Impossible Glamour (7 page)

Only me and my weird introversion squirmed in front of the camera lens. Nope. Never getting used to feeding the public perception of me and my family’s life. I was content to remain a Delgado and in the shadows while Rhett and Sophia craved the spotlight. Well, they’d gotten it. Big. Time. Now when I was with my famous siblings, I covered my eyes in the glare.

“Beautiful. Beautiful. Ellen, darling, tilt your head to the left. Yes. That’s it.” Julio clicked. He pulled the camera away from his face and walked to Choo. He was discussing me and my discomfort in front of the camera. Yes, this conversation had happened before today. When people started waving cameras around me, my color faded and I usually looked ready to puke. I didn’t have the time or the patience to try to cure this problem. I didn’t want a public life.

“Miss Legend, would you come with me?” Betty, Choo’s assistant, was his girl Friday for the wedding. She’d managed scheduling, logistics, and now dressing Choo’s wedding party.

I followed Betty into the dressing room. Dress time. The final piece in my discomfort. She handed me an undergarment that was predominately latex with a bit of lace. The rubber slapped against my skin. I yanked the girdle up and over my thighs. The bra was a lace concoction that made my C cup look even more gigantic. Really? How much boob did one gay man need in his wedding party? Garters? Okay, seriously? Choo wasn’t even interested in what I had on under my dress, so why did I have roll-up stockings and garters with hooks?

“Mr. MacAvoy believes if you feel sexy, you’ll look sexy,” Betty said.

I quirked my eyebrow. “He must have prepared you for me. I’m the twin in med school.”

She nodded and smiled and then handed me the other stocking. She lifted the dress from the hanger and stood before me. My bridesmaid dress was silk poufiness that looked like perhaps Choo’d gotten the same wardrobe designer from
Gone with the Wind
.

“This skirt seems bigger than what I tried on at the last fitting.”

“Mr. MacAvoy decided to increase skirt volume.”

“Of course he did.” I stepped into the dress.

Betty walked behind me and began to button me. “You’ll need to exhale,” she said. I let out all the air in my chest and said a silent prayer of thanks that I’d failed to eat breakfast that morning, because one ounce of food in my stomach and I wasn’t fitting into this dress.

“Turn around please.”

I turned and looked into the mirror.

My heart beat fast. How could this be? How could hair, and makeup, and an outrageously expensive gown turn a tired-looking, run-down third-year med student into a princess in a fairy tale?

“You look exquisite,” Betty whispered.

“Thank you.” I bent to pick up my scrubs and old ratty UCLA T-shirt.

“I’ll get your things.”

I slipped my phone from my scrubs pocket. Even I could acknowledge that I looked glam and beautiful. The thing was, when I looked like this, I didn’t feel like me. I felt like a little girl playing dress-up. I exited the dressing room and everyone turned to me.

Eyes widened, Julio stopped taking pictures of Sophia. I caught my twin’s eye and I saw her fighting the green monster, still trying to tame that beast. I’d hoped that with Sophia firmly in the spotlight as an A-lister that any jealousy she felt toward me would finally be gone. I didn’t want to be the beautiful twin. She had her role and I had mine. She was gorgeous and I was smart.

“Miss Sophia, you’re next,” Betty said.

Sophia stood. She looked over at me. “Ellen, you look beautiful.” She meant it. In her heart, in her eyes, I knew, I could feel it to my core that Sophia didn’t want to be jealous of me. We were sisters. We loved each other.

“Thanks, Soph.”

“Here, baby.” Choo held out a glass of champagne. Of course. A perfect relaxant.

I reached for the glass. Why not? This was a wedding. I had to get through the photography, and I was officially on spring break. Off for a full ten days. No lab reports. No tests. No Kazowski.

In my palm, my phone rang. I flipped it over.

A tingle shot to my fingertips and toes. My blood pressure skyrocketed.

Kazowski.

My heart plummeted. Today was Saturday. Why was I getting a call from my teaching physician on a Saturday? In theory I could press the red button, but I didn’t because pressing the red button to decline Kazowski’s call went against everything upon which I’d built my life. My goal was to be the best damned medical student at my school so I could become the best damned physician.

I pressed the green button. “Hello, Dr. Kazowski.”

“Miss Legend.”

Her voice was cool, crisp, and with the slightest hint of superiority. Who was I kidding, she sounded like an A-lister complaining about green M&M’s.

“Where are the Bokencamp labs?”

No “Sorry to bother you on a Saturday.” No “I apologize for interrupting.” No “Do you have a moment?” Just a cold, hard question for which I had no response.

“I don’t know,” I said and cringed. I’d not been assigned the Bokencamp labs. Tarsem, another third-year in my class, was assigned to complete the Bokencamp labs. I knew this because I knew everything. I kept track of not only what I was assigned to complete for Kazowski’s patients but what my classmates were assigned to do as well.

“Miss Legend, do you value this rotation?”

My heart throttled up into my throat. “Yes, Doctor.”

“Then I suggest you find me the Bokencamp labs and that you get them to me. Now.” The line went dead.

A buzzing sound clamored in my ears. How? What? An elephant sat on my chest. I couldn’t catch my breath. Did I value my rotation? Get them to her
now
? My gaze dropped to the gorgeous gown I wore. How? How the hell did I get the labs to Kazowski now? I was supposed to be a bridesmaid in a wedding in little over an hour. I scrolled through my contact list and dialed Tarsem’s number. No answer. Of course not. Today was Saturday and spring break, why would anyone be stupid enough to answer a call?

I turned to Choo. “I have to go.”

Sophia stopped in her tracks just outside the dressing room door. “What?” She looked at me as though I’d just spilled red wine on Chanel couture.

Amanda didn’t say anything, but she did tilt her head to the side.

“That was my teaching physician for this rotation, and she needs something now. I have to go.” I dashed across the room. I stopped in front of Choo, my eyes imploring him to understand. “Please, I don’t want to go. I have to go. This is—”

“Babe, you don’t need to explain.” Choo smiled, but there was a sad look in his eyes. “Go. Get back when you can. This is what happens when you have the brains to save the world.”

I smiled at my friend. “Thank you. I’ll get back as fast as I can.”

*

The Uber driver screeched to a halt outside the doctor’s entrance at UCLA Med Center, and I gave him an extra twenty. Getting me from Malibu to Westwood that fast was a miracle. I hopped out of the car, yanked my giant skirt into my hand, and dashed into the hospital. No sweating. No sweating. My hair was already in its updo and shellacked with hairspray. I tore down the hall as fast as high heels and a ball gown would allow and trotted down the stairs to the lab.

I stopped in front of the window. “I need the Bokencamp labs,” I said. My phone beeped. Finally a text from Tarsem. He was en route to London to visit his family, with a layover in New York. I read the lab numbers from the text.

The lab tech popped her gum and gave me a bored look. She was completely unfazed that I looked as though I’d stepped off the cover of
Brides
magazine. She slowly stood and walked toward a cabinet, pulled a file, came back, and slid it under the window partition.

“Thanks.” I raced down the hall and slid into the elevator.

Dean Talbot held the door. “Miss Legend, you’re looking awfully formal to be delivering lab work.”

A man, close to her age, stood beside her. They seemed to be together. I adored Dean Talbot. She was the antithesis of Dr. Kazowski.

“Wedding today,” I said. “But Dr. Kazowski needs lab work.” The elevator dinged on my floor and I dashed out. “Bye!” I called, leaving a stunned Dean Talbot and her companion in the elevator.

I stopped in front of the doctors lounge door. Deep breath. I pressed my fingertips to my brow. Grasped the folder with the labs. Straightened my spine and entered the room. Kazowski sat on the couch with her feet propped up on the end table. She spooned FroYo into her mouth and watched a rerun of
Modern Family
playing on the flat-screen across the room.

“I have the lab reports you wanted, Dr. Kazowski.”

She nodded her head but didn’t meet my gaze.

I set the reports on the table. “Is there anything else you need?”

Finally she glanced up at me. Her eyes appraised my hair, my makeup, my dress. Her mouth curved up into a smile.

“Oh, right. Aren’t you supposed to be in some kind of
celebrity
wedding today?”

“A close friend is marrying today; however, he is not a celebrity. Nor am I.”

“Hmm.” She glanced at the clock above the TV. “Malibu by five I’m guessing?”

