A Close Second

Sixty Sixth

KEITH ANDREW

——

I watched Beatrice as she cheerfully chats with one of the assistants of the boutique.

Today was the day that we meet with the designer that wanted Beatrice to be the star model of her new collection for New York Fashion Week. They had just met Beatrice and she instantly clicked with them, with them being mostly Filipino and her being that easy-going.

"She's a breath of fresh air. I love her."

Napatingin ako sa gilid ko, finding the designer in question looking at me. Ms. Nikki Silva hands me a can of soda. I accepted it with a smile habang umupo ito sa tabi ko. I took a sip of the drink saka naman ibinalik ang tingin ko kay Beatrice.

"I love her too." I smiled, seeing her laugh wholeheartedly.

A giggle comes from Ms. Nikki. "I can tell." She says, leaning back. "She seems to be a special girl. I've worked with a lot of models, young and old but I like her."

"What did I tell you, Niks." Via says on the other couch. "She's your star."

"Yeah, I have to say—I've had my doubts but seeing her up close, she's really fits what I had in mind in my story." The designer says, sipping her drink. "Although, I know that she'll take the runway by storm."

"That's what we've been training her to do, being her Mother Agency and all."

"After this, I'm sure there'll be a lot of bookers trying to get their hands on her." Matt says na nasa likod ni Via, his elbows leaning over the sofa while we watch over the girl in question just try on fabrics with the assistant.

"You really think she'll be okay?" Asks Ms. Nikki.

"I do think that she's gonna be fine." Via says at us, in time to see Beatrice walk back to the spot we were sitting in, holding a tiara and what seemed to be a gold scarf.

"Hello baby girl, what do you have there?" Matt says at her.

"It's a diamond tiara!" Beatrice says giddily, showing Matt the accessory on hand. "It's so sparkly."

"It is." Via agrees. "That'd look great on you."

Beatrice giggles and then looks at me, putting on the tiara on my head. I rolled my eyes before I heard a snap and realizing that she had taken a photo of me.

"Hoy!"

"This is going into my Instagram." She says before skipping away again and going to the other side of the room habang tumatawa.

Nagtinginan kaming lahat saka naman tumayo si Matt at saka hinablot kay Beatrice ang phone niya, feigning being playful when in reality—we all knew what he was doing.

We knew and we hated it, but we laughed at it anyway.

"That's enough, kids." Via says rather bored, while looking at them.

Matt hands back Beatrice's phone to her, no doubt having stopped her into logging into her Instagram since she was pouting already but surrendering nonetheless.

"You're mean." She says before looking at her phone. "Look, you logged out my account. I don't even remember my password."

I held out a hand. "It's okay. I can help you log-in later."

She looks at me for a second. May parte sa akin na medyo natakot sa tingin na ibinigay niya, na parang may alam siya pero nang ngumiti siya at ibinigay sa akin ang phone niya, nawala ito. I pocketed it first before she goes to the designers again, this time taking the handheld camera from me.