Closer to You (Book One ✓)

N I N E T E E N

Back in the comfort of my favorite cafe, I lean my forehead against the steel table in the back room. I've been back three days already, but I can't seem to get ahead on sleep.

Zara and Oliver kept me busy the extra few days I was in LA. We had three days straight of shooting, each shoot consisting of five different models, and lasting almost twelve hours each. I had no idea make up and hair could even take so long, especially when the shoot aimed to keep our faces looking pretty bare. Never mind the time it took to get in and out of the outlandish outfits Zara and Oliver's designer friend put together. His name was Royale and he barely spoke to me or the other girls when he was on set. Supposedly, he was a genius in the fashion world. My opinion? Kind of a jerk.

The other girls were nice enough. There was a mix of newbies like me and some of Oliver and Zara's favorite girls - the girls who had been doing it awhile mainly kept to themselves, whereas the newer girls chatted amongst ourselves. One of the girls, who went by Alessandra, had a similar story to mine. She hadn't really planned on being a model, but Oliver and Zara found her as their waitress at a high end restaurant. She had dark, wild curls that framed her bold face - round, dark eyes, full lips, a strong nose and heavy brow.

She also told me that Joel, the photographer from my shoot, had asked her to drinks, too. I decided I wouldn't tell Beau that he was right about him, after all.

The shoots would be hitting print and online sometime later this week, and despite trying to put it out of my mind, I'm nervous. Surprisingly, I'm not scared at all about how the photos will look, or how I'll look in them. Instead, I can't help but worry about how everyone in town will react to seeing my image broadcasted like that.

"How's my new A-list celebrity?" Nadine saunters into the back room, a huge smile on her face.

"Nadine!" I rush forward to give her a hug, not realizing how much I've missed her until actually seeing her.

She pulls back and takes a look at my face. "You're not hiding your freckles today."

I shrug. "I thought I'd give my skin a break."

"I've been keeping up with you, you know? People follow you and that boy everywhere," she grabs her phone and shows me the screen. She flips through Instagram accounts sharing paparazzi shots of Beau and me in LA last week. I groan, I'm still not used to having people follow me around, and it startled me every time I noticed someone taking a photo with their phone. "You just be careful. You look beautiful, by the way." She gives me another small hug before returning to the front of the cafe.

I yawn and pull out my phone, having a few more minutes left to my break. Pulling up Beau's Instagram, I smile at the photo of us from after the concert at the top of his page. My fingers freeze above the screen. The comment section reveals a mix of excited fans and others less than happy that Beau isn't single. I scroll through, reading dozens of nasty comments about myself, some flat out threatening.

I look through my own notifications under my recent selfie with Beau. My pulse quickens as I read more and more horrible comments - calling me nasty names, threatening me, making fun of the freckles. Involuntarily, my hands raise to cover my cheeks.

I take a deep breath and tell myself to stay calm. Walking myself through the steps, I set my account to private and use the rest of my break blocking accounts that left aggressive comments or messages.