A Photo Is Worth A Thousand Blushes

3b - Cowboys

Back upstairs, Gabriel had Silas perched in front of the dressing table, fingering products through the Greek's black hair, then applying makeup to even out his complexion. Nathan was taking hangars of clothes from one of the many racks in the room and taking them down to the studio. I admired his stamina for the repeated trips up and down the stairs without tiring. I wound up helping Gabriel fetch things he needed, like finding particular shades of foundation. I was glad I could be of some help, even if it was just a little bit.

I managed to get a few words in with Nathan as he stood in the bathroom in the corner of the room and shaved his face clean. "What is Victor doing?" I asked.

His blue eyes met mine in the mirror. "Vic is helping set the equipment up. Lights, wires, the viewing screen, and all that technical stuff."

"Oh," I replied.

Nathan smiled encouragingly at me. "You want to go watch Silas when he has his turn? That way you can get an idea of what will happen for you."

"I'm allowed?" I asked.

Nathan chuckled. "Of course. Besides, you're going to need a break away from Gabe whenever you can. You will already be spending a lot of time working with him, and he is under a lot of stress right now. He has a huge job with all this, and he gets pretty snappy."

As if on cue, a string of colorful curses rang out, apparently about a flat iron.

Both Nathan and I winced.

I watched Nathan finish shaving, withholding any more conversation because it was hard for him to talk back to me when his tongue was pushing out his cheek or lip for the closest shave possible.

"Trouble! Come oil Silas up! Nathan! Your god damned turn! Get your ass over here!"

Oil? Were we frying Silas up for lunch?

Nathan nodded at me, encouraging me to go ahead and that it was okay. "Hold your horses! I'm doing aftershave now!" he shouted back to Gabriel.

I found Silas standing now with a bottle of baby oil in his hands. He was rubbing it onto his arm but it was awkward with trying to keep his mock toga from falling off. "Aggele Mou, help me out here." His eyes begged at me.

I shot him a smile of pity and took the bottle from him. He quickly adjusted his toga so it sat a little more securely on his shoulder, then held out his arms to me. I raised an eyebrow, showing my confusion and silently asked why we were doing this.

Silas smiled encouragingly at me. "The oil makes me look shiny, and we will be using it a lot this weekend on all of us. It helps add highlights with the lighting, or something like that. Rub it all over me." I caught the mischievous glint appear in his eyes. "Don't be shy."

Warily, I poured some of the baby oil into the palm of my hand and spread it around. I reached and took Silas's forearm, pressing my hand against his skin. It was radiating heat. He still had his smile, but his eyes darkened considerably as I lightly rubbed the oil into his pores, working my way up his arms and into his bare shoulder.