An Hour and a Half || Self
The lights burned bright in that small room, their heat bearing down on her skin as she undressed. It didn’t feel real… the way the crew stared at her. Twenty years old pale as parchment, stripping for the camera. The photographer had seen dozens of naked people in hundreds of different ways, but there was still a feeling of embarrassment as she stood in the middle of the set, waiting on direction.
"Don’t be shy, honey. You’ve got nothing to worry about," they told her. Heather knew they were right, but she still couldn’t get comfortable.
"I know, I know," she’d reply. "It’s just a little cold in here"
"You’ll warm up."
She nodded, feeling her way over the decorative furniture. There was music playing, but even if she heard her favorite song, it wouldn't be strong enough to help her nerves. The posing began naturally, but as time went on, she received a bit of prompting. The only friend she had in set was the hair and makeup stylist she had conversed with while being styled.
The shoot lasted about an hour and a half, and concluded with Heather wrapping herself back up in a robe and previewing the shots on a computer screen. The images looked odd in the screen's many pixels, but that was the height of technology at the time.
"Well, what do you think? Shots three, six, seven, eleven, and twenty are my favorites. What about you Cherry?"
Heather's response was only slightly delayed.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I like those, too." Truth be told, six wasn't too flattering, but who would she be to distrust a professional?
"Good; great. You did good today, sweetheart. Maybe try not to look so scared next time. Relax a little. You've got a great body that girls would kill for. Own that fact."
The words didn't stick right away. They were hard to digest, though easy to understand. It sounded as though she was blessed with some gift, but it didn't feel that way. It would never feel that way, she'd learn. Even with hundreds of thousands of fans— or just people looking at her— Heather felt nothing from it all.
Only numbness, and a primitive sense of status.
