Harry Styles- hopelessly devoted

Chapter 9

"Charlene, if you would follow me this way." Michelle said, motioning me to follow her. I found myself at this warehouse in L.A. It apparently was where Pleasing had set up their shop for the time they were in town. 

Anyway, it was my first day 'on set', if you want to call it that. I was quite nervous to model for people I did not know. In fact, just modeling in general is something I've never done before. I still have no idea why they reached out to me about this. Sure, Harry seemed interested in me that night but he never made any intention on expanding on it. As much as I wanted him to. 

I followed closely behind Michelle until we reached a large room with a photography studio set up in the corner by window. There was only one other person, which I'm assuming was the photographer. My heart began to race as my anxiety washed over me. I wasn't so sure what I was nervous about. I think my distorted thoughts were telling me I wasn't good enough to be shown for Pleasing. 

Then again, Pleasing celebrated every body, no matter what they looked like. It was so accepting and diverse, something I cherished greatly. This thought made me feel a bit more comfortable in myself and my ability to model.

"Hey Paul." Michelle said as we approached the photographer. "Charlene, this is Paul, our photographer.  He will be working with you today. Paul, this is Charlene. She will be our model." Paul extended his arm out for a handshake. "Nice to meet you, Charlene. Today shouldn't take too long. I just want to get you comfortable in front of the camera." I returned the handshake and smiled warmly at him. "Sounds great, Paul. Where would you like me?"

Paul pointed to the middle of the set in front of us. "Before we get started, I'd like you to get changed into this sweatshirt." He held out a green sweatshirt with the word 'Pleasing' written in white letters. I wasn't going to lie, I hope I was able to keep it after the photoshoot because it was adorable and my favorite color. 

I scurried off to the bathroom outside the room and quickly changed into the sweatshirt. I was wearing a pair of leggings and my white tennis shoes, so I felt like the outfit itself went together well. 

When I returned I heard Michelle and Paul whispering amongst themselves. I tried to tune into the conversation but Michelle noticed my presence. I gave a small wave and placed myself in the middle of the photography set. Paul aimed his camera at me and snapped a picture. All I was doing was standing there with a blank face. "Um... do you want me to pose?" I questioned. He snapped another picture. "You're perfect the way you are. Just keep talking and I'll continue taking photos."

I thought back to my Google search earlier today: 'how to do a model face'. I turned my head a bit to the side, tilted my chin up and had a slightly opened mouth. I tried not to smile, as model's typically don't show too much emotion from what I could tell from my research. But, every model is different. And if Paul said I was perfect the way I was that made me feel more confident.

He continued taking photos of me as I tried out different faces and poses with my hands. He came at me with different angles and adjusted the lighting. I became slightly more comfortable with the idea of being in front of the camera. 

Before I knew it, the day was over. Michelle gave a slight applause as Paul wrapped up the activity. "Fantastic work, Charlene. What happens now is we send it off to our editors and they will choose a photo to publish." Michelle said, walking closer to me. "Oh, and you can keep the sweatshirt. I could tell how much you liked it." 

***

The next day I woke up to the sound of a few birds chirping outside my window. It was truly preferable to hear birds versus a blaring alarm. My manager at my nursing job was not too happy about my abrupt departure but I did not really care. It was a stressful job anyway. I was finding more grey hairs on my head with each passing day. But now that the job is over, maybe I can delay the greys. Being paid to just be myself seemed like a dream.

I walked out to the living room and saw Anna sitting on the couch with her cup of tea and a slice of toast with jelly on it. Anna looked up at me and grinned. "Good morning, sunshine. How was your day yesterday? I see they gave you a new shirt." She eyed me up and down, noticing my Pleasing sweatshirt. Yes, I did in fact sleep in it. It was cozy, what can I say. 

"God, I don't even know where to start. All I did was basically stand there and they took pictures of me in the sweatshirt. I tried to act all model like but they might end up stupid." I said, taking a seat next to her. I sniffed the air and decided that toast was a good idea. I stood back up and walked into our open kitchen. I popped a piece of bread into the toaster.

"Char, don't you even say such a thing. Did they say when it would be uploaded?" Anna said. She stood up from her spot and joined me in the kitchen. I sat on the counter and thought back to my conversation from yesterday. 

"They said they would send it to an editor and then go from there." I shrugged my shoulders. Just as I said that, a notification buzzed my phone. I looked down at it and saw that Pleasing had posted on Instagram. I turned on notifications for them because I was a nervous wreck thinking about having my face on their account.

"Oh my God, it's happening." I said aloud, opening my phone as fast as I could. Anna squealed and joined my side. "Let's see, let's see!" She ecstatically screamed. My toast popped up, but I did not care. My stomach was in knots as my phone loaded the Pleasing Instagram post. 

Plastered before me was my face. Apparently the post was published about 1 hour ago but my phone was just now notifying me. "God, you are so beautiful." Anna swooned, taking my phone out of my hands. I laughed and grabbed my toast. I decided to take a bite of it plain. Maybe it was help easy my stomach. 

"Char. You would not believe who liked this post." Anna stated, flipping the phone to my face. I squinted my eyes to look closer. It was, in fact, Harry Styles name that popped up on the screen. I choked a little bit on my toast. "No way." I said in disbelief. I took my phone back and refreshed their page. I tapped back on the picture and tapped the likes. Harry's name was at the top of the list. 

I squeaked out a sound of excitement. Just as I did that, another notification popped up on my phone: "Harry Styles (harrystyles) is requesting to message you." I immediately locked my phone and set it down. I checked my pulse on my carotid artery, making sure I was still alive. 

Maybe this was just the beginning of our relationship. The only way to find out was to reply.