(Third person.)
An incessant beeping woke Rose from her slumber. She sat up, aggressively silencing the alarm, and held her face in her hands. She had a while before the next shoot, but there was somewhere she needed to be beforehand, as there was every Saturday morning. Changing after a quick shower, Rose headed down the narrow stairway and into the kitchen. She was used to the eerie silence in the house; used to the loneliness and the emptiness.
She fixed herself some toast but, realizing the time, began to eat it on her way out to the car. Her car was nice, a glossy black Chevy Impala 67, but it was old and banged up. She finished her toast as she clambered into the seat, started the engine and drove.
Half an hour later she pulled up in a small parking lot with very few cars already parked. When she stepped out, she pulled her cardigan tighter around herself, trying to keep warm, and looked across at the building before her. It was dull and crumbling and seemingly uninteresting, and if not for the light seeping out of the windows and the cars outside, you might think it was an abandoned, run-down building.
Rose let out a huff of silvery breath, locked the car, and walked towards the building, hugging herself. She arrived at the entrance and pressed the buzzer beside the door, waiting a few seconds before she heard a click. She pushed the door open and was immediately greeted by a rush of warm air. She walked down the hallway towards a large desk, behind which sat a woman in her mid fifties.
"Rose, lovely to see you again." Rose smiled at the woman.
"Likewise... Have there been any changes?" Rose saw a look of pity cross the woman's face for a brief moment, but it was gone almost as soon as it came.
"I'm afraid not. But your visits help." Rose nodded and scribbled her name in the book on the desk before her, as the woman handed her a visitor's pass. "Through to the music room." Rose knew her way to the music room better than the back of her hand, and it wasn't just because the sound of the piano playing an all too familiar song drew her there.
She gently pushed the door open.
As ever, there was her mother, sat in front of the grand piano, her fingers moving delicately over the keys, barely even seeming to touch them. Her mother looked frail, her eyes were focused but not exactly clear. She slowly approached her, not wanting to interrupt her playing. She loved to hear her mother play, it was so calming, and made her feel ten times better amidst all the stress in her life.
When the song had ended, Rose tentatively approached her mother.
"Mum?" The woman didn't seem to hear at first. Rose stepped closer and placed a hand on the woman's shoulders. She started and turned, smiling sweetly at Rose. For a minute, Rose thought she might recognize her.
"Hello nurse. Is it time for my medicine?" Rose's spirits fell, but she smiled anyway, blinking back tears. "Do you know if my husband has arrived yet? He's due any minute. We're celebrating our 8th anniversary today." A tear rolled down Rose's cheek. She had needed to explain to her mother so many times recently that her husband wouldn't be coming. Rather that than explaining to her that he was dead. Not that she'd understand anyway.
"He'll be here any minute." Rose promised, at which her mother smiled and clapped her hands together.
"How do I look? Do I look pretty?" Rose took a shaky breath.
"You look beautiful."
"You know, you look remarkably like my 5 year old daughter, Rose. Her sixth birthday is in a month." Rose ran a hand through her blonde waves and sighed. "What's the matter dear?" The blonde looked into her mothers grey eyes.
"I love you mum." Her mother frowned slightly, but she seemed pretty oblivious as Rose stood, unable to do this to herself, and walked out without another word.
***
Rose sat outside the studio in her car for a good five minutes, hands clutching the steering wheel, tears streaming down her face. She didn't even notice Alex climbing out of the limo across from her. The model saw Rose, the state of her, and considered going over. She decided against it. Her puppy probably just died or something. Rose may have helped her out, and Alex may have been nice to her, but she still wasn't so sure about Rose.
With a flick of her jet black hair, Alex made her way into the studio without another glance towards the girl. Whereas Rose was gathering her bearings, shaking thoughts of her crumbling family from her mind and trying to compose herself before heading inside.
Alex, who was being seen to by stylists, makeup artists and hairdressers, eyed the doorway as Rose walked in. There was no sign that she had been crying a moment earlier, but she did look different today. She looked... Steely. Stoic. It was odd. Alex turned her attention back to the mirror and gave brief, snappy orders, slapping a hand away here and adjusting something there, as Rose set up her camera stuff, as usual.
Rose was being very quiet, speaking when spoken to, and even then only offering short replies and weak smiles. She was going through what seemed to be the photos on an expensive camera that wasn't part of the studio set, smiling every so often. Sara took a seat beside her.
"You're awful quiet today, Rose. Something the matter?" Rose glanced up and offered a poor excuse for a smile.
"I'm fine. Tired, I guess." Sara didn't seem convinced, but she wasn't going to push Rose on the matter.
"Fair enough. Did you enjoy the party?" Rose's eyes flickered towards Alex before they settled on a spot on the floor.
"It was fun. More so than I had expected, really." Rose wasn't lying, she'd had a good time. Mostly. Caesar's guests were, on the whole, young and interesting, but her encounters with Alex... Well, she didn't know what to make of them. She didn't know what to make of her. One minute, Alex is in a blind rage, accusing Rose of all these things, the next she was sitting beside her, holding her hand, being a friend. And now, today, it was as if Rose didn't even exist.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Sara glanced down at the camera, catching sight of a picture of Rose and, what Sara could only guess to be, her parents. "Are they your folks?" Rose smiled.
"Yeah. Mind you, this photo was taken a long time ago."
"I figured. You look much younger there." Rose raised an eyebrow. "Not that you look old."
"I also look much happier in this photo." Sara examined the look Rose was wearing, tempting her to ask about it. Before she could open her mouth to speak, however, there were shouts and orders from about the room, announcing the beginning of the shoot.
"Best get to work." Rose made her way to the equipment, which was already set up, as Alex and a few other models made their way onto the set. As the shoot progressed, Alex found that Rose's tone was edging on bored, though she produced some good pictures. At least, Alex assumed she did, given the impressed looks of the tech guys. Halfway through, Markus called for a break, complimenting Rose on her photos.
Rose turned around to talk to the tech guys about adjustments and effects when she stumbled on a cable. Instead of falling back against the wall, she fell into a person. Rose spun around, mid-apology, to see that it was Alex.
"Uh, sorry." As Rose was about to turn away, Alex spoke.
"Are you alright?" Rose frowned inwardly. Was Alex actually concerned about her? "Because your negative attitude is sucking all the energy from the room." Maybe not.
"I'm fine." Rose said coldly.
"You don't seem fine." Alex looked the photographer up and down, her cold green eyes like daggers. "Cheer up." Alex walked away, leaving Rose to stare after her, amazed at how angry Alex made her feel sometimes. One of the three tech guys beside her, noticing the look on Rose's face, seemed amused.
"Don't let her get to you. She's always a bitch." Rose spun around.
"You know you could be like, murdered, if you were caught saying something like that." The man, who seemed to be of a similar age to Rose, breathed a laugh.
"Something tells me you won't be chasing after her and ratting me out." Rose's head tilted to the side, ever so slightly.
"Fair point." Rose looked at the two other tech guys, who were trying to seem as if they weren't listening. "But what about them?" She nodded towards them and The Tech Guy - Rose realized she didn't actually know his name - followed her gaze. When he turned back to face her, he continued to appear amused.
"Alex treats us tech guys like you might treat something you find stuck to the back seat of a bus."
"Why is it that that doesn't surprise me?" Rose mumbled, gaining a soft chuckle from the tech guy, who stuck out his hand.
"I'm Dan." Rose smiled and took his hand.
"Rose."
Alex looked across at them as they shook hands, disgusted. Though she wasn't quite sure why she was disgusted. Markus approached, knowing the look Alex wore all too well. He followed her gaze to where Rose and Dan were conversing.
"See something you like honey?" Alex raised an eyebrow, then caught on to what he was suggesting.
"What? Ew. No." Despite the tech guy's chiseled featured and obviously handsome figure, he was still a tech guy. Ew. Markus rolled his eyes playfully.
"So what are you staring at? Rose?" Alex looked at Markus, irritation plain on her face. Markus ignored it. "You still don't like her?" Alex sighed and turned to face Markus.
"Why are you interrogating me?" Markus shrugged.
"Rose is a good photographer. And she's a nice girl." It was Alex's turn to roll her eyes.
"Rose is so nice. Rose is so pretty. Rose is so innocent. Can you people hear yourselves?" Markus studied Alex for a minute, when realization struck him.
"Are you jealous of her? Oh my God. You're jealous of her." Alex's eyes widened.
"Excuse me? Alexandra Valentine does not envy photographers. Photographers envy her." Markus shook his head.
"Well if that's the case then what is your problem with her? She does her job well, she's a pleasure to talk to, there's absolutely no reason to spite her so much. Unless you're jealous." He may as well have dangled the word in front of Alex's face on a piece of string for the way he said it. Markus winked and walked away, laughing, before Alex could protest.
She was not jealous of Rose. She was not.
Was she?
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