Applehead Fever

12 - trouble in paradise

"A golden brown waffle sounds good."

Julie gave me a look across the table, her smooth, pale skin stretched to convey the mixed disbelief and puzzlement triggered by my stark choice of food. "That's all you're getting? A plain golden brown waffle?"

Her criticism caused my eyebrows to furrow as I lowered the menu, allowing my eyes to blink from over it. They held an equally perplexed expression as I wondered what she'd meant by those questions.

"What?" I probed, feeling a bit defensive about my selection.

Sure, it was basic, just a waffle with perhaps a drizzle of syrup, but it was still good. And I was going to get a side.

My eating habits were always picked on by my older brothers. "Plain Jane" they called me, merely because I was frequently fussy with what was on my plate. I didn't like too much going on; the seasoning, the sauces, the extra food. I only got what I would eat because I preferred not to waste anything. Unfortunately, I was labeled plain or boring because of it, which was fine when it was with family. But now my agent was judging my eating habits?

That kind of hurt.

"You don't want to try something with a kick to it? Like, let's see..." Scooping up the one-paged menu, Julie's eyes darted around until she found something and flipped it around to show me. "Look, Eggs Michael! It's like Eggs Benedict, and it sounds good."

I leaned forward to better scrutinize the words that described the food platter. It did sound good, but I was craving a waffle today. "Yeah, it does. Is that what you're getting?"

She whipped the menu away from my face, sending me back to my seat, and nodded. "Mhm. Funny that it has 'Michael' in it."

Amusement quickly replaced my lingering indignation and I shook my head with a wry smirk. "Is that the real reason you chose it?"

"That's part of the reason." Julie responded, wrenching her gaze from the table to fully meet mine. "It reminded me to ask how filming was going. You have one last day, right?"

I gave a little nod, the reminder setting a whole new flurry of emotions into play. Sparse sorrow leading the pack. Saying goodbye to this grand, once in a lifetime experience was going to be hard. But at least I'd remember it for years to come.

"Today and tomorrow are my last days."

Julie stared at me in silence for a moment, telepathically sharing her sympathy. Then she inhaled and spoke in a quiet tone, as though coaxing a wounded animal. "I'm glad you got to be able to participate in something like this, it's a pretty big accomplishment. I'm sorry it had to end so soon, but I got you in for a Temptation s music video audition after."

She paused, letting me soak in this information at the same time I was battling off melancholy thoughts.

It did take a moment to register the name. The Temptations. The legendary singing group with the hit song—and my favorite—My Girl. Which meant that I would be working with more high profiled entertainers soon after my big gig.

This brought me out of my haze and elation took hold. "Oh, that's great, Julie! How did you manage that?"

"I just told him about the amazing things you're accomplishing, and he was impressed. Their manager, that is." My agent beamed, lilted vocals retaining that cheery demeanor. "You are definitely going to be wanted by so many other modeling companies and stars after this."

My smile widened, though before I could reply, our waiter rushed up, apologizing profoundly for the wait. Monday mornings were usually busy, so neither Julie nor I minded. We ordered our food and had it delivered shortly after.