Home > The Best Friend Scandal

The Best Friend Scandal
Author: Lucia Jordan


1

 

 

Chapter One (Hensley)

 

 

I couldn’t be more excited about Arlo’s new and upcoming fashion line. It was everything I love about design, all rolled up into one remarkable idea that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on.

I knew when Arlo and I had met at my very first fashion show that he and I could come up with some cool collaborations together if we ever had the chance to work alongside each other. Little did I know that four years later, he would be the billionaire owner of the most sought after fashion label in New York City, and I, a crazy-creative grad student in the fashion design program at F.I.T., would be able to work on his latest line.

Arlo and I had become good friends throughout the last few years, and since we were both in the fashion industry, we always had a lot to talk about. Sometimes we had so much to say that one phone call a day just wasn’t enough, and we tallied up the calls and text messages into the dozens in any given twenty-four hour period. We saw each other at a lot of the industry events, and I was every bit as aware of his success with his brand “Luscious” as he was of my promising talent. But I had never gotten to actually work on one of these clothing lines before, and so this was like a dream come true.

Luscious was known for producing high-end, avant-garde statement pieces that got the whole industry excited. As a designer, having my designs walk down the runway at one of Arlo’s shows meant that some of the greatest icons in the fashion industry would see my work. To me, that was everything. I didn’t care about money or fame—which probably explained why I was always broke and lived in a crappy apartment several subway stops away from the college. I only cared about people seeing my designs and having my work be appreciated. Arlo told me I was the epitome of a starving artist. I told him that he was the role model for twenty-five-year-old billionaires everywhere. We tended to tease each other all in good fun at least once a week. I thought he sometimes thought that having a couple of years on me made him the expert on all things, so occasionally, I had to knock him down a few notches.

When I got to my workshop space at F.I.T., I quickly unpacked my supplies and looked forward to this afternoon when Arlo would be coming to meet with me about the new line. The only thing that he had told me so far was that the entire line was themed around the concept of “fantasy,” which meant that my artsy side was jumping up and down with excitement. My mind was flooded with ideas of magical, woodsy dresses that flowed like the branches of trees and sparkled like the stars in the night sky.

I had some great ideas for more edgy designs, too, ones that seeped with the foreboding danger of dark woods. I wondered if he would even let me get really out-there with it and do some headpieces with horns and stuff. I had so many good ideas that I felt like my brain would implode if I had to keep them inside my head for too much longer. Fortunately, Arlo would be here in a few hours, so I would be able to mind-dump all of my thoughts onto him shortly. He was also bringing the two models who would be spearheading the runway show for the big reveal at Madison Square Garden. I had worked with plenty of models in the past, but Arlo had given me a fair warning that his models were the best in the business, and therefore, frequently a pain in the ass to make happy. I didn’t care anything about that, though; all I cared about was that I got to design the clothes.

“Hensley!” Arlo called with a giant smile as he walked in.

I ran up to give him a hug, and he picked me up and spun me around. It was kind of our thing that we did since we both had a flair for the dramatic. And since Arlo had a svelte, muscular body, he picked up my tiny frame with ease. He could have been a model himself if he had wanted to. He had the kind of dark, brooding eyes that made him look mysterious and matched his dark, brown hair. I, on the other hand, was not exactly model material. I might have had the figure for it, but I was pretty sure that the blue highlights in my dirty-blond hair and my silver hoop nose ring didn’t fit in with the glamorous aesthetic that most models had.

“You ready for this?” he asked once he set me back down onto the ground.

“Oh, you have no idea! I’m so excited!” I squealed.

“I knew you would be,” Arlo laughed. “As soon as I decided on this line, I knew you were the perfect one to design it. The whole concept is right up your alley.”

“Wait a minute,” I said. I didn’t want to get ahead of myself because this was sounding too good to be true. “How many designers are you bringing on board for this project?”

“Just one—you.”

Oh my God, this was going to be my show. I couldn’t believe it! If Arlo was going to let me design all of the pieces for the entire line, then that meant I could put my name on the show. If it was successful, which literally all of Arlo’s runway shows were, then this single event would propel me to the front of the fashion industry scene. I was too ecstatic to even speak as I felt my cheeks start to get hot with pent-up excitement.

“What’s wrong with her?” a beautiful woman said as she came up to stand next to Arlo and looked at me with a small measure of disgust. “Is she ill?”

“God, Kerynne, why do you always need to be so dramatic?” A gorgeous-looking male model came to stand beside them both.

I recognized him; I’d seen him in other shows before.

“Shut up, Cai,” Kerynne snapped at him. “You’re definitely not in a position to talk about being dramatic. You’re the most dramatic male I know.”

“I’m surprised you stop to actually get to know any of the men that you sleep with,” Cai sneered.

“Okay, you two,” Arlo said as he interrupted their petty squabble. “There’s nothing wrong with Hensley; she’s just excited. She’s also a creative genius, so I’d suggest being a little nicer since she’ll be the one dressing the two of you for everyone to see. Unless that is, you’d like to be wearing burlap sacks.”

“I highly doubt you’re serious about that, considering it’s your name on the line,” Kerynne snarked.

She was a real piece of work, just like Arlo had warned me. They both seemed like a lot to handle.

“You are so rude,” Cai said as he stepped in front of her and extended his hand out to me. “Pleasure to meet you, my lovely beauty,” Cai said as he lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed the top of my fingers.

Kerynne made a gagging noise. She didn’t say hello to me at all. She simply flounced her hair over her shoulders and tried to pretend that it didn’t offend her to breathe the same air as me. I could already tell that she was one of those models who thought themselves to be way above their designers’ paygrade. Which I guessed in most cases was actually true, unless you were a big name like Arlo.

“So,” Arlo said as he sat down at the big workshop table with me. “Kerynne and Cai will be the two models at the forefront of the runway show. The pieces that they wear will be the first pieces and the last pieces seen on the stage. They will be the ones to linger in the minds of the audience, which will be packed with icons in the industry, as well as potential corporate buyers. Kerynne and Cai will also be the poster models for our photoshoots and media presence. What that means is that you need to study their appearances for a few minutes to get an idea of what designs will work best on them before you start sketching out the whole show.”

Hot Books
» House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1)
» A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire
» From Blood and Ash (Blood And Ash #1)
» A Million Kisses in Your Lifetime
» Deviant King (Royal Elite #1)
» Den of Vipers
» House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2)
» The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #
» Sweet Temptation
» The Sweetest Oblivion (Made #1)
» Chasing Cassandra (The Ravenels #6)
» Wreck & Ruin
» Steel Princess (Royal Elite #2)
» Twisted Hate (Twisted #3)
» The Play (Briar U Book 3)