Sculpting a Lie

“You have to tell them.” Oliver pleaded from outside the bathroom door.

Sydney was on the other side, distraught. Tears flowing down her cheeks almost mocking the way her silver gown flowed down her legs. 

“Syd.” Oliver sighed in defeat. 

Sydney walks over to the door placing one hand on the doorknob and the other on the sink. She takes a few deep breaths before opening the door slightly. As she peeks her eyes through the crack, they're met by Oliver's. He offers a smile but his hazel eyes offer uncertainty. Sydney does a quick up and down of him taking notice of his look, the clean shave, his fitted black tux, his silver cuff-links. 

“Oliver I’m so sorry.” Sydney cried as she leapt from behind the crack of the door into his arms. 

“I never meant for this to get out of hand.” Sydney said in between sniffles. “And look at you! You should be on the stage tonight.”

As she pulled away from his hold of comfort, Sydney straightened his bow tie.

“You should be on the stage.” She repeated in a low murmur. 

“Well good thing I dressed for the occasion.” He replied with dry tones.

Sydney looked at him in confusion. 

“Is that the only reason you’re here?” She asked, taking a step back.

“Of Course that’s why I’m here, Syd. Why else would I be? Have you confused me for one of your adoring fans.” 

“Perhaps for moral support? You don’t have to be so harsh Olly.” 

“What do you know about morals.”

“I said I’m sorry.”

“I’ll accept your apology when you tell the truth. Now if you’ll excuse me the ceremony is about to start and I have to find my date.”

“Your date?” Sydney says confused once more.

As Oliver opened his mouth, another voice chimed from behind them.

“Sydneyyyyyyy.” Alexandra sang making her way into the room. 

“Are you ready for your big moment!” She beamed. 

As she walked closer to them her smile slowly faded. 

“Oh no. no. no, dear you’re a mess. This is not good, have you been crying?

“You!” Alexandra said sternly and glared over at Oliver. 

“It’s not his fault…” Sydney began.

“Don’t defend him sweetie.” She says looking with disapproval at him.

“How did you even get into this event? I had them remove you as Sydney's date on the list.”

“I’m here to claim my award.” Oliver remarks back, then swiftly turns and walks out.

“I should warn security there’s a crazy man walking around.” Alexandra says, taking her phone out of her pocket. 

Sydney puts her hand out to stop Alexandra from making the call. 

“He’s not crazy Alex, I am.”

“There you go again defending him, listen honey I know he’s your friend and he does clean up very nice but he is not worth it. He turned down being the date of the hottest artist in the city and soon the world!”  Alexandra exclaimed winking at Sydney.

“Alex I have to tell you something.”

“Honey you can thank me in your speech.” She interrupted her once more. “I'm sending hair and makeup back over. Ten minutes to showtime.”

A few months ago Sydney and Oliver were just two friends waiting tables at the diner together. They both shared a passion for art, paintings, drawings, animation, performance art, and any other variation. They would often go to the art gallery in their city especially when they held contests. These contests were every Saturday open to anyone. All you had to do to enter is be one of the first fifteen people to show up with an art piece before 8PM. Oliver had dreams of being da Vinci and Sydney, well she had dreams of being the Mona Lisa. 

One Saturday night after work Oliver and Sydney were on their way to the art gallery. Sydney was ecstatic she had finally convinced Oliver to enter in the contest. She was particularly excited that the piece was a clay sculpture of her. They had just made it in as the fifteenth contestant and Oliver began setting up as he waited for the curator to hand out the  contest forms. 

“Uhhh Syd we have a huge problem.” Oliver whispered as he peeked under the sheet covering his five foot sculpture.

“What happened?” Sydney whispered back.

“I guess I shouldn’t have left my sculpture outside during my shift because it began to melt and now it’s ruined.” 

“It doesn’t even look too bad Olly, the judges will just think it’s abstract.” Sydney reassured him as she too peeked under the sheet. 

“It’s over Syd, let's just go home.” Oliver said somberly.

Just then the curator was making her way over towards Sydney and Oliver.

“And which one of you is the beautiful artist entering tonight's contest.” They asked in a cheery tone.

“I’m sorry I’m actually not entering tonight…” Oliver explained to the curator who began to frown.

“That’s because I’m the artist, silly.” Sydney said interrupting her friend and taking the clipboard from the curator.

“Fantastic! Fill out this form and I’ll come back around to get it.” 

Sydney smiling ear to ear looked over at Oliver, who was not smiling in the slightest.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Sydney said pouting. “ When your masterpiece wins you’ll see you were overthinking it. And then we’ll explain to them it’s yours before they display it.” Sydney went back to smiling and filling out the form. 

To Oliver's surprise the sculpture did win. The judges thought Sydney had purposely made a sculpture portraying a twisted version of herself. Sydney came up with a whole backstory on the spot. They found it profound, an expression of self love. 

“They loved it Olly, I told you!” Sydney said twirling around the street as they left the contest.

“They loved it because they think it’s yours” Oliver said flatly.

