"Laken, where have you been?"
"Sorry," I offered, dropping my bag onto the table. "I had some stuff to do." I took a seat opposite her at the small cafe we met at least once a week. It was a schedule now and it had been for the past 3 weeks.
As I sat, a blond waiter came over asking what we wanted. I ordered a coffee, as usual, and Kaityln ordered cappuccino and a slice of apple pie.
"So," I began, pulling the photo album of samples from my bag. "You know were having that big deal with Trend setters for the next month, right?" I asked.
Her brow furrowed. "No... what are you talking about?"
I gave her an exasperated look. "Hey, don't look at me like that! I'm just the model. Nobody tells me anything!" She says with her hands up in defence.
I smiled lightly. "Okay, so Trend setters has made a deal that if we sample some of their clothes in our magazine as well as them, they'll promote us. This is lasting for the next three weeks, so if things go good, we may join with them. You know how good that would be for the business?"
"Oh my god, that's fucking awesome." She said in awe. "I bet if we did good, you'd get that promotion you wanted."
"Maybe." I said, refusing to get my hopes up. "So anyway, I have the samples here," I pressed my palms onto the top of the photo album. "And I needed to see what ones you'd be comfortable wearing, and what you wouldn't."
She gives me a confused look. "When have I ever been uncomfortable with what you pick out?"
"Well, these aren't exactly, the most... concealing of clothing." I offered, giving her a sheepish smile.
"Well, hurry the fuck up and let me see them will you."
I cringed, and opened to the first page of the album. Pages upon pages were just printed pictures of girls in bikinis or what could quite easily be a replacements for one.
"Well I guess we know how they get attention." Kaitlyn muttered as we skipped through.
"Mm-hmm. But, listen, if you don't want to do this, then I totally understand. The jobs been handed to me pretty much now, so I'm the one who's supposed to get the models in, and, of course, take the photos. Jennie wants Marcus doing the editing, and then she's going to send it off."
"And no doubt take the credit for all your hard work." Kaitlyn muttered almost incoherently.
"She's not that bad." I said half-heartedly. Truth was, Jennie was a horrible. She took credit for almost everything we did half the time, and then lied to our faces and gave us half our pay. I wondered if she really actually cared about the business at all half the time, or if she was just in it for the money.
"Whatever." She said. "But yeah, these are fine. I mean, I'm not sure I'm going to look so great in this," She pointed to an open back, thigh length dress. "with the angel wings on my back..." She grinned. "Might just give our dear old Jennie a heart attack."
"Well, this is my shoot. It will give it a more edgy look, and I think we could go for that. Besides, these outfits aren't exactly all daffodils and roses, are they? They could use a little spicing up, and I'm pretty sure nobody can spice things up just like you can." Kaityln agreed and I gave her a copy of the designs.
"So, that's settled." I breathed a sigh, releasing a little bit of tension. "I didn't want to have to go ask any of the others to do the modelling." She gave me a knowing look.
"Could you imagine May in one of these?" She laughed. "She'd throw a fit, literally. On the studio floor. God, I hate that girl. I swear she has a pole up that tiny little ass of hers. And can she not just stop kissing Jennie's feet for one damn second?"
