“You two are going to get along famously. Listen, I have a radio call to do, so I’m going to catch up with you later.” She hugged me. “You’re in good hands, Kick.”
We watched as Kat walked out toward the recesses of Madison Square Garden. Sean looked back to me with a grimace. “Kick? Let me guess, you have violent tendencies?”
We both laughed as I sat down to spin around in the mustard-yellow swivel chair like I wanted to do the moment I laid eyes on it.
“I’m guessing you know that Kat was my neighbor for most of my childhood. She was literally the only other woman within at least a mile and a half.” I paused to try to turn the myriad of experiences from a youth spent chasing around my favorite person in the world. “I idolized Kat. She was kind, talented, and gorgeous and I followed her everywhere. She was so good to me, treated me like a kid sister, not a brat. Naturally, my four brothers used to joke that I was her sidekick. After a few years, it just sorta turned into Kick.”
“Baby girl, if you keep spinning, you’re going to make me dizzy before I get your face on. Let’s get you in my hot seat while we chat.”
I crossed to the director’s chair, and as I sat down, I half-joked, “This isn’t actually heated, is it? I don’t wear a lot of makeup but being sweaty while it’s being applied doesn’t sound like a good idea.”
Sean responded with a smile, “It’s called the hot seat because when your fine ass gets out of it, you are going to sizzle and smoke. When I’m done, all the guys will be chasing after you. Well, maybe not most of the backup dancers, but that’s more my end of the spectrum.” He winked at me.
“Then I’m guessing you’ve probably had a lot more time around all things glamour… and boys.”
“Psssh, from what I'm looking at, I doubt that.”
“I grew up in a small town with four brothers, one being my twin. I may not be a Morgan boy, but I was always near one. That pretty much kept the other boys away.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Do they carry bats?” he joked.
“No, rifles on horseback,” I sort of teased back.
“For the love of sequins, sometimes I forget that Kat was actually raised on a farm.”
“It’s a ranch,” I corrected.
He smiled at me. “Of course it is. My bad. You know us city boys. Don’t know our hens from our cocks.” His eyes twinkled with mischief. I wasn’t sure if he was testing me or if he was just always playing.
I played back, trying to be bold. “I get the feeling you’d know a cock when you saw one.” I could feel myself blushing.
He cackled. “I’m pretty sure you and I are going to get on like Dolce and Gabbana.” With that, he turned to the array of makeup he had splayed out on the counter and asked, “Okay, gorgeous, do you have a look you want to go for or should I just play?”
“I wouldn’t even begin to know,” I said softly. “I’ve never owned more than a lip gloss and mascara.”
Watching me in the mirror, he dropped his jaw in an exaggerated way. “What are you, a preteen?” He wasn’t being mean. He was genuinely flabbergasted.
“No, I’m a tomboy. I come complete with horse and rifle too.”
“Damn, girl.” He shook his head.
I don’t know what possessed me to say what I said next. It just popped out. “Actually, I can’t imagine how you’re going to make me look like a rock goddess. I just don’t see myself that way. Pretty, I mean.”
He quirked his head at me and then said, “Let’s turn your chair around.”
“Umm… okay?” I didn’t know what he was getting at but Kat trusted him, so I would too. I stood and he spun the director’s chair so I was no longer facing the mirror. Once I was back in the chair, he took some kind of a face wipe and swiped it over my cheeks and forehead and he said, “Tell me about your sound check. Was it deliciously terrible?”
“Awful.”
“Wonderful,” he gasped.
Again, words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them. “Also, that guy, Horse, hates me.” I just seemed to blurt stuff at Sean.
He pursed his lips and popped his hand on his hip. “Do not think anything of that. Horse is pretty cold to the entire crew. He’s superhot, but he is not warm.”
Now, I was really blushing. Horse was very attractive… painfully attractive.
Sean smirked at me. “So, you think he’s hot too, huh?”
I glanced down, intentionally not looking him in the eye when I said, “He’s alright, I guess.”
“Liar, liar, pants on fire. That boy is smokin’ and you know it.”
He was. Horse was that hot. Hotter. He was a five-alarm fire.
But I didn’t admit to Sean how attractive I thought Horse was. Instead, I just shrugged. Then I listened more than I chatted because Sean was busy messing with my face, twirling brushes and colors and sponges and things. He told me all about how Horse was a key member of the crew, but he always kept his distance, never really befriending anyone. He told me how it was a strange conundrum. How they all relied on and trusted Horse, but no one really felt like they knew anything about him, and how his nickname, Horse, was like a mystery that the entire crew was constantly trying to decipher.
“My guess is it’s related to his equipment.”
Clueless, I said, “Lights?”
Sean closed his eyes and shook his head and then said, “Oh, baby, I’m pretty sure he’s packing more than lights.”
Realizing that he was referring to Horse's penis, I felt the heat rise in my cheeks again.
“You are adorable,” Sean glowed. “But I am so going to have to protect you from all the leeches around here.”
“Don’t forget”—I winked—“rifle. No one trifles with a girl with a rifle.”
He laughed and then said, “I’m done, by the way.”
I felt a little sick.
“Go on,” he pushed. “Turn around.”
If it were up to me, I would have just grabbed my clothes and headed backstage without checking the mirror, but I didn’t want to seem rude, so I stood and turned. I was absolutely stunned by my reflection. It was me, but it was a version of me that I’d never met. He hadn’t gone over the top. He kept the makeup natural, but I didn’t look like the kid sister who chased after her brothers anymore. I looked like a grown woman. I looked pretty. Maybe even a little sultry. I was stunned.
“Thank you,” I managed to mumble.
“To be clear, it’s just makeup, Sarah. You look like that without it; you just don’t know it.”