The Art of Pining for Another

Chapter 12

I decided it would be best to just set out Chris's outfit for the next day the night before his photoshoot. In so doing, I could sleep in as long as I wanted, get actual breakfast from room service, and even go out to get my hair cut. I had real plans for that morning, and none of them involved working. It wasn't that I didn't want to see Chris. It was that I thought that if I could start my day off right, I might end the night on a much better note than he or I had done before. Not that we'd had very many nights to start or end the way I planned, but... well... you know what I mean.

However, this is not how things went.

At around a quarter past three in the morning, my phone rang. I cussed at it, knocked it on the floor accidentally while I was trying to answer it, and then decided not to answer it at all when it finally stopped ringing. I could fall back asleep before it went off again, though, and when I heard Matt on the other end, I wished I'd turned my phone off before I'd gone to bed that night.

"We're leaving in five minutes. Why aren't you here?"

"Because I brought his clothes last night," I answered. "You don't need me this morning."

"Yes we do. I told you yesterday that we did."

"No you didn't!" I racked my brain, trying to remember whether he had told me or not. I was sure he hadn't.

"Well you should have assumed!" He replied harshly. "Four minutes, now. Hurry up!"

"I haven't even showered!" I told him. "I don't have makeup on, I'm not dressed, I'm half awake..."

"Not my problem!" he sang annoyingly. "I'm taking Chris down to the car now. Meet you there in four minutes."

As soon as he ended the abrupt call, I threw my phone against the wall. I knew as soon as I threw it that that was a terrible idea, and it was surely as broken as my dreams of sleeping in now were. I knew I looked like shit, and I never let anyone see me when I looked like shit. Not only did a less than acceptable appearance make me highly uncomfortable, but it was also not the best thing for my reputation. Since I was already pretty disgusting, I was faced with either missing out on this photoshoot and costing Chris and his personal team god-knows-what from his lack of whatever it was that I was supposed to be doing for him, or I could be seen as I now was.

And of course, I chose the latter.

I dressed in jeans and a sweater, but brought along the clothes I'd originally planned to wear that day. Maybe I could find a place there to shower. Maybe Chris would be sleeping or otherwise preoccupied in the car and wouldn't notice how I looked. Maybe he was one of those guys who thinks a girl is most beautiful when she wears no makeup and hasn't showered yet and is wearing ill-fitting clothes.

Maybe unicorns exist.

It was as black is it had been when I fell asleep just before midnight, but I wore sunglasses anyway to hide my tired, dark eyes. My hair was held up in a messy ponytail that I could only hope I was pulling off well enough to look sexy instead of homeless. And over my shoulders, I had draped a poncho that, while possibly the most comfortable garment I owned, had gone out of style almost ten years before. At least it hid my wrinkled sweater. That was one last thing to worry about for now.

But of course Chris was awake. And of course he noticed how I looked. And of course he seemed disgusted by it.

"Forgot to set that alarm, did ya?" he asked.

Matt snickered.

"I didn't think I needed to come with. I've literally never heard of a single shoot that didn't have its own staff on site to style their models. If you ask me, this entire thing is bullshit."