Young Boss, Unwilling Celebrity Pt. 32

Part 32

As Debbie led Tim backstage, he had no idea that Marcy had called Shawna the night before, asking about him, and their next commercial.

Shawna had taken the call when she saw the caller ID. "Hello, Marcy. I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

"Me too. In fact, that's why I called. I watched the commercial just now."

"Let me guess," Shawna said. "You watched the internet version, too."

Marcy laughed. "Lucky guess! I think you've definitely got a winner in this campaign. And I love your leading man! How did you talk him into letting the women in his office trick him out of his clothes on camera?"

"Actually, he inadvertently talked himself into it." She told Marcy the story about Tim's original idea, and how it backfired on him when the audience data showed that their product's target audience wasn't males, but females.

Marcy laughed again. "I love it! The poor guy talked himself into getting stripped by women for his own campaign. Now I'm looking forward to tomorrow even more. Are you going to have a preview of the second commercial for our viewers?"

"No, I'm sorry Marcy, but we're keeping it under wraps until it debuts tomorrow night."

"That's unfortunate," Marcy said. "I know our viewers would love a preview." After a moment's pause, during which Marcy hoped Shawna would take the hint, Marcy said, "But if we can't show the ad, you can at least tell me what it's about, can't you?"

"Sure, Marcy. The ad was shot in a gym where Tim and the women from the office are working out. He puts on some Naked Attraction, which motivates the girls to engineer a couple of more 'wardrobe malfunctions' for him, before sneaking into the locker rooms to get a peek at him showering."

"Suddenly, I wish I had your job!" Marcy said, and both women laughed. "Did you actually film him in the shower?"

"Yep," Shawna said.

"Don't tell me he was fully nude?!"

"Well, he was supposed to be wearing a posing pouch, like male strippers wear."

"'Supposed to'?" Marcy said.

"Well, he started out wearing it. But there was...a problem with it, and he ended up in nothing but his birthday suit."

Marcy giggled. "I can't imagine how that happened! What kind of 'problem' did his posing pouch develop, I wonder?"

"It was the strangest thing," Shawna said, and Marcy could tell she was grinning even though they were on the phone. "It turned out that it somehow contained water-soluble thread. So after a couple of minutes in the shower, the darn thing just... fell apart."

Marcy laughed more loudly than before. "I'll bet Mr. Johnson's all-female audience was just shocked by that development!"

"We could barely believe our eyes," Shawna said.

"Are you saying that all of you got to see the Full Monty?"

"We sure did. That won't be in the commercial, of course. The poor guy freaked out so much that we were lucky to keep him there to finish the shoot!"

Marcy said, "Well it's not like he could have just left when he was stark naked."

"He actually tried to," Shawna said, as both of them giggled like schoolgirls. "He tried to run from the shower room to the men's locker room after his posing pouch dissolved."

"How did you keep him there?"

"I had to spank him back into the showers to finish the ad," Shawna said.

Marcy was silent for a moment. "Are you kidding? Is that a figure of speech? I mean, you didn't actually slap the bare behind of an attractive young boss, in front of all of his employees?!"

"I had no other choice," Shawna said, then giggled again. "The show had to go on, after all."

"I'm sure you just hated doing that," Marcy said, chuckling sarcastically. Then, "Is his ass as nice as it looks in the first commercial?"

"It sure is!" Shawna said. "Of course it was soapy and wet at the time, but I think that just made the spanks hurt more."

Marcy laughed. "You're a woman after my own heart. I wish there was some way to get him naked on our show tomorrow!"

"It's too bad that there are some things you just can't do on live tv, isn't it?" Shawna said.

"It's a damn shame!" They both laughed again, but then Marcy was quiet for a minute. "But come to think of it, I could probably spice things up a bit tomorrow. Give my audience at least a little more of what they'd like to see."

"What are you thinking?" Shawna said. And as Marcy explained the idea she was coming up with, Shawna started to grin.

When she had arrived at the station this morning, Marcy had called Debbie and two other female employees -- Karen the receptionist, and Diana, a camerawoman -- aside for a quick conference. She told them about the group coming in for her "Lunch with Marcy" show.

"I've decided we're going to do a short skit segment toward the end of the show, so I'm going to need to use the weather report set and a movable short wall. We can meet again at 11:00 to talk through the details, but for now, I need you to do a couple of things for me." All three young women nodded.

"Debbie, you make sure that the weather team leaves the green screen on when they're done with the weather report, and find me a background to put up on the screen." She told Debbie what background she wanted, and Debbie wrote a note on her clipboard, but looked confused.

"Diana and Karen," Marcy said, "I want you to find me one of the low walls on a plywood base, and get it to the weather set. But leave it behind the back wall for now."

"One of the six-foot sections we use as interview backdrops?" Diana asked.

"Yes, a six- or eight-foot section should work." She looked Diana up and down.

"How tall are you?"

"What?" Diana looked at Debbi and Karen, who both shrugged. "Five foot 7."

"Okay," Marcy said, then muttered almost under her breath, "he's six foot or six one. Diana, could you find a tape measure around here?"

Debbie said, "There's a rolling toolbox backstage. There's probably a tape measure in it."

Marcy said, "Could you get that for me real quick?" Diana nodded and headed away.

Debbie said, "What's up?"

Marcy looked at her and Karen, and said, "Okay, but keep this to yourselves for now." Marcy started to explain her plan, and as she talked, the girls' eyes lit up, and they began to giggle.

By the time Diana returned with the measuring tape, all three women were grinning and chattering excitedly. Marcy took the measuring tape from Diana and said, "Stand up straight."

Diana did, looking at Debbie, but getting only a goofy grin from her co-worker.

Marcy knelt beside her and put the end of the measuring tape on the floor, then stood and pulled it up until it reached Diana's hip bone. She turned to Debbie and said, "Two feet, ten inches. So add three or four inches to that."

"What if he's taller than you think?" she said, as she made a note.

"Then our audience is in for a real treat," Marcy said, laughing.

"What are you two talking about?" Diana asked.

Marcy said, "Debbie, you can tell her in a minute, but keep it just between the three of you for now."

To Diana she said, "When you find that section of wall, measure it from the floor to the top. I need it to be three feet and one or two inches high. I think it's around that height, but if it's shorter, find something solid to put underneath it to bring it to that height."

As Marcy walked away, Diana, Karen and Debbie walked toward the set.

Diana said, "I'm a camera operator. I'm not supposed to be lugging around props or building sets."

"Oh, you'll be glad you did this job," Debbie said, grinning.

So when Tim and the entire ad agency entourage showed up shortly before noon, Marcy's plan was in place, and several of the women at the station were eagerly awaiting the show.

Debbie led Tim and the group back down a hallway and into an oversized dressing area, with four chairs in front of well-lit makeup stations. A tall black woman and a shorter Hispanic one were there, wearing identical smocks.

Debbie waved Tim's group into a semi-circle in front of her, looking at each of them in turn.

"I see that you ladies already have your make-up nicely done. That's probably all you'll need, though our excellent 'appearance technicians'" -- here she made air quotes while smiling -- "can refresh you a little, if you'd like. This is Lynn," she indicated the black woman, "and this is Emilia," nodding toward the Latina.

Debbie turned to Tim. "Sir, it looks like you're not wearing makeup."

Tim smiled as several of his co-workers chuckled. "Believe it or not, I don't usually wear makeup."

Debbie laughed with him. "That makes sense." She looked at the women around her. "The prettiest ones never need it, do they?"

Everyone laughed as Debbie guided Tim into a chair, rotating it toward the room and away from the mirror. As Tim sat down, he said, "Are you sure about this? I don't want to look like I've got makeup on."

"No, no," Debbie said, "everyone on air wears it. Your skin looks very good, so all you'll need is a minimal amount, just to keep you from looking pale or sickly under the lights."

She winked at Emilia, who turned to Tim and said, "You might want to close your eyes for this, so this foundation doesn't get into your eye. That is really uncomfortable." Tim agreeably closed his eyes. Emilia looked at his co-workers with a grin, and quickly picked up some gaudy pink eyeshadow and laid it across the tops of Tim's closed eyelids thickly.

Anna and Mia looked at each other in surprise, then covered their mouths. Kaitlyn and Julie looked confused.

Emilia powdered Tim's cheeks with some red rouge, and then chose a tube of scarlet lipstick. To Tim she said, "Pucker up for just a second. I've got some moisturizer for your lips. They look at little dry."

