Double Take [Sequel to Bound]

25. Watch It

Chapter 25—Watch It

Leah's POV:

"Calvin Klein?"

"Yes—he personally asked for you girls."

"But it's... It's literally tops off for that shoot."

"I know, Leah, which is why I told the company I'd let them know once both of you are comfortable with doing it," Jen explained, her voice a bit crackly through the phone's speaker. "Just let me know ASAP, yeah? Don't want to keep Mr. Klein waiting, hmm?"

I let out a light scoff, exchanging a look with my sister. "Yeah, we'll call you later, Jen."

"Bye, girls," our manager sung, before hanging up.

I locked my phone, arms folded on top of the dining table as I looked at Klara, who sat next to me with her eyebrows raised. "So do you want to do it, or...?" she trailed off, shaking her head once as she tried to read my expression.

I exhaled sharply, leaning back in the chair as I pursed my lips. "I don't know," I answered, the honesty clear in my voice. My eyes flickered over to her. "Do you?"

Klara shrugged, arms crossed over her chest as the usual careless, carefree expression settled on her face. "We haven't done anything like that before, but I think it'd be fun," she stated, right before adding, "so long as you're comfortable with it, Lee. We don't have to if you don't want to."

I shook my head, biting my lower lip. "It's not really that," I slowly began, furrowing my eyebrows a bit as I thought of the right words to say. "It's just that... I don't care what people think of us, okay? I don't. But at the same time, I'm not really a fan of millions of people making it seem scandalous for us to do something like that."

I frowned at how those words spilled from my mouth, irritated at myself for not being able to word what I was trying to say properly. I was a model, and as a model, I should be comfortable with doing whatever was needed for me to do at a photo shoot. And, yeah, possibly going topless for a shoot was something big and risqué, but as under aged models, our parents had given their consent for us to do our shoots up until we turned eighteen and got to make our own decisions.

Right now, I wasn't sure if Mum and Dad giving their consent for everything was a smart move or not.

Now, it wasn't like I was uncomfortable with my body or anything. Klara and I weren't overly skinny—we weren't just bones with a little bit of skin covering them. Our bodies were healthy; we had a strict diet, yeah, but we strayed from it every now and then when we indulged some burgers or pizza. In the end, we did work out to keep our body toned—not skinny. That was a big difference, and thankfully people seemed to recognize that.

It was just the inevitable criticism that I wasn't too fond of facing. I just know people are going to start ranting about how Klara and I are too young to be topless for a shoot—which is ridiculous, seeing as hundreds of other models pose like that even if they're under eighteen years old.

"I get what you're saying, Leah," Klara said, forcing me to look away from my turquoise painted nails and at her. "But who gives a shit what they think, man? If we didn't do something because we were afraid of what the world will think of us, we wouldn't be doing much of anything. They'll find the littlest of things to give us hell for, you know that. So why not just go for the kill, y'know? Dad used to do whatever he wanted, remember? He didn't really care what people thought of him, so long as his friends and family still, like, loved him or some shit."

I cracked a smile at the end of her words, as her whole mini-speech sunk in my mind. Once again, Klara was right. Dad had gone the beginning of his career wondering what people thought of him, and it nearly broke him down as he once told us. But later on, after he had met Mum, he became more confident in how he acted around the media. He simply didn't care what people thought of him, and if rumors circulated and he was asked about them, he'd shut them down right away, leaving no room for argument.