“Who cares what I look like? I’m behind the scenes, remember?”
“Being behind a camera is no excuse to disappear.” BamBam shrugged and picked up her dark-brown eyebrow pencil.
Ouch.What was with everyone today? Just because I wasn’t out there in flashing lights didn’t mean that I was hiding. I wanted to let my work speak for itself. And it would, when it was good enough.
“I’m not disappearing. I’m letting my work do the talking.”
BamBam snorted as if this was the most ridiculous thing she’d heard all week. “Well, you gotta take credit for the videos if you want your work to speak.”
Okay, that part I didn’t have an argument for. Yet. “I’m not—”
BamBam arched an eyebrow, as if daring me to come up withan explanation that she couldn’t put holes in. I shut my mouth. A few heartbeats later, her face relaxed into a smile. “Plus, if I’m gonna start doing going-out videos, I’ve got to practice going-out makeup. Who knows? Maybe you’ll like those videos enough to put your name on them? Or at least let me say ‘videos by my grandbaby’ in my bios, like the other granfluencers. Gregory brags about that all the time.”
“Fine. You can do my makeup.” I fought the urge to point out that Gregory was referencing his drag grandchildren, of which he had half a dozen, so of course he was constantly praising and working with them. His biological grandkid was nine and therefore not helping with anything, unlike me. I sighed and added, “But only because you need to practice. And I’m picking my own outfit. I’m on vacation from any and all dress codes, too.”
“You are gonna be so cute!” BamBam said, jumping up from her chair and pulling me toward my suitcase. “I won’t tell you what to wear, but let’s see what you’ve got in here.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“See what a bit ofmascara can do?” BamBam beamed over at me as I checked my appearance in the elevator’s mirrored walls. She laughed and came to stand next to me, pulling out her phone and striking a pose so the two of us could take a picture. Holding out the phone, she said, “Your parents will love this.”
“Nice work.” I smiled up at her. She was getting better at doing stuff like not taking photos at bizarre upward angles, which was good. It meant I wouldn’t have to worry about her as much when I went to college next year.
“I love that dress on you, BamBam.”
“I look good, right? I do wish they had it in pink or something, but the black is alright.” BamBam grinned, giving the calf-length, form-fitting beaded dress a shimmy. It had modern flapper vibes, which BamBam played up with a cute little headband and long pearl necklaces. “I still can’t believe Lady andHouse sent me something from next season’s collection. I feel like I’m officially a celebrity. My wardrobe is ahead of the trend.”
“I can. Lady and House knows you’re a badass.” I smiled. “I’d want to give you early access, too.”
The elevator dinged right as BamBam reached out to give me a quick hug and a kiss on the side of my head. Keeping her arm wrapped around my shoulders, she steered us off the elevator, smoothing my carefully revived curls back into place as the sound of a party in full swing washed over us.
“Hello,” said a broad-shouldered bouncer with an extremely slick ponytail and an even slicker suit. “Welcome to the TrendCon mixer. I’ll need your names, please.”
“Of course. I’m Eugenia Webb from Ms. Mini’s Makeup Counter, and this is my assistant, Jamie,” BamBam said, instantly flipping into Mini’s honied voice. I knew why BamBam called me her assistant. Sayingdirectororproducerwould’ve seemed ridiculous. After all, what seventeen-year-old was a director? Still, the title irked me. BamBam kept her own calendar, answered her own emails, and got her own coffee. Usually. Okay, sometimes I got coffee, too, but that wasn’t my main job and she knew it.
“Right.” The bouncer began tapping away on a tablet, not missing a beat. After a few more taps, they said, “Here you are. Thank you both for joining us. If you could hold out your right wrist, please.
“This one will let you order alcohol at the bar if you would like,” the bouncer said, snapping a bright-orange bracelet around BamBam’s wrist. Taking my wrist, they snapped a dark-greenband on it, then scowled at me. “And this one will only get you a Coke. Don’t even try to swap. Got it?”
A tiny part of me thought about pointing out that I was with my grandma, and as a compulsive rule follower, there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in the desert that I was ever going to try swapping, but then I realized that the bouncer was big enough to tear me in half and thought the better of talking back.
I nodded. “Got it.”
The bouncer’s face relaxed again. “Alright, you two have fun. Don’t forget to pick up your VIP goody bags on the way out.”
“Thank you,” BamBam and I said at the same time. Glancing at each other, we giggled as we walked past the bouncer and around the corner, then froze.
“Oh wow.” My voice felt small next to the view from the roof. The city spread out in front of us, sparkling like stars in a clear sky. The lights from The Strip gave the night an endless quality, making everything feel limitless and full of possibilities. It was stunning.
“That is something else.” BamBam whistled low. Peering down at me, she winked, then squeezed my hand. “Come on, kiddo, let’s have some fun.”
With that, we stepped into the party. A DJ was situated on one side of the terrace, lit up by a bunch of blue and purple lights. On the other side was the bar. In between was the pool, also lit up with blue lights and surrounded by white couches and red chairs that wobbled like eggs.
“There’s Myra. Let’s go say hello.” BamBam waved at a woman with streaked black-and-gray hair. I’d never met Myra,but I knew she reviewed BamBam’s contracts. Listening to a conversation between the two of them sounded about as interesting as watching paint dry.
“Actually, if it’s okay, I want to look for Sterling and ask Nittha to borrow her lights.”
“Alright, but don’t leave the party without telling me.”
