“What? What was she doing outside?” Matt sounded out his pretentious fatherly concern. “I pictured her inside, in her usual spot on the sofa, with the Mountain Dew and Doritos bag.”
“She was sunbathing!” Sally explained in an exasperated tone.
“Is that right? Is it even warm enough for that?” Matt questioned. “Guess she’ll get to use her new cell phone and call a locksmith,” he concluded.
“Oh dear, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Sally still sounded concerned. “She’s probably in that white, thong style bikini. She’s a young girl, and we don’t want some strange man coming over to let her in, especially—”
“Well, what do you suggest,” Matt interrupted, “Batman or Superman?” He laughed off her worries.
Maggie smiled at the two of them.
After several hours, Maggie had reorganized the clothing racks and found the nude leggings with a run in them. Sally was quite the genius, using them as an excuse to leave for a quick lunch break and some shopping. They both needed a break from Francis.
When they returned, it was half past noon and shortly afterwards, the models started arriving. Maggie listened to the latest drama as they wandered in.
“I wish I wasn’t here,” Latasha whined, holding her stomach. “I think I must have food poisoning from one of the fast food restaurants I ate at last night.”
“That’ll teach you to eat fast food.” Francis spoke into his newspaper.
“Well, I had a salad, and I feel fine.” Kensal bounced alongside Latasha, with a tote bag over her shoulders.
“Hey! I received a text last night from some chick I don’t know!” Matt announced with a low laugh, ready to entertain the staff with his “teenager drama.” Sally listened as he told the story. “‘Are you coming over tonight or what?’ And I see it’s from Hannah. And I’m thinking, who’s Hannah? So I type back ‘IDK,’ and she types back a sad face. So, I send a happy face, and I’m waiting for her to call me or text me back, when Sally informs me that Ben had used my cell phone a few days ago, when he couldn’t find his! Good thing! He doesn’t need to respond to that chick anyways. He was probably driving around all night and just couldn’t find her house!”
Maggie was entertained by his tales.
“Yeah, there sure is a lot to worry about when it comes to teenagers,” Sally added in her sweet, concerned tone.
Maggie looked over at Francis who was completely disengaged from any conversation around him. She guessed he was in his late forties, but he had a full head of sandy brown hair tinted with just a bit of silver-grey. He looked thin and fit,and knew how to dress, and she thought that perhaps women found him attractive. He had been divorced ten years ago, but he had not, to the best of her knowledge, made any serious efforts to pursue any women since then. He was callous and bitter, and often times, she thought his traumatic personal life had driven him to persevere in his career, and become the success he was. Perhaps they had that one thing in common. They found emotional safety in their career.
Elle came in and interrupted her thoughts.
“Are we ready to do this or what?”
Cassandra followed behind her in a graceful stroll. “Hi everybody.” She waved. “Looks like we’re all here!”
Cassandra was her favorite. She possessed a personality as delicate and as sweet as they came. Elle was nice, but very much a tomboy and rough, and not that conversational. Latasha personified the perfect drama queen and had everyone spinning their wheels wondering what would happen to her next. She was African American with flawless features and skin. She could wear any look and be beautiful. And Kensal? She had blonde hair to fit the part. She was a complete airhead, but so funny that it was impossible not to be completely forgiving. She would do anything for anybody and did not have a mean bone in her body.
Chapter Six
Start from the beginning
