Bad Company

Nineteen ꨄ

   Fae A.

"Come on Fae why are you acting like you've never done a photoshoot before?" My father scolds me.

"It's hard to concentrate with you around, Kenneth" I roll my eyes.

"Excuse me?" He gasps.

"Best thing that has come out of your mouth all afternoon, you're excused" I shoo him away knowing he'd rather leave than cause a scene and jeopardize the money coming from this.

"Honey, why do you insist on pushing your father's buttons?" My mother sighs, adjusting my outfit. She motions for my makeup artist to come over, "she looks flushed and tired please fix it."

"Why does he insist on making everything more stressful than it already is? He's a walking ray of darkness and his energy sucks the fun out of everything. I don't want him around or the behind the scenes of anything anymore. I don't even want to deal with him."

"Honey, don't frown or you'll have to get botox. You know your father just wants everything to be perfect but I'll talk to him alright? Now can we please just get through this and I'll give you the rest of the day off" my mother says.

"Fine" I know she won't talk to him about anything but the rest of the day to relax sounds to good to pass up. This shoot would've been over three hours ago if he hadn't come in here and made us do all the pictures over again. I just hope that the team from Cruel Intentions Magazine doesn't decide that they don't want to work with me anymore because of him.

Some time goes by and the shoot is finally over, I head back to my dressing room to change into something more comfortable and remove the makeup on my face. As I'm just finishing up my phone rings. I rummage through my bag and fish it out.

I press accept and put the phone to my ear, "hey Alana what's up?"

"Hey Fae, are you busy?" She sounds a bit distressed.

"Nope I am actually heading home now, everything okay?"

"Well I have to work later than usual and Billie's brother is stuck at work at well. Do you think you could pick her up and keep her for the night? She's in headspace and is a bit fussy so I can't tend to her like she wants."

There is a twinge in my chest, I'm not ready to take care of Billie on my own. Alana has barely begun to teach me anything. "Um-"

"Don't overthink it, she's easy to care for. Just don't leave her alone and you should be fine. Please?"

"O-Of course. I'm on my way" I slip my phone into my pocket as my mother comes into the room.

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah, I gotta go. But before I forget, Claudia and I would like to have you and Kenneth over for dinner some time. Just text me when you come up with a date and time" Collecting my things, I change into more comfortable shoes and leave before she has a chance to respond.

****

When I pull up in front of the diner, I turn off the car and take a deep breath. I give myself a mini motivational pep talk before I head inside. Scoping out the diner, I spot Alana behind the counter picking up plates. We make eye contact and she waves me over, Billie notices Alana's body language and turns around to face me.

Billie rushes to me meeting me halfway to the counter and wraps her arms around me, "hi baby" I say hugging her back.

She doesn't say anything as we walk towards Alana, "hey Fae, thank you for picking her up."

"No problem, I'm happy to spend the night with my baby."

Alana comes from behind the counter hand me a pale yellow backpack with little things dangling from it. "this is her bag, it has all her essentials," she then pulls out a pair of keys from the small front pouch on the bag, "these are the keys to my house and her brother's house. I always keep them on her bag for emergencies. You're gonna have to stop by her brother's house to get some clothes for her."

"Okay, you ready to stay the night with me angel?" I look down at the shorter girl still wrapped around my torso.

"Mhm" she nods, her cheek rubbing against my shirt.

"Alright, you can drop Billie off at her brother's tomorrow anytime after 3. He should be home by then" Alana then turns her attention to Billie, "I'll see you later okay, bumblebee?"

Billie lets go of me to hug Alana and whispers something in her ear. Alana whispers back and then kisses Billie on the top of her head. The quiet girl grabs my hands, waving one final goodbye to Alana as we head out.

As I am buckling Billie in, it occurs to me that I have no idea where Billie lives and I have never met her brother. "Angel, do you know your address?" I ask Billie as I put the car in drive.

She nods, "225 Lavendar Lane."