american beauty // joshler

1

josh's point of view

"where is he?" i check my watch again. "he was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago."

"sir, i'm sure you've heard just as many rumors about him as everyone else in the industry. this is how he always is." jayla turns to me from where she's sitting in the makeup chair.

"i know, but still-"

before i can finish my sentence, the door swings open and the model steps in with a cigarette in his mouth.

"i've arrived." he holds his arms out and lets his coat fall to the floor before he steps forward into the room.

"nice of you to join us. our time is just as valuable as yours, you know. who do you think you are showing up twenty minutes late?" i fight the urge to cross my arms over my chest like a toddler.

"who do i think i am?" he pauses, a crooked grin pulling up on his lips, the cigarette still hanging there. "why, i'm the best, worst thing that hasn't happened to you yet, darling."

-

hair and makeup don't take very long and he slips into his outfit quickly, making his way to the actual set within about fifteen minutes of his late arrival.

"alright. we've all done this before. i'm going to do my job and i'm going to assume you know how to do yours," i pick up my camera and stand in front of the setup.

"quite an attitude you've got there," he posits.

you've got to be fucking kidding.

me? i'm the one with an attitude?

"sure."

i snap a few pictures. i would be lying if i said he wasn't photogenic. he's a very attractive man and he definitely knows what he's doing. he seems to know all the angles and poses he needs to position himself in by heart.

then about halfway through, he stops.

"i need a quick little bathroom break." he stretches his arms above his head and then walks away. "be right back, doll," he winks at me and then pats my shoulder in passing.

i run a hand down my face and walk over to jayla. "how much longer do we have the room for?"

"about thirty more minutes, mr. dun. it's not too bad though, right? i mean, i think you've gotten some pretty good shots. we should be almost done."

i nod, "yeah. i'll probably aim to shoot for ten more minutes when he gets back and then we'll have the last twenty for take down and pack up. thank you for being here."

"quite literally my job, sir." she taps her pen on the clipboard she's holding.

tyler walks back into the room with dilated pupils and a sickly sweet smile still present on his face. "we're almost done, yes? i've got plans for lunch." he goes towards the makeup table and lets them brush a fresh layer of powder over his face and touch up his hair before sending him back to the set.

"yes, we're almost done."

and i can't wait for him to be gone.

-

jayla knocks on the door to my office, poking her head in. "mr. dun?"

"yeah, what's up, jayla?" i wave her in and save the work i'm doing on my computer before looking up to her fully.

"it's about seven. am i good to go?"

"is it already?" i look to the bottom corner of my screen to see the time. 7:03 p.m. "oh. of course, yeah. go home. i'll see you tomorrow."

"great. i'll see you then. don't work too hard, okay? you've been in here awhile. you've never missed a deadline in your life. nothing else is due today. you should go home too," she offers me a small smile, adjusting the bag on her shoulder.

"i guess you're right." i save my work one more time to be safe before shutting the computer down. "i am pretty tired."

she seems pleased that i'm taking her advice and we make small talk on our walk out to the parking lot.

"so, tyler wasn't too bad. i know he wasn't really there for very long, but he doesn't seem nearly as terrible as some of the stories i've been told make him out to be," she comments.

"other than showing up twenty goddamn minutes late."

"right. other than that," she laughs a little, "maybe he's the kind of awful that gets worse over time."

"at least he's good at what he does. you can't teach some things."

"with all due respect, i don't think there's anything to 'teach' models. they just stand there," she replies, digging her keys out of her bag as we approach our cars.

"models don't just 'stand there,' they sell things. they sell an image, an ideal. they're the standard, right, wrong, or otherwise. they're our view of beauty, sex, luxury. they sell products, but they also sell themselves. to just stand there would make an awfully boring photo. you can't teach someone to blur the lines of their personality just enough to shine through a picture without being too bright and cracking their facades."

"you don't have to mansplain modeling and photography to me, dun. i went to college. i had plenty of old white men with doctorates beat you to that punch."

"right. sorry." i run a hand through my hair and open her car door for her. "didn't mean to. have a good night, miss jayla."

"goodnight, sir."

on my way home, i mentally smack myself in the face. i hate that what i said came across as 'mansplaining.' i'm not certain what that means, but the last thing i want is to come off as pretentious or arrogant. this is jayla's first internship out of college, her first time dipping her toes into this industry, and i don't want her to get a bad impression. she's very talented and incredibly intelligent. i don't want to be the thing that discourages her or turns her off to it.

i stop at a red light and notice a billboard that, though i've passed it before, i've never paid much attention to. it's for some clothing brand i don't have any interest in. what does interest me about it is the selection of models. most of them are unfamiliar to me, except one. tyler. he stands front and center, all charming smile and perfectly sculpted brown hair.

the light turns green and i continue my route home. though he was a bit of a brat, i can't deny that he was... fascinating. i've never worked with someone like him. most models i've worked with in my five years of photography have been nice, normal people. a few have been a bit more demanding or particular than others, but no one has made quite the first impression as him.

the best, worst thing that hasn't happened to me yet.

i'm not sure what he meant by that, but the words sit on a velvet sofa in the corner of my mind, mysterious and opulent. a red flag disguised in pepto bismol pink.

i find myself hoping i'll work with him again, despite the warnings so many photographers and agents have spread... and the man waiting for me at home.

(an: i dont know how modeling works irl but basically im going to pretend this is how it goes: photographers are either independent or work with photography agencies/modeling agencies. companies can book models from modeling agencies and a separate photographer if they want, but often its cheaper to book a photographer from the same modeling agency as whatever model you're hiring. regina [tyler's manager] knows tyler is a handful so anytime a photographer does well with him, she tries to recruit them to their agency [vapor] to book with tyler as a package deal because not only will vapor get profit from both josh and tyler then, but it just makes things easier for everyone involved. i hope that makes sense 🫶🏻 anyways updates on fridays! see you next week!)