Chapter Six

“What is this…” I said, staring at the array of clothes laid out in front of me.

“It’s your outfit for the show,” Jenna explained.

My hands stretched and waved across the set. “This?! It looks more like something I’d wear to bed.”

Jenna looked at my nervously. “It kinda is?”

I shook my head in disbelief and gaped at her. “Wait, what?”

“Well the designer of this line wanted to be more realistic with the clothing. Instead of having stick-thin girls, he designed it for normal girls, with normal clothing sizes,” she said. “It’s the La Ballerine Past Ten, you know, sleepwear.”

I scanned through the clothes sceptically. “I don’t think girls are meant to sleep in these clothes.”

“You’ll look great in them, don’t worry,” Jenna reassured.

“Hey guys,” Stacy said, walking up to us. “Jessica, they want you down in the photo room.”

“The photo room?” I said curiously. “Why?”

Stacy shrugged her shoulders. “I think they need to do the shoot for the new posters advertising the show.”

“Oh well, can’t they pick some other model?” I asked.

“How are they gonna know if they don’t see all of them, right?” she said.

“Okay, thanks,” I said and started walking towards the elevator.

“Hey!” Stacy called after me. “Freshen up before you get down there. Jake’s there too.”

Not bothering to turn around, I inconspicuously flipped her off and then walked into the elevator which was conveniently open. I pressed the number 31 and leaned against the cool metal in the elevator. Using the reflective surface of the metal doors, I fluffed my hair and adjusted my shirt—not for Jake of course. When the elevator stopped moving and the doors opened, I stepped out and took a sharp turn to my right…and ran into something.

“Oh somfy,” I sputtered against a shirt.

“Didn’t see you there,” the guy I bumped into laughed. He took a stepped back and smoothed out his shirt.

“It was my fault, sorry,” I apologized

“No no, no one’s fault,” he said. His eyes traveled up and down my body and he smiled. “Let me guess, a model?”

Heat rose to my cheeks. “Yeah.”

“You look just like the type,” he winked at me.

“Is that what you say to all the girls?” I teased.

He smiled and looked at my curiously. “If you’re looking for the photo room, you’re going the wrong way,” he said, completely ignoring my question.

“Well then,” I said, “lead the way.”

I turned around and followed his lead down the hall to a pair of wooden doors. With a teasing smile to me, he turned the door knob. As soon as the doors opened, Jake came rushing to us.

“Damn it Anthony, you’re late,” Jake scolded.

“Sorry man,” Anthony shrugged.

Jake’s eyes shifted to me. “And I see you’ve found Jessica.”

Anthony eyed me playfully. “Yup, some model you got here. She doesn’t even know the way to the photo room.”

“She should,” Jake said slowly. “She’s my receptionist.”

“A receptionist? What, are you not making enough money? Cause I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t want to hire you,” Anthony said, with a wink to me.

“Oh stop it,” I giggled, hitting him lightly on the arm.

Jake gave us both a reprimanding glare and pointed to the direction of where all the other models were sitting. “All the models are over there, so you can go and see which one or ones you’d like to use.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Anthony said immediately.

Jake raised his eyebrows. “Oh?”

“I’ve already picked who I want to use.”

Crossing his arms, Jake regarded him carefully. “Who?”

Anthony walked towards me and put his arms around my shoulder. “Jessica.”

I whipped my head and stared at me. “Me?”

At the same time, Jake’s eyes almost popped out of his skull. “Her?”

“Mhm. So let’s get ready, shall me?” Anthony nodded cheerfully and hopped of to the area where all the equipment was set me.

Jake turned to look at me and I turned to look at him. We both stared at each other, dumbfounded, for a second. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but quickly snapped it shut.

“Well,” I said awkwardly. “I guess I’ll go get ready.”

I smacked my lips together and gave him a curt nod.

“Yeah, you do that.” I heard him mumble quietly as I was walking off.

The next few hours consisted of me changing into countless gorgeous outfits and standing in front of Anthony. He would tell me what emotion he wants me to portray, and I’d think of a memory of that. Like if he said happy, I’d think about the first day of school, when I was the only girl who got a gold star. Tacky, I know, but it worked. Sometimes when he wanted to me to act a certain way, he would put his camera on the floor and move me into the position, his hands always lingering. Jake stood in the corner of the room, unmoving except when he wanted a bite to eat, just looking sulky. I don’t know what his deal is.

“Alright. Let’s take a short break,” Anthony announced finally.

Letting out a deep breath, I released myself from my strict pose and took off my impossibly high heels.

“Hey,” Anthony said, walking up to me.

I smiled at him. “What’s up?”

“You’re doing really great,” he said, impressed.

“Well, thanks,” I replied.

“So, I was wondering um…after we’re done this…” he said slowly.

I raised my eyebrow. “Are you asking me out?”

“If I was, would you say yes?” he asked sheepishly.

“You’re paying,” I smiled and walked to get some food. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Anthony smile to himself. That’s sweet.

I walked over to the food table and grabbed a muffin.

“You’re going on a date with him?” Jake suddenly appeared beside me.

“What? Anthony?” I asked with a mouth full of food.

“Yeah,” he said.

I swallowed and took another bite. “Yah, wha’s wrong wif dat?”

“He’s a creep,” Jake said, looking over to Anthony.

I turned to him and put my hand on my hip. “Well I think he’s sweet.”

“Hey, no need to get defensive. I’m just looking out for you,” Jake responded quickly. He took a step back and put his hands in the air like he was getting arrested of something.

I don’t know why but my blood started boiling. I wasn’t usually short tempered like this, but maybe it’s just because of everything that’s been going on. “After 7 years, you finally decide to look out for me?” I snapped.

Jake sighed. “Why are we still on this?”

“I don’t know,” I said defensively. “I just find it weird that all of a sudden you want to come and be all happy and merry again.”

“What happened wasn’t really my fault.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You stopped calling.”

Jake looked at me angrily. “How was I supposed to know that you wanted me to keep calling? You never answered any of them.”

I looked up to the ceiling, blinking back angry tears. From the corner of my eye, I saw that Anthony was already standing in the picture-taking area and he looked like he was waiting for me.

“You know what, you’re right,” I retorted. “I didn’t want you to keep calling. Good thing you stopped.”

Without waiting for his smart-ass comeback, I turned on my heel and walked away.

“Hey, you alright?” Anthony asked worriedly when I approached him.

“I’m fine,” I said, blinking furiously.

“Okay,” he said doubtfully. “We only have one more picture to go. The last one, I want you to look at sad as possible.”

“No problem there,” I muttered under my breath.

Anthony leaned in closer. “Did you say something?”

I shook my head. “Nope. Let’s start.”

He gave me a thumbs-up and started clicking away. I looked to the floor, feeling sullen.

“Sadder!” Anthony shouted. “I want you to look hurt, absolutely broken.”

I thought back to that day, that rainy day, I was sitting on my bed, waiting for that call from him. I had decided that I was going to give in. I was going to finally answer and let him apologize. Cause that’s what friends do, right? They never give up, and they always work out their problems. But that call never came. It never came and it felt like someone drove a 3 ton truck over me.

Shaking away all my pride, I looked up, straight into Jake’s eyes. They looked pretty sad too, but I couldn’t tell. He was never really good at showing emotions anyways.

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