It was several hours later and I still had not heard a word from Jessie. I was currently at the huge show that had been booked for us and I literally just wanted to be anywhere but here. Even knowing that my parents were going to be in the audience watching me didn’t do anything to make me look forward to this. I just wanted to go home to my girlfriend and be as far away from this chaos as possible.
“Julie? Julie!” Danielle was suddenly right in my ear and I jumped at the sudden interruption of my thoughts.
“What?” I asked irritably.
“Are you okay?” she asked with concern. “Sorry, it’s just that you haven’t seemed yourself today.”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I sighed, wincing slightly as one of the stylists accidentally pulled my hair. I had a shit ton of people surrounding me, constantly prodding at me to prepare me for this damn show. I was already fed up. “Guess I’m just tired.”
I was tired. Tired of being here and tired of worrying. My parents visiting me was probably the only thing keeping me here if I’m honest.
Danielle didn’t say anything else and I was relieved that she wasn’t going to pry, but those feelings of relief soon vanished when I saw my manager walking toward me with her usual bitch face. Fuck’s sake I couldn’t catch a break today.
“Juliana, I expect you to be your absolute best out there,” she said sternly.
“Aren’t I always?” I snapped without thinking, my voice rising slightly. I saw her jaw drop in surprise and I think it took her a second to gather her thoughts. I was the submissive one. It was the entire reason she walked all over me. I knew that. But I was also fucking pissed off tonight. I was done.
“What’s gotten into you tonight?” she demanded in a harsh whisper. A few of the girls were starting to look our way and so I lowered my voice for the sake of not attracting any more attention than I really needed right now.
“Do you really want to know?” I said in a low voice. “I fucking hate this job. I really do. You’ve been making my life unbearable and I just sit here and take it. You walk all over me when you have no idea what I have going on at home and how it’s killing me on the inside every day. I can’t live like this Andrea. And I won’t.”
“What do you have going on at home, Julie?” she asked calmly. That took me by surprise. I honestly expected her to just fire me right then. I would have fired me. Then there was the fact that she didn’t use my full name. It almost sounded foreign to my ears when she said it.
“Why do you care?” I said with a lot less force than I wanted to. She simply continued to stare me down and so I gave in and sighed. What was the point in keeping secrets now that I’ve basically bitched my boss out? “My girlfriend is pregnant, okay? It wasn’t her choice but she chose to keep it anyway and now that she’s had her first appointment she won’t speak to me. I don’t know what’s wrong,” I let out all in one breath. All of my anger was gone and all it left behind was pure exhaustion. I felt so helpless.
“Go,” Andrea said firmly, her scowl dropping completely now only to be replaced by a neutral expression that I couldn’t figure out.
“Wait, what?”
“I want you to leave and go back to your hotel room. Now.”
“But—“
“Hush,” she interrupted. “I want you to go back to your hotel room. You have a shoot in two days and I expect you to be there. You’re obviously in no state to perform tonight.”
I was honestly speechless. I’d just basically bitched her out and she was being nice? She’s threatened to fire me for less. She had to have been joking.
