ONE TO WATCH

IMAN: COMPROMISED POSITIONS

At the beauty parlour, Iman's leg was floating in the air somewhere above her left ear when her phone began to ring. Inconveniently, she'd placed it just out of reach on the seat beside the salon bed. The ringtone was difficult to ignore. She wanted to kill Mathew. He'd downloaded that ringtone to her phone as a going away joke.

Hopped up of tha bed,

Turn my swag on,

Looked in tha mirror...

Hot liquid wax in hand, the beautician in charge of her Hollywood wax, paused dramatically.

"Go ahead," Iman instructed desperate to ignore the annoying sound. She'd not been so uncomfortable in her entire life. Whoever it was that was calling would need to wait.

The lady applied a strip of warm wax to her tender skin.

The rap song continued relentlessly, amplified in the tiny sterile room.

Yeeeeeeea im getting money (ohh)

I put my team on, and ma theme song

Now it's time to turn it up

Yeah...

With her best conciliatory smile, Iman apologized.

"I can't stop now" the beautician said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Please don't!" Iman's leg was starting to cramp.

"Won't be long..." the lady smirked. With gloved hands she applied a strip of muslin atop the wax, pressed down and then tugged. Tears sprung to Iman's eyes. Still, her phone kept ringing. And ringing.

"Hand it to me, please?"

"Here you go..."

A fierce looking blue female warrior avatar appear on screen. It was her agent, Sparkly Diva Delmardi (don't ask!). Iman swiped to answer. "You do remember you sent me to have my va-jay-jay waxed?" she said.

"I do," Sparkly said. "I just need a moment."

"I'm in a terribly vulnerable position. Can it wait?"

"Not this time. Give me Penny?"

Feeling confused, Iman handed her phone to the beautician. "He wants to talk to you..."

Penny (she has a name!) took the phone.

"Do I interrupt when you're with a client?" the Penny woman grumbled. "We're busy."

Feeling beyond awkward, Iman sat up on the salon bed and reached for her jeans pulling them across her lap. Not that it made sense to do so. Her lady bits had been on full display for the past fifteen minutes. Something about the half-finished job made everything that much worse.

Penny didn't take long to resolve whatever business she had with Sparkly and handed the phone back. "He wants to talk to you..."

Inwardly, Iman cursed herself for jumping at the chance of a free wax. A moment ago, she'd had no connection with this woman. That had all changed. It was obvious Penny and Sparkly knew each other well. The few euro she'd saved wasn't worth compromising her anonymity.

Putting the phone on speaker (because why not?) she grumbled: "What is it?"

Sparkly sounded animated. "So, we've been offered un très, très intéressant opportunity to walk for Gucci in the Triennale di Milano on Friday morning."

"That is jolly interesting," Iman beamed. "When did this come in?"

"A minute ago. I called you right away. Couldn't wait. They want an answer by tonight."