Devilish Laugh
The photoshoot in the subway was pretty fun. After the previous photoshoot, Helen didn’t believe Trevor could have more poses up his sleeve, but miraculously, he did. He did these crazy shots with Helen standing on one platform while Mark stood on the opposite one and the train sped between them. At least, that was what Trevor said they would look like once he was finished with them.
Helen and Mark spoke briefly before Trevor started taking pictures.
“How are you feeling?” Mark asked gently.
Helen looked him up and down. He was wearing the same clothes he had worn for the shoot the day before. So was she. He still looked absolutely mouth-watering and Helen was positive she was right to do what she could to try to win Mark even though her shoulders ached. Essentially, she’d worked from early morning and all day to try to make herself ready—not for the photoshoot—for him. He couldn't even see everything she'd done since she was wearing the wig. Some of it was visible anyway, but it didn't seem like he noticed. Well, he would notice.
She pouted her lips and glanced at his face again before returning to her water. “It’s a little cold down here,” she said, touching her bare shoulder with her fingertips.
“Do you want a coat?” he asked considerately.
“No,” she said, even though she had goosebumps. “We have to get to work. Are you ready?” The playful look she gave him wasn’t lost on him as he joined her in front of the camera lens.
For these shots, they weren’t posed so closely together and very few of the shots required Mark and Helen to touch each other. She had to use every ounce of her charisma to make herself blush like she was the luckiest girl in the world when she wanted to stare Mark down like a stalker.
By the end of the shoot, Trevor was congratulating both of them on a hard day’s work. He took fewer shots than he had the day before. “I’m pretty sure I got what I wanted,” he said lightly, but Helen could tell he was about to fall on his face from sheer exhaustion.
She bit her lip to make it look plumper and touched Trevor on the shoulder. “Are you feeling alright?” she asked in her most delicate little-girl voice.
“Yeah,” he said, forcing himself to perk up. “I just had a really long meeting with Collin this afternoon and I’m fried.”
“He didn’t get out of it until it was time to start setting up here,” Mark said between tight lips. “So, we’re finished?”
“We’re finished,” Trevor yawned. “You two can get changed.”
Helen took Mark’s hand and led him up the escalator. Their trailer was above ground. She slid her arm around his waist and, by doing so, practically got into his coat with him.
“So, we didn’t break up this afternoon?” Mark asked, sounding like something was still wrong.
“Did you think we had?” she asked, looking deeply into his eyes.
“Well, I made you sad… or mad… or…” Mark stuttered. He couldn’t help it; Helen was playing with his hair and intentionally blowing in his ear.
“Bad?” she asked quietly. Then she stepped off the escalator. She couldn’t believe it when he stumbled. “Come on,” she said, pulling on his hand. “I want to get changed.”
When they got into the trailer, Helen got behind the Chinese screen and started stripping. She was very uncomfortable, but she pulled it off as best she could. She draped her shirt over the edge and started talking.
“Mark, we may have had an argument this morning, but that’s all in the past now. I thought about what you said and I think you have a good point.”
“Do you?”
“Yeah,” she said, while she zipped up a pair of Mindy’s black pants. “A girl wants to be treated like a princess, so why shouldn’t she look like one if that’s what she wants?" Helen slipped a shiny black tank top over her head. “You know?” she said as she came out from behind the screen.
Mark reached for her, but she walked right past him to her dressing table. “I want to take off my wig,” she said.
“Ah, but of course,” Mark said, like at least something she said was starting to make sense. He started unlacing his boots.
Helen had to be very careful as she took off her wig. She didn’t want to upset what was underneath. Of all the things Helen had done that afternoon to try to get ready to be Vera all the time, one of them had been the hardest. She had gotten extensions. When she took off her wig, she had long straight honey-colored strands that were really attached to her head. Mark liked long hair, so she was giving him long hair. She picked up a brush and started smoothing it.
“Is that another wig?” Mark asked. He had gotten up and was standing beside her.
“No. This is my hair now. What do you think?”
“It looks good,” Mark said, twirling a strand between his fingers. His eyebrows were pulled together and he was clearly confused.
Helen shrugged her shoulders like she didn’t care what he thought and started putting on her jewelry. She put on two silver hoop earrings, thick silver rings, and three hoop bracelets. Then she grabbed a little red cardigan and put it on to cover her shoulders.
“Are you going to get changed?” she asked looking at his clothes. “Mindy left already, so I was hoping you could give me a ride home.”
“What are you playing at?” he asked, looking at her like he was more worried about her than enchanted.
“I told you already. You said you liked the way I looked when I dressed up, so I’m trying it out, okay? Does it make you like me better to see me dressed like this?”
“So, this is for my benefit?”
“It’s for mine,” she said briefly. She was about to say more, when Mark suddenly bent down and kissed her. His hands were all over her and his lips and breath were so hot. It was everything she wanted. She needed him to feel the same way about her that she felt about him. His hands were on her back and he crushed the fabric of her shirt in his fists. Her knees were buckling. She felt so weak; like she might faint or fall on the floor. The trailer around them was becoming dark.
In the end, she had to pull away from him before she blacked out.
“What’s wrong?”
Helen didn’t know what to say, so she stumbled over to her bag and took out her shoes. “You’re really hot,” she said. “It’s sort of too much for me right now. I think I need to get some air. We can pick up here after I’ve got control of myself.”
“That’s supposed to be my line after I do something uncalled for and you shove me off,” Mark said as he reached for her again.
“I’ll just be a minute,” she said, evading him.
“Wait,” Mark begged as she slipped out of the trailer and stood on the empty city street.
“Just two breaths,” she promised. Then she closed the door between them. It delighted her that he looked disappointed.
Helen took two heavy breaths, but she didn’t feel refreshed. What was she going to do? She wasn’t confident she could keep herself conscious and if she couldn’t even kiss him for thirty seconds, how was she going to fare when they got further along? And he was so intense. She'd had better control of the situation on New Year's Eve.
She lazily made her way down the three steps that led to the trailer, thinking.
“Vera, is that you?” a voice suddenly came out of the darkness. Helen’s head swung around. “Who’s there?”
“Nothing to fear,” the smooth voice continued as Dominic stepped into the light of the trailer. “It’s just me.”
“What do you want?” she asked crossly.
“I wanted to thank you for your help. My sister is all set up now, so there is nothing to worry about.”
“She's not with Mark… or Trevor,” Helen squeaked.
“If only either of those guys had anything to do with the real plan,” he drawled as he took a slow drag from his cigarette. He looked ghastly in the weird yellow light from the trailer. His hair and skin were so pale and his eyes shone out through his red glasses. “She was only trying to get Collin to the altar and so now that she’s won him, I’m finally free.”