"I put on makeup to express myself. I could care less about my so-called insecurities."
Aura Chandler was so sure she had her life figured out. After securing a photoshoot gig with up-and-coming musician Lacey Redd, she was convinced she would get d...
ON THEIR WAY BACK to Grandma Ruby's house, she couldn't hold it any longer and logged into her social media. As expected, a flood of notifications overwhelmed her home page.
She tried to pay no attention to the hate bombarding her page, and went ahead to look at Zachary's post. That led to her looking at Millie's and then realizing they all said something against her.
She thought she'd get angry, but she didn't. She understood. They acted out from the hurt in their hearts from being humiliated in front of those who respected them. No one expected a simple brunch to turn into such a storm of chaos led by none other than Aura Chandler, a simple makeup artist who caught Zachary's attention.
The story wrote itself.
She sighed and kept scrolling, seeing everyone's take on the new drama.
Aura was about to log out from her account when she got a message from Scarlet. It was a link to someone's page. She went on it and realized it was her new boss's account.
"Oh my," she whispered to herself.
Right there was Claudia Laroe's statement on the drama. Tears welled in her eyes as she took it all in.
claudialaroeofficial: Utterly shocked and confused by this trend on hating on someone who came into this industry to create. Zachary, you were the one who told me that Aura was a decent girl with a crazy talent for makeup. Just because she didn't want to be with you doesn't mean you have to spread false rumors about her. Let this girl do her makeup and move on.
Aura almost sobbed in relief. The drama hadn't affected her new job, and her boss was defending her rather than discarding her at the first sign of trouble. Although she screwed up big time, at least she knew a bit of good still remained in the world.
She didn't know what to think when Scarlet sent another link leading her to Elaine Cavette's page. The message she found shocked her more than anything she had endured during the summer.
elainecavette: Ok, this has to stop. I don't even know Aura, but she's a skilled makeup artist that deserves to be respected. The only reason why I "started" the drama was because I was paid by Millie Moore, the one claiming that Aura is a gold digger, to make her look bad. Here are all the screenshots.
Aura scrolled through the pictures, seeing Millie's words spell out how she wanted her to rot in hell and never get recognition for her makeup. She even went as far as to call her heinous curses and even tried to convince Elaine that Aura was bad news. In the last picture, a serious blackmail cornered Elaine to accept the task to "expose" Aura for being a terrible person in the industry that did not deserve the spotlight.
Her jaw unhinged as she zoomed in on the words. She thought she was hallucinating. When she pinched herself and the words remained the same, she gasped. Millie threatened Elaine with her power to tear down her reputation.
She let out a sob, covering her mouth with one hand as she kept scrolling through comments. Finally, she got out of her social media and called her friends, hoping to further discuss the rest of the drama with people who weren't out to get her.
Afterwards, she posted a statement as well. She wrote about how she disliked people who went ahead to spread lies instead of dealing with their problems in person. There were more important things in life than being petty online.
When her statement went live, she logged out from her social media. Breathing in deeply, she decided to forget about the rabbit hole of the internet and spend the rest of her day with her grandmother. Who cared about what people thought about Aura and how Millie perceived her when she had to learn so many family recipes for future reference?
All the while, she thought about Tyson. She wondered if he was aware of the internet drama circulating her again. Juniper must have sent him screenshots of what was happening online. Maybe he would knock on her door soon.
Alas, after what she said, she knew it was a reach to think he would make time for her.
She really needed to learn how to shut the hell up.
Her summer came to an end on a bittersweet note. It wasn't what she imagined at all. Horrifying memories would haunt her forever, but incredible ones would be engraved in gold as well.
And that was life: a beautiful yet unpredictable rollercoaster with dips and turns, impossible to know when it would stop.
"Okay, now I'm gonna teach you... my lemonade recipe," Grandma Ruby announced.
At night, Aura sat on her bed, staring out of her window. She thought Tyson would show up even for a few minutes to talk about what happened. Instead she craved to hear his voice, forcing her mind to remind her of the soft melodious way he would speak when they were alone. She didn't know why she let herself believe he would make his way there after everything, but she had to hope.
But the night only stretched longer.
After hours of waiting, she distracted herself by speaking with Gwenn, musing about her relationship with Tyson. She confessed to her terrible comments. Her best friend didn't know how to respond, baffled at everything. Aura guessed that after what she did, it would be a shocker if he even tried to talk to her again.
Her lies were a sharpened knife, and his trust took the blunt force.
It was horrible.
She was horrible.
Aura was never one to overthink things. She had gone through her fair share of guys, playing with them like they were her first makeup kit, and she never once felt bad. It wasn't like she got with them because she had feelings for them. She did it because she thought that was what she should be doing.
After her first crush went awry, she never looked at dating the same. When you get played, you learn to become the best.
But when Tyson came in with his lame client stories and a bright smile, everything shifted. Not even Zachary could compare to what Tyson had to offer.
Tyson was one-hundred percent himself. He was unbothered, cool, sweet, and funny, and understood her. He would hype up every makeup look she did, being there for her when things went south online, and would be happy for her achievements. He was unlike anyone she'd ever come across, and she had ruined it because that's what she was best at.
She shook her head, trying to forget. She might have lost her favorite person, but she got herself a job. The one thing she sought for since she got on that plane to Cornelius.
You win some, you lose some.
That didn't mean her heart didn't hurt for the one person who saw her bared soul and decided he liked it. What a terrible thing to lose.
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