The next campaign was ‘Epic Flex.’ I was their target market. Everything in the line was for someone who needed something with more give to it, for when you did things like skateboarding. They had jeans, shirts, polos, and underwear. Luckily, the underwear portion wasn’t as revealing for Hollister as it would have been for Abercrombie. They simply had me show the waistband as I let my jeans sag down.
The final line they had us model was ‘Uniform Approved’ clothes, their collection of school uniforms. The pitch was you could wear them on the weekend as well. Uniform Approved featured polos, button-down Oxfords, sweaters, and both chino shorts and pants. It was all very well groomed, and I could see the guys at Wesleyan wearing this line. I secretly liked it and planned to sneak some of the clothes into my rotation at school. I was sure Halle would allow me to wear them when I was in LA.
◊◊◊
We broke for lunch, and Jackie told us to be back at one. Ryan asked to tag along. Tyler called our driver, and he was ready for us when we came out. I was glad he was there because when we stepped out of the building, there were ten or more paparazzi. Our driver looked like he played tackle for the New York Giants in his spare time. The paparazzi got one good look at him and backed off to let us get to the car.
I let Ryan and Tyler get into the SUV, then paused before I got in.
“What are you doing?” was shouted.
“I have a modeling job for Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch.”
“When do you go to England to audition for the young Han Solo role?”
“I haven’t heard yet.”
I’d forgotten I would get a trip to England out of that.
“Where are you going?”
“Lunch, and you’re not invited,” I said with a big grin. “I have to be back by one.”
Frank had taught me to set expectations with the press. The last part would ingratiate me with them because it sucked to sit around and wait for a celebrity. At least now they knew they could go to lunch and catch me on my way back.
I craved a hot pastrami on rye, so Tyler took us to a deli she liked.
While we ate, Ryan entertained us with stories about how different life was in New York. He compared it to where he lived in Georgia. Ryan admitted he felt lost without a car, but with the price of parking and the hassle, he found he didn’t need one. I’d never thought about it because we always seemed to have a driver. I will say New York streets scared me. Everything was so narrow. I was amazed at how close cars got to each other. If Mom lived here, we’d go broke with car-repair bills.
“How do you deal with the paparazzi?” Ryan asked.
“It’s different,” I admitted. “Even before the movie came out, I’d get recognized for either modeling jobs or football.”
“What do you mean by football?”
“I’m the top-rated quarterback in the junior class, according to the scouting services.”
“That must be why you’re ripped.”
“I do work out quite a bit.”
“They’ve had me going to the gym to get more definition,” Ryan confided.
“It’ll happen over time.”
“So, is it always like that?” Ryan asked, referring to the press.
“Not at home as much, but when I was in LA, there was always someone lurking. I just assume that I have a camera on me at all times.”
“That has to suck.”
I thought about it.
“The way I see it is there’s no putting the genie back into the bottle, so I’ve learned to live with it. I know the paparazzi are just doing their job. They have to sell photos and stories to make a living. I, in turn, use them to keep my image in front of the public so I can do things like today. There’s a tradeoff.”
I was trying to put the best spin on it I could. I really didn’t like being shouted at and having a camera shoved into my face. Frank told me it only took one instance of me punching one of them to ruin my image.
Tyler reminded us we needed to head back.
◊◊◊
That afternoon, Ryan and I worked with ten other guys who were all employees of Abercrombie & Fitch. They were from all over the country. One was all the way from Honolulu, Hawaii. Others were from Seattle, Dallas, and Atlanta, and three were from New York.
Abercrombie was noted for their long billboard ads that feature multiple guys. Jackie had a specialized lens that would capture all of us. The only problem was it distorted the picture on the edge and made it appear as though the image was bent. She also had three cameras on tripods which would shoot photos simultaneously. She had software that would stitch the three shots together. We did several shots of us in the same clothes. Then they had us take our shirts off and put on bright red zip-up hoodies. Of course, the hoodies were left open to show off skin. Finally, they had us take off our hoodies to finish this portion of the shoot.
