Page 21 of Her Dark Angel

I look up from the coffee in my hand to see Wesley jogging toward me. His plain brown hair is neatly styled behind his ears with too much gel, and his lips are curved up into a smile. I try to return his smile, but there is too much on my mind right now to add my coworker to the mix.

“Wesley,” I say in greeting. “Is everything okay?”

We didn’t have any scenes to shoot together today since the director wanted to focus on my character’s scenes with her two best friends and thankfully, none of them included Wesley. With the music award show tonight on my mind, the last thing I wanted to do was spend an entire day with him.

“Yeah, everything is fine.” He puts his hands on his jean-clad hips and smiles down at me. “I was sad to learn we didn’t have any scenes to shoot together today. I missed having you by my side.”

I cringe internally at his words. If only he knew I didn’t feel the same way.

“Yeah, unfortunate, right…” I clear my throat and shift my feet on the spot, eager to get out of the tight-fitting clothes Cindy put me in. “Is there anything you need or…? It’s just that I have an event tonight I need to go get ready for.”

Wesley’s face falls at my words and he looks down at his shoes. “Oh. Well, that’s okay. I just wanted to ask if you would like to get dinner with me tonight, but if you already have plans that’s fine.”

Except, it’s not fine. I hear the disappointment in his voice. While it’s not my problem he’s feeling down, there is a little part inside of me that feels bad for consistently having to shut down his advances because I’m not interested. I’m not openly telling him I’m not interested because I don’t want to ruin the vibe on set while filming, so that’s on me.

“It’s okay.” I try to put on a fake smile, but even I can tell I must look insane without having to see my face. “Maybe another time, okay?”

That seems to lift his spirits because a smile returns to his lips and his brown eyes are slightly lighter than they were moments ago. “Really? Okay, great! I’ll hold you to that promise.”

Why can’t I just tell this man I’m not interested instead of making this situation more difficult for me down the track?

“Great…”

“Where are you going tonight, anyway?”

I clear my throat. I don’t want to tell him too much because Adam was adamant about not ruining the surprise reveal. “Just an event. Nothing special.”

“Well, I’m sure it’ll be good, and you’ll look as beautiful as you always do.”

“Yeah, thanks,” I reply awkwardly, not knowing what to say. Normally, a man complimenting a woman like that would give them butterflies and chills. But not me. I feel nothing. “Anyway, I should get going. But I’ll see you on Monday.”

“Can’t wait!” Wesley gives me his best seductive smile before he turns and walks toward his dressing room down the corridor.

When he’s out of sight, I release a long breath and close my eyes. I know I need to put a pin in this before it explodes in my face, but I can’t bring myself to do it. The movie is close to being done so I don’t see the point in making things awkward between us.

“Cindy, is all this makeup really necessary?”

Another swipe of makeup across my cheeks makes me cringe. I hate wearing lots of makeup even though it’s part of my job. It makes me feel uncomfortable in my own skin. The products feel heavy and unnatural. I would prefer to wear something lighter, but Cindy insists I need more because it’ll look better in photographs.

I have no reason not to trust her because she’s the expert.

“Trust me, Kin. Once I’m done with you, you’re going to look more stunning than you already are.”

I bite back a smile at her words. God, this woman is too kind to me.

Cindy has been my stylist since I was eighteen. My parents wanted me to hire one stylist to follow me from one project to the next, and after going through an extensive hiring process with lots of qualified candidates, Cindy was the one who stuck out to me the most. Not only is she a caring and kind person, but her skills were the best out of the pool of applicants. I knew deep in my heart she was the right person to hire, despite my parents’ objections to wanting me to hire someone closer in age to me.

Even after all these years of working together, I know I made the right choice by bringing this woman into my life. She has shown me what a mother figure truly is because I never got that with my mother growing up. While my mother was obsessed with my appearance and what jobs I booked, Cindy taught me how to cook when my parents weren’t home and we would go out to eat and shop. My mother would never do that. She hates cooking, even more than my father, and refuses to go to shopping malls because she can’t stand being in large crowds and is afraid of getting sick.

Cindy is the person I go to when I’m feeling down or need advice. She never hesitates to help me with anything and has proven time and time again over the years she is willing to drop everything for me if I need her. It’s more than my own mother can say.

“I trust you,” I say slowly so as not to mess up whatever it is she is doing. “How long until I need to leave?”

Cindy pauses what she is doing before saying, “Nash should be here in ten minutes. Which means we need to get you into your dress.”

After another minute of messing with my face, Cindy walks with me to my closet and helps me get into the dress she picked out for me this morning. It’s a black off-the-shoulder dress with ruffles from one side to the other, running over my chest. I couldn’t have picked a better dress myself.

“It’s perfect,” I say, smiling at Cindy through the full-length as she admires me from over my shoulder. She fluffs out the curls framing my face, adding volume to the hair. Thankfully, the makeup isn’t too heavy on my skin as I had thought and complements the dress perfectly.

---