Staring in frustration at the empty pad of paper in front of him, Kelly Oubre wondered why he had completely failed to brainstorm any ideas for his struggling web series, Wave Papi’s Man-Overs. The first few episodes had been modest successes, but only because of his own status as a professional athlete. His reach into the male beauty space was, as far as he could tell, minimal; young men aged 14-30 weren’t finding the videos. He needed some way to reach that demographic.
So far, Kelly had made all his videos solo. Plans called for him to eventually bring in less-attractive men to get makeovers (“Man-Overs”) on camera, but he hadn’t actually been successful in getting anybody to agree to it. He figured that, when his channel was huge and the ad revenue was rolling in, he would be able to offer revenue-sharing plans to those ugly guys and have no problem convincing them.
But what if he got another attractive guy to appear with him in the videos? The videos would then have TWO attractive men in them instead of just one, and would thereby be twice as likely to be watched by the target demographic. Having two hot guys would also get more women watching the videos, women who would promote him on Instagram…
Kelly threw down his pen and paper. With that one brilliant idea, the brainstorming session was finished. Now he just had to find a suitably attractive male to make a guest appearance. After mentally going through the list of Phoenix-area men he new personally, he realized that none of them fit the bill. So he pulled out his phone and opened the Instagram app.
Thirty minutes later, he had used a fake account to follow (and be followed by) hundreds of students at the local college campus. With each person added to his social circle, the pool of potential guests grew. Not only were there plenty of ugly losers wearing basic clothes, but there were a fair amount of guys who were, if not at Kelly’s own level of stunning attractiveness, at least pretty close to that level.
He spent some time on the Instagram page of a young man apprently named “Kayden”. Kayden clearly took great care of his skin and hair, and his wardrobe rivaled Kelly’s own in pure fashionability. He had a hot girlfriend and sparkling, straight teeth. He was the perfect candidate.
“You could kill him and steal his beauty,” Kelly’s mind supplied.
Immediately after that thought had come and gone, Kelly let out a worried chuckle. Where had that crazy notion come from? Such a thought was unlike him, especially when directed at somebody who, on the surface, had the potential to become at least a semi-regular costar for Wave Papi’s Man-Overs and push the project to new heights of revenue generation.
He started drafting a message.
—
“Nice place”, Kayden said, looking around at Kelly’s high-end condo. “Way nicer than my apartment in Tempe. Why do you need to make money off YouTube again?”
“NBA checks aren’t forever,” Kelly answered, “Beauty is forever.”
“I’d argue that beauty isn’t forever, actually.”
Kelly didn’t feel like arguing the point. “Whatever. Let me show you where the magic happens.” While they walked to Kelly’s home office/YouTube studio, Kelly couldn’t stop stealing glances at Kayden’s face. The guy was, somehow, even more attractive in real life than in pictures. “I’m thinking that for this episode, we try out some products and banter about them. I even picked some that won’t work so we can playfully rib each other about how bad they are.”
“Cool, cool,” Kayden replied. “All my friends make fun of me when they find out I use foundation, but they’ll shut up quick when I tell them I’m in a video with an NBA player.”
Kelly’s internal voice interrupted again. “Wave Papi will shut him up quick. Wave Papi will shut him up…forever.” Eyebrows furrowed, Kelly ignored the intrusive thought and started getting his equipment ready while Kayden fixed his hair in the mirror. After multiple GoPros and iPhones were tripodded and pointed in the right spots, Kelly grabbed an armful of products and laid them out on the desk.
“You paid for all that?” Kayden asked with wide eyes.
“Yeah, but I’m rich, remember? Now let’s get started.”
—
“I need a water break, hold on,” Kelly said, leaving the cameras running and his makeup in a half-complete state as he went to the kitchen.
“Kill him. Kill him now. His beauty can be yours,” said the voice of Wave Papi, and at that moment, Kelly noticed a sledgehammer leaning against the refrigerator. He didn’t remember owning a sledgehammer, but now he took it in his hands and tested its weight. It felt powerful. It felt right.
Bringing the weapon back to his office, he peeked in. Kayden was back in front of the mirror and didn’t notice Kelly looking in. Slowly, Kelly crept behind him, careful to stay out of view of the mirror, and raised the weapon above his head. Right as Kayden noticed Kelly standing there, Kelly brought the hammer down.