Puppy fat- Dolan

T w e n t y - o n e

Ice cream with Grayson had been pleasant yet it hadn't taken the sad edge off of my emotions. Not even the sugary cookie dough could make me completely happy. When you lose your best friend of years, you lose part of yourself, you lose secrets, meet ups, comforts and endless memories full of laughter, and no matter how much you try to forget them, you can't, so you're always stuck with the dark cloud of them, happy memories taunting you, reminding you what you used to have.

After Grayson had realised that I wasn't going to cheer up, he gave up cracking jokes and agreed that we can go.
"I don't want a lift, I just need a bit of time for myself."
"Are you sure?" Gray asked, his eyes clouded with concern, worried at what could happen whilst I was on my own. My heart swelled in love and I almost caved but I knew that it wouldn't help me at all. I needed to think.

I nodded with a small smile and began to walk to the mall. This had quickly become one of my comfort places. Many people had quiet places where they found comfort; the park, their bedroom, a lake. Yet the thought of people being too engrossed in shopping rather than the world around them, was strangely comforting to me.

As soon as I entered the large building, my shoulders sagged in relief and I instantly felt at ease. I followed the sense of smell to the food court that was filled with an abundance of smells that I couldn't decipher as they mingled together. I wasn't hungry. I sat at the table and relived the memories we had shared, from the moment we met until now. The positive outnumbered the negative, yet the negative were filled with so much pain that they overpowered any others. But were they bad enough to give up on our friendship?

Being too engrossed in my mind, I hadn't noticed the flamboyant man advancing towards me.
"Dah-ling! You are such an adorable cupcake!" He squealed as I jumped from his loud tone of voice.

The guy had brown hair and a face full of professional looking make-up. His outfit consisted of extremely ripped jeans and a huge hoodie yet he pulled them off perfectly.
"You're face is the next big thing!" He informed as my eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"Okay..?"

"I'm Jack Clark. I work for Storm modelling agency and you my sugar pie, have just been spotted."
My eyes widened in shock- modelling, me?
"I-I can't, I'm not skinny enough..." I stammered as he threw his head back, letting out a loud laugh.
"Of course you are honey! Are you kidding! You're as skinny as a twizzler!"
I laughed at his strange choice of comparison, not quite believing what he was telling me.

"Now, we just need your parents' permission and then we can take a couple of headshots! Is that okay?" He asked.
I nodded, knowing my mom would be ecstatic, she'd finally have the perfect daughter she's always dreamed of.
I gave him my mother's number and he was on the phone, talking to her in seconds, and as expected, she agreed.

As he remained on the phone however, I grew increasingly nervous. What if he was really a mass murderer? He seemed harmless but those could sometimes be the worst kind! What was I getting myself into? I'd just trusted a complete stranger!

Finally he hung up, "Come on my cute pickle, your mom will meet us there!" He smiled and slowly, I followed him, a little hesitant, yet going ahead with it nonetheless. He ushered me into the taxi and I sighed in relief, knowing that he couldn't do anything in a taxi. He was safe.

After 15 minutes, we pulled up in front of the agency. The building was huge and painted white with a sleek black sign hung above the door. Was this really happening?
Without time to really think, I was shoved inside and presented before Jack's boss. She didn't ask for my name, or introduce herself, she just motioned for me to spin which I did, before nodding a confirmation to Jack.

He squealed excitedly and took me into another room for hair and makeup. I was halfway through a smokey eye when my mother crashed into the room, a huge beaming smile on her face.
"You should've seen the look on your father's face when I told him my daughter is a model while he's stuck with a plain Jane step daughter." She smirked and instantly the smile wiped off my face.
I thought she'd at least be happy, but no, instead, she was only bothered about the bragging rights, I should've known.

I sighed and just gritted my teeth, enduring her high-pitched squawk down my ear whilst many products were smeared on my face. I thought I'd become quite educated on makeup but I was wrong. You don't just get eyebrow pencils you can get brow pomades! The whole look took around half an hour and then I had stylists come change me to ensure I didn't get any makeup on the clothing, which was absolutely stunning. It was a simple outfit, yet the way they styled it, was great.
The outfit consisted of: a lacy blouse; some deep blue skinny jeans; a white fur coat and some chunky ankle boots.

I was then led to a mirror so I could see myself before the shots and as soon as the cover was removed from the mirror a loud gasp escaped my lips, the girl before me looked so beautiful and the outfit was something I'd thought I could never pull off.

"Yes Twinkie, you look fabulous but chop chop! We need photos!"
I nodded in response and allowed myself to follow Jack into the studio. It looked exactly how it did in movies and I felt both nervousness and excitement bubble within me as Jack introduced me to the photographer.

"Right, first, I want you to stand completely neutral and stare at the camera."

Snap!

And just like that, my first photo had been taken.

********
End of chapter!
Congrats to Cassie!
But what happens to the twins??
Please vote and comment as I love to hear everyone's opinion!
-Ky 💜