Skincare
I used to drink nothing but Diet Coke, but now I drink nothing but sparkling water. Sparkling water is so much better for you. When I drink alcohol, it’s always organic tequila from a distillery in Chihuahua that donates some of its profits to the victims of the Mexican war on drugs. I like to use products that give back in some way. When I drink tequila it’s always at The Red Room, or Frankie’s, or Micasa. I drink it on the rocks because there’s way too much sugar in margaritas. My friend Frieda and I are at Frankie’s. We take a photo. We take another photo. This photo is the photo. I post it to Instagram with the caption “lovers.” I edit the caption and add the heart emoji that is pink with the arrow piercing it. The picture gets 60,000 likes by the time we’re in the car on the way to Micasa. Once I see it has that many likes, I don’t check the picture again. I’m wearing jeans with holes in the knees that I got because they remind me of a cool picture I saw of a band from the early 90s. I’m going through a jeans phase right now. I was born in the early 90s.
I write a guest post for a beauty website about how to get better skin. The trick is you have to wash your face every day even if you don’t want to. A company reads my article and offers me a book deal to write about skincare. I’ve gotten several offers for book deals. I’ve been waiting for the right opportunity. My mother, who is also my manager, says maybe now is the right time for a book. Everyone’s writing books, she says. In six months maybe it will be too late. I trust my mother. I like the idea of having a book with my name on it. She connects me with a ghostwriter and we come up with a great concept about how practicing good skincare is taking care of yourself, and taking care of yourself makes your life better. She writes the book. I like it a lot. My face is on the cover. My skin looks great on the cover because I drank lots of water the night before the cover photoshoot.
I sell my old house because it doesn’t feel very me. I buy a new house that’s way more me. The camera crew follows me around as I look at my house. It has big windows because I love the sun. It has an infinity pool in the backyard because I love water. I wear sunscreen religiously. That’s in my book. My house is behind big hedges in a gated community.
I go on a book tour and visit cities across America and then I go abroad. I go to London and girls cry when they meet me. I hug them with one arm and tell them not to cry or they’ll ruin their makeup. I go to Paris and sign books at a big department store. Someone comes in and he’s trying to cut the line. He’s yelling my name. My security guards discreetly grabs him and takes him away. I have my assistant go to a cafe for me. The only thing I will drink besides sparkling water or organic tequila is a latte from Paris. I drink the latte in my hotel room. It’s perfect. It makes me so happy. I go to Tokyo and more girls are crying. A lot of them have done their hair to look like mine. I compliment their hair and they cry harder. I have my assistant get me a green tea Kit Kat from a vending machine because those are my favorite when I come here. I can’t sleep because of the jet lag. The camera crew is on a different floor of the hotel. I take a picture of myself in the car and thank my fans in the caption. I put in the emoji for the Japanese flag.
I fly home and apply a replenishing face cream on the plane. Travel makes my skin freak out. I sleep off my jet lag on my off day in my new house. When I wake up I have 18 texts and 5 missed calls. The sun is so bright. I don’t have curtains yet. I actually don’t have any furniture in the house yet besides my bed. I like the way it looks without furniture. It feels simple and pure.
Biographical information: Molly Mary O’Brien was born in Vermont and lives in Brooklyn. She has published stories in PANK, Paper Darts, Illuminati Girl Gang, and more. She writes customized stories for people at Dedication Magazine (http://dedicationmag.tumblr.com)—if you ask her, she will write one for you.
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Cover Photo: Joana Coccarelli (https://www.flickr.com/photos/narghee-la/)