Learning to be Beautiful

Learning to be Beautiful ~3~

Gavin and I ate quickly—he practically inhaled his bacon—before Gavin offered to drive me home. I accepted gratefully, and was home before 5:30.

As soon as I walked through the door, my body realized that I hadn’t slept at all. My eyelids quickly grew heavy and I swayed where I stood. I debated whether or not I should take a nap before going to Mom’s modeling agency, but decided that if I did go to sleep I would never wake up in time to get there by 8:00. The prospect of having to go through the day on zero hours of asleep was not appealing.

So, instead of going to sleep, I brewed myself a very large pot of coffee. Yes, not just a cup of coffee, but an entire pot. I was going to need it if I wanted to survive the day. I drank a mug before hopping in the shower, then another after I had gotten dressed. The caffeine made me feel awake, and made me look a bit more so as well, not that looking awake meant beauty. But then, who needed beauty nowadays when there was makeup? I wondered if I needed to do my own makeup before going to the modeling agency, but decided against it; they would probably just take it off and do it for me anyways.

I started to pour myself another mug of coffee after I had checked Facebook and read statuses aimlessly for an hour--my eyelids were starting to droop again, but I didn’t drink it in time, my head slumped down and hit the table and I was down for the count.

--

“Aislyn, if you can hear me, pick up the phone right now!”

My eyes shot open, and my head lifted off of the table momentarily.

“Aislyn Marie Palmin, get your butt to my office right this minute!” My mom’s voice rose in pitch and only then did I realize that I had fallen asleep. I looked around wildly for the time, then gave a little scream when I saw that I was already an hour late. Jumping out of my chair, I grabbed my keys and ran out the door, my hand waving frantically above my head as soon as I exited my neighborhood.

“Taxi!” I shouted, still waving my hand. A small, yellow car stopped in front of me, and I hopped in, saying “Palmin Modeling Agency” breathlessly, before slumping back against the seats, thinking that I really needed a car of my own.

I arrived at the modeling agency at an hour and half later than I should have, and practically ran on and off of the elevator. Gladys, the blonde receptionist, recognized me and didn’t protest when I ran right past her and into my mother’s office.

“Aislyn!” She cried, throwing her manicured hands up in an exasperated gesture, “There you are! Come along, dear, we haven’t any time to waste, we need to get you into Photography immediately!” She didn’t even give me a chance to say ‘hello’ before she was pushing me out of her office and back into the elevator. If I had been Gladys watching what was happening, I would have been laughing.

Throwing a backwards glance over my shoulder, I looked to see if Gladys was doing what I would have been. She was.

I resisted the urge to frown and stick my tongue out at her like I would have done if I was twelve, and allowed my mother to lead me into the elevator. Her long fingers fluttered all over my clothes, hastily straightening my shirt, and adjusting the collar on my button-up shirt. She licked her thumb and was about to wipe off some smudge on my face when I backed away and wiped it off myself. Mom looked up at my hair, and a deep crease appeared between her brows.