If Mark had a crystal ball that let him see the future, his prediction of how the day was going to go couldn’t have been more accurate. Everything happened exactly the way he said it would. It started out easy. Alexander was in the coffee shop and she was standing outside, so because they weren’t near each other, Helen couldn’t do anything to offend him. However, once they moved onto the next series of poses, she couldn’t do anything right according to Alexander. She did what Trevor told her to do, but apparently, her ‘interpretations’ of Trevor’s instructions were all wrong. It went something like the following:
Trevor would say something like, “Alexander, put your forearm against the wall and lean into Vera. Take your right hand and take a strand of Vera’s hair between your fingers, but don’t let go of the cell phone. Got it? Now Helen, let Alexander pin you against the wall and look at him like he’s your entire world. Hold your cell phone to your heart with your left hand and… bite your lip.”
Helen would put her hand to her heart (cell phone in tow), bite her lip and try to look at Alexander like she was a blushing girl with all kinds of hopes tied to Alexander. She would even begin to feel her cheeks get warm when suddenly—
Alexander would pounce on her. He would look directly into her eyes and then he would say something like, “Trevor, I’m just not getting the feeling like I’m her entire world.”
“Shut up and look pretty,” Trevor would say caustically and the flash from his camera would start going off like mad.
Alexander would break pose and move away from Helen while exclaiming something along the lines of, “This just isn’t working. I’m not getting the vibe from her that Collin described in the meeting. She’s not working with me.”
Then Helen’s cheeks would flush for real and she would find herself saying something like, “Come on, Alexander, and let me try again." But it didn’t really matter what she said or how hard she tried, Alexander just kept right on saying she wasn’t doing it right and she wasn’t easy to work with.
At around ten thirty he stormed off to the trailer almost screaming, “She’s just NOT model material.”
At a moment like that, Helen half expected herself to burst into tears, but she couldn’t help but feel like Alexander’s temper tantrum had nothing to do with her. He was just a freaking brat! Either that, or Dominic told him he had to make things as difficult as possible in order to discredit her. Yeah, she could see Dominic doing something like that. It was just like him. But, that would mean a partial loss of Alexander’s reputation. Was Dominic really willing to sacrifice something that important just to spurn her?
And where was the devil in that critical moment?
Helen spotted him approaching the trailer. He didn’t quite make it to the steps before Trevor got to him and reproached him. Helen couldn’t hear their conversation, but it was clear that Dominic was getting told off. Helen had never seen Dominic cowed by anyone and apparently ‘scary’ Trevor didn’t intimidate him either. He never lost his composure. In a cool attempt at collaboration, they ended up going to talk to Alexander together.
After the door closed, Mark came up to Helen and slipped his fingers around hers as subtly as possible. Helen doubted anyone noticed. Both of them were standing ramrod straight.
“I wasn’t that bad, was I?” she asked, trying hard to keep the venom out of her voice.
Mark rolled his eyes. “I don’t know. You looked good to me and Trevor didn’t say anything before he started snapping off pictures. He would have said something if he didn’t find your poses satisfactory. I don’t think you did anything wrong, but this is crazy. We're already halfway through the morning and haven’t even finished the second series of poses. The more time Alexander spends in his trailer, the less time you have to work on the coffee shop series. We weren’t going to come back here tomorrow.”
“Oh, yeah, tomorrow we are taking pictures in the subway, right?” Mark nodded.
“Well, since Alexander’s in the trailer, can I sit down for a few minutes?” Helen asked.
“Probably, since Trevor’s in there, too.”
Mark found her a folding chair and sat her down. Then to her immense surprise, he stood behind her and started rubbing her shoulders. And of course, every muscle in her body seized. Did he really have to do that in public?
“Don’t tense up,” Mark rebuked.
“But—”
“But nothing. I’m your agent and in a situation like this, I think you need something to help you relax.”
Helen tried to do what Mark said. No one was looking at her funny or even really noticing what she and Mark were doing. Trevor’s crew had all gotten themselves drinks and were mellowing on equipment carriers. Collin was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Laura. A few minutes after Trevor and Dominic went into the trailer; Mindy and the other makeup artist were shooed out.
Mindy came over to Mark and Helen with a frown the size of an upside-down row boat. “Whoa,” she said, “That guy is really something else. Isn’t he?”
“Did he say anything to you?” Mark asked.
“No,” Mindy said, “but I was having a serious conversation with Sapphira about makeup and he comes trouncing in… argh!”
“Well, she’s right over there,” Mark said, pointing to Alexander’s makeup artist. “And they might not be out of the trailer for a while. You might get more time to talk out here.”
“Of course I was going to go talk to her,” Mindy said, sounding offended that Mark pointed out something so obvious to her. “I just wanted to come see how Vera was holding up.”
“I’m fine,” Helen said earnestly. “I just hope Trevor isn’t disappointed with me.”
“Well, he’s not out here explaining how you’re the screw-up, now is he?” Mindy reminded her before saying to Mark snottily, “And Mark, if you want to be alone with Vera all you have to say is ‘scram.’ Okay? It’s not like I’m her mother." Then she stalked away to go stand by Sapphira.
Mark kept on rubbing Helen’s shoulders, but she was pointed toward the door to the trailer and couldn’t stop worrying about what was happening inside. Was Alexander really being chewed out?
The minutes seemed to be going very slowly as the sun rose higher and higher in the sky. Soon it was past eleven and lunch was scheduled for noon. Mark got Helen a bottle of water and a couple of guys from Trevor’s crew went for a cigarette break. It was eleven-thirty and the door still hadn’t opened.
Finally, at a quarter to twelve, Trevor came out of the trailer. His eyes looked dark and angry. He came over to Helen and Mark. “Where’s Collin?” he asked briskly.
“I don’t know. He hasn’t been back since you went in,” Mark said.
“Whatever,” Trevor said grouchily as he took his cell phone out of his pocket and started dialing. Then he moved away from them and over to his camera.
“Stay here,” Mark said as he followed him.
Soon Trevor was surrounded by a small cluster of people, but Helen didn’t see if he got Collin on the phone or not. Her attention was distracted by Alexander coming out of the trailer. He was wearing his own clothes and Dominic was following after him quickly with his cell phone pinned to his ear. It sounded like he was arranging for a car to pick them up. Alexander didn’t look at Helen or anyone else as he left the set. He merely covered his eyes with a pair of dark sunglasses and disappeared behind the fans.
Helen would have loved to go have a chat with Dominic at that moment, but he was clearly not in the mood to hear how wrong he was. If Trevor looked like a thunder cloud when he came out of the trailer, Dominic looked like a typhoon—the kind with shrapnel in the wind. Despite a perfectly healthy Alexander walking in front of him, Dominic looked like he had just committed murder, infuriated beyond understanding. Helen would have loved to talk to him.
Mark came back over to Helen and explained, “Obviously, Alexander has refused to model.”
“With me?” Helen asked carefully. “He doesn’t mind doing the photoshoot, but just not with me, right?”
Mark ran a hand through his hair. It was obvious he desperately didn’t want to answer that question. “That isn’t what Trevor said, but the photoshoot has been put on hiatus for the time being. I guess we’ll be back in the office tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Helen said slowly. She was still absorbing Alexander’s rejection and deciding how she was going to deal with it. Once again, she thought she was in a situation where she would normally want to cry, but she didn’t. Who cared if Alexander didn’t like her? He was so bratty not even Dominic could reel him in.
“They were going to have a catered lunch here, but I think everyone would understand if you and I didn’t stay for it. Can I take you for lunch and dinner?”
“You’re just trying to make me feel better.”
“Yeah, and if we don’t get out of here quickly, I’m going to fail.”