BECOMING THE FABULOUS MISS C
By Angel Sentier and Lady Parsley
Chapter Twelve
Oh, shit, were the only two words that came into Chloe's head as she opened up the Weekly World News almost a week later. There was nothing in it about her intermittent dates with Philip over the past near-month, but right there on the front page was a huge, black and white, slightly fuzzy image of Miss C and Philip locked in a heated embrace in a hotel elevator. Sure, it was a month old, but only she, Philip, and the guards knew that. The date at the bottom of the screen was conveniently missing. To the rest of the world, it could have happened yesterday.
Those fucking security guards, she thought. They must have sold the surveillance tape. And those tabloid vultures... They were so desperate for some news on Philip that they bought it. Another 'mystery woman' encounter... And Ginger's going to know exactly who this mystery woman is. Well, hopefully she won't know it's me, but she's going to want Miss C's ass on a pike even more than she already does...
She looked at the cover for a few more minutes before a new thought blocked the imminent wrath of Ginger from her mind.
He's going to expect me to say something about this, she thought. As his girlfriend, I should get really angry and want him to explain. But if I do that... I'm going to have to lie to him again. And this whole situation will just be a lie on top of another lie and so on.
She smoothed out the paper and took a critical look at it. It's kind of blurry... It could possibly not be him, if I didn't know any better... She opened the paper to the full two-page spread and found herself staring at a close-up of the two of them. There could be no doubt that the male in the picture was Philip Carter Grayson. Damn... What do I do?
She crumpled the newspaper up and threw it in the trash can under her desk. I never saw this, she decided. Sure, it's a lame excuse, considering I work in advertising, but I'm busy enough to not read papers. I just won't say anything. If he brings it up, then... I'll cross that bridge if I get to it. In the meantime... I just can't lie to him anymore. She couldn't deny, however, that part of her did want him to call and explain. He didn't know they were the same person, so Chloe wouldn't know that this had happened before they had gotten together. The night before, in fact. Shouldn't he call and tell her all this?
She nearly jumped out of her chair when a large manila envelope was slapped violently down on her desk. Her eyes darted up to find Ginger standing there, with all the evils of Hell burning in her expression. Chloe paled. She didn't even need to ask if Ginger had seen the papers this morning.
"Print it," her boss growled.
With some hesitance, Chloe took the envelope and glanced over the specs. It was something she hadn't seen, which meant that Ginger had created this and proof-read it herself, and that just didn't happen. "This is for a party in three days," she said.
"And that's why you have to get it to print now!" said Ginger, her tone brooking no argument. "I want it in all of the major papers, all over the city, and I want it done now, Chloe!" She stomped off to her office and slammed the door behind her.
After breathing a sigh of relief that the blurry images and the disguise hadn't failed her, she turned a page in the folder to see the rest of the ad. Ginger was advertising a party, held by Philip Carter Grayson, which was strange, since Philip's contract with Premiere expired two weeks ago. The party was scheduled for three days from then, formal affair, at the medieval hotel across town, pretty standard stuff, except for the fact that Philip hadn't told her about any of this... Maybe Allen had set it up?
And then she turned the next page.
--Philip Carter Grayson requests the exclusive presence of the mystery woman known only as Miss C to be his special guest for the evening--
Her eyes widened. What? Allen wouldn't have known about that, the party most definitely had been set up by Philip. But why was he asking for Miss C? Was he going to break up with Chloe? Okay, so maybe you've kind of been waiting for the other shoe to drop, but... Things had been going so well... She opened the drawer next to her and reached for the red phone, but then stopped. No... I can't call him. What if he breaks up with me over the phone? Sure, it's not as bad as being broken up with by fax, but still... Wait, okay, calm down... Maybe he's not going to break up with me. Maybe he just wants to talk to Miss C. I have no idea what for or why he'd throw a giant party to do it, but...
"NOW, CHLOE!" bellowed Ginger from the office.
Chloe leapt from her desk with the manila folder and practically ran out the door. She would just have to go to the party to find out what was going on. And that meant an appointment with Denise...
"PHILIP!"
Philip closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. He'd recognize his agent's panicked holler anywhere. Sure enough, Allen came rushing into the makeup room two seconds later, waving a newspaper in his hand.
"What's wrong now, Allen?" he asked.
"You can't throw a party! You have too much to do!" he said. "And I thought you weren't going back there until next weekend?"
"What on earth are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb with me!" he warned, shaking a finger at him. "I called the hotel; they confirmed your reservations for the ballroom tomorrow." He again waved the newspaper in Philip's face. "Do you even know how busy you are? You don't have time to do this!"
Philip snatched the paper away from him. Since Allen wasn't making any sense as per usual, he'd have to find out the answers for himself. It wasn't hard... The article about the ad took up an entire page. Apparently, it was big enough news to hit the stands all the way out in LA...
His brow furrowed in confusion when he got the gist of what was going on. "I didn't set this up," he said. At Allen's scoffing, he set down the paper and looked at him. "I didn't," he repeated. "Quit treating me like a kid. I know I'm busy, so I wouldn't have set this up, I'm just as surprised as you are." He looked over the ad again, and stopped when he saw the trademark at the bottom. "Premiere Advertising," he read out loud. "My contract with them expired..." He paused. Ginger's behind this, he thought, suddenly. She's going to find out who Miss C is at all costs because she's out of her merry little mind. Oh, no...
He threw the paper aside and picked up his cell phone, speed-dialing Chloe. It rang four times before going to voice mail. Damn it, she's not picking up... He sighed and ended the call. "Allen?"
"What?"
"I've got a party to go to."
Gotta hurry, gotta hurry, gotta hurry, Chloe repeated over and over in her head as she blazed through her reports at the end of the day. I've got to make my appointment with Denise; I've got to get to the party... She glanced at the clock, it was already after five. She sighed, typing faster. Gotta hurry, gotta hurry, gotta hurry...
The office line rang. Even though it was after hours, she automatically picked it up. "Ginger Carlyle's office, she's gone home for the day--"
"Chloe, it's me."
"Danny? What's wrong?" He sounded... heartbroken. "Can you tell me quick? I have to go--"
"It's Teri."
Her fingers skittered across the keys and she stopped typing. Something inside her filled with dread. "What about Teri?"
"They found her. She's... in the hospital."
She dropped the phone. Without finishing her work, turning off the computer, or even grabbing her phones from the desk drawer, she took her purse and ran for the parking garage.
Danny opened the door to the private room for her when she arrived, out of breath. His face was ashen.
"How is she?" Chloe asked at once, not even greeting him.
He didn't seem to notice or care. "She's..." He swallowed, having some trouble getting the words out. "She's in a coma."
She swayed slightly, but Danny put a hand to her shoulder to steady her. "I'm fine," she said. "Just... tell me what happened."
"I don't know who it was, but Ginger got somebody to hack into my computer. She traced Teri to the university through the email." He fell into a nearby chair and buried his face in his hands. "This is all my fault... I should have listened to you..."
Chloe sat down next to him, dropping her purse on the floor. "It's not your fault..." she said, kindly. "Then what happened?"
He swallowed thickly before continuing. "The second I found out my files had been messed with, I drove down there. The guys she was living with--"
"Teri was living with guys?"
"This isn't the time to explain about that." At Chloe's nod, he went on. "The guys had found her. It was too late to stop her by the time any of us got there... But I found a weak pulse, and an ambulance brought her here."
"Stop her from what?"
"Oh... Ingested toxin... The doctor's aren't sure yet what kind was used..." Danny broke down then, unable to continue his explanations.
Chloe rose from the chair and went to the curtain separating her from her friend. As she pulled it back, her breath caught in her throat. Teri looked so small and pale underneath the hospital blanket, fluids going from a suspended bag above her to her arm through a tube. Silent, and unsmiling, Teri had never looked less like herself. Chloe's eyes filled with tears, her heart filled with anger.
"We've got to stop Ginger," she said. "She's gone absolutely crazy."
"I can't help you anymore," Danny said, miserably looking up at her. "I quit my job."
"You... You actually stood up to Ginger?" she asked, incredulously.
He nodded.
All at once, she began laughing and crying uncontrollably. "Oh, Danny, I'm so proud of you!" she said, tears rolling across her cheeks. "You finally got your balls out of the jar!" She looked at Teri's unmoving form, the tears beginning to come faster. "Didn't you hear me, Teri? Why aren't you laughing? Sit up and laugh, damn it! Make some sick comment about re-attaching them! Say something! Please!"
Danny wrapped his arms around her as she began to sob noisily, unable to say anything else. Chloe buried her face against his shoulder and just gave herself up to the emotion. She'd never felt so very empty before, with one friend gone and the other seeming so close to death, she was on her own. And the empty place inside just kept filling with hopelessness the more she cried...
The door opened then and both of them looked up to see Dennis peeking his head into the room.
"Sweetheart, you were supposed to be at the salon an hour ago," he said. "But as I understand it, you've had an unavoidable delay."
Chloe stood back from Danny and wiped at her face to little effect. "I'm sorry, Dennis... I should have called you, but... Oh..." She gestured between Danny and Dennis as she continued to dab at her eyes. "Danny, this is Dennis. Dennis, Danny."
Dennis' eyes lit up as he came into the room. "Hel-looo, handsome," he said.
"I'm straight," Danny blurted.
"Does that really matter?"
"Yes!"
Dennis sighed. "That's too bad." He shrugged. "Oh, well." He opened the door again and pulled inside what looked like a giant tool chest on wheels. "I came prepared, sugar. We can get you all ready for the party right here."
She shook her head. "I'm not going."
"What?"
"I can't," she said. "My best friend is in the hospital!"
Dennis put his hands to his hips and tilted his head at Chloe. "Now, is that what you think your friend would want you to do? Stay here and get your eyes all red and puffy over her, or go out and find out what the heck is going on with your boy-toy?" He looked over at Teri, his forehead wrinkling slightly. "Oh, now, honey... That look is so not working for you." From one of the drawers of the tool chest, he produced a sparkling tiara and placed it on her head. "There you go, princess. You know I'm right, don't you?" He looked back at Chloe. "She says 'hell, yes.'"
"Maybe you should go," said Danny.
"What?" She stared at him. "And leave Teri like this?"
"She's not going anywhere," he pointed out. "And neither am I. I'll stay with her. What's more important is the fact that you know Ginger's going to be at this party. Since you're the only one with access to her now, you have to go. For Teri's sake."
"For your own sake, too," said Dennis. "Are you going to let that bitch sink her teeth in your man when you don't show up?"
She bit her lip, thinking it all over. "You're right," she said, at last. "I have to go." She smiled, faintly. "I was invited, after all."
Dennis grinned. "Wonderful! Now let's get your head in that bathroom sink."
"Huh? I thought we were going to use hairpieces or a wig or something... You know, like normal."
"Oh, don't get me wrong, sugar; we're going to use hairpieces. Extensions, to be exact. But this is a special occasion. And that calls for something a little more... well, more." He looked over at Teri. "You know what I'm talking about, don't you? Of course, you do."
Chloe managed a soft laugh. Teri dressed up even less than she did. A shirt with buttons was considered work attire. When she saw the inside of a salon, it was because Tessa dragged her. She would have had no idea what Dennis was talking about, but it was lightening to have Teri included in the conversation.
"We're going to use your real hair this time," he said.
"This?" she asked, holding up a limp strand of ash blond nothingness. "Forgive me if I seem to doubt your abilities, Dennis, but... I don't think even you can help this mess. And I'm not sure if we have time for--"
"Nonsense," he said. "There's always time for proper hair management. Now, shut up and get your head to that sink!"
Working with Chloe's natural ash color, Dennis executed a heavy weave all over her head to lighten her to a soft baby blond. After a power blow-dry, he twisted pieces of her hair up into complex knots and secured them with tiny sparkly silver clips from which descended the blond extensions. They curled downward, framing her face, and the rest of her hair cascaded down her back. The whole thing was topped off with the tiara, re-commandeered from Teri's head. The make-up included gray and silver eye shadow which made her green eyes enormous and very bright; her lips were more subtle, with a light neutral pink color followed by a lip plumper gloss.
Lastly, Dennis took a dress bag from the top of the tool chest and handed it to her. "The finishing touch," he said.
"I really would like to know where you get these clothes," said Chloe. "And how they fit me so perfectly..."
"Actually, this is something I got from your closet," he said with a smile.
"My closet?" she repeated. But there was nothing in there that he could use... Was there? He left her alone in the bathroom to change and she unzipped the bag.
Inside, she found her wedding dress.
Except that it was no longer a wedding dress. It had been altered considerably. The train had been cut off and new panels had been inserted to accommodate her larger size. The sleeves had been shortened, many of the ruffles and much of the petticoat had been removed, and the whole thing had been dyed a light blue. It now looked like a formal gown.
"Honey, if you cry, your mascara is going to run," said Dennis from outside the bathroom.
How he knew she had been about cry, she had no idea. But she blinked the tears away and carefully changed into the beautiful gown. It fit her like he'd known her exact measurements. The skirt moved gracefully around her feet. Her waist felt incredibly tiny. Her reflection in the mirror spoke volumes and that was a good thing, because she was speechless. She looked, and felt, like a princess.
When she came out of the bathroom, Danny's mouth fell open.
"You... You clean up... good," he said, apparently at a loss. "If I hadn't seen the transformation myself, I would never believe you were Chloe Ashton."
"Thanks," she said, dryly.
"Oh, pay no attention to him," said Dennis. "He's just a man." He smiled at his creation. "You look absolutely stunning. And you are going to blow that man away. In more ways than one, I hope."
"Dennis!"
"Oh, come on! Teri thought it was funny!"
She smiled. "Yeah... I'm sure she does." She buckled on the trademark rhinestone shoes. "All right, I'm ready." She glanced at the clock and her smile fell in dismay. She hadn't realized that the switch from Chloe to Miss C had taken so much longer than usual this time. "It's almost eleven! I'll never make it across town in my piece of junk car. The party's only going on until midnight." She looked hopefully at Dennis. "I don't suppose your cabbie friend--"
He shook his head. "Tonight's Kevin's night off."
Chloe frantically searched for a way she could get to the party. Suddenly, she looked up at the hairdresser, hope dawning in her expression. "Dennis," she said, going over to him. "I don't know how you do it, but you're always right where you need to be, right when you need to be there. I won't ask questions, I don't care how you do it, but please, get me to that party!"
Dennis smiled. "Close your eyes." He glanced at Danny. "You, too, cutie."
Chloe closed her eyes and waited. And waited. "Dennis?" she ventured. She opened her eyes again.
She stood at the entrance to the palace. The hotel the party was taking place at.
She gaped for a moment, then shook her head. "No questions. Just accept." With an air of determination, she headed inside.
To be continued...
