No Plan B

5

At the end of the day, I was exhausted. My day had been full of changing in and out of clothes and responding to each order the photographer gave me. I changed into my clothes that I arrived in and began walking out. The sky was churning into a black-purple-blue, and stars began to appear like magic.

My attention was drawn back by someone basically gasping my name. "Connor!" I turned and saw Matthew (Matty) running at me. He stopped and took a deep breath, acting as if he had run a marathon to get to me.

"Yes..?" I asked. I could feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I knew it was Hayley but I couldn't answer her texts. The phone just kept vibrating uncomfortably, but I had to keep it.

Matty took a deep breath. He stood up straight, revealing his loosely hanging sweatpants around his thin frame. "Are you coming tomorrow, to finish the shoot?" He asked me, pushing back his hair from over his eyes.

I knew I was coming tomorrow; I had to finish the shoot. Honestly, it's not that bad to come in, try on clothes, and go home. I told him a yes and his grin seemed to shine brighter. "Cool-cool. Would it be alright if I drove you tomorrow? I-I uh, it much be kinda hard driving in with this kind of traffic, right?" His offer seemed to be slightly forced. He seemed to want to drive me, however, it just seemed like he gave into peer pressure to ask me.

The offer was great, though. I wouldn't mind being driven in tomorrow morning. "Sure. I'll text you my address." I replied. His smile was contagious.

"By-by the way, if you decide to do this for real, you'll need a contractor. They basically plan where you go, what model offers you should take up, and so on." He informed.

"I thought Anthony was our contractor?"

"Anthony is our manager. He schedules out magazine or online gigs. Our contractors see if we need to take those," I nodded slowly and he continued, "if you decide to go serious, then we can share a contractor for the time being." I nodded again.

"Well, Matty, I'll see you tomorrow morning. I'll make sure to text you my address, bye." I waved him off.

"Bye, Connor." He waved back and turned back around. I watched as he skipped off to a familiar blonde headed woman. Maybe that was his contractor. Matthew's face reddened and the woman giggled happily and they hugged. I went over to my car and checked my texts.

"How was today?
Didja have fun?
Was anyone cute?
What magazine did you model for?
Are you gonna go serious?
When's the magazine being released?"

Hayley had asked so many questions. I groaned and climbed into my car. I exited the parking lot and began to drive home.

>>>

I patiently waited for Matty. I decided to wear more comfortable clothes, like what he was wearing yesterday. I wore some sweatpants and a random t-shirt from when I was in high school; just a stupid shirt that had a merge of colors to make a sunset. In the middle it said "it's just science". I was a science major.

I sat on my couch with a cup of coffee and scrolled through my phone. I was looking at Matty's Instagram account. He was verified, his account was full of gorgeous modeling photos, and some of him just hanging out with friends. He was built to be a model, and that's a fact.

My doorbell went off and I got up. I poured out the rest of my coffee down the drain and stuffed my phone into my sweats' pockets. I answered the door and was met with Matty's model face. "He-Hey. You ready?" He asked. His anxiety seemed to emit from his body like a fragrance.

I nodded and stuffed my keys into my pocket as well. "Yep, let's get going," I replied. He began walking to his car while I locked the door to my house. I climbed into the passenger's seat. He had a nice car. It smelled brand new. My eyes gazed over the controls in the middle; heated/cooled seats, radio, AC, Bluetooth, pre-set seat adjustments, the whole package.

"You, uh, wanna listen to so music?" His meek voice asked.

I looked at him and shrugged, "Sure. Your choice." I usually didn't care about what we listened to, I was fine with anything.

He nodded and turned on the radio. It was some mainstream song that I didn't know the name to. The car drive was mostly silent. Neither of us said much. I decided to just relax, for once. I watched cars drive by. Every once in a while, I'd see a little kid staring right back at me like I was a ghost. My fingers tampered with the strings at the hem of my sweat pants. The car drive wasn't all that eventful; it was rather boring. It seemed as if the ride would never stop. We passed the gas station for what seemed like the ninth time. We had to have been going in circles. I watched as we made the turn to the building, and my hopes began to rise. He pulled into the parking lot; my body flushed with relief.

We both got out and walked into the building. "Boys! There you are!" Anthony called and ran up to us.

My eyes darted around, "Are we late?" I asked.

"No, but the people for this magazine are the wanting more pictures from you two. You are some of the younger looking boys," he explained. I had a feeling Matthew was chosen for a lot of the younger roles, not so much the ones for more adult magazines.

Matty nodded and Anthony dragged us both to a changing room. "Okay, so you two can decided who wears what. You're the same size everywhere so it doesn't matter," he said, handing us each an outfit before leaving.

We decided who wore what, and I left to give Matty privacy, then I changed.

>>>

"Thanks, Matty, for driving me," I thanked him as I hopped out of his car.

He simply nodded, "Yeah. Ju-Just tell me if you ever need a ride again."

I nodded and waved him off as he drove away. I went into my house and began cooking myself some Mac & Cheese, because I didn't have time for actually making dinner. I started the macaroni on the stove, and then my phone began ringing. I picked it up and, sure enough, it was Hayley.

I answered, walking from the stove. "Hey, what's up?"

"Just checkin' on you. Any cute kids at the modeling place?" Hayley asked.

I chewed my lip before replying, "Nah. None that I'd do."

"Huh. Bummer. Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come over this weekend for our movie night."

"I dunno, I'll have to see what's going on that day."

"So are you going serious with that modeling thing?"

"Umm, it might be. I'm considering it. Tomorrow, if I decide to go serious, I get to pick a contractor."

"Who are you gonna pick?"

"I haven't seen a list yet, but I might go with Matthew's."

"Cool. So, no more Starbucks?"

"Don't think so."

"Quitting?"

"Yeah."