Mask of A Legend (15 page)

Coldness, fear, and happiness set in Legend’s mind as the plane set a course for New York City. Dina and William fell fast asleep, and Legend and Stephen stayed up once again and talked. They laughed and talked on a serious level for a while, until Stephen said, “By the way, Justif told my father that the ripped dress you wore sold the most!”

“Wow, it did?” Legend sipped her glass of champagne.

“Yep, it did. Also, StarStruck, and Rel Woman magazine called my father and told them they want you on their covers for the December issues.”

Legend spit out her champagne all over Stephen’s pants, due to the shocking news. “What? I can’t do that, I’m still doing this job,” she said.

“Well, this job is only for three weeks. This job ends on December fourteenth, and the cover shooting for the first magazine, which I think is StarStruck, is on December twenty-first. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to do it.”

Legend looked at her reflection in the window of the plane, saying, “I still can’t do it.” She turned away from her ugly reflection and looked at Stephen again.

“Why not, Legend, they’re going to pay you a lot of dough for these jobs?”

“Because a lot of young girls are going to look at those magazine covers and see my face. They’re going to look up to my mask – I mean, my beauty. I mean, I don’t know what I mean. It’s just I don’t want girls to want to look like me.” She put her hands up to her forehead.

“Listen, Legend, you don’t realize how many girls would love to have your looks. You don’t realize how many young girls would love to be on the cover of these magazines, you don’t realize how lucky you are,” Stephen explained in a desperate attempt to change Legend’s mind.

“Hold it right there. First off, I do realize how lucky I am, and I do realize how many girls would love a chance to be on these magazine covers. . . . When I entered the model search, I wanted to see if I could do it. Then I got discovered, and had a contract thrown in my face. At that point, I made an oath to only do this job and quit after it’s done. I don’t want this. I just want beauty, I mean, I just want–” Legend’s frustration took hold of her. She knew she couldn’t tell him the real reason why she didn’t want this anymore, because all she wanted was beauty that she couldn’t even see. “I don’t know what I want. I can’t tell you what I’m thinking, so it’s hard to explain it to you. I want the whole world to see me, but I don’t see myself, which I want to see!”

“You lost me a long time ago, Legend.”

Legend turned to her reflection again and realized she couldn’t pull this stunt off. She knew that this business held a lot of mirrors. Mirrors for the make-up women to use, and mirrors for the hairstylists to see. She fathomed that her ugliness would be discovered sooner or later, and this whole wish of beauty would be just a dream. Her puzzlement caused her vocal cords to seize, staring and thinking about her face in the window of the plane. She didn’t want to leave this business that she has just begun, but she didn’t want to stay and wait for the humility, of people discovering her ugly image, to come up. She turned back to Stephen and then lingered her face back to the window. She then looked at Dina, and realized she had to pull this off. Legend knew she had a gift, a gift of her wish being heard. For that, she didn’t want to give up this easily. So, she turned back to Stephen and said, “Alright, if you take away the mirrors from this business, then I’ll stay. . . .”

“What?”

Stephen became even more confused, engulfed in perplexity that it gave him a headache. Legend stared at him heavily and said, “I don’t like it when other people see me in mirrors. I know that the photographers, for these magazines, use mirrors all the time. I just don’t like it. So, if you tell them to not use mirrors with me, then I’ll do it!”

“So, let me get this straight, if I tell every job that you go on, to not fix your hair, or put make-up on you while looking at your reflection in the mirror, then you’ll stay?”

“Exactly, you’ve got it!”

“Man, I have never met a beautiful woman who didn’t want people to look at their reflection before. You are something special. . . . Alright, I agree.” Abruptly, the plane shook. “Shit, shit,” he said. Legend grabbed his hand.

“It’s alright, it’s just turbulence. Listen, when I used to be afraid of flying, my father would always tell me to close my eyes and picture a beautiful angel. Every time he told me that, I would see this angel in my mind, and suddenly I wasn’t afraid anymore. Try it, Stephen.”

Stephen closed his eyes and pictured Legend in his mind, a smile coming to his face. “It works.” He opened his eyes again. “Hey, I didn’t know you had a father. I mean, Dina told me he was dead or something!”

“Well, Dina was wrong.” Legend gave an evil glare toward Dina’s sleeping face.

“Well, I’m sure she didn’t realize she was wrong. All Dina told me was–”

“Listen, I don’t really want to hear what Dina said to you. There is a long past that me and her shared together. It was a past that I really want to forget.” Legend looked at Stephen’s sad face, and realized she acted mean toward him. She felt the hurt she caused toward Stephen, so she added, “Listen, Stephen, I’m sorry for scolding you. It’s just sometimes people touch my soft spot, or spots, and that causes me to get a little defensive. . . . If you want to know about my father, the answer to that is I don’t have one anymore. My father divorced my mother and practically disowned me. Amongst other things he has done to me, I hate him. He’s an asshole and I wish he would get fired so he’ll lose all of his money!”

“He’s rich?”

“Yeah, he’s living it up in Chicago right now.”

“What’s his name?”

“Michael Conaway.”

“Why do you hate him?”

“He’s a pig. It was like he was waiting for my mother to cheat on him, so he could get with the much younger and prettier girls. By him doing that, his plan worked, and my mother hardly received any of his money, all because she was stupid enough to fall in his trap,” she said, anger in her voice building.

“Well, my mother did the same thing. She was rich, and she wanted a much younger man than my father. So, she divorced him, and lied by saying that my father had an affair with another woman. For that, he didn’t get any of her money, but instead, he made it on his own. Nevertheless, I still love my mother, just as you should love your father.” It was like Stephen wanted Legend to forgive her father, even though he didn’t know him.

“Listen, you may have that forgiveness in you, but I don’t. Furthermore, you have no right to tell me I should forgive him!”

“I didn’t mean to make you upset, I was just trying to help,” he explained in a child’s voice. “Does he love you?”

“I don’t know, maybe he does. Well, I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t want to talk about him. So, anyway, how was your dinner with Dina?”

Stephen showed a bit of sadness in his eyes, he didn’t want to make Legend angry, only because she was so beautiful. Or was it something else?

“It was fine, I think I’m really beginning to like her,” Stephen replied. Legend smiled toward him while he looked at Dina’s sleeping body. “She’s kind and generous, and overall, she’s not a bitch. It’s amazing, you and her are beautiful and nice at the same time. I mean, I think that I’m really starting to like her.” He stared at Legend’s beautiful eyes. “But I like you more, Legend,” he said under his breath.

“That’s good, you guys make a good couple.” Legend looked at Dina also. “But you don’t know her like I do,” she added under her breath.

“Well, I would be happier with you.”

Legend laughed, “Well, we can’t get everything we want now, can we?”

“No, but I could always wish for it!”

Legend listened to that word ‘wish’ and turned to her reflection in the window. The sadness of the mask she wears before her, allowed her mind to be overwhelmed with anxiety. “Um, boy, it’s getting late, we better get to sleep,” she said, trying to change the subject.

“Alright, goodnight, Legend.” Stephen then turned to Dina and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

“Goodnight, Stephen,” Legend returned. She reclined her seat back and still stared at her reflection. She looked deep into the ugliness that the reflection gave, then slowly closed her beautiful eyes that were the only thing the beauty mask didn’t cover….

L
egend stood behind a pure white curtain and watched as girls lined up behind her. She watched these young girls, dressed in fancy apparel and standing up to 6 feet in height, while her mind concentrated on her own apparel. She was dressed in a brown, glittering dress that showed part of her breasts. She looked over at the curtain again, and felt the voices of the audience ricochet off of it. She then saw the curtain moving, from the draft of the voices, and became fear-stricken. Anxiety struck her again. “Well, Legend, welcome to New York,” Legend said to herself, hearing the audience members cease their voices.

“Are you nervous?” asked Dina, standing behind Legend.

“Yeah!”

“Don’t be, we’re the ones whom they came to see, we’re the special ones. All those people out there came to see us in action.”

“No, those people out there came to see the clothes, not us. We’re just the mannequins to show it off, that’s what they’re paying us to be,” Legend explained. Stephen came up to them and gave Dina and Legend a hug at the same time.

“Good luck, beauties,” said Stephen. But he only stared at Legend... again. “Legend, after this show, Neortica wants to talk to you.”

“Who’s that?”

“Neortica is a make-up company, they want to discuss something about a commercial with you,” Stephen replied. “They are the big distributors of lipstick!”

The lights began to dim in the room. “What time do they want to meet with me?”

“Alright, girls, the show’s about to begin, good luck,” Stephen said in a rushing manner. Legend pulled him by his long, black sleeve that was connected to his tuxedo.

“Stephen, what time do they want to talk me at?”

Dina looked at her with envy.

“Did Neortica say anything about wanting to talk to me?” Dina asked. An older woman walked onstage and came to the podium.

“Um, they want to talk to you after the show, Legend. And no, no they didn’t say anything about wanting to talk to you, Dina.” Dina looked at Legend and rolled her eyes, almost crying from jealousy. “Listen, I got to go now, the show’s going to begin, but I’ll be in the audience,” he said, staring at Legend only. “Make sure to stay beautiful.”

Dina’s jealousy mutated to her eyes and showed itself. She knew he cared for Legend’s beauty only, and that he ignored her own beauty, only because Dina wasn’t as beautiful as Legend, through his eyes. But suddenly a plan developed in Dina’s mind, a plan to make Stephen’s eyes look more at her beauty, and less at Legend’s. “Stephen, what time are you going to pick me up tonight?” Dina asked. She made sure to stare at Legend.
Game on.

“Oh, um, probably at 7:00 p.m.,” he replied. Dina then came up to his lips and kissed them. “What was that for?”

She released her lips from his, while still staring at Legend. “Just because.” Dina’s plan was about to come out, full throttle. “Um, Stephen, isn’t your friend, Mark, coming to visit you tonight?”

“Who’s Mark?” Legend asked.

“Oh, he’s my best friend, he’s coming from California to visit me,” he answered.

“Stephen, maybe we could do a double date tonight. You know, have Mark go with Legend, and me go with you, but we all go together,” Dina suggested as Stephen stared at Legend. He didn’t want Mark to go with Legend as a couple, but he knew he couldn’t say ‘no’. He realized Dina would know about him liking Legend, if he turned down that idea. But the thing was, she already knows about his caring for Legend. “How about it, Legend, do you want to go with Mark?”

“I don’t know, I mean, I don’t even know him.”

The woman, who came to the podium, started speaking into the microphone.

“Come on, it’ll be great,” Dina said. Legend looked at Stephen, and then toward her.

“I don’t know!”

“Come on!”

“Well, I mean, I should really concentrate on my career, instead of dating,” Legend stated. Dina hit Stephen lightly on the shoulder, he knew what it meant. Check.

“Come on, Legend, Dina’s right, it’ll be great,” Stephen said.

“Well–”

“Come on, it’s not like you’re ugly or something, Mark would definitely have a great time with you,” Dina said. Legend stared at her with fear in her eyes, not knowing what Dina meant by that. But she knew deep inside that Dina was referring to Legend’s past.

“Alright, I’ll go,” answered Legend. Stephen turned his eyes away from them, and stared at the curtain. He saw the stage lights coming on, and that’s when he widened his eyes.

“Okay, I better go now, we’ll discuss everything after the show,” Stephen said, walking away from them in a fast rhythm.

