How to be a Model

Chapter Six

So, firstly, I am SO sorry I haven't updated in ages!! I am so terrible! However, I am hoping that I will be updating far more frequently in the future!

Secondly, thank you so much for reading this and supporting me! One of the main reasons I didn't update for a while was because I felt that no one was reading my book, and that discouraged me. So, if you do like 'How to be a Model', please take the time to like, vote for, comment on, and recommend me to your friends. I would super duper appreciate it!

Enjoy!!

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The rest of lunch was a little bit of a blur to me. I vaguely remember Jenna returning the table, a satisfied smile on her face, leaning over and whispering to me, "It's done."

I have some memory of ordering and eating some delicious meal with an exquisite name, and of Blaire offending the service staff with her general rudeness and misdemeanour. But mostly, it was all a haze. The one part of the afternoon that was crystal clear for me was when Jesse came over to us just before we left, a slightly rueful smile on his ridiculously handsome face.

"So..." there was silence as we stared at one another. My heart was beating so hard in my chest, I felt as if it was going to leave my body. I hoped he couldn't hear it. I licked my lips and looked down nervously.

"Are you okay with this idea?" he asked me.

"Are you?" I asked, glancing up at him, surprised the words left my lips so easily. He must have sensed my surprise.

"Yeah, I think so," he admitted. "It will be good publicity for us both."

"Yeah, " I agreed. "That's all." Not.

"So," he looked a little nervous. "Are we "dating"?"

"I guess so."

All the breath left my body as the next minute, he leaned down and kissed my cheek. I couldn't breathe as I looked into his blue, blue eyes, trapped in his gaze. I felt extremely vulnerable, and entirely transparent.

"See you around," he said, walking away from me.

Lying in my bed the next morning, staring at the ceiling, I wondered what on earth I had gotten myself in to. I was startled when my bedroom door opened abruptly. Blaire stepped into the room.

"Oh, good, you're awake," she said. "I'm going out with friends. Don't know when I'll be home."

And then she left the room, without giving me a chance to say anything.

"Oh," she ducked back into the room. "Try not to spend all day moping about your pathetic love life."

Rolling my eyes, I got up, wondering if I would ever understand her. Mercifully, I had no shoots booked for the day, so I could effectively "mope around" all day, if I so desired. I had other ideas though. After a light breakfast, I hopped onto my treadmill, thankful for something to take my mind off my complicated life. The pounding of my legs, the flow of air into my lungs, and the rhythm that I settled into soothed my nerves and, for a moment, I felt calm and collected again. After my workout, I took a shower, and then settled down at the kitchen bench, on one of the bar stools, with my laptop to do some research. I really need to make more of an effort with Blaire, to show her some of the really good benefits and rewards of working hard at my job, and at staying active and healthy. That was, after all, why I had agreed to let her come and stay with me, so she could see what I did, and choose to like it herself, or at least go away with some kind of ambition of her own. I sighed, rubbing my forehead. I missed my sister, the one who adored me, the one with whom I had shared so many laughs and hugs. This sarcastic, humourless stranger wasn't my sister. My phone rang next to me. I glanced at it and pulse skyrocketed when I saw that it was Jesse.