Run(a)way Life

So maybe Kytherin wasn’t the best at being secretive; or stealthy. She wouldn’t have to be if she had just left Bill when she wanted to, and not after things got …out of hand.

After circling the hotel a few times, she found herself looking up at an old fashioned sign reading, ‘Café de Flore.’ She took a deep breath and entered the tiny place, scoping around trying to find Kriss, though Kriss spotted her before she was able to spot him and waved her over. She trudged over to their table, dreading what was about to happen.

“I’m sor– ” she started before Kriss cut her off.

“Don’t worry about it, its okay. We all over-sleep at least once or twice. I just hope you don’t mind that we started breakfast without you.”

“Yeah...oversleep, that’s what happened,” she mumbled while staring down at her slippers. “And no, I don’t mind. I wasn’t planning on eating anyways.”

She slid into the empty booth across from him and glanced at the girl who was sitting next to Kriss. She looked about 20 and had straight blond hair that came down to about her waist; in other words, she was beautiful. Looking back at her own choice of attire suddenly made her self-conscious.

“Carsh, this is Aimée Lisle, she’ll be your new intern.”

Kytherin almost spit her water across the table.

“What, wait? My new intern?” she choked out. She looked over at Aimée and wiped the water from her mouth. Aimée was sitting there silently staring at her hands.

“Yes Miss Carsh, yours. She’ll be there to help with arranging the show and outfits; along with getting the models where the need to be and when.” Kriss nodded as if this was a perfect idea. “Aimée recently turned 17 and isn’t exactly accustomed to this line of work yet, so I’m trusting you to fill her in.”

Kytherin gulped. Only 17?

“That is okay with you, right Carsh?” Kytherin shook her head and sat up straight, nodding fervently.

“Yeah, of course. Totally.” She had no idea what she was getting herself into. She just hoped that Kriss did.

“Alrighty then, return to your room and change; then meet us in the lobby to head over to the studio.”

With that Kriss and Aimée got up from their spot at the table and headed out of the café, leaving Kytherin by herself to let what had just happened sink in.

My new intern…

-

Kytherin walked up to her hotel room door and inserted the key card, humming to herself as she glanced around the hall. She went to open her hotel door when she noticed a small metal figure lying on the ground. She knelt down to pick it up and discovered that it was a small model of the Eiffel Tower.

She pushed open her room door and tossed her cell phone and the tower onto her bed, turning to enter the bathroom.

Wrapping her towel around herself and another around her hair, Kytherin stepped out of the shower into the steam filled room. She walked over to the mirror, leaving wet foot prints across the cold tiled floor.

Looking into the mirror, she noticed that the bruise on her forehead was nearly gone; causing her to smile at the memory and at the fact that it was disappearing.

She finished drying off and pulled on her outfit for the day; reapplying her makeup and styling her hair so it hung in loose curls around her face.

Kytherin entered her bedroom and picked her phone and bag of her bed. The small red light was blinking and the words “One New Message” scrolled across her cell phones screen. She rolled her eyes and read Kriss’ message asking where she was. She shook her head and laughed slightly as she grabbed her coat from the hook near the door and exited her hotel room, headed towards the elevator.

-

Kytherin leaned up against the wall near the elevators on floor 4 and waited for the little down arrow to light up, only to have the up arrow to light up first; doors dinging open to reveal an empty elevator.

She yawned tiredly and passed through the doors, pressing the ‘Lobby’ button on her way to the corner of the elevator. It’s faster to go up and then back down then wait for a different elevator.

She was pulling on her leather jacket when the doors dinged open again at floor 8 and another person entered the elevator. Trying to stay relatively unnoticed, Kytherin stayed silent and stared at the ceiling.

“I see you’ve changed you clothes finally,” the guy laughed. Kytherin quickly turned her head to look at the guy talking to her and stood up straight.

“Oh, hello Bill,” she said, slightly above a whisper.

“Nice to see you; how was breakfast with your boss?”

“Um…great. A little awkward though,” she admitted.

Bill cocked his head to the side slightly and raised his eyebrow. “Why?”

“I have a new intern now. Her name’s Aimée and she’s 17 and I have no idea what I’m supposed to do,” Kytherin rushed out, flailing her hands in the air, “The fashion show is in about a week or two and I don’t think I’m prepared to take on an intern right now!”

Kytherin breathed loudly, trying to catch her breath. “I just don’t know.”

“Calm down, try to take you mind off things. How else was your day so far?”

“Well, I found the strangest thing outside my hotel door when I returned from breakfast. Some child must have dropped it in front of my door or something.”

“What was it?”

“A small metal figurine of the Eiffel Tower.”

“Are you sure it’s not yours?”

“I’m positive! I haven’t had time to visit the Eiffel Tower yet, so it couldn’t be mine!”

Kytherin slouched against the elevator wall and fumbled with the zipper on her jacket. She looked up to see Bill smiling, at what she was unsure.

“Yes?”

The elevator stopped and she glanced over at the buttons. The floor 2 button was lit up. Kytherin couldn’t remember him ever pushing the button, but when the doors opened, Bill turned to leave; mumbling something over his shoulder as he left.

“Maybe it is yours, and someone’s just trying to tell you something.”

-

Kytherin exited the elevator at the lobby floor; lost in though going over what Bill had said to her. Maybe it is yours, and someone’s just trying to tell you something. She didn’t realize how far she’d walked until she nearly bumped into Kriss who had walked up to greet her.

“What could he have possibly meant by that…?” she mumbled somewhat incoherently.

“What? Carsh are you ok?” Kriss asked, placing his hands on her shoulders.

“Huh? Oh yeah... sorry,” Kytherin shook her head, trying to get her thoughts back on track, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking, that’s all.”

“You know, if anything’s bothering you, you can tell me, right?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, “Of course.”

“Great. Okay, well we need to get going.” Kriss turned around and headed towards the hotel exit, “Aimée and Ayden are already waiting in the car.”

“Oh…ok.” Kytherin took a deep breath. She was unsure if she was ready to deal with Aimée, now Ayden too? She was definitely not ready to deal with that.

-

The ride to the studio was long and awkward; though only around 30 minutes of driving. When Kytherin had climbed into the car, she was immediately ushered to sit between the window and Ayden; a spot none to comfortable to her. She tuned out most of the conversation going on in the car, but couldn’t shut up Ayden’s constant questioning of how she was doing, how her year had gone, or what was on her mind.

Ayden started out by resting his arm around her shoulders, to which she had shrugged off. To placing his hand on her leg and making circles with his thumb on her thigh; to which she also tried to ignore.

“Can you stop touching me!” she snapped at Ayden. He quