let you change now.'
Matt replied quickly as he tossed over a white cushion to a spot boy who was in charge of arranging the hotel room bedding in the studio set a few doors away. Their set consisted of a long alley, an elevator and a cheap looking hotel room, where the final cut was to be filmed.
Shawn let out a groan as he rolled his eyes. He had to reluctantly leave his sixth floor private vicinity, which he very much loved, and come up for a romantic shoot with someone who had rejected his existence. He knew she was there inside the studio, and they all were waiting for him. Jacob had sent out twice for him, but Shawn kept saying he needed a little more time and that had meant spending an additional hour in his dressing room. More time to get over the fact that he was going to play lover of a girl who probably for some reason had started hating him. He had brought this on himself.
Sigh!
Shawn looked at the mirror for the umpteenth time, looking for any flaw, any more reason to delay. But there were none, only an irritated face stared back at him, as if his own reflection had enough of his stalling.
Why do I have to be so generous? This girl is getting a big break because of me, the least she could do was go out with me as a thank you…
The thought rankled his nerves. He was more disappointed with himself for caring this much about a rejection. He wasn't used to it, for sure. It was new and bitter to be honest.
The pent up release from earlier was also adding to the frustration and annoyance. He just wanted to be done with the day and go home, or have Elaine join him to another hotel.
Hmm…
Bad idea.
'Whores were not meant to be repeated' – a note to self.
Maybe Carrie…
'You're all done. You should go. No point dawdling here.'
As if Matt had read all his thoughts about not wanting to shoot with Itika, Shawn jolted his head up to look at him, confirming what he meant by that. How did he know he didn't want to go for the shoot?
Before he could say anything, Matt continued, 'You're one big procrastinator, aren't ya? Always fussing over what to wear and how to look. Well, you're damn much perfect. A ten. You can wear a wet corrugated box and still look doable." Matt laughed at his own joke. But he had hit on Shawn in the past, back when he had thought he could turn him to 'his' side. Shawn had quickly, almost defensively made it clear that he was only interested in women.
'Yeah. Ha Ha. I'm… okay.'
Shawn tried to be modest, but he was sure his smile gave it away. He might not think he was a 'ten', but nine, he easily agreed on.
'Love, if you're okay, then I'm a minus three. And I take pride at being a six. So careful what you say because you know how easily I am offended. By the way, you smell amazing. What are you wearing? No. 19?'
Shawn sighed again. 'Alright!' He said in a dense tone. 'I do know that… I'm leaving then.'
He was still not comfortable discussing his looks with Matt.
Matt was Jacob's left hand. If he didn't get things done by himself, Matt was ready to have his back. He used his friendliness to get things done if things weren't getting done by Jacob. Sometimes he got too friendly if need be. He was socially smoother than his boss, which was why he was a big part of the art team. Maybe, just maybe Matt had talked about how attractive he found Shawn just so he would speed up and leave his room. Shawn knew his homophobia was crystal clear, at least to Matt, and wouldn't put it past him to not play with it.
SLY… And, kind of impressive, he had to give him that. Matt totally had the potential of this manipulation.
The Arcan studio, entirely owned by Daniel who had forty percent stake of Allura under him was two doors to the right of Shawn's greenroom. A step out and you could see the most obviously lit door with wires sprawled as tentacles outside the frame, telling you important business was being taken care of inside.
Once again, as he corrected the calves of his black cotton shirt, Shawn reminded himself who he was, still pinched by the idea that he needed a reminder, he stepped out and took twenty slow steps to the right, and before his mind could take any turns, he was inside, and looking at the second most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life after the one in the video earlier.