Victoria's Secret

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"You did and phenomenal job today, Victoria." Marcus complemented. I didn't blush or say thank you. I felt horrible for going on stage and lying to the world about my life.

The waiter came by and took our orders. Marie of course ordered wine even though it was only lunchtime. "As soon as the interview was over," Marcus said, "I started getting calls from different agencies wanting the both of you to do photo shoots for various magazines." He looked at both of us expectantly.

"When is it?" My mother asked, taking a sip from her wine glass.

"I only scheduled one which will be held tomorrow afternoon." He informed us. I ate my lunch silently while they discussed the details. Even though this required me, it didn't require my input. What I thought didn't matter. Never has, never will, I thought in a glum manner.

For the life of me I couldn't understand why we got the table by the window. As we ate a crowd of people had gathered and kept snapping photos of us. The restaurant owner locked the entrance so that we could eat in peace, but that didn't stop the people from standing by the window gawking at us. My head started to ache from the flashes of their cameras and it had been a long day. Thankfully, we left soon after. It was a task getting past the crowd that were in front of the restaurant. I kept thinking that someone was gonna grab me and kidnap me. Luckily we had Marie's body guards to block "us" from "them".

Back at the hotel I checked my phone. There were two missed calls from Connor. "I saw you this morning on TV." He said when I called him back.

I laughed. "Do you think I was convincing?" I asked him. Marie was out somewhere so I was at ease.

"If I didn't know the truth I would've believed you," he said, "Only I do..." Him saying that made the mood somewhat darker. I didn't want him to start telling me I should fight her like he did before. "You've been okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." I responded. "Your mom was here the other day." I told him, shifting the spotlight off of me.

"How did she look?" he asked in a low voice. Connor hadn't seen his mom for a while. When he would come over he would deliberately come when he knew she wasn't there. It wasn't that he was scared of her. She had never hit him before when he lived with her. She was just neglectful when he was younger. I think it was just hard for him to see her the way she was.

"She didn't look good. When I saw her she was high and drunk." I explained truthfully. It would've been easier to lie to him, but it was very rare that I lied to him. He stayed silent so I added, "She asked about you though."

"Did she?"

"Yeah, she asked me where you were."

"It's a miracle that she even remembers me." he mumbled.

***

Marie stumbled into the suite late that night. I was sitting on the couch watching TV when she came in. Her hard eyes watched me from the doorway as she slammed and locked the door behind her. She smelt like alcohol and smoke mixed with sweat and perfume. "You're all everyone wants to talk about," she muttered with so much hatred for me. "Everyone loves you." she stretched out the words at the end of her sentences. "I fucking hate you." she whispered. She was angry and drunk. I tried to ignore her, but it was hard.

"You ruined my career," she continued, "I could've been bigger... better." she continued taking small steps towards me.

"The- there's n-n-nothing wrong with your career." I began to stutter. "And Marcus said that they-they'll love you even more." I reminded her desperately.