Bright Lights and Dark Blood (On Hold)

Chapter 5

♪Thinking of you by Boyce Avenue (Katy Perry cover)♪

The breeze was perfect.  Ella sat in the kitchen with a coffee mug and watching a movie on her computer. The beach outside was becoming busy with vendors and dogs being walked. She was in a surprisingly good mood considering how badly things happened.

A click from the front door snapped her back. She heard a woosh. Henry’s back.

“You think you could sneak from me, Henry?” Ella sipped her coffee.

He was standing on the bottom of the stairs and was ready to flash upstairs. Henry slowly turned.  Ella was sitting with a wild grin on her face probably noticing his shabby state. Coat in hand, shirt untucked and bowtie merely hanging on his neck. He rolled his eyes and bit his lip. Henry hates this part, when he has to share his ‘escapades’ to Ella after. He finds it uncomfortable telling such stories specially leaving out the part where he pictured it was her.

“Well dear Henry, You look . . . properly disheveled” she mocked.

Henry flashed so they were opposite each other. “And you gained back that accent” he teased her while taking a sip at her coffee. She protested and stopped the movie she was watching and stood up to pour him his own. “Nicholas has a very strong accent and it’s just infectious”— she reached to give him the mug —“That’s why I’m watching a movie and listening to music to get it out of my system”. She saw him turn to his younger state.

“Nicholas?” Henry sneered in disgust. Ella saw the jealousy in him even when he was looking down to his mug. “You don’t usually name your playthings, El” he looked up accusingly. The room felt tense. “It’s just that things didn’t go the way I planned them” her eyes tensed up. So nothing happened. Henry knew for the longest time that she had control issues and gave him a flush of relief. She remembered his name because she still needs to cut undone string and not because of special reasons, he told himself.

She was relieved to see his face lighten up. The tension was gone.

“Speaking of playthings, how was yours?”  Her eyes on the computer and clicked on a random song. It was a poignant moment for Henry. The random song wasn’t that random at all. She looked at him in anticipation, full of light. The seabreeze blew her hair. He shook his head.

“It was wild” he teased and stood up to go change.

“That’s it? It was wild?” She mimicked “Where’s my details?” she raised her voice. Henry turned and shook his finger. “No details for you. You broke your deal so your insider privilege is null and void” he had a grin all over his face. Fine, she surrendered. “You have a shoot later, so you better feed up. I am not having a bloodlust run again.” He then flashed upstairs.

The photographer was angrily waving his hand speaking profanities in Italian. Ella was on her make-up chair fighting back her laugh. The other model is five minutes late of call time. He needs to cool down, she thought. It’s still an hour from the shoot proper and the set is ready and it’s not like they needed that much prep. They aren’t gonna wear that much.

Vincenzo dislikes working with stuck-up Hollywood actors. He is an artist and his artistry doesn’t come cheap. If this wasn’t a major campaign to be printed on everything possibly of iconic status he wouldn’t agree to the brand’s desire to pick an actor. They don’t move the way of models. Mamma mia!

“Finally, Vincenzo has been waiting!” saying his name in third person to state his importance. “I wasn’t notified in the change of venue beforehand” the actor defended. The photographer was silenced. He forgot to tell his assistants to notify the actor. He changed his mind from shooting in a studio to a high-rise luxe apartment in the last minute. “Vincenzo doesn’t explain himself” he walked off from the conversation.

Nicholas has been warned of these fickle fashion people but to think he had to sprint from the ground floor to the penthouse just because this Vincenzo felt like it was a harsh welcome.

He sighed and saw Ella looking at him with a happy grin.

“So you’re my co-worker today then.” She said slyly with someone curling and fluffing her hair. He took off his leather jacket and propped it on the back of his chair before sitting there. Instantly he was being brushed and prepped. “I wasn’t expecting to see you this soon” he confessed. “Missed me already?” she teased. They both shared a smile.

A piece of paper caught Nicholas’ attention. There were three words scrawled on it. Passion, Fashion, Destruction. Before he could asked Ella spoke “It’s sort of Vincenzo’s way of prepping the models before briefing” she said. “See the furniture? They’re all fake and made of cardboard. Were supposed to throw them to the walls while making out. That’ll be the TV ad and print Ads will be old-fashioned laying on a destroyed piano”. Nicholas gave a look.

“Welcome to my world” her smiled reached her eyes.