THE SOCIETY (H.S.)

one

THE SOCIETY

I.

San Diego, 3:19PM

FASHION VALLEY MALL

"Dad."

"Josephine, I'm just not sure about letting you go across the country. NYU isn't down the street, Jo. I don't want you to go alone. How are you going to handle yourself on the streets of New York?"

She squinted, the sun rays through her lashes making her blink for a moment and look down to the sidewalk. The familiar warmth felt nice on her cheeks, but the brewing irritation in her stomach never feathered away no matter how much she willed it to.

With a short huff through her nose, Josie shifted her phone to her other ear. She continued to speak to her father on the other line while gazing ahead of her at all of the different varieties of stores she could choose from to visit.

That was the thing about Josie's father. He was a loving father and she considered herself lucky to have a father that loved her as much as he did, but he sometimes just became so overbearing that she didn't exactly know how to deal with it.

He had been like that ever since her mother and younger brother Noah died, but Josie couldn't blame him. Her mom was great, too, and there were only two instances in which she had ever seen her father cry. The first instance was when her dad received a call informing him the her grandfather died in his sleep. The second was when he got the call informing him that yes, Cherie Paris and Noah Paris were both in critical condition after a vehicle collision.

"I can handle myself dad, you know this. You've always said that I'd be out of the house at eighteen, and I'm nineteen now. You can't keep me here forever. Plus, my classes start in a month and if you make me miss them, that's a waste of your money."

"It was different back then. You're still so young, I just don't like the idea of you being so far without anybody to guide you. You still have time to say no."

She chewed on her bottom lip, striding into one of the stores that had snagged her attention for a moment. "That's all a part of the entire experience," she said, flicking through a rack of clothes and pulling off a shirt to take a better look at it. "You know, the whole thing? It's about gaining knowledge about the world and.. You know, just growing and learning. I mean, Charlie is doing his thing at UCLA, but I've yet to make my mark on the world. Or at least do something with my life."

It sounded a lot less lame in her head, she decided, but from the pause on the other end she could tell it had been effective in at least getting him to think about what she had just told him.

"I know, I know. Trust me, I used the same excuse when I was your age."

"Spare me the details," Josie murmured, bottom lip tucked between her teeth as she pulled a black Helmut Lang slip dress off of one of the racks and held it up. She heard his chuckle on the other line, and though she was still a bit agitated, Josie couldn't help the slight smile that tugged up at the corners of her lips.

Two dresses and one top later, she was still on the phone while she briefly waited to be brought into a dressing room stall. Josie's dad was in the middle of saying something about the importance of staying safe on the streets when she felt a hand on her arm and the presence of somebody behind her.

Turning her head to face whoever it was, Josie's brows furrowed together just slightly because she wasn't sure what this woman wanted from her. When the woman spoke, Josie's father took a pause.

"Excuse me, I'm so sorry, but.. Are you a model? Have you modeled, before?"

Her initial response was to laugh. She kept her brows pinched together as a nervous chuckle tumbled from her mouth, and Josie tried not to stammer in her response.