The Model & The Singer

Chapter 2

He finally had his well-deserved rest and headed to see Santana. Sam had a pep in his step as he walked into the big, tall building before him. He had a lot of money in the bank. His name was on everyone's lips. He could get any woman he wanted if he wanted them. He had every guy hating on him as well. And to top it off, he just finished working all the major fashion runways from the United States to Europe.

For him, life could only get better. Sam felt like he wanted to boast to everyone he saw. He got off the elevator on the eighteenth floor and headed to Santana's huge office. He saw the door open as he stepped up to it and lightly knocked. "Hey, Santana! What's shaking?" He said with a goofy grin. Santana glanced up from her laptop and gave him a small smile. "Hi, Sam. Close the door, please." She told him.

Sam's grin fell as he went to close the door. He then sat back down and watched her continue to stare at him like her dog died. Santana was a woman who was many things. Cynical, brass, blunt, mean when necessary, and carefree and silly sometimes. But the last two, she only let those in her inner circle see. And Sam was lucky enough to be that good of a friend to be in her inner circle to see them. But this look he had only seen once. When she admitted to her small inner circle that she told her grandmother she was a lesbian. Her parents were more supportive. But her Nana cut her out of her life and she couldn't believe it.

But that was years ago and for Sam to see that look again, he knew it had to be something deep. "San, just tell me. Rip the band-aid off." He said to her. Santana sighed before she started to speak. "The job in Milan was your last." She said to him as she watches confusion appear on his face. "You're no longer a runway model."

Mercedes couldn't believe that she had to meet with hundreds of guys. It was only her first day and she was nine hours into interacting with guy number one hundred twelve. She was tired of guys calling themselves acting seductive when all they did was feel her up. She shuddered and was so thankful when Artie called it quit for the day. "Yes!" She said with actual joy. "Hey, my name is Charlie." The guy said to her as she faced away from him. "Would you like to go-." Was all he could get out before she ran to Artie. "How many days of this do we have, Artie?" She asked.

Artie glanced from the screen to the photos and let her see his left brow up. "Until we find one that you can stand to be near. Hell, until we find one that you actually could pretend to like." He said with a smirk. "Oh," Mercedes said with disappointment. "That long." Artie threw his head back and laughed before he shook it. "Cedes, come on. The faster you can get through at least the cattle call with a guy then the faster we can move on and do the video." He told her before sat back to see her look exhausted. She remained silent while Artie sighed and reached out to pat her arm. "Let's look on the bright side. We may find him tomorrow and you won't have to do this anymore. We can use the same guy for a series of videos." He said before a light went off in his brown eyes. "Oh, yeah. I can see that for sure."

Mercedes watched Artie grab his notebook and a pencil before he began to write. She turned and walked away, hoping he was right. That they'll find a guy she could tolerate and this would be all over.