Michael was five years older than her, so it'd taken a few years for her to catch up to the point where she could admire him as more than just one of her older cousins’ friends. But she’d definitely gotten there.
Of course, he’d always been nice to her, but she’d always just been one of the “kids” to him. And by the time Ami was fifteen and began noticing things like biceps and abs and deep voices and big hands, Michael had been a dad.
As if having the most comfortable couch in the world, the best dog, and the cutest kid weren’t enough, Michael was also a firefighter and paramedic. He literally saved lives for a living. He was a hero.
Additionally, everyone in her family loved him. He was practically a brother to many of her cousins. He would do anything for anyone in her family.
Of course she had a crush on him.
Seriously, did the guy have to also have the most comfortable couch in the entire universe?
It almost seemed unfair.
“God, I forgot how annoying and painstaking this can be,” Naomi, Michael's sister, groaned as she tossed a fake eyelash onto the table.
Oh, he also had an incredible sister that Ami loved to hang out with.
Ami laughed. “It does take practice.”
They had cleared Andre’s comic books from the top of the gigantic coffee table—another thing she loved about this room—and had tubes, bottles, and palettes of makeup spread out in front of them.
Naomi grinned. “Ha. You’re a magician with this stuff and you know it. It's just been so long since I've really used it. When I came back to Autre, I got rid of a lot of it, and since hanging out with Donovan, we spend all our time outside in the elements, and our clientele are all wild animals, so I just don’t bother.”
Ami nodded. “I get that. And trust me, sometimes I think the time I spend in front of a mirror could definitely be better spent somewhere else.”
Of course she had no idea where she would spend that time. Or on what. The world of beauty pageants and modeling and makeup was all she’d ever really known.
“I remember how fun the makeup can be though,” Naomi said, looking over the array of tubes, bottles, and brushes. “It's an art form, seriously.”
Ami agreed. The things that people could do with makeup was very much like being an artist with the human face as the canvas. It sometimes took as much talent to make someone look like they were wearing no makeup at all as it did to completely transform someone’s appearance.
“I’m glad you like it,” Ami said referring to the mini-makeover she’d just given Naomi. “I appreciate your help.”
Ami was currently modeling for a small clothing company out of Baton Rouge, but her goal was to land a contract with an international makeup company. Part of that plan was building her social media platform and following, and that included regular makeup tutorials. Or, at least, that was her vision. She posted skincare tips, makeup tips, and full-blown tutorials regularly. She’d needed to post one tonight, but as soon as she’d made it to Autre she’d headed to Michael's house with a copy of the new Warriors of Easton book for Andre.
Naomi had agreed to be her subject rather than Ami having to post yet another tutorial featuring Ami herself. Naomi’s gorgeous, smooth medium brown skin was an amazing contrast to Ami’s own light complexion and had given Ami some new colors and techniques to show off.
In addition to being beautiful and completely comfortable and charming in front of the camera, Naomi also had name recognition. She’d played the main character, Zoey, on the international hit TV series Zoey At the Zoo from age eight to fourteen. This video was already on track to be Ami’s most viewed video and Ami was incredibly grateful.
She leaned over and gave Naomi a hug. “It was really nice of you to help me tonight.”
“Are you kidding? You're helping me. Andre is so amped up about this book and I have no idea what he's talking about.”
Andre had been sent off to finish his chores before he and Ami dug into the new release from Oliver Caprinelli. Ollie was the co-creator of the international phenomenon Warriors of Easton, which had started as a videogame. But Oliver had more recently branched off into writing a kids’ book and the companion adult version of the story about a dragon shape-shifter and his human princess. The books had just released and Ami and Andre had shared a love of the videogame for a long time and had planned to read the book together as soon as it came out.
Ami laughed. “I’m as excited as he is. It probably doesn't surprise you that none of my friends are really into Warriors of Easton.”
Naomi chuckled. “I can't believe a past Miss Louisiana is actually a videogame geek.”
Ami grinned. It was more than videogames, but it was too much to explain. “It’s Zeke and Zander’s fault. They got me into it. But they stopped doing quests with me a long time ago. I’m too good.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Naomi agreed. “Still, it’s such a fun side of you that most people don’t know.”
“Well, I don’t tell people associated with my professional life because I like to keep it separate. It keeps me grounded.” She laughed. “Which seems funny considering it’s a purely fictional world with wizards and dragons and stuff. But with the modeling, it’s so easy to get caught up in what people think they know about you. The fact that I have secrets, and parts of my life that none of them know about, makes me feel like I can shut the public Ami off and come back to the real me more easily.”
Ami knew some of that need came from not feeling that her career really mattered. How she looked and what other people thought of how she looked was her life. Had been since she’d been ten and first stepped up on a pageant stage. She was paid to look good and to convince other people to use products to look good too. It was…fine. She made good money which allowed her to give money to women going to college and starting businesses and she was very proud of that.
But she wasn’t like her sisters.
Charlotte was helping run an animal sanctuary that protected endangered animals and gave a haven to rescued animals that had been neglected and abused.
Abigail was brilliant. She was working on her third degree and would make some kind of scientific discovery that would change the climate or cure a disease or something equally amazing.
Ami looked around the room. She loved being here because this place grounded her. Yes, there were lots of other places where she felt she could be herself and relax. But this house was special.
Everywhere else in Autre, she was a Landry. She was a part of a huge, loving, boisterous family that loved her exactly as she was. Which was obviously amazing. They would love her with or without a modeling contract.
But when she was here, babysitting Andre, she was cool because of something that made her unique even from the other Landrys. Everyone knew that she loved Warriors of Easton, and yes, Zeke and Zander also played the videogame, but she was really, really good at it and she knew far more about it than they did. They were fans and enthusiasts, for sure, but she’d kick their asses in round one of a trivia game.
The game world let her be creative, and strategic, and a leader. Yes, it was online. Yes, she interacted with people she didn’t know in real life. But online she was respected and revered for her plans and ideas and knowledge.