Take Me Away | Richard Madden [Completed; Editing]

Chapter 11 - It's a Mess

Weeks, nearly a month, passed before Mia's life returned to the way it was before — dull, repetitive, sometimes purely uneventful. However, there was one thing that changed, and it didn't appeal to her lifestyle at all. In fact, she loathed the very thought it.

Mia had always lived in a routine. She enjoyed waking up exactly an hour and a half before she was due for work, and coffee was always the first thing on her mind. Music would blare from the corner of her bedroom as she got ready, usually picking out any clothes that looked "clean" — pastel prints and whites, pressed to perfection. Her hair was always left to dry on its own, as the natural waves never bothered her. Makeup was minimal, but she was particular about her lipstick; always a shade of nude or pink, never red. Everything else just followed.

She preferred taking the subway to work, but lately, she'd find herself in cabs when she had the extra cash, or she'd carpool with a co-worker. This was when the atmosphere began to change.

Mia didn't want to be seen out anymore.

It had started two weeks prior, on a Saturday, when she made her usual ten a.m. stroll around SoHo. There wasn't much to it; she simply enjoyed the city and everything it had to offer. The food, the music, and the people — a culture that Mia had quickly fallen in love with the moment she stepped foot on the pavements. Unfortunately for her on that day, what the city was offering to her was something she didn't want, and couldn't stand.

Cameras.

There never really was an end. Mia hadn't realized it until a small slip up that happened at her hairdresser. In preparation for her company's big event, Mia visited her favorite salon and got an oil treatment to smooth out her dried locks. Things had gone well until she left, when she was buying lunch at a deli a block away. She noticed that the salon had given her too much change, so she headed back to return it.

But that's when they started their assault — the snaps and the clicks. Mia first saw a man across the street follow her until she reached the salon, and he wasn't alone. There weren't that many, three at most, but it was plenty enough for her anxiety to kick in. Consequently, she ended up staying at the salon again, even longer than she had planned, and it made her restless.

Today was no different.

Mia stared at her nails on the table, each one coated in a dark cream shade, almost caramel. The lady who'd done them brought by an LED lamp and prompted for her customer to place them inside. Letting the warmth of the UV rays harden her manicure, Mia sat back and stared at the street outside. It was paranoia. She couldn't see any paparazzi at that moment, but she knew that they were waiting for her, and she never truly understood why. She didn't have a story to tell, or at least one that she was willing to share.

"What's the occasion?"

The seat across the white table was now occupied; a lady in a black apron smiling down at Mia as she switched off the lamp. Wrinkles circled her eyes and mouth, and prescription glasses hung around her neck. Her greyed hair spiraled just below her shoulders, tied back with a red ribbon. She reapplied another coat of gel nail polish before motioning Mia to place them under the hot rays again.

"Take a wild guess, Anne," Mia chaffed.

"Hmm." She sat back in her chair and spun around, catching a glimpse of the hustle and bustle outside before returning to her original position. "Wedding?"

Mia shook her head. "Nope."

Anne pursed her lips together and narrowed her eyes at the tips of Mia's hair. They used to split, and it provided the manicurist with another hint. "Photoshoot?"

"Not quite," Mia said with a laugh. "I'm no model."

"Just for yourself, then?" Anne chimed, a smirk on her face.