Princess for Hire

4

Content warning: mentions of abusive ex
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Gigi let out a sigh of relief when she closed the door to her apartment behind her. She was safe. She dropped her bag on the couch and fell onto it, wrapping her arms around herself.

She hadn't been planning on going to that bar. She was just walking home after picking up a few more rhinestones and some wig glue. But someone all too familiar had been following her, thinking she wouldn't notice. Gigi didn't have the energy to deal with her possessive ex, and she was terrified of turning into her apartment building and him following. The last thing she wanted was him knowing where she lived.

So she had turned into that bar. At least if he had tried following her in, she'd be around other people who could help her. But she didn't expect to run into the pretty girl from that birthday party.

Gigi didn't usually pay much attention to the adults at the parties she was booked for. She was there to entertain the kids and make their day special. But Crystal had lingered on her mind more than she thought she would. She was kinda hard to forget based on appearance, but Gigi was sure she'd stop thinking about her.

She was wrong. Because she had almost choked when seeing her again. And now she had her phone number in her purse.

She slowly pulled out the napkin that Crystal had handed her, running her finger over the numbers scribbled onto it. It wasn't everyday she got a pretty girl's number. The only people who ever tried hitting on her or offering that were the weird uncles and older guys at the birthday parties she did, and that always made her extremely uncomfortable. Especially because she was purely there for the kids. But this was different.

With her most recent relationship keeping her isolated from basically everyone who wasn't her boyfriend, Gigi didn't really have anyone anymore. It was just her and her costumes. Rebuilding friendships and trust in other people seemed absolutely terrifying, even though she knew she was going to have to start somewhere. Maybe Crystal was the start she needed. She kind of hoped she was.

She found herself adding Crystal to her contacts. Her finger hovered over the text option for a second, but she decided against it when her nerves got the best of her. She didn't want to come across as clingy already. Her ex always told her she was too clingy. She told herself to wait.

She pulled herself up from her couch and grabbed the new pack of rhinestones from her purse. She wanted to get a crown she was working on stoned as much as she could before her loud neighbors got home. She still wasn't very fond of them. She walked to her room full of costumes and took a seat at her desk, picking up the crown for her updated Rapunzel look.

At least working on her costumes was therapeutic in a way. It was just her in her own little world. She concentrated hard to get everything right, making sure the stones were on securely and the patterns she was making were perfect. She liked adding extra sparkle to things. It made her smile sometimes. She always looked for new things that could help her smile.

Gigi hummed as she concentrated on the crown, slowly swaying back and forth in her desk chair before a loud bang made her jump and drop the crown. Immediately her neighbors began shouting at each other, and she sighed. She didn't like the fighting. And now a bunch of rhinestones she had just put on had fallen off the crown after being dropped.

The yelling took her back to a bad place. Gigi didn't like thinking about it. She stood up to search for her headphones and bit her lip hard. It was loud fighting tonight. It made her hands start to slightly shake as she dug through her bag.

Her ex yelled at her a lot. He yelled at her for the smallest things. From the table not being set, to her not looking the way he wanted her to look. It was hard to deal with, and Gigi didn't like that this yelling was reminding her of all of that. She whined when she couldn't find her headphones, abandoning the work she was doing to go to her bedroom.