Second Nature (His Chance 2)

“Actually, I’m good with just the pie.”

“Me too.” We said good night to his friends, and as we left the kitchen he asked, “Where to, my room or yours?”

“Yours. I’d like to see where you live.”

We left the main building, but we didn’t go to the second, nearly identical building like I’d expected. Instead, we took a path through some thick landscaping and eventually came to a tall fence. On the other side of it was a palatial mansion, and I blurted, “Holy shit, is this employee housing?” It was sleek and modern, and it jutted out over the edge of a cliff and tapered down a couple of stories, like a sculpture of wood and glass.

“Yeah. So, a few years ago, Ren built Seahorse Ranch and this house with his boyfriend at the time. Then they broke up, and now Ren and Colt are together. They wanted to start fresh by building their own home on the property, and Ren decided the best use of this place was to let his year-round employees live here.”

“That’s incredibly generous.”

“It is. He’s a great guy, and so’s his nephew Beck. They run the resort together.”

The inside of the house was as impressive as the outside. We cut through a huge living room, which reminded me of a nightclub, then went down two flights of stairs. When Gabriel opened the door to his room, I murmured, “This is amazing.” He’d transformed a fairly small room into something magical by hanging jewel-toned, sparkly fabrics from the ceiling and over the walls, creating the illusion of a tent. It was like something out of Aladdin.

He found a towel and spread it out over his plum-colored comforter, and then we both took off our shoes and sat on the bed, facing each other with the pie between us.

When he handed me a soup spoon, I asked, “What’s the plan of attack here?” He grinned as he pierced the crumb topping with his spoon, scooped up some of the cherry filling, and ate a big bite. I did the same, and then I told him, “This is delicious. I didn’t know you could bake.”

“I’ve been teaching myself over the last year. The people who live on-site are big on communal meals, and I wanted to be able to contribute. I don’t really like to cook, but baking is pretty fun.”

I ate another big spoonful of pie before saying, “This room is great. You need to come and help me decorate my apartment.”

“Where do you live?”

“I rent a tiny studio in West Hollywood. It has plain white walls and a view of a parking lot and a dumpster. I’m not allowed to paint it, but the landlord never said anything about draping it in fabric.”

“I’d be happy to help you decorate.” I wanted to do a fist pump when I realized I’d just made plans to see him again after this weekend. He licked his spoon, and then he said, “So, tell me about your job. It must be so exciting to be a Hollywood makeup artist.”

“It’s pretty great, but it’s not the steadiest job in the world. To make ends meet, I do makeup for several drag queens who perform around Los Angeles, which is a lot of fun. But neither of those are my dream job.”

“What is?”

I pulled my phone from the pocket of my jeans and accessed my photos, and then I turned the screen to face him and said, “This is.”

Gabriel murmured, “Oh wow,” and put down his spoon before taking my phone with both hands.

On the screen was a selfie of me wearing bluish green makeup and prosthetic pieces that looked like scales and gills. “I started out trying for a merman, but I overshot and ended up with more of a swamp creature,” I said with a self-conscious grin. “If you flip through that album, you’ll see some other things I’ve done. I’ve been trying to build up my portfolio, so I can get a job doing special effects makeup.”

As he scrolled through the photos, he told me, “These are incredible, Riley. How’d you learn to do this?”

“I watched a few videos online, but mostly I taught myself through a lot of trial and error.”

“Isn’t it hard to make yourself up?”

“It’s not ideal. These transformations take hours though, so it’s hard to find people who are willing to sit still that long.”

He handed my phone back to me and said, “I’d be happy to let you make me over.”

“Wow, really?” When he nodded, I exclaimed, “That would be amazing! I have a bunch of ideas for a series of fae characters that are really gorgeous and otherworldly, and you’d be the perfect model.”

He seemed unsure of himself as he asked, “Do you think you might want costumes to go with your makeup? I like to sew, and I’m pretty good at it. But you don’t have to say yes or anything. It was just an idea.”