December 2016

"Just a little blotting and you'll be done," the makeup girl said as she brushed powder on Callie's face. 

Callie was sitting in the makeup chair for a photo shoot. Jared was immediately to her left, staring at his phone as s hair stylist worked on his beard. He'd hardly said a word to her since he arrived half an hour beforehand, but she figured it was because it was 5 in the morning and he wasn't a morning person. 

She closed her eyes as the makeup artist blotted her face with several thin sheets of tissue before spraying it with a setting mist. 

"Let that dry and you can go get dressed," the young woman said. 

"Thanks," Callie said. 

She waited for a several minutes until her face dried before standing. 

"Hey guys," an assistant said, popping his head into the small trailer. "We've got about forty-five minutes before the light, so if we could hurry things up a bit, that would be great."

Callie took that as her cue to move on and left the trailer. The December air was cool against her freshly made-up face. They were in the desert just outside of Palm Springs doing a photo shoot for Vanity Fair. The Golden Globe nominations had come out and both of them were nominated so the magazine was doing a feature on them both. 

She walked across the small corral of trailers to the one labeled "clothing". The wardrobe guy greeted her warmly. 

"Good morning, Callie," he smiled. "So I'm not sure if Julie filled you in on the concept, but we're going for an elegance-meets-rugged-nature vibe." he walked over to a rack of clothes with her name on it. "So we've got a lot of ballgowns, tulle, lace, very feminine stuff. Lots of blacks and browns as well. But this blush dress -," he pulled a flowing dress with thin spaghetti straps out for her to see. "Has to be featured. Its a Vera Wang and she's expecting a feature. We're doing it last. You can pick a few things you like and then we'll head over to your trailer to get dressed for first looks."

Callie nodded and perused the racks. A lot of the dresses were harsh blacks and navy blues. She spotted a couple chocolate brown ones, as well. "Don't stylists usually go through all this for us?" she asked, looking at a long sleeved black lace dress that had caught her eye. 

"Our stylist already preselected everything. We're happy with whatever you choose," the assistant told her. "Most of Jared's outfits are suits or button downs and trousers, so they'll go with anything you pick. Take whatever you feel comfortable with."

"Sweet," she smiled. Her morning just got a bit brighter. 

Normally for photo shoots, the stylists would pick everything for her based on what her agent said. But this time she felt like she actually had control over her own image and it was the most exhilarating thing. She went to work, selecting dresses, adding the black lace one she'd fallen in love with alongside two different navy blue dresses, the blush Vera Wang, and a really stunning Elie Saab haute couture in a deep Tyrian purple. 

"Great, I'll have these brought over to your trailer with the shoes," he told her, taking the dresses and hanging them on an empty rack. 

Callie adjusted her hair off of her shoulder and walked out into the desert air. It was dry and smelled strongly of nature. They had set up camp in an open area of the desert with the mountains off in the distance. Smaller rock formations were nearby and the landscape was occasionally punctuated by a palm tree or cactus here or there. A few small shrubs peeked out from the sandy, rocky soil. 

She found her trailer and pulled the door open. The heat was on and she was grateful for it after the cool air outside. All of the dresses she'd picked we short sleeve or sleeveless except for the black one. She wanted to soak up as much heat as possible before she had to go outside again. She could see several photographer assistants setting up the area for their first part of the shoot through one of the trailer windows. 

They had set up two well worn wooden chairs in front of several different lights. The contrast of the light against the darkness hurt her eyes and she had to look away. A knock came on the trailer door and she sat on the long sofa in front of the bay of windows. 

"Yeah?" she called. 

"Its Kelton with wardrobe," the male voice called back. 

"Come in," she replied. 

He came in, climbing the few steps to get inside the door. "Brr," she said, shuddering. "Its cold as hell out there." He hung the dresses on a clothing rack in the center of the floor. "Hair wants to do a final touch up once we get you in your first look, so whenever you're ready, I can help you."

"Great," Callie smiled, standing. "Which one are we doing first?"

"The Vera Wang, just to get it out of the way. These are supposed to be our cover shots first," he explained. "After that, we'll spend a couple hours doing a few other looks."

"Sounds good," she replied. 

Together, she and Kelton got the elaborate gown on. As she looked at herself in the mirror, Callie didn't recognize who looked back at her. Her hair was straightened and pulled back in a loose bun and a few tendrils of hair were framing her face. She was toned and the dress fit her perfectly, as if it was designed specifically for her. She actually felt like a celebrity was looking back at her. 

"As I hoped, it fits like a glove," Kelton said, adjusting a few pieces of fabric here and there. "It'll do very nicely."

A knock came at the door and it opened before Callie could respond. " They're ready for you, Callie," an assistant said, poking her head inside. 

"That's our cue," Kelton smiled at her. 

He handed her a heavy coat and she wrapped it around herself, careful not to crush the delicate flowers along the straps of the dress. As she made her way outside, Callie felt like the chilly air sucked the breath from her lungs. She gasped when she had to remove her coat in front of the camera. 

"Alright, Callie," the photographer said. "I know its chilly, but we're going for calm, cool, collected. Ethereal. Peaceful," he explained. "We'll try to get this done as quickly as possible, When the sun comes up in a couple hours, it'll definitely warm up."

Callie nodded, her teeth chattering as a gust of wind blew through. She could see Jared walking toward her with an entourage of people around him. 

"Alright, just a few test shots then we'll get going," the photographer said. "Jared, could I have you in the chair on the right, Callie, sit in the chair on the left." They moved to sit down. "And Callie could you cheat just a hair to the right." The photographer looked through his camera and snapped a few test shots as the hair, makeup, and wardrobe teams made final adjustments. "Great. Looks awesome," he said. 

Callie tried to hide the chattering and shaking. The lights let of a little heat, but the wind blew it away before it could reach her. She envied all of the crew with their thick coats. 

"Alright, think sophisticated, elegant, tall and strong," the photographer called. "Callie I need you to look straight at camera. Jared, cheat your jawline just slightly to the left!"

Callie made miniscule adjustments to her position as the photographer asked. She couldn't help but feel stiff and self conscious. Jared, on the other hand, seemed like a natural. He moved with ease and had no problem relaxing into the shoot. By the time they were done thirty minutes later, Callie was thoroughly frozen.

"Alright, thank you so much," the photographer said. "Let's get changed for second looks, please!"

Callie could barely feel her fingers anymore. She relied on Kelton to help her over to her trailer and out of the dress. After a few minutes, she regained feeling and stopped shaking, but she was sent back outside again, this time in the black lace dress. The assistants positioned her and Jared on a rock formation. Jared took to it naturally, but she struggled to relax. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, lightening the sky to a soft pink.

"Jared, could you get closer to Callie, please?" the photographer called. "We're selling romance, so I need to believe it."

Without a word, Jared shifted closer to her and put his arm around her waist. She turned to him, grateful for the heat from his body. 

"Jesus, you must be freezing," he remarked, looking over at her. 

"Only a little," she managed, her teeth chattering. 

"That's good! Keep it up!" the photographer called as he snapped away. 

"How do you do it?" she asked.

He smiled. "I think warm thoughts."

"Easy for you to say. You're in a fucking suit. With layers," she said enviously as she shook a few tendrils of hair out of her face. 

"All that matters is that it looks fantastic at the end. It doesn't matter if you freeze your ass off while doing it; they just want a good shot for the final result," he told her. "And the sooner you give them what they think they want, the sooner you get finished," he added with a chuckle. 

Callie took his words heart and started trying different things. She relaxed more and sure enough, they moved through looks much faster. By the time the sun had risen for the day and the heat had begun to increase, they were wrapping up their last few shots and packing up. Though she hated to see the luxurious dresses go, Callie was happy to feel the warmth return to her body as she dressed in her trailer. As she waited for a car to arrive to take her back to the city, Jared appeared next to her in an oversized straw hat and sunglasses. 

"You did great today," he told her. 

She scoffed. "Yeah, sure."

"I mean it," he said, sliding his sunglasses down to look at her. "They're going to have some awesome shots and the cover is going to look fantastic. Its great press for the film. Just remember that when you do your interview for this piece. Stay loose and be relatable."

"Is this what its always like?" she asked. "Early photo shoots, crazy clothes that cost more than what I make in a year, interviews - all that?"

Jared shrugged. "Yes. And no. Its also about the experience of making the film - learning about the characters you play, finding out more about yourself than you ever thought you would, meeting people from all walks of life and knowing that each shot you are in for a film had hundreds of people working on it before you even stepped onto set."

Two cars pulled onto the set and parked in front of them. 

"I guess that's our cue," she said. 

"See you next time," Jared told her, opening the back door. 

Callie smiled and got into her own car, feeling exhaustion start to set in. She checked her phone and closed her eyes with a sigh. A reminder from her calendar popped up on the screen.

Christmas W/Chris

She hadn't even started her Christmas shopping yet and she had a week to go. 

"Hey, do you think you could drop me off somewhere different?" she asked the driver, pushing the exhaustion back down. "And could we stop for coffee?" she added. 

"Of course," the driver replied. "Anywhere specific?"

Shannon's face immediately jumped to mind when she thought of coffee. She wondered what he'd be doing in a week on Christmas Day, and if he'd be alone in Seattle. 

"Not really. Just a place where I can get good coffee," she said. 

There would be time enough to worry about him later. Right now, she needed to figure out what gifts to buy.