Shouldn't Have Dealt - Book II

Chapter 14 - Magazine

Chapter 14 – Magazine

 

A desk.

A computer.

And a welcome mug that has a caption printed in blue: “To the new PA!”

Honestly, I could just stare at my own desk for the entire day without flicking my eyes. And I even have my own cubicle! It feels so great to finally be back to the working class after so many days of being jobless. I thought it will take long to suffer the agony of unemployment and irresolute future. However, what concerned me most or my nerves were the possibility of Hunter Stone interrupting with my affairs again. And again. And again.

Last night, our conversation, however short it was, was deadly. And I won’t say I did not regret what I did because the entire night I was kept awake and barely had time to rest my eyes because I was scared Hunter was going to do something to rid me of this job. I was holding onto my heart the whole time I was in front of Ms. Ross, my boss, afraid it would jump off the cavity when she says the job wasn’t for me. Fortunately, the opposite thing happened and here I am enjoying every second of my first day in MediaOne.

Perhaps Hunter got scared and wet his pants when I warned him last night.

Perhaps I was really scary then for him to finally capitulate.

I can hear the evil Angel laughing behind my back.

If this is indeed forever, then it is forever goodbye to Hunter Stone too.

“Ms. Mohr.” Ms. Ross comes in with her hands on her hips. She’s a gorgeous red-haired woman with eyes so green like emerald. She appears like a model in a magazine who’s been extrapolated by magic from its glossy pages. “Here is your first assignment. Donnie is waiting for you at the studio. Everything is set, you just have to check the pictorials and the quality of the photos before we present them to our client.” Then she hands me over a two page document that enlists the important things I must do in this project.

Then with a classy smile on her face, she sways her hips from right to left as she walks away from me, her heels click-clacking against the fully carpeted floor.

I quickly grab my phone and leave my seat, taking a final look at my shining desk.

I took the elevator to reach the 10th floor where the photo studio is. Ms. Ross said that Donnie is waiting for me there. I don’t exactly know who Donnie is but I don’t think he’s a photographer. I think he’s the company’s stylist who’s in charge of the fashion projects—the ones that are printed in the fashion section of the magazine. Based from what I read on the document, today’s project client is the clothing company Beetz that specializes in denim pants. A model specifically picked by the Beetz CEO is already at the 10th floor, probably just waiting for his photos to be checked by none other than yours truly, MediaOne’s newest Publicity Assistant.

I was fully smiling the entire time trekking along the hallway to the studio, but horror washes over me by the time I set foot in the studio room, where camera flashes hurt my eyes like flaring airport lights at the landing. But the horror and surprise was not caused by the camera flashes or the grandiose size of the room or the thickness of the crowd inside but by the single human specimen in the middle of the room, where everyone’s utmost attention is in.

I know I look like a fool caught in the entryway with my jaw dropped and my feet glued on the ground. It’s a good thing that the staff are minding their own business that they barely notice my presence or they would have found me as pale as a ghost.

Colin Verne? Modeling for Beetz? Working in the same project as me?

I manage, however, to move my legs to the left corner where a table jammed with papers, water bottles, and boxes of body accessories is people-free. Carefully, I watch Colin do his thing, and he’s actually good—projecting in front of the camera doing awkward facial expressions and body poses and getting comfy with everyone around seeing his bare trunk. If Ray were here, I bet he would grab the golden ticket to the front where he’d get the best view of the pictorial. It’s no brainer that Colin has really evolved—not anymore the Colin I used to know many years ago. He’s changed so much—physically. Now, I bet he could get all the girls he wants because of his tremendous good looks and appeal. And the pair of denim jeans he’s wearing fits him like a glove.