Be Brave With Me

Chapter Two

"Ten million! "Ten million, babe! Did you hear? We did it!"

Jess burst into the bathroom behind Aurelia, catching her best friend and star client in the middle of fixing her make-up. 

The petite raven made sure the door was shut tight behind her. Only then did she allow herself to break out into a tiny victory dance, shaking her booty and kissing her flexed biceps alternatively. "Think about all those doors that will open up now, babe. Think about our reach! Our impressions! We'll be entering a whole other league of endorsements. We can ask for more, demand more, decide more!"

Happy to see her best friend so happy, Aurelia chuckled and made room for Jess to dance her heart out. She turned back to the mirror and tugged on the golden, clingy fabric of her dress to have it sit just so. She tried her best to keep her tone as casual as possible when she asked, "Did they get in touch yet? It's nine a.m. over there. They should have seen it by now..."

She knew she shouldn't torture herself like this. She couldn't help herself, though. She needed to know. She always needed to know.

It was the not knowing that had brought her here in the first place.

Jess slowed down and sighed. "Nothing. As of yet. Who knows? Maybe they had a late night, and their assistants haven't kicked either of them out of bed yet?" Jess held out a tube of gloss so her charge could touch up her lips.

Aurelia paused before applying the gloss, catching Jess' eyes in the mirror. "Tonight's footage, it will only be gone after twenty-four hours, right?"

Jess didn't hold back her dramatic eye roll. "The girl has ten million followers on Insta. And not a clue how all of it works," she sighed. "We talked about it, remember? Keeping those clips contained in your stories will add the right amount of exclusivity. We can only fuel the rumors of what happened at your summer party when all evidence is gone. And well... there's the bonus that we won't leave a trace of any potentially illegal happenings. Yes. It'll all be gone in twenty-four hours."

"But that means they'll only have twenty-four hours to see it, too. How can we make sure they'll see it?"

"Babe, trust me. They will."

Aurelia straightened up. "Maybe I didn't go big enough? Maybe I should've done more? Did you catch how I-"

"I did. I caught all of it. Don't worry. You did great out there." Jess put away the lip gloss, then reached over to tug on the hem of her dress to have it sit just so - but better. "You showed just the right amount of skin, drank enough, danced wild enough. People are already going nuts online."

Jess picked up her phone and scrolled through the comments. "Just listen to some of this. 'What's up with Aurelia Carmichael? I always thought she was kinda... meh, but look at her now!' Or this one, 'The Princess of Hollywood is having fun at last. Good for her!' Or this one, 'Keep an eye out for that Carmichael chick, her career is only going up, up, up these days! It's about time she filled those big shoes!'"

Aurelia scoffed. Big shoes? They were more like... a pair of stars. Fitted into that famous sidewalk in the middle of Hollywood.

Restless and nervous, she began to fuss with her hair, lifting her honey golden beach waves away from her neck to allow some air to cool the back of her neck. "What do you think? Can I put my hair up? It's way too hot out there to wear it down for the entire night."

She began to style it into a single braid, then tried a messy bun on top of her head. Jess clucked her disapproval and swatted her hands away. "No, and most definitely, no. Hair down is the look that works best for you. Don't fight me on this."