His Royal Badness and the Mistress of Muscle -Vol. 2

Chapter 42 : Gentlemen Prefer Heels

Penelope narrates:It's work time for me. My first client of the day is someone I'm not looking forward to-headshots for a six year old girl's beauty pageant. This assignment makes me recall Sabrina's pageant days, even though Sabrina didn't start until her teens. I took this job because work is work.

The girl I'm supposed to photograph is wandering around, in awe of everything. "I'm Pilar McGill, and this is my daughter Ruby. Ruby, come say 'Hello' to Miss Smith." the mother says.

"Hi," Ruby says quietly.

"Hello, Dear. That's a nice hairdo you've got there." I say, knowing full well is got a bunch of hairpieces in it and is probably kinda heavy.

"It makes my neck hurt" she whispers.

"Miss Smith is dating Prince! Isn't that amazing?" Pilar exclaims to her.

Ruby seems confused,"She's dating a prince?"

Clearly, she doesn't know who he is and mom is into the fame thing. "That's just my boyfriend's name. He's a musician." I tell her

"A very famous one" Pilar says excitedly.

Ruby doesn't care. "Miss Smith, your name is on the building. Does that mean you own it?" she asks.

"Yes, I do." I reply. Technically, I'm paying this place off, but I'm not trying to explain mortgages to a six year old.

This impresses her. Ruby asks about a million questions about my job and business between shots. Pilar seems embarrassed and exasperated. "Ruby, not so many questions." she scolds.

"I really don't mind." I reply. "Her enthusiasm is cute."

We wrap things up and Pilar insists that Ruby do her dance routine for me. It's kind of suggestive. "You've definitely put work into it and it shows." I say, trying to be diplomatic.

"I'm gonna play that my Barbies have a business when I get home!" Ruby tells me.

"You have to rehearse your dance when we get home." Pilar informs her.

Pilar and Ruby say goodbye. Somehow I think pretending Barbie has a business would be more beneficial than her too grown up dance routine. I get out my list of life goals that I carry around with me and add help girls.

At home I sit next to Prince on the sofa and remove my shoes. I bend over and remove his shoes too. "What are you doing?" he asks.

"Making sure you're comfortable too." I reply, "Look what I had to shoot today." I hand him one of Ruby's test shots.

"What is this? A mini drag queen?"

"Child beauty pageant photo. Kid's mom is a total showbiz mom and I think the child has other interests."

"That's a little too much makeup." Prince says looking at the photo.

"It's normal in those circles. I've decided I want to do something to help girls. Maybe I could start with a tour of my studio for some Girl Scouts. "

"Sounds good. You could show them the equipment and talk about owning a business."

"And since Gary is an account many he could join me and talk about the numbers side of business."

"Then again, boys need mentors too."

"Like Gary?"

"Yeah, he's perfect." Prince says sarcastically. "What I meant was you can help boys as well as girls. A woman like you would have been a good mentor for me when I was a kid."