The Make-Up Artist

Prologue: The Photo

"Oh my God", you exclaim as you walk into his trailer and see him looking in the mirror at himself. "What are you wearing and who sewed you into those?" You try to suppress a giggle as he finds your eyes in the mirror before slowly turning around to face you.

"What? You don't like it?" Taron says with a slight gleam in his eyes as he spreads his arms and looks down at himself. "I was thinking about asking if I could keep these forever", he says sarcastically placing his hands on his hips and glancing down at the shiny gold hot pants in question that look like they are practically glued onto his body.

"No, they're um...really great," you say as you give him a once over. His eyes, the color of moss or jade or seawater...you're not quite sure how you would describe them; look slightly tired but still animated. You can't help but notice the slight darkness under his eyes and wonder if you should apply some more concealer on him. He's got one eyebrow slightly arched as he gazes at you. The strong angular jaw with just a sprinkling of stubble across it. The bow-like mouth curled up into his signature smirk that you've grown so accustomed to. Down his thick neck and broad shoulders to the smattering of hair you can see peaking through his open jacket that looks two sizes too small. And then there's the hot pants. Hugging every inch of him and you do truly wonder how he got into them and how long it would take to get him out of them. And those thighs. You never really thought much about men's things before, but Taron has the thickest, loveliest thighs you've ever seen on a man. On down to equally impressive calves that disappear into red and blue striped socks followed by the most ridiculous gold-winged platform shoes. But on him, they work. It seems like your appraisal has taken hours, but it's really only been seconds and you clear your throat before he notices you staring. "I was told to bring you these", you say as you cross the room to him and hand him rose-colored star-shaped sunglasses.

"Thanks love", he says casually as he takes them from you and slips them onto his nose. He turns back toward the mirror to adjust them slightly, then turns around and slumps into the chair beside him. "I am so exhausted, he exclaims with a sigh then leans back into the chair stretching one leg out in front of him.

"Oh, ok", you say quickly, "I'll leave you alone then. And you turn to leave.

"No wait", Taron says just as quickly. "Stay and keep me company until the shoot." At this point he has rested his head against his right hand that is propped up on the arm of the chair.

"Are you sure?" you ask. You really don't want to bother him.

"Yeah stay", he says lazily pointing toward the couch opposite the chair. "I've only got about five minutes, we can chat." You turn slightly to look at the couch in question, shrug your shoulders, and make your way over to it. You go to sit down, and before your backside has even reached the cushions, you look at Taron and his eyelids are closed.

"Ok then", you mutter to yourself, "nice chatting." Poor guy, you think. He must really need some rest. Not wanting to disturb him by getting back up and leaving, you pull your phone out of your back pocket and start scrolling through Instagram. You don't mind having a few moments to yourself as it is. You are bored after about a minute or so of that, so you glance up at Taron to see if he is still resting. You can see the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest indicating that he must be. He looks so peaceful there, you can't help but feel bad for the guy. You hope the studio isn't working him too hard. You know they will be calling for him at any minute, and suddenly an idea pops into your head. You switch your phone to the camera, center Taron inside the frame, and decide that his eyes really need to be open for this. Without stopping to realize that it's a little cruel to wake him, you say softly, "Taron". His eyelids flutter open and when he sees you aiming the phone at him he gives you an annoyed expression obviously knowing what you're up to. Before he can change his position or say anything, you click the picture.