Something More? ✔️

7

After a week of doing everyone's makeup, Penny had gotten the hang of things. Surprisingly, she even befriended Sandra who, turns out, also had quite an extensive background in art. Penny also admired Sandra's straightforward personality; it took a lot of guts to just say what you want to say. Most people didn't have the confidence or ability to do so. During this time, Penny also realized how truly accomplished the magazine was: in one week she had already tended to three different photoshoots all with different purposes and themes — she couldn't wrap her head around how Sandra managed it all.

It was the next week and Penny had just gotten out of her first year seminar class when she got a text from Sandra: Where r u? Our athleisure phototoshoot is starting soon.

Penny had completley forgotten about it. All the exams and projects were really messing with her schedule. She quickly texted back, promising she'll be there as soon as possible.

❋  ❋  ❋

To her utter horror, the room was packed with their university's male soccer team. As expected, she had to squeeze through a crowd of people before she finally found Sandra.

"Hey. What's going on? Why are they here?" she asked, utterly lost.

Sandra was busy sorting through something on her clipboard and looked up, "Rob thought it would be a good idea to use our athlete's for this month's magazine. They're going to model the athleisure wear that we made."

Penny nodded, and scanned the sea of people, trying to gauge her workload, "So what look should I do for them? Natural?"

"Yeah, just like clean up any blemishes. Also go in for the eyebrows and really sculpt the face."

Penny flashed her a thumbs up, and began making her way to the vanity table. It was going to be a long day judging from the size of the crowd and the impatient, non-professional atmosphere of the room. She began sorting through her brushes and products, trying to organize as best as she could before starting on the first person.

Now the part that she dreaded the most came, standing up on a stool, Penny yelled, "Hi everybody, can I get your attention," the whole soccer team looked at her, "I will be doing your make up for the shoot, so I need you all to line up properly in front of here to make this go as quickly as possible." There were murmurs and protests everywhere, but Penny ignored them and hopped off the stool, settling into her usual spot in front of the vanity. The room seemed to rumble as the soccer guys started rearranging themselves into a line.

Finally, Penny turned to the line and saw — him. It all made sense, of course he would be here. How could she have forgotten that he was on the team? It seemed way too late to back out of the room, now that she had already commanded their attention. It was also probably impossible to leave without anyone noticing. Sighing, she gestured for the first guy to come up to the table. Life never seemed to grant her a break.

After forty minutes of concealing and contouring, she had finally reached James. He looked relaxed. As usual, his black hair was ruffled and she had to give it to him — he suited the athleisure clothes well. It was probably in the way he carried himself, she decided. Unlike the other boys on the team who pea-cocked around in their new clothing, James didn't seem to care for any attention. Instead, he was the epitome of laidback charm. Preparing herself for another awkward encounter, she waved for him to come.

"Hey," he said. She nodded and turned to face him. Instantly, she knew this was going to be hard. Every time she looked at him, all she saw were his lips and then ... all she were his lips against Kate's. Penny didn't understand what she was feeling, all she knew was that she wanted him to disappear but also stay by her side? Studying his features, Penny decided he didn't need much concealer and dabbed only a little bit onto his eye bags.

Impulsively she asked, "How's Kate doing?"

"I don't know. Good?"

And then even more impulsively, she asked, "So — when'd you guys start dating?"

He looked up at her, "Who said we're dating."

Penny had to force the spasms around her mouth to calm down. It took all her willpower to not break out into a smile the moment she processed his words. Her hand clutching the contour stick was suspended in mid-air, and she couldn't help but look at him. Mentally, she told herself not to get her hopes up again.

"B-but you guys were — kissing?" her voice came out broken.

"Yeah, that doesn't mean we're dating does it? We're just friends with benefits," he said nonchalantly. Penny wasn't sure how she should feel about that. All she could do was continue contouring his face.

"I don't ever date." he added more quietly.

"Why?"

He shrugged, "No time for that. Plus, I don't think anyone would want in on my baggage." he laughed bitterly. Seeing the sadness in his eyes, all Penny wanted to do at that moment was hug him and reassure him that no one thought lower of him because of his situation. In fact, in her eyes, someone so dedicated to their mother was a huge green flag. It truly did make her like him more. But seeing as he and Kate had a thing going on and there were a long line of spectators behind him, all she could do was continue contouring and hoping.

All she could do was continue hoping that one day, miraculously, maybe she could make him understand that he wasn't baggage. At least not to her.

Author's Note: Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I just want to say I'm so grateful for all the love/reads so far :) 

Feel free to give feedback in the comments section! I would love to know if you think the chapters are too short/too long, what you think of the character progression etc. I always appreciate feedback!