It's Complicated: A Zombie Romance Novel

Make Up Madness

Everyone turned to stare at me.

"What's wrong?" Lee Ann asked through the goop dripping down her face.

"Severed leg," I stammered.

"It's just a prop for tonight," Brian said, coming to stand next to me.

"Amusing," I said, still holding onto the leg. It seemed so real. Who were these guys who knew how to make life-like body parts?

"Great tool to pummel somebody," Lee Ann said, pointing at Brian. I looked from the leg to Brian. The idea tempted me. As my brother, he deserved better than death by severed leg. Maybe starving to death would work. All I'd have to do was stop cooking for him. That would teach him. 

"Dude, M," Brian said in between snorts, "you scream like a girl."

"I am a girl," I retorted, handing Brian the leg before I changed my mind.

"I gotta go check on the ferry," Brian said at Rashad. "See you later M, don't get into too much trouble." There was a pause as he swung the leg up and over like a bat. "I won't always be there to get you out of it."

"Like how you bailed me out last year?" I muttered under my breath. He was too far away to hear me, thank the Lord.

My immediate reaction was to follow him. Lee Ann held me back.

"Please stay," she begged. I didn't feel right leaving her all alone with a guy who kept bloody body parts in bags.

"For you," I said. I could always catch up with Brian later.

"Um Rashad," I stuttered, "so, do you like, do this for a living?"

He stopped applying Lee Ann's makeup and gave me an odd look.

"It's Derrick," he said. Suddenly I realized how I knew him.

"You're Derrick Rashad," I said. "Winner of season three of Make Up!"

"That's me," he said, grinning ear to ear, "Derrick Rashad, makeup artist extraordinaire." He put more plaster on my best friend's face. I started to hyper-ventilate. I was in the presence of a real star.

"I do all the costume work for the Game, new plaster pieces, the works. Do you want me to do you next?" he asked.

I nodded out of habit.

"Oh, no, not me. I like being human," I said when I realized what I'd agreed to do. That was the second time he'd asked me. He must like getting people into makeup.

"Suit yourself," he said, focusing back on his work.

Questions flooded my mind. Why would a college party need a makeup artist? Then there was the most pressing question: what kind of creature was he turning Lee Ann into?

"So what exactly are you doing to me, Derrick?" Lee Ann asked.

"Creating living art," he replied. I rolled my eyes.

"Cool," Lee Ann said, even though I could guarantee she didn't know any more than I did about what he was talking about.

"So, what attracted you?" I asked. I found myself migrating towards Lee Ann and Derrick. More people were lining up to have their makeup done. You couldn't see the grass for the cars. The other two people had set up tables and were fitting premade prosthetics on.

"Are you kidding?" Derrick replied. "This place is like a total dream." I nodded. Not in agreement, but in recognition of his words.

"Every kind of makeup, fake blood, and prosthetic piece you could think of is fair game here," said Derrick. "I don't mean to brag..." He waved at Lee Ann in the chair. WOW. This guy was good. Blood dripped from her jaw into a pool on her cardigan. This was the first time in our friendship she was completely unrecognizable in makeup. I was still in my work cloths, black jeans, and a solid color tee-shirt. Lee Ann had changed into a white dress with a pink cardigan. She looked both sexy and cute at the same time. Something I could never pull off.

"All done," he said, "Prepare to be amazed."

"Wicked!" said Lee Ann into the mirror he'd handed her. "I love it."

I smiled at the two of them. It was clear Lee Ann enjoyed this. Who could blame her? She was having her makeup done by a real talent. Neither of us could have imagined this in a million years. Part of my brain registered that this made no sense, but the other part was loving it!

Her hollowed out cheek with all those gleaming white teeth spoke volumes. I wanted to vomit. The need to get away gripped me. Quickly. This must be why the judges of Make-Up never did zombie challenges.

Lee Ann gave Derrick air kisses and hopped out of the chair. She turned towards me showing me the total of Rashad's master piece. Lee Ann had done it. She'd let Derrick mess with her makeup. The result: a real nightmare.

There was so much to take in. Both sides of her face were missing cheeks so you could see all the way to her teeth in an eternal grin. One of her eyes was a hollowed out shell. Her neck appeared bitten. Real scars, not hickeys. These were the bona fide 'down to the bone, flesh-stripping' bite marks given out to the newly made dead.

"Let's go find Brian," she said to me, "I think he already went over to the house." She grabbed my arm and headed for the dock where a weird ferryman like guy stood waiting.

"The house I asked?" reluctant to go anywhere. Lee Ann gave me no time to hesitate as she pushed me into the craft.

"Yeah, the House. That's where the parties at. Weren't you listening?" I just nodded my head too afraid to speak. I was in a boat with what looked like death and a dead girl. What had I gotten myself into?