Legend and Dina stared at each other, more like staring down one another, it was a stare that had no meaning. Legend didn’t know if Dina was staring at her in an evil way, and Dina didn’t know if Legend was staring at her in a nervous manner. But, Dina’s confusion went away, and Legend’s grew, when Dina asked, “Legend, do you think Stephen’s nice?” Perhaps she was creating a wound before the salt?

“Yeah, but that’s all I think of him.” Legend then turned her head toward the curtain, trying to avoid Dina, only because she was nervous about walking up on the catwalk.

As she stared at it, the women on the stage started talking about Legend. She picked up the microphone with her hand, that was decorated with five diamond rings, and announced, “Now that I explained a little bit about the Justif fall line, I would like to take a moment, before the presentation begins, and tell you about a certain girl who has been recently discovered by the Drakson Talent Agency . . . .” She paused for a moment. Drama queen. “We usually do not do this, but this young woman is amazing, and I want her to feel right at home. Some of you may have heard about her, and others may have not.”

Dina tapped Legend on the shoulder. “Hey, Legend, why isn’t she mentioning me at all? I mean, I was just discovered, too.” A hint of deep sadness was attached to Dina’s voice, a new voice that Legend never heard come out from her before.

Legend turned to her. “I don’t know, maybe she’s going to mention your name later on.” Legend faced the curtain again.

“Now I would like to introduce her. Everyone . . . Legend,” the woman said. The curtain opened up, sounds of hands clapping together entered Legend’s ears. Legend gracefully walked out onto the stage and the audience members sat in amazement. All Legend could see was darkness, mixed in with the flashes of light from the cameras, and that made her frightened. But, as soon as she walked to the front of the stage, there was Stephen, smiling at her, and letting her know through his smile that she is the beauty of tonight.

As soon as Legend walked back and went behind the curtain again, the woman announced, “Now I would like to introduce the Justif fall line. Our first set of clothing. . . .”

Later on, Legend sat in a hotel suite, with Stephen by her side, discussing a contract with an older man. She sat there in the room, this man smoking his cigar, and allowed the smoke to go in Legend’s face, by accidentally blowing it toward her.

“So, Stephen, when will Legend be done with this ‘Justif fall line’ contract?” the older man asked, winking at Legend.

Yuck.

“Well, the New York show began today, and we’ve been in New York for about a week now. The show ends in about a week and a half, or less. So, roughly, I say, about two weeks,” replied Stephen as the older man pulled out a contract. “I’m not good at math. . . .”

“Could you give me a specific date?”

“Yeah, um, I figure about December fourteenth,” Stephen replied. The man handed the contract over to Legend. “Then, after that, Legend’s going to have a photo shoot for Greyer Modeling magazine, it’s a cover shot, on December twenty-second. So, roughly, she’ll be free on–”

“Stephen, Neortica is going to be shooting a commercial on December twenty-fifth, Christmas Day. Instead of you explaining to me her entire schedule, could you please tell me if she’s going to be free on that specific date?”

Legend looked over the contract. “Yeah, she’ll be free,” Stephen replied. Legend signed the contract. The older man shook Stephen’s hand and kissed Legend’s, before he got up from his seat. He walked over to the hotel room door with Stephen saying, “Well, Paul, it was nice doing business with you, and we’ll see you again on Christmas!”

“Yeah, and take care of this beauty,” Paul said. He looked at Legend, and Legend looked at Stephen.

Paul exited the room and Legend walked over to the hotel room window, saying, “My God, your room has a balcony, mine doesn’t!”

“Yeah, well, I’m the special one here,” he joked.

“Yeah, whatever, your Daddy probably paid for it.”

Stephen let out a big laugh.

“Oh, that was harsh, that was really harsh, Legend.”

She opened the balcony door and walked out into the December night. Breathing in the cold air, it helped to melt some of the anxiety away from her chest, rejuvenating her spirit again.

“So, what time are we all going on this double date?” she asked, looking up at the sky at the clear night. Her eyes widened to the sight of stars, because the clouds, in the past, covered up the sky’s beauty for a long time, that Legend almost forgot how beautiful it really was.