Tim obliged, puckering up his lips, which Emilia then carefully coated with the bold red lipstick. All four of Tim's co-workers now had their mouths covered, trying as hard as they could not to laugh. Anna quickly took out her cell phone and snapped a pic of her handsome boss with his glossy red, pouty lips and makeup, then put her cell phone away.

Emilia put on a serious expression and shook her head at them. "Okay, Mr. Johnson. You can open your eyes."

Tim did, saying, "That was fast." He looked ridiculous. With his brightly colored cheeks and eyes, and those aggressively red lips, he looked like a masculine guy trying to pose as a super-slutty hooker.

He looked at his cute employees, and said, "How do I look?"

"Oh, I think you're ready for your live tv debut," Anna said, with a straight face.

Kaitlyn said, "Yeah! Your lips are especially alluring."

Julia and Mia both unsuccessfully tried not to giggle, and Tim looked worried. He spun his chair around toward the mirror, and as soon as he saw himself, his eyes opened wide in horror, and his saucy red lips formed a shocked "O."

"W- what did you do to me?!" Tim sputtered.

All of the women in the room burst into laughter, and Tim began to scowl. "I'm not going out there like THIS!"

"Of course not," a laughing Emilia said, putting an arm on Tim's shoulder. "This is just a harmless prank we sometimes play on some of our male guests, just to loosen them up." She turned his chair back toward her, and Lynn offered him some moist wipes, which Tim grabbed and used to start wiping off his ridiculous makeup.

Emilia looked at Debbie and winked, as she told Tim, "We wouldn't want you to be embarrassed on live tv!"

Tim's employees looked at each other. They didn't understand what passed between Emilia, Lynn and Debbie, because they didn't know what Marcy and her female co-workers had planned for Tim.

After Emilia's prank, Tim insisted that Lynn do his makeup, and he made sure that his chair was turned toward the mirror so that he could see everything going on. Lynn agreeably explained what she was doing as she worked. "You've got great skin, and a strong jawline. I'm just putting a little uniform color everywhere, so that you look natural, but maybe a little more tan under the lights. I'll also use a little shading to emphasize your cheekbones, and a little more to bring out your very nice eyes."

Just as she was finishing, Danielle and Shawna came into the room. Shawna said, "Wow, looking good, Tim!"

"Great job with the makeup, ladies," Danielle said. "He looks so handsome."

Emilia said, "You should have seen him in lipstick." Lynn elbowed her, and Danielle and Shawna saw Tim blush, and didn't know what was going on.

Lynn stepped up to Tim and said, "He was very handsome to begin with." She gave him a peck on the cheek and said, "Thanks for being a good sport."

Danielle said, "Can you all give us a moment with Mr. Johnson? We've got a few last-minute details to talk over."

The other women all started to leave the room. As Emilia turned to leave, she said in a voice that sounded oddly flirtatious, "We are looking forward to SEEING you out there, Mr. Johnson!"

Tim watched her go, not knowing why he felt a little uneasy.

Danielle stepped up to him and held out something. "I've got a surprise for you," she said.

Tim looked at her, and took the paper from her hand. "What's this?"

"It's a check for $10,000," Danielle said, smiling. "Corporate is excited to see how the first ad is going viral, and about our decision to move up the second ad's air date. And they wanted to give you this as a sign of their confidence in you, and because they're very happy that you've agreed to do this tv appearance and the promotion."

Tim grinned at the check. "Thanks! I appreciate it." Then he looked at Danielle. "What promotion?"

Danielle looked at Shawna, and Tim could see that she had let something slip.

Shawna said, "We came up with an idea for a promotion to bring some extra attention to the second ad. And Marcy has agreed to announce it on today's show!"

"Why haven't I heard of this before now?" Tim said warily.

Danielle said, "It's no big deal. We just came up with the idea after work yesterday, and Shawna ran it past Marcy. Everything's moving so fast, so we decided we'd just strike while the iron is hot, and tell everyone about it today."

"That's partly why corporate went for this bonus check for you so quickly," Shawna added. "They're excited about the idea."

"If it's such a great idea," Tim said, "why am I the last to know about it?"

"Don't worry," Danielle said. "The surprise will make the appearance today even better."

"Yes," Shawna said, putting a hand on Tim's shoulder. "And I promise, the extra exposure is going to be great for all of us!"

Tim looked at the check again, as Danielle and Shawna smiled at each other.