The Apprentice (Girlxgirl)

Chapter Thirty Two

Miranda was not nearly as intimidating as I'd expected her to be. When she arrived at the studio, she was waiting for us. She was very polite, and seemed keen to work with us.

She had short grey hair, which I guessed she must have dyed grey, as she couldn't have been any older than early forties. She wore tight black jeans, a white blouse, and a yellow blazer, accompanied by high heels. She was probably smaller than me without them, but when I met her she was towering above me.

"So, let's see what you can do," Miranda said cheerfully, gesturing toward the model who was undergoing a quick makeover.

Alex, Ellie and I all started to take photos. We only needed a few minutes before Ellie and I got straight to editing in our office. Alex stayed in the studio to catch up with Miranda. From what I could hear, Miranda had always been close with Alex's family.

After around twenty minutes, Ellie and I joined Miranda and Alex in the studio, with six of the best photos we had taken and edited.

Miranda looked the pictures over for what felt like forever, then looked back to us with a serious expression. I felt nervous for her criticism.

"You're right, they are good" she said, turning back to Alex, then looked to her assistant, who watched closely "Okay I want this for this week's cover, and get a contract drawn up today."

I felt a huge wave of relief come over me, and noticed Ellie's shoulders relax next to me. Alex smiled at us happily.

"Okay girls, I've got a planning meeting in thirty minutes, so I need to go now. I would love to catch up with you all soon in a less formal setting, maybe lunch?"

"We're actually having a housewarming party on Friday night," Ellie said, and I gritted my teeth. "You should bring some of the models so we can get to know them before we start working with them."

"Fabulous, I'll be there, and bring some of my girls. Lovely seeing you, sweetheart." Miranda said, and kissed Alex on the cheek.

We said goodbye to Miranda, her assistant, and the model, and we sat on the sofas in the reception area.

"Ellie, what are you doing to me?" I groaned, and she looked confused. "Now we need to plan a housewarming party in three days."

"Yeah but I thought we were doing that anyway?"

"Yeah, we were... But now we need to plan it so it's suitable for our new boss." I explained.

"Jay, you don't need to worry, Miranda isn't stuck up, it doesn't need to be fancy or anything," Alex chimed in, and I smiled at her attempt to make me feel better.

We got to work straight away on the party. Miranda's contract wouldn't start for over a week so we had nothing to do in the meantime. It all came together quite quickly and we just needed to go to the shop to get some supplies.

~~~~

"You're not seeing Mark tonight?" I asked Ellie, hoping for another night alone with Alex.

"Nah, he's working late all week, but he's coming to the party Friday," she said.

"Oh good, so I'll get to meet him sober," I laughed, and Ellie smiled.

I was happy for Ellie, she seemed really excited about Mark. I just wished I could tell her about Alex. She was always the first person I told everything to, and it was killing me not to say anything. But after the way she reacted when I told her I kissed Alex, I didn't want to hear what she would say now.

"I'm gonna go read a book in bed," I said, and kissed Ellie on the cheek before going upstairs.

As I neared Alex's room, I heard I've got you under my skin by Frank sinatra playing quietly. I pushed the door open slightly to see her lying on her stomach with a pencil in her hand, sketching in a book. Her eyes darted up to mine when she saw the door open, and she smiled sweetly.

"I love this song," I said, and she pushed herself up from the bed and sat cross legged.

"Can I see?" I asked, gesturing at her sketchbook.

"Oh, umm... Yeah I guess." She looked nervously at me as I sat next to her on the bed.

"Wow," I said, looking at her work. She had put so much detail into her drawings, I was amazed by how good she was. I kept flicking the pages until I saw myself staring up at me. I turned to face Alex, and saw her trying to avoid my eyes.

I pulled her chin up gently, forcing her to look at me, and kissed her. She smiled against my lips, and pulled away to look at me.

"I hope you're not creeped out that I drew you," she said sheepishly.

"No, I'm flattered," I assured her, "Unless you drew it before I met you... In which case, you would need to leave right now."

Alex laughed at my joke, then pulled me into a deep kiss. I wanted to touch her. I wanted to kiss every part of her body. I was so angry with Mark for working late. As much as I loved Ellie, I wished she would just let me have tonight with Alex.

"I don't want to sleep alone tonight," Alex whispered, resting her forehead against mine, as if she had read my mind.

"Me neither, but Ellie's staying in tonight," I sighed, and Alex pouted.

"When can we tell her?" She asked, and I felt guilty for making Alex hide what was going on.

"I wanna get this stupid party out of the way, and then I'll talk to her," I said, and she smiled in response.

"Okay, I can hang on for that long I guess. I just... I just want to fall asleep with you."

The butterflies in my stomach arose at her words. She wanted to fall asleep with me. She didn't want to tell Ellie so that we could have sex or make out whenever we felt like it, but just so she got to sleep next to me.

I left Alex's room around thirty minutes later, and just lay in bed thinking about her. And thinking about ways I could tell Ellie about Alex.

I wouldn't really know what to say anyway, as Alex and I hadn't defined our relationship yet. She wasn't my girlfriend, nothing was official. I didn't even know if she was seeing anybody else. I certainly hoped not, though.

I would probably just tell Ellie what had happened between me and Alex, and how I felt about her. I could tell her how my heart hurts every time I looked at her, like physically hurt from how much I want to kiss her all the time.

Hopefully she would understand, but only time would tell.