"Wear this," Celina says, tossing me a metallic gold cropped tank top. I pull the small article of clothing over my head and adjust the itchy fabric on my chest and shoulders. Looking at my reflection in the full-length mirror next to her bed, I can't help but admit that this top does look much better than the one I was originally going to wear tonight. Celina dramatically lets her jaw drop. "See, you looked cute before, but now you look hot!"
"Yeah, okay," I say, sarcastically nodding my head, which earns a look from her. She raises her eyebrows and tilts her head to the side, waiting for me to accept the compliment. I hate accepting compliments, they make me feel awkward. Celina knows that, and she always tries her best to help me become better at accepting them. "Thank you," I state, a small smile appearing on her face.
Tonight, like every other Friday night, we are going out. It's almost a tradition between us, to go out every Friday and Saturday night when we're together. Tonight was no different, except Celina insisted on choosing my outfit. She claims it's because she's working on her skills as an amateur stylist, but I think she has an ulterior motive. Perhaps she's more concerned with finding me someone to go home with tonight, which I'm not opposed to. Regardless, I'm not going to be the one to rain on her parade.
We don't spend nearly as much time together as we used to. Celina's modeling career took off and she's constantly traveling to different cities all across the world. So the times when we are together, we make the absolute best of it. As Celina would say, 'We're only young once.'
Celina goes out with the intention of finding a random hookup. I go out just to have fun and get drunk.
"I need to finish my makeup and we're outta here," Celina says, walking into her bathroom. She had some of her makeup already done, but she decided to stop halfway through to help with my "fashion emergency." It wasn't really a fashion emergency, she just didn't like the outfit I was wearing.
My phone began to buzz on the table next to Celina's bed. I reach over and pick it up, instantly regretting it when I see whose name is on the screen.
I groan. "You've gotta be kidding me."
"What?" Celina asks from the bathroom, turning down the volume on the speaker she was playing music through. Her head appears in the doorway and she leans into the room, "Who is it?"
"Cindy," I reply and she fake gags.
"Why is she calling you at 7:30 on a Friday?" Celina asks. Her guess is as good as mine.
"I don't know," I say, feeling the nervousness in my body. She hasn't talked to me in months and it doesn't make sense for her to be randomly calling me now. Something's wrong.
"Well, good luck with that." She says, stepping back out of view.
"So much for moral support!" I shout, my phone continuing to ring in my hand. Celina leans back into the doorway, her tongue out at me, and winks before disappearing back into the bathroom.
"Hello?" I answer, trying my best not to come off as annoyed.
"Béatrice!" My manager's voice blares into my ear, "I was expecting to go to voicemail, again. How have you been?"
"Uh, I've been pretty good," I reply, just wanting to get to the point of the call so that Celina and I can get on with our night.
"Good." She pauses. "We have lots to talk about. I haven't heard from you since you skipped the last audition I had scheduled for you."
I figured she would still be upset about that, regardless of how long ago it was. I hope she isn't going to yell at me over the phone right now because it will definitely put me in a bad mood for the night. "Oh. Yeah, about that... um..."
Cindy clears her throat, but I know it's fake. "Listen, this isn't something I'd like to discuss over the phone, are you in London?"
"Yes." I quickly respond. I'm always in London.
She hums, "Okay, let's meet at 8 a.m. on Monday at my office." It's a good thing I didn't have anything planned for Monday because this didn't seem negotiable.
I'm going to get fired. Cindy's going to fire me for skipping my audition and for bailing on her for months. "Oh-okay." I stutter, probably sounding like an idiot.
"All right." She says, "Have a good night."
"Thank you. You too." I say, beginning to lower my phone from my ear.
"Oh, and Béatrice..." She says and I almost miss it, my hand hovering over the red button.
"Yeah?" I answer, holding the phone back up to my ear.
"Actually show up this time, it's important." She says and ends the call before I can say anything else.
I'm instantly hit with an intense feeling of guilt for both skipping the audition and bailing on my meeting with Cindy at the end of last year. I usually don't get nervous about these types of things, but I have an uneasy feeling in my stomach.
"What did she want?" Celina asks.
I lay down on her bed staring at the ceiling, "We have a meeting on Monday. She didn't tell me what about."
Celina makes a face at me, "Oh, that doesn't seem so bad. Maybe she wants to talk about when you're gonna start acting again."
"I'm gonna get fired!" I shout, almost laughing at how dramatic I probably sound.
"No, you're not," Celina says reassuringly. "She can't fire you for taking a break from work."
I sit up and look at her. She has her arms crossed in front of her and is looking at me like I'm crazy. "Of course, she can. I mean, she can do pretty much whatever she wants."
"Okay, well try not to worry about it right now." Celina says, "We're gonna go out tonight and have a lot of fun, and then we're gonna do the same thing tomorrow. This is a Sunday night problem, not a Friday night problem. Try not to worry about it until then."
Like always, Celina has a point, why worry about it now when I can worry about it later? Worst case scenario, I need to look for a new manager. Maybe that's not even a bad thing. I could easily get away with not working in the industry anymore. I could move back home to spend time with Mum and work at the small boutique she owns. Or I could get a cat.
"You ready?" Celina asks, sitting down next to me to put on her heels. She must have finished her makeup while I was on the verge of having a meltdown.
I nod, "Yep, I just need to grab my bag."
I get up from the bed and walk over to where I had tossed the clothes I wore here. I bend down to pick up the small faux leather bag with a thin gold chain. I open it and make sure I have everything I need. My wallet, keys, and some makeup in case either of us needed a touch-up. Celina had also put her keys and debit card in there too. She hated having to bring a bag when we went out.
"Let's go have some fun!"
Well, here's the first chapter. If you've even made it this far, know that I literally love you so much. This chapter is honestly boring and I suck at getting stories started. The next chapter should be much longer and a lot more interesting. I'm sure you have an idea of what's next. Until next time, mwah!