Beautiful People | wlw

Eleven: Blood

"So this pool party tonight," Vera said, holding a dangly silver earring up against the pale early-afternoon sunlight drifting through the perfumed air. "Is it really gonna be a pool party?"

She was laying on her back on the plush carpet in Carmen's accessory closet, lifting earrings one by one out of the velvet-lined tray beside her to examine them. Laid out on the cushioned seat was the look that had received Carmen's final approval the day before, but Vera had this vague idea about crystals and light and Carmen's hair, so she was picking through the jewelry hoping something clicked.

"I paid a lot of money for this chest. You think I'd pass up a chance to show it off?" Jay waved a dismissive hand without looking up from the palettes he was unpacking. Beside him, his assistant Lily was quietly laying out the hair tools.

Vera lowered the earring and turned her head to get a better look at him. He was wearing a slutty tank top today, hot pink and drooping low enough to reveal the faint, curved scars under his pecs, rose-coloured against his golden-brown skin. "You're already showing it off."

"Exactly." Jay laughed, light and ethereal. "I don't care what all y'all do but I'm gonna be having a pool party."

"Good. I didn't wanna pool party alone. I'm not sure I convinced Sharise yesterday." Nestling the earring back into its velvet bed, Vera picked up the next one, a sharp gold stud with diamonds that captured the sunlight in their facets. "Tell me again what you heard about Troy and Marina?"

Jay arranged his brushes beside the palettes, aligning sleek wooden handles with care. "Troy insisted they make it red carpet official."

"So Carmen's gonna be walking the carpet alone?"

"You can guess how she reacted when she heard he was ditching her. Again." Jay set both his palms against his cheeks and pretended to scream, mouth open silently.

"Yikes. I bet."

"Bit of an overreaction, isn't it?" Lily said quietly, tapping the hairspray onto the table beside the curling iron. Jay shushed her impatiently.

Vera rolled up onto her knees. Pulling the next box off the shelf, she slid open the redwood lid. Inside was not diamonds but a muddle of costume jewelry: huge clear crystals and glass beads in every colour of the rainbow, strung together into elaborate necklaces, heavy rings, enough bracelets to cover both of Carmen's arms wrist to elbow. Pure camp. Lifting out the first piece, she went on, "I mean, at least that means she'll be alone in all her photos. She did say she didn't want him in her headlines. Maybe this'll work out for the best."

"Apparently Marina didn't really want to walk the carpet with him," Jay said, moving his pink-white-and-blue makeup case further back on the table to make room for an assortment of bottles and tubes.

"Marina didn't?" Vera asked absently, turning over a pair of enormous crystal earrings.

"She doesn't want to start shit. But Troy insisted. He's pitching a hissy fit that Carmen's not fighting harder to keep him and he wants to make her jealous."

"Fuckhead should've just dated her if that's what he--" Vera looked up from her handful of glass beads. "Wait. How do you know all this?"

Jay grinned impishly and laid one glittery nail against his lips. "Don't tell Carmen. You heard about Bea, her last stylist?" At Vera's nod, he said, "She's a friend of mine. I actually recommended her to Carmen."

"Big mistake," Lily muttered.

Vera winced. "Yeah, heard that didn't end well."

"It didn't. But she's done me solid too. I've helped her put Marina together a few times."