Sugar and Spice_ An L.A. Candy Novel - Lauren Conrad [44]
Their last location had been the suite, rented for the day by Maxim. Scarlett had overheard her hairstylist saying to one of the assistants that the five-thousand-a-night room was often occupied by newly single male celebs needing a temporary residence. The fact that it was just upstairs from a club that was frequented by hot girls who liked male celebs, single or not, was a bonus. The hairstylist had added that one of her clients had moved in during a nasty divorce and liked it so much he stayed for nearly a year. (Scarlett hoped it was at a discount.)
When they first got up to the suite, the Maxim art director had explained to Scarlett that they wanted two shots there: one on the bed and one in the glass shower with the door all steamed up. Bed? Glass shower?
Scarlett had immediately turned to the PopTV publicist, Melissa, who had not said anything to her before about beds or showers; in fact, when Melissa originally told Scarlett about the Maxim gig, she said something about a “classy shoot” that showed off Scarlett’s “natural beauty,” and how it was all a “great opportunity” to get Scarlett “out there.”
Okay, so maybe Scarlett had promised to have a better attitude about PopTV and L.A. Candy. But she wasn’t an idiot, and she wished everyone would stop treating her like one. There was nothing “classy” about posing on a bed or in the shower. (The shower photo, “the most important one of the day” according to the Maxim art director, was going to stretch across the first two pages of the article with HOT CANDY or some similar title imposed on the steamed-up glass.) And there was nothing “natural” about two inches of padding in one’s bra cups. Obviously, PopTV had wanted the August cover for Scarlett because it was going to increase their show’s male viewership, and most guys weren’t too interested in classy or natural.
Scarlett had eventually agreed to the bed shot but not the shower shot. Aside from Liam and the rubber ducky next to her tub, no one was gonna see her like that, soaping up. Melissa, Maurice, the Maxim art director, the stylist, and a few others from the magazine on set gathered around to discuss what to do. Thirty minutes, four phone calls, and one bagel (snatched from Scarlett’s hand by Melissa: “Eat after the shoot”) later, the shower shot was killed.
And now the bed shot was done. Finally. Scarlett said a hasty good-bye to everyone, thanked Maurice, and went to change. She was cooking dinner for Liam tonight, and she couldn’t wait. Not the cooking-dinner part—her culinary skills had not magically improved since she and Jane had Caleb and Naveen over last week—but the Liam part. She hadn’t seen him in days, due to their busy schedules, and she missed him big-time.
Unfortunately, she was also long overdue to have a conversation with him about . . . well, recent events. She wasn’t looking forward to that part of the evening.
On her way out of the hotel, she saw a familiar figure sitting in the lobby, scrolling through her phone. A familiar, unwelcome figure. Should she try to sneak by and avoid a confrontation, or . . .
“Scarlett? What are you doing here?”
Scarlett sighed. No escape. “Hey, Madison. So nice to see you, too. I could ask you the same thing.”
“I have a meeting. Maxim is doing a shoot here today, and it was the only time I had in my schedule. I’m talking to one of the editors about doing the August cover,” Madison said smugly.
“Oh, really? That’s funny, because I just finished the shoot . . . for the August cover.”
Madison’s eyes blazed. “What? What are you talking about? The girl from the PopTV press department definitely said August.