Page 41 of Hot Set

With that, I went ahead and set up shop, checking my brushes and pigments as always. Absentmindedly, I stroked the palm of my hand with a highlighter brush, letting the silky bristles caress my skin. I would have to downsize for D.C. I wouldn’t have any use for this bulky make-up kit anyway. The only reason I still had it was because I’d helped in the occasional theatrical production, and all the make-up had been too expensive simply to throw out. And now, it had been replenished with new and expensive make-up, to look good on camera.

“So, what’s with the make-up today?” I asked, trying to distract myself.

“Brandon thought it would be more theatrical if the zombies attacked a ballet company. All the mirrors, you know,” Bioncia said, “So we really have an opportunity to do some new things. Finally, some fantasy make-up that isn’t all blood and gore. If I had it my way, I’d have everyone looking like this.”

Bioncia gestured to Celeste, now airbrushed with a silvery sheen. I took a few seconds to admire how Bioncia had blended the blue eyeshadow with the white, layering it on thick. It looked like too much make-up, but I knew the camera would flatten it out. Bioncia seemed to have a perfect sense forjusthow much pigment to apply. Despite my best efforts, I still wasn’t there.

“Even me?”

I shivered at the voice behind me. It was so pleasant and warm, the effect seemingly magnified by all the butterflies twisting in my belly.

“I don’t see why not,” Bioncia said. “As long are you’re paying for the airbrush spray.”

When I turned to look at Brandon, his smile seemed to falter for just an instant, but it snapped back just as quickly. “I’ll buy you a whole truck of it if you want,” Brandon said. “I can have a cameo—like Hitchcock does inhisfilms.”

I’d never seen a Hitchcock film in my life, but I didn’t mention that. It was one of those things that I probablyshouldhave had exposure to, likeStar Wars, which I’d also never seen.

“Except peopleknowHitchcock,” me trying to be funny.

“Hey, Alex,” Brandon said, graciously overlooking the jab.

“The FBI called,” I said. “I got the job.”

And as expected, Brandon looked like it was the best news he’d gotten all week. He was happy for me. My stomach churned. Why couldn’tIbe happy for me? I had to go, obviously. I’d spent years earning a degree just for the slimchancethat I’d ever get this job. Now, I had; I’d managed to achieve what most students onlyalmostachieved.

“So, when are you going?” Brandon asked.

Right. He’d have to replace me. Of course, he wanted to know that.

“I’m not sure yet,” I said. “But I doubt the FBI takes their time with things like this.”

Brandon ran a hand through his hair. “Probably not,” he said.

“I’ll miss working with you,” Bioncia said. “You have a real talent for this, Alex.”

“I’m not nearly as talented as you,” I said. “Besides, it’s mostly because I’ve practiced a lot.”

“Practice doesn’t diminish your talent,” Bioncia said, carefully closing her powders and pigments. Already, she had some more ready for the next cast member.

“I agree,” Brandon said. “Smartandartistic. A deadly combination if there ever was one.”

It was a weird compliment, but I still felt heat rush to my face. Now that I was leaving, the compliments were…uncomfortable.I felt like a traitor for leaving them, especially in the middle of all this. Maybe the FBI wouldn’t want me right away. I didn’t reallyknowhow quickly they did things, after all. It might be weeks…or months. It would have to be enough time to get a new apartment and move, at least.

But if I really wanted to join the FBI so much, why did I want them to take their time?

Someone swore loudly, and Brandon winced. “I think I’ve found our missing needle,” he said, bounding away.

Despite this being a desperate, last-minute job to earn some cash, I’d grown to enjoy it. And it wasn’t just Brandon I’d be leaving. It was everyone. Maybe I’d be fine. I’d been without friends before, and I always made them again eventually. D.C. wouldn’t be different.

And yet I kept pulling out every excuse in the book not to take my dream job.

Chapter fifteen

Alex

Bioncia left early, which wasn’t usual for her, but shortly after I showed up, she finalized puking her guts out in the bathroom. Not that I minded covering for Bioncia. She worked herself into the ground, like the rest of us, with the exception maybe of Seth. Seth had a bizarre way of making people like him no matter how much he should have pissed them off. If I hadn’t been around, though—

If I hadn’t been there, Brandon would’ve hired someone else, and everything would’ve been fine. It was self-centered of me to think like I was the glue holding the production together. And I’d left jobs before. But those were different. It wasn’t hard to let go of perpetually understaffed retail jobs where you justknewhow quickly you’d be replaced.

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