“They would love it just as much if it were yours.” 

“It is mine.”

“I know, and we will tell them in the morning before the showcase.”

“Syd if we tell them it won’t be in the showcase. You sold them on your empowerment story.”

“Are you saying that I’m not empowering?”

“I’m saying you're not the artist and we shouldn’t have done that.”

“Can you try being one of those free spirited artists Olly. This will all be part of your rise to fame story.”

“Syd, what are you not getting we tell them and that’s the end of the story.”

“Or we don’t and we let your art be in the showcase.” Sydney said, trying to persuade her friend once more.

Oliver continued to let Sydney take the credit and the piece was put in Sunday nights showcase. The two friends had no idea their whole lives were about to change after that night. Pictures of the sculpture went viral along with Sydney’s “empowering” story of finding herself. People began a challenge of making their own self image in distorted ways. They all tagged Sydney, pouring out their personal stories. There was even a journalist at the gallery that Sunday. They wrote a brief article referring to Sydney as “Sydney the Sculptor.”

Sydney was basking in all the glory completely forgetting it wasn’t hers to bask in. The whirlwind of fame was getting to her head. Oliver began to feel as if he was losing his friend. He was relieved when the buzz began to die down after a few weeks. He hoped things were going to go back to normal. Until there was an announcement that Sydney was nominated for “Viral Artist of the year” at the WAVE TV awards. The two of them were in utter disbelief in how far all of this had gone. To top it off Sydney's mom's friend Alexandra, who used to manage a few D list celebrities heard the news. She was able to book Sydney for a spot on a late night talk show and offered to be her full time manager. Alexandra had no idea her new star client was a complete fraud.

Sydney reached out to Oliver and said she would reveal her secret to the world the night of the talk show. Oliver trusted that his long time friend would do the right thing so he went with her to the show. While Sydney went to film her segment Oliver sat backstage and watched.  The interview was all of five minutes and not once did she reveal any truth. She didn’t even mention Oliver, at all. After that evening Oliver and Sydney got into a huge fight. Sydney explained that she had froze up and forgot. Then she said she didn’t want to embarrass her family or get Alex in trouble with work. She showed no remorse for how Oliver was feeling. 

Sydney had spent the next few weeks begging Oliver to talk to her and for him to be her date to the WAVE TV awards. She painted a picture of them walking the red carpet and her bringing him on stage with her. She tried once more to convince him the night of, calling him from her dressing room backstage. 

“I promise tonight is when I’ll tell everyone, Olly. It will be like a movie, I can get Alex to put you back on the list. She said I’m definitely winning.” Sydney rambled excitedly over the phone.

Sadly Oliver did not recognize who was on the other line. 

“That’s fantastic Syd, but you can tell them without me being your date.” Oliver stated before hanging up the phone. 

Sydney sat in shock, Oliver had never hung up on her before. She ran into the bathroom and began to cry, not knowing at that exact moment Oliver was making his way to her room. 

Hair and makeup finished their touch ups, and Sydney left her dressing room making her way inside the theater. As she walks down the aisle she spots Oliver sitting next to one of the artists in her category. His name was Collin and he went viral for painting with jelly. Sydney found the pairing odd as she wondered how the two connected. She settled into her seat next to her manager a few seats down from Oliver and Collin. 

The show was going by in a blur for Sydney as she impatiently awaited her category. Until finally “Viral Artist of the Year” flashes across the screens around the room. Liam Cullen, a hot new actor made his way to the stage to announce the nominations and winner. Sydney watched as the cameras went over each nominee as their names were said.

“Collin Brooke’s for his “Paintbrush and Jelly series.” Liam said reading the prompter ahead. The camera panned to Collin who waved and smiled at the camera proudly. Sydney watched as Oliver sat there next to him clapping but she couldn’t read the expression on his face. 

“Sydney the Sculptor for her “Melted Me” Sculpture.” Liam carried on.

Alex squeezed Sydney's hand as the camera zooms into her. Sydney quickly flashes a smile. Liam finishes reading the nominees and it felt as though a decade passed before he read the winner. 

“This year's artist of the year is Sydney the Sculptor for…”  As Liam read her name, Sydney sat frozen for a moment. She couldn't believe she actually won a WAVE TV award. Her eyes shot over to Oliver who was standing up along with the rest of the audience, applauding. He caught her gaze and made a gesture with his hand as if to say “take the stage.”

“Honey! That’s you! Let’s go!” Alexandra said, grabbing Sydney’s hand and helping her up. 

Sydney makes her way onto the stage and Liam Cullen greets her with a kiss on the cheek. She blushes as he hands her the award and congratulates her. She stood there looking  out at all the cameras, the lights, the huge audience, and Oliver before making her speech. 

“I want to start by thanking one of my best friends Oliver, who...who…” Sydney began to stutter. She looked around the huge theater once more, only this time she didn’t look in Oliver’s direction.

“I want to thank my best friend Oliver.” Sydney continued her speech. “Who inspired me to be an artist.”