“Well, in about an hour,” he replied. Stephen entered onto the balcony and walked up to Legend. They stood by each other, motionless, staring in the same direction that led up to the heavens and he tried to see what she was looking at. “So, um, you like stars?” he asked. The coldness was causing him to hum his words, but he still craved to stay next to her.

“Yeah, I love them. . . . You see that star over there? That star is a part of a famous constellation, better known as Orion. . . . . All of the stars you see up there have a history, a meaning to them that very many people aren’t aware of. I guess that’s why I like to look and study them, because people look at their beauty, but don’t look at their history, their meaning, their inner beauty. That must sound very stupid coming from a girl like me.” She became embarrassed at letting him know her true love for the heavens.

“No, I find it very interesting, and intriguing. I mean, I have to admit, I never would have imagined that a girl, as pretty as you are, would have any liking for stars. All the pretty girls I met were only interested in one type of ‘stars’, that’s movie stars.” He moved closer to her, without her realizing it.

“Well, this pretty girl does like them.” She panned to his eyes quickly and shot her blue pupils at him with anger. It was like he hit a soft spot on her, causing her mind to defend her character.

“I didn’t mean to get you upset, I was just being honest,” he said in sincerity. She looked at him with calm eyes again, and then looked back at the heavens.

“It’s okay, I like it when a person’s honest with me. . . . Throughout my whole life, everyone I met has been honest to me, too honest, but in the wrong ways,” she explained. Stephen took off his sports coat and put it around her.

“How do you mean?”

Open up to him, please.

“You know . . . such as making fun of me . . . and saying mean things about my . . . looks. But, overall, they were actually telling me the truth. Nevertheless, you were being honest with me in a good way, and I’m not used to that. So, I apologize.” She felt like she was beginning to come closer to Stephen’s heart, and that terrified her.

“People used to make fun of your looks? Why did they do that?” He couldn’t believe her. “You’re beautiful!”

“Well, thank you, but I wasn’t always like this, Stephen. In the past, I used to have . . . well, I used to have a single pimple by my mouth.” Legend didn’t want to reveal her true past, so her inner soul caused her to lie, only to protect her true wish, and never allow it to be revealed. Her true image was still stuck in her mind, her ugliness. She didn’t want Stephen to know about it, but she still didn’t want to lie. So, she stretched the truth.

“You had a single pimple? That’s not bad at all. Let me tell you something, there was a girl, back at the model search, who had a mask of acne, and you’re complaining about a single pimple,” he explained. Legend’s eyes suddenly widened. “Now, that girl probably is made fun of on a daily basis. But, with one pimple, I’m sure that whoever made fun of you, was just jealous.”

“Well maybe that girl, with the acne, wasn’t made fun of at all. I mean, how do you know she was made fun of?” Legend knew her own reflection was that girl.

“Because her face was covered with it, I couldn’t even see her skin,” he laughed.

Legend looked at him with evil eyes.

“And you think that’s funny? I’m sure that girl was beautiful inside, but scumbags like you can’t see that.”

A blanket of confusion went over Stephen’s mind.

“What are you getting all defensive about? I’m sorry if I made you upset about that, but I was just being honest again,” he said with a hint of sadness. He still didn’t know any better.

“No, guys like you are too honest. You only look at beauty from the outside, and totally deny the inner part. If you see a girl who isn’t exactly pretty, you make fun of her, like you’re doing now. You see, Stephen, that’s why I didn’t want to go out with you, because I knew the way you were,” Legend yelled. Her anger grew with each word she spoke. “And I never want to go out with you – you’re a pig.” Stephen’s eyes showed confusion toward her. She automatically stopped her yelling and looked into his undefined eyes. Legend saw she was too defending toward him, because he was laughing at a girl who really was Legend, but he didn’t know, and she knew that.