The Lexie Project

Season 19, Episode 9 (The One With The Baddest Bitch)

"Right here, Lexie. Good! Beautiful, nice, give me more, look away, yes, yes. You're innocent, sweet, yes! Now you're a tiger, yes, yes! Gorgeous, sexy, beautiful, beautiful. Bad girl! Perfect!" 

"Gorgeous," he says in his exotic Brazilian accent. He checks his camera, then nods. "Got it." 

 And even though he's stopped shooting, I can't get the smile off my face. One of these photos will be on the cover of Stargazer magazine. 

Franco walks over to his assistant to upload the shots onto the laptop set up on a tall table. I stay where I am with the wind blower behind me, surrounded by bright lights on stands covered with white screens. I've done this before, many times, but it's different when it's just me. It's different when I'm not a kid, when everyone here treats me like an adult, like an individual instead of one more obnoxious Baker. Also, I've decided that a wind blower needs to follow me everywhere I go. I'll even settle for someone holding a hairdryer a few inches from me, which we had to do on a few of the Baker's Dozen photo shoots. 

 I want to describe my surroundings right now, to give you the exact sensation of this place, this moment, but it's hard. There is nothing like being at a photo shoot. It's just like you'd imagine, just like you've seen on America's Next Top Model or Gossip Girl or whatever, but times ten because it's really happening. There's a manic energy, like everyone's high on molly and we're riding our happy wave together. It's hard not to believe we're in the most important place in the world, precisely at the center of the universe. I love our over-caffeinated vibe, how each one of us are operating on a few hours' sleep because our call was at five a.m. but who cares because this is fashion, this is Hollywood, this is it. The big It. 

Cass, my awesomesauce assistant, walks over to me, easy to spot because of the two Sailor Moon buns she's twisted her pink hair into. She's just coming back from a family thing, so I haven't seen her in a few days. She holds up her hand and I high-five her. 

 "Crushed it," she says. "This cover's gonna be hella hot." 

"All in a day's work," I say. "Well, half a day." 

 We won't be going home for hours and I am totally okay with that. Put a camera in front of me and I become the Energizer Bunny. 

"Okay, really quick," Cass says. "Drumroll please...."I slap my hands against my thighs and she grins. "You have been invited to be on the Guy Anderson show!" 

I scream. "WHAT? Are you serious?" 

No big deal, just the biggest late night show in the world. Whatevs. 

"Oh, yeah. He wants you on there to talk about Seth, the show, whatever." 

 This is HUGE. Anyone who's on Guy's show gets some major media attention afterward. 

"Guy Anderson? Nice job, girl," Ramone, one of the makeup artists says. He's wearing his brushes strapped to a utility belt around his waist—daggers that kill anything that isn't pretty. 

 I beam. "He was on my bucket list." 

"He's on my bucket list, too, if you know what I'm saying." Ramone winks. 

"You and about seventy percent of America," Cass says. Her cell rings and she glances at the screen. "Oooh. Hollywood Daily. Let's see what they want!" 

They're calling her about me. Maybe they want a quote or an interview or they're planning on doing a tiny feature. Whatever this is, it will never, never get old. 

 Cass runs off and Ramone grabs my arm. "We've got to get you ready for the outdoor shots on the roof. It's almost the magic hour." 

Liam explained the magic hour to me when we were on the road trip, somewhere between Fresno and LA. (We conveniently forgot to visit my family on our way through the Central Valley). There's a time of day when film people think it's best to shoot outside—that tiny window of time between sunset and dusk. I told Liam if acting falls through, I'm gonna open up a bar called the Magic Hour. He promised he'd come if he could get free drinks. Typical dude.