Life After | Trilogy

16

Lauren

I sighed loudly and ran my hands through my hair. We are 2 hours away from my debut show with Fendi and none of my designs have arrived.

"Is everyone's hair and makeup done?" I walked into the dressing room.

"We're doing the final touches now." Jelani, my makeup artist, spoke.

"Clothes are here!" EJ walked into the room with a box.

I sighed. Relieved that they were finally here. I opened up the box and pulled out everyone's outfits and hung them in order.

"After your hair is done, get dressed. I need to see how you look before you walk out there."

I carried the rest of the clothes to the Men's room. I hung their outfits up as well. Dave was still getting his braids done and Rakim wasn't here yet.

"If you're done, get dressed." I spoke before walking out.

"Lauren?"

I turned around and Sarah was walking towards me.

"You ok?"

I sighed. "I just want everything to go as planned."

"Aww." She poked her lip out and pulled me into a hug. "Calm down. It's ok. I know it's your debut but I promise you, everything is fine. You're doing great and you have plenty of time left. Don't stress yourself."

I nodded and slightly smiled. I spotted Rakim walking in and he was holding a bag of food. I eyed him and he mouthed a "sorry" before going into the Men's dressing room.

I walked over and sat beside Amber near the runway entrance.

"You sure you don't want to walk?" I laid my head on her shoulder.

"I'm sure. This is not my thing." She laughed. "I'll pass."

My first reveal with Fendi was an hour away. Sarah allowed me to do everything how I wanted. I even had control over who walked today. For the women I chose Riley, Normani, Bernice Burgos, Justine Skye and Aliya Janell. As for the men, I have Chris, Rakim, Shad, Anthony, and Dave East. I wanted Amber to walk since Riley was but obviously, she doesn't want to.

I checked everyone's outfits as they came out of the dressing rooms. I was satisfied with everything and everyone.

It was now time for the show to began and I couldn't be any more nervous.

"You ready?" Sarah walked over

"No" I shook my head

"Come on. You'll be fine. I'll be doing most of the talking." She linked her arm with mine.

We walked out into the open area and rows of people were seated. Some were designers that I recognized. Nicki was sitting in the front row beside Kat.

Sarah grabbed a microphone and stood in the middle of the walkway.

"Thank you all for coming to our annual launch. We appreciate each and every one of you. As you can see, I'm not alone this year. We have a new designer on our team and her name is Lauren Smith. The designs you see today were exclusively made by her and I'm sure you'll love them just as much as we do." Sarah smiled. "All designs will be available for purchase on Fendi's official website at the end of the show. Hope you enjoy." Sarah sat the mic down and we walked over to our seats on the side of the walkway.

The show began and Riley was the first one out. She had on an all white outfit with blue and red Fendi prints.

"You know I need that like now right." Nicki leaned over and whispered