Follow You (Oli Sykes Fan Fiction) COMPLETE

A Rising Star

I managed to get a few hours sleep on the flight to New York, and the flight was pretty uneventful. I felt like death when I walked out of arrivals at JFK, but my mood shot up when I saw Behati and Hannah with a welcome home poster with my name on it. They knew about the last message and I guess they knew I'd have mixed emotions arriving back in New York. I loved that they were excited to have me back though, and honestly, I was happy to be back with them. 

We headed into Manhattan and they showed me to the new apartment. It was just as average as the last one we lived in, but in the trendy Tribeca area which was amazing. I settled in easily and as much as New York had brought me a lot of pain over the years, I felt like the 8 months I'd spent away had made it different. New York was the closest thing to home that I had, so I was happy to be back there. 

It was my favourite time of year with Christmas decorations lining Fifth avenue, ice-skating rinks set up at Bryant park and the Rockafeller centre, and the steam coming up from the subway always reminding me of olden day movies. As much as I wanted to go out exploring, I settled for dinner with the girls at a funky restaurant since I only had one day before my meeting with the Vogue people. I spent a lot of time catching up on sleep, relaxing and making sure I looked my best over the next 24 hours and then it was the morning of the big day.

I headed to the agency and was whisked off to the meeting at the Vogue office in lower Manhattan. For some reason, I wasn't really nervous, and even though you'd maybe think it was strict and snobby there - I mean, we've all seen the movies - it was fine. People were friendly enough, and the casting call couldn't have gone much smoother. I tried on shoes worth thousands of dollars and gowns that cost more than a new car... it was crazy. Three days after landing back in New York, I was signed on to appear in an editorial for  Vogue Italia, and it was a surreal feeling. The girls and I celebrated with champagne and both of them were genuinely happy for me, but I have to say that I felt a little sad. It had been a while since something so big had happened to me, and I wished my Mum was still around to share that moment with me. She would have been so proud. I emailed my Aunt back in Australia since she was the one who got me into modelling, and I think she almost fell on the floor. I told her I'd go to visit sometime soon, even though I had no idea when. It had been years since I'd been back.

In the next couple of weeks, I started getting more job offers. A lot more job offers. I'm not sure whether the word had gotten out that I had been hand-selected by Vogue for an editorial, or whether someone at the agency was telling people, but it was crazy. In the past, I had applied – or at least the agency had, but now, people were specifically requesting me for things. It seemed so strange to me. Maybe once Vogue was in my portfolio I would understand, but before I'd even done the shoot? The jobs were bigger brands and better clients too, some shows for smaller designers and photoshoots for some bigger brands... I even did a campaign for Ray Ban and made it onto a billboard in Times Square!

My status in the modelling world seemed to keep rising and it wasn't long before I was getting enough work to pay my rent and start saving. The shoot for Vogue was incredible, and exactly as you would expect; the best stylists, make-up artists and photographers you could imagine. I got flown to Miami to work with two photographers who were highly regarded in the industry and I was dressed in Gucci, Chanel, Armani... just to name a few. I felt like a million dollars as I rolled around in the sand and posed on the beach. My social status started rising too, with invites suddenly appearing from magazine parties, opening nights and product launches. I attended a few and met some great people, and I noticed my instagram growing quite quickly along with it. I'd gone from 34k when I arrived in London to 103k by time I left, and now I was sitting just over 120. It might seem like nothing, but instagram plays a big role in the modelling world these days. By the end of February, I was doing around 2 jobs a week and probably networking once a fortnight at a special event. I usually took Behati as my 'date' to the events I got invited to, which also started pushing her status up and creating more work for her. We were feeling great about our careers.

Hannah had started seeing a guy who worked at a law firm, and was only ever at the apartment for a few days during the week – she spent weekends with him, and she'd taken a back seat with her modelling. She was happy for Behati and I, but we felt her drift further away from us and we were a little worried about what she would do if it fell through. Of course, we hoped she had found her happily ever after, but I get sceptical after everything that happened to me. Behati had changed in a way too, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. She started to leave the room to answer her phone, which she never really did, and just had a different kind of mood for a while. I wasn't sure what it was, and if I asked if everything was OK, she said yes, so I didn't push.

I went to an opening night at a photography exhibition one Friday with photographers, stylists and industry professionals, and ended up in a circle with some pretty famous people, including the manager of some of the biggest models in the world. He was a powerhouse and was kind of a big deal to work with. Luiz was his name, and the first thing he said to me was "They would love you in LA". I thought nothing of it, but I started hearing it more and more and one day, about two weeks after the initial comment, I got a call from the manager of my modelling agency asking me if I was interested in transferring to Los Angeles. It was really out of the blue, and I had never really thought about it before, but Luiz had contacted New York and said that he wanted to personally represent me. This was a man who had managed the biggest models in the world, and he had decided he wanted me as his new project. He said he had a massive job that I was perfect for, and 'hundreds' of others and that I should consider moving to LA for them. I was really taken back because things were going so well in New York, but working with Luiz was an opportunity of a lifetime.

When Behati got home, I told her what had happened and laughed. As if I was going to leave New York when things were going so well – and leave my best friend as well. Behati looked at me with a wide-eyed, thoughtful stare. "What?" I asked her. She put down her glass, walked over and hugged me tightly.
"Please accept it." she said into my shoulder. What? I thought. Why on earth did she want me to accept the transfer to the other side of the country? I actually felt betrayed at first, like she wanted to get rid of me... but then she told me that she wants to move back. I mean, she was originally from California, Irvine to be exact; a nothing special town a couple of hours from Los Angeles, but things were going so well for both of us in New York, I just couldn't understand why. I felt sick at the thought of her moving and me being alone permanently. I thought back to London and how it felt being there all alone when she left, and it made me feel queasy. As I was standing there thinking about not wanting to be alone again, Behati burst into tears. I had no idea what was going on, but I automatically hugged her. "Joy, my Mum has breast cancer." she confessed. I moved back and stared at her with my mouth open and I felt tears welling in my eyes. "I need to go and be near her." she added. In that moment I forgot about our careers and about my selfish thoughts of her leaving me, and I hugged her.

We sat and talked about everything; her Mum, our careers, our options... I was always told that New York and Paris are the meccas of fashion, that it's where you 'have' to base yourself, but here I was being offered Los Angeles on a platter. Not to mention Behati's Mum. The agency sent me information about the apartment I was offered, which was in West Hollywood and so much nicer than in New York. I would also be represented by the best in the business. Behati and I both knew that Hannah wasn't really depending on us anymore, so once again, we decided that we would leave New York.