Getting the car into the right place this time had taken more effort as the sand was soft. The art department ran around meticulously cleaning every grain off the car and wiping away the tread marks in the sand. Another outfit was chosen for Cindy, this time it was even smaller and tighter than the previous one.
She really looked like she was putting extra effort into it after the yelling Giovanni had given her. She leaned backwards over the bonnet like she was about to snap her spine in half. She bent and twisted herself like a double-jointed pretzel and pouted and posed her heart out, but still, it wasn’t enough.
“Roll in the sand!” Giovanni stopped shooting and pointed at Cindy.
“Sorry, what?” she asked.
“Stop looking so beautiful. It’s boring. So pedestrian. Like this.” And then he threw himself onto the hot, red sand and rolled. We all watched in jaw-dropping shock as he wiggled his body in the sand and then jumped up covered in the stuff.
“Such a creative genius,” I heard Angie mumble and turned. Was she kidding? What was with these people? The guy reminded me of one of those ridiculous artists that spray-painted bananas, hung them on a wall as conceptual art and tried to sell them to people for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“Genius,” she whispered again sounding like she was in awe.
“And so hot,” Becks added quickly as they both watched him roll.
I tried to stifle a laugh as Ben looked over at me and gave a tiny headshake. This man was truly ridiculous. Cindy looked at him in total horror as she slowly dropped to her knees in the sand and started rubbing it on herself.
“Okay,” Ben jumped in stopping the circus, “Maybe it’s time for another break.” I glanced over at the client who looked disappointed, as if he was waiting for a half-naked model to roll on the ground like she was mud wrestling.
I walked away and pulled my phone out, this was way,waytoo good not to share with someone who would appreciate it. So I typed a message to JJ.
Sera: This photographer is a total nutcase. He’s trying to be all deep and angsty and artsy-fartsy and make the model roll around in the dirty sand so she won’t be so “beautiful”.
JJ: Oh God. He’s one of those.
Sera: According to him beauty is pedestrian.
JJ: Hahah. But is he hot? Those types usually are.
Sera: So hot!
As I was typing a suspicious head-shaped shadow fell over my hands.
“Who’s hot?” Ben’s voice startled me and I jumped in fright.
“Are you reading my messages now too?” I quickly put my phone behind my back.
“Not intentionally. I was coming to say ‘Hi’ and just happened to read it by accident.”
“Really? I doubt that,” I said trying to lock my phone screen behind my back.
“So who’s hot?” he asked with that devastating smile that causes your legs to start spreading automatically.
“I wasn’t talking about you, by the way. In case your giant ego thought that.” There must have been something in my tone that made that sound serious because Ben’s smile suddenly faltered and he looked at me curiously.
“Oh. I see.” He folded his arms. “So who do you think is so hot that you feel it necessary to message someone about it?”
“Uh . . . um, I . . .” I stumbled over my words as my mouth went dry, and it wasn’t from dehydration.
“Wow. It really is someone else.” Ben unfolded his arms and put them on his hips in a challenging fashion.
“Excuse me,” I said sarcastically, “it’s not like I’m not allowed to look at anyone else, I mean, you’re basically petting the hot model over there when she’s upset and batting her eye lashes.”
“Oh. So that’s what this is about?” He took a step closer to me and I backed away.
“No. This isn’t about anything. It’s just, just . . .hey, what are you doing anyway? We agreed to keep this professional.”
Ben took a big step forward before I had a chance to move away. “Sera, how about we be completely fucking honest with each other, for once.” His voice took on a harsh quality and I’d never heard him use that tone before. “Let’s stop beating round the bush here and couching everything in unsubtle innuendos and sexting. Sure, it’s really fun, but at some stage we need to seriously face the facts.”
