“I’d like that,” I said. I meant it, too. This was the most fun that I’d had in a long time. I’d been working so hard that I almost forgot what it felt like to let loose a little.
“I have another idea for you, too,” he said as he pulled us two more drinks from the tray of a waitress passing by.
I wondered how this club made any money if all the drinks were free. I’d never seen a club like this before. There must have been something that I was missing.
“I think that you should fill in for one of the missing models who dropped out,” he said. I would have thought that he was kidding, but the look on his face was totally serious.
“What? I can’t do that,” I laughed. “I’m not a model.”
“True,” he said. “But you could be a fill-in model, just for this show. I mean, you’re beautiful, the fashions are all your designs anyway, you already know all of us, and we could show you how to walk the runway.”
I squished my face up as if I had just sucked on a sour lemon. There was no way that I could pass as a model, although he was the second guy to call me beautiful now, and that made me feel really good. Besides, there’s no way that Arlo would allow it.
“I don’t think Arlo would let me model for the runway show,” I said.
“Screw Arlo,” he said as he raised his glass in the air as if he were giving a toast. “You’d be doing him a favor. He’s running around like a chicken with its cock cut off—”
“I think you mean head,” I interrupted as I snorted in laughter.
“The same thing,” he continued. “You’d be saving his ass, and he should be thankful for it. There’s no way he can find a replacement model by next week.”
At first, I had scoffed at the idea. But then I started to consider it. It would be helping Arlo out with the show, and it did sound like a lot of fun. It would be difficult to both attend to the models during the show and be one. But how cool would it be to be able to say that I actually modeled in a runway show of my own designs?
“Ah, see?” Cai said with a wide smile that showed all of his perfect teeth. “You like the idea; I can tell.”
8
Chapter Eight (Arlo)
I didn’t sleep at all last night, like not even for a few minutes. I was up all night feeling bad about the way that I had treated Hensley. Then I was also trying to figure out why in the hell I acted like that, to begin with. I’d dealt with many stressful situations in this business before, and I had never lost my cool on anyone, not like that. What was it that made me act like a child having a tantrum and projecting all of my frustration onto someone else? And why her?
I knew exactly why her. I just didn’t want to admit it to myself. I had known now for days. I had known since I saw her in that dress and touched the small of her back. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it, though. Hensley and I had been friends for just over four years. Why was this happening now? I needed to be able to think straight and focus on how I was going to save this rushed runway show from eminent ruin. I couldn’t have a clouded head or lack of judgment right now, or it was going to tank my whole new line that was about to release, which would mean a disastrous image for Luscious. I’d worked way too hard to get to where I am with my brand, and I wasn’t about to let it all go to hell now. Hensley’s career was riding on this, too.
This successful show and release would mean an instant future for her in the industry, and I couldn’t let her down by screwing up that opportunity for her. She’d worked too hard. But I knew that there was no way that I could think clearly until I apologized to her. I just didn’t know what to say. The only reason that I had to give her was the truth, and the truth was that I flew into a jealous rage over Cai being there with her twice while I wasn’t. If I told her that, then she would know. She would know that somehow along the way, I had developed feelings for her, feelings that were getting harder and harder for me to ignore. I had to tell her something when I apologized, but I couldn’t bring myself for it to be that…not yet, at least not until after the runway show. I would come up with something else to tell her in the meantime, along with a huge apology for acting like such a jackass.
When Hensley showed up at my office in the afternoon with dark sunglasses on and a bandaged up hand, I wasn’t sure whether I should apologize to her first or ask her what happened. I wanted to ask her what happened to her, but I knew she probably wouldn’t even talk to me until I had apologized, so I had to bite back my urge to come to her rescue again and beg for forgiveness instead.
“Here are the finished samples,” she said as she wheeled in a rack stuffed with clothes. “Once you okay them, they’ll be ready to roll-out for retail after the show. I still have the dress. It had uh, an accident, and I need to make a repair on it. I’ll have it back to you by tomorrow at the latest.”
She turned around to leave.
“Hensley, wait,” I said. Even I could hear the desperation in my voice.
She paused and turned around to face me.
“What happened to your hand?” I asked. Dammit. I was supposed to apologize first.
“I cut myself with the thread-puller,” she said very matter-of-factly before she got ready to leave again.
“Wait,” I said. I walked out from around my desk to stand in front of her.
Why was she wearing sunglasses inside my office? I guessed that now would not be a good time to question her fashion choices, so I kept my mouth shut about the sunglasses.
“I’m really sorry,” I said. “I never should have shouted at you or said any of the stuff that I said to you last night. I was just really stressed and frustrated, and I know that’s not an excuse. Please forgive me; it won’t happen again.”
She pulled her sunglasses off and smiled at me. She looked really tired and had dark-purple circles under her eyes. I hoped it wasn’t because I had been working her too hard.
“Thank you,” she said. “I accept your apology.”
I leaned forward and gave her a hug out of reflex. For some reason, the simple friend gestures that I was so accustomed to giving her were starting to feel differently now. She wrapped her arms around my back, and I buried my face in her hair against her shoulder for a minute. When we let go, she didn’t seem like she was in as big of a hurry to leave as she had been a few minutes ago.
“I heard about the models dropping out, and I want to propose an idea that I think might help,” she said.
“Okay, come sit down,” I said as I gesture to the chair. “What’s your idea?”
“Well, I went out with Cai last night, and it was actually his idea, but I think it’s a good one.”
“You went out with Cai?” I asked. I could tell that the tone in my voice sounded shocked and accusatory. I tried really hard to squelch the jealousy that was brewing up inside of me. What was it with that guy? Why did he keep trying to get with Hensley?
“Yeah,” she said with an uneasy look. “Is there something wrong with that?”
“No,” I said through clenched teeth.
In my head, I was thinking, “Yes, everything is wrong with that,” but I couldn’t tell her that because, as far as she knew, we had nothing but platonic feelings for each other. I couldn’t come across looking like some sort of psychotic, overly protective friend.