My stomach clutched. I could lay into her. I could yell and stomp my feet, but that would only get me an immediate emotional release with all kinds of negative repercussions for the rest of this rotation. Nope. Not worth it. “Dr. Kazowski, is there anything else before I go?”

She shook her head and took another bite of her yogurt. “Nope.”

I walked toward the door. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of watching me rush. My hand clasped the cool metal of the doorknob.

“Funny,” Kazowski called from her place on the couch. “I thought Tarsem was responsible for this lab work. He did a really good job working this case up.”

The enamel of my teeth ground together. I walked out of the doctors lounge, careful not to snag the flowing periwinkle silk of my gown in the door.

*

“Doll, you ready for this?”

The “Steve Legend” smile was fixed on his face. “This one is easy, Daddy,” I said. “It’s the next wedding that’ll kill me.”

The silk of my gown slid beneath my fingertips. Daddy squeezed my arm, and we walked toward the room where Jackson and his groomsmen were holed up. Fifteen more minutes. I took a long, deep breath, thankful I’d made it back in time, even if just barely.

Once I’d checked in with Choo, I’d left the bridal suite. They didn’t need me and it was too much makeup, too many giggles, too much silliness, and that was everyone but Choo. This wedding, Choo and Jackson’s, would be easy-peasy compared to what I’d endure in nine months’ time. All I had to do for this wedding was show up, get my hair done, and put on a dress.

But the next one? I looked over my shoulder to where Trick and Sophia now canoodled in the corner. They had their foreheads together, smiling and whispering like two lovesick puppies. Their adoration
had been cute…at first. But the two of them had been acting like moonstruck teenagers going on a year.

“Get a room,” I called in a not-too-quiet voice.

Sophia shot me a look, but there was a smile attached. Where had my bitchy sister gone? Oh yeah, she’d become the girl next door now that she’d fallen in love with Trick.

“Daddy, would you mind if I just hung out here for a while? I’ve had enough drama, and the wedding hasn’t even started.”

“No problem. I’m going in there to kick ass and take names.” He kissed me on the cheek.

I brought my bouquet of magnolias and gardenias to my nose and took a long, intoxicating breath, then closed my eyes and faced the wall. Calm. Peace. Quiet.

“Well hello, beautiful lady. I don’t think we’ve met. You’ve probably heard of me. I’m kind of a big deal. I’m Webber. The Webz. Webzie if we’re friends.”

I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling and spun on my high heels. “Webber, what the hell are you doing?”

His jaw dropped open and his eyes swept up from the bottom of my dress until his gaze finally landed on my…cleavage.

“Yo! Webber, eyes up here, buddy.”

“Uh…uh…Ellen. Yeaaaaah. So sorry, babe, I didn’t recognize you from behind. You’re in a dress. Showered. Not sure I would have recognized you from the front either.” His eyes bounced back to my cleavage. “Yowza! Nope, not at all.” His gaze finally locked with mine. “You are one beautiful woman.” His voice was softer. He sounded a little surprised by his comment. As though my beauty was a
revelation
.

“My
identical
twin is considered one of the most beautiful women in the world.”

“Right.” Webber scrubbed his hand over his jaw and shook his head. “Guess I just never thought of you that way, babe. I mean, who’d know, right? You’ve always got your hair in a ponytail and your nose in a book.”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to say here, but you’re not winning points.” I walked toward the staircase that led up to the bridal suite. I’d take giggles and hairspray over insults. I was resigned to being surrounded by superficial and shallow people today, and
Webzie
was one of them.

“Hey, no!” Webber jumped in front of me. He pulled at his black tie. “Ellen. Come on. You know how I am. I can be really bad with the mouth. But babe, I promise I’m smooooooth. Or I can be.” He held up his hand like a Boy Scout. “Swear to God.”

I couldn’t help but crack a smile. Webber was a lot of things, but he was
not
smooth unless he was negotiating a deal. He thought he brought that same savoir faire to the way he handled women, but he was sadly mistaken. He was all Webber, all the time.

“I’m just surprised is all. I never really thought of you as being world-class pretty.”

“Ah, there you go again. Thanks for the compliment.” I started up the staircase and then called back to him, “Daddy’s with Jackson and Rhett. Trick is in the corner making out with Sophia. Isn’t that like half your client list? Why don’t you stop insulting the ugly, no-talent member of the Legend family and go kiss up to all the rest of them.”