||Pretenders||☄️

(147).

"The Launch"

        Alicia got invited by Dawn to the launch although they both knew her presence would irk Shelby. Dawn had said she needed her best friend around on this big day. This was the breakthrough of the CORA brand and they had prepared so much for it. To be on a much safer side, Theodore escorted Alicia to the launch and she was happy with that. He had also said, he wanted to support his brother's brand.

      The moment they got to the company, Dawn handed them T-shirt's which specified they were staffs. "What the?!" Theodore asked. "I didn't come here to work."

"I know Theo. It'll look fucking good on you." Dawn said to him. Alicia smiled and he sighed. Maxwell came out of his office in the same white branded T-shirt and he cussed out.

"You got to be kidding me!" He cussed.

"Good to see you too brother." Theodore smiled at him.

"Come with me. I need your hand." Maxwell said to him.

"For what?" Theodore asked.

"Stop asking questions and come with me. We're starting in an hour." Maxwell commanded.

"What the fuck?!" Theodore cussed. Maxwell walked up to him, held his hand and dragged him away. "I did not sign up for this!" He said.

       Dawn looked at Alicia. "I told you they'll work things out. I need you too. Come." She held Alicia's hand and dragged her away to the room the models were getting ready in. There were lots of makeup artist and hair stylist, working on them. Dawn handed a notepad to Alicia. "Make sure everyone is here." Alicia nodded. She looked at the list and it was names of the model. "Call me when you're done. I need to check on the lighting."

"Okay," she sighed. Dawn left her in the room and she started calling out their names. She asked if everyone was okay and they all seemed okay. No one had any problems. Alicia finished checking up on them and walked out to meet Dawn. She looked around the busy place and how people were running from end to end. She saw Maxwell and Theodore working on the stage.

"I don't like the color." Theodore disagreed with Max. "No seriously, they're not cool at all. And the chairs looked disorganized."

"I arranged that."

"You should leave it to the staff. You're bad at this." Theodore stepped down and started arranging the chairs. "Don't just stand there. Call them to change the color. Don't you have less than an hour to go?"

"Yeah," Maxwell called for the staff and they agreed to change the colors on the stage. "I'll be right back. I have an email to reply."

"Okay." Theodore said. Maxwell walked out of the stage and he saw Alicia looking at them.

"Hey," he said to her. "I see you're working too."

"Yeah, I was checking on the models." She answered.

"They all showed up?" She nodded her head. "Okay, I gotta go."

"Can I come with you?" She asked. Maxwell looked back at Theodore and he shook his head. "Why?"

"I don't want to keep fighting with my brother because of you. We shouldn't be left alone Alicia. It fucks him up and you're still his wife. I don't want to keep disrespecting his choices. You should respect mine too."

"Okay, I... understand." She said and he walked away. Shelby run in, panting and taking her heels off.

"Babe I'm so sorry. The shoot took a while." She said. Maxwell held her hand and she hugged him, panting on him. "Is everything set? You need a hand?"