Be My First 3 - Tying Ends

53. 'Rona Virus, Dude!

May 18th, 2020
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A few years have passed. Justin and I broke up over a year ago, and I haven't heard much from him. We agreed on being friends but that's a little hard when we've had so many feelings intertwined with each other— and yeah, he's married now.

I've forgotten a lot about the past. I've been going through the motions. I don't have many guy friends anymore. Shawn is in a relationship. Jack J is too invested in his music. Sammy is always drinking. I don't model with Barb anymore. I feel like I've lost my way. I don't have a groove.

I moved to Santa Barbara in February, and I've been working at a corporate extension of Vogue since then. I write, I give advice, and I help others. Modeling is a come and go gig for me. I still get calls and I still get offers but it reminds me of an old version of myself. One that was happier, one who enjoyed doing things and felt a sense of fulfillment.

A younger me.

I rescued a dog named Arlo, and he's the sweetest little deaf dog ever. He was at the animal shelter and I had seen a posting on their Facebook page about him. He's a 2 year old border collie, and he's the only friend I need.

Arlo and I are on our way downtown to meet up with my new manager at Lemonade.

My mom and I talked this week about getting back into doing the things I love. Whether that be acting, modeling, or singing. God, if I'm even good at one of those anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love writing for Vogue. I love writing articles that women are able to read and help them in their own lives. It's just a 9-5 job and after that, all I have is Arlo. He's more than enough, but I know something is just missing.

So what does my mom do? She takes it upon herself to find an older businessman in the Santa Barbara area who's probably about 65 years old and has no real clientele. His name is George, and supposedly he is suppose to boost my career. Though I haven't heard his name, I still have a little faith in my mom that she knows what she's talking about.

Arlo and I walk up to Lemonade, and immediately I see a guy with salt-and-pepper hair stand up enthusiastically. Maybe a little too enthusiastically.

"PAIGE!" He yells. Uh, dude, I'm standing like 6 feet away from you.

"Hi!" I smile. Oh no. This man is wearing a bright green tuxedo suit, but only on the top half. It gets better. He's wearing flared Rock Revival jeans with flip flops.

"Sup my homie!" He smiles big. "I would hug you, or shake your hand, but 'rona virus! Dude am I right!" He laughs about just as hard as a human can.

"Ah-hah! Yep!" I say. I hope my facial expression isn't showing how I truly feel right now.

"Well let's get it poppin in the hizzzzle!" He sits down at the outdoor table, and I join. Arlo loves new people, but his tail wasn't budging. Maybe he has bad vibes about George too.

"Ha!" I courtesy laugh.

"So Paige, I know you and I know what you're capable of. You're amazing and you're so talented." He begins.

"Thank you!" I respond.

"But like, man, you fell off the face of the Earth!" He started laughing really hard again.

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so!"

Before he continued, because I know he would, I spoke up with another question.

"So I'm curious to know, who are your clients?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I have a lot!" He began to scrunch his face up in thought. "Nancy Wilcox, Fred Wardell, Hannah Pildrin, ummm, Christopher Jensen! So many!" He exclaimed.

If I closed my eyes while hearing those names, I'd think he'd be reading my parent's neighbors names. I have never heard any of those.

"Oh! Awesome." I smiled. WHO?!?

He still seemed in thought for a moment. "Oh, I almost forgot! Alicia Keyes and Beyoncé. Long time clients that I almost forget their real names instead of their nicknames!" He laughed.

My jaw dropped.

"Um, Charlie Puth... Selena Gomez... who else? Wow my memory is getting away these days!" He said.

My heart was pounding. So you're saying this man manages Beyoncé, and he knows who I am? What a small world.

I opened my mouth to talk, but before words came out, his phone rang. He looked down and his eyes widened. "This is my boss! Gotta take this! One second!" He held his hand up while walking away to take his phone call.

If you are Beyoncé's manager, who's your manager? God?

I decided to Google this guy. I pulled out my phone and started typing. George Dr-" suddenly, someone hit the back of my chair and my phone flew onto the floor behind me. I quickly stood up to grab it... and that's when I noticed the person picking it up to hand it to me.

Right there.

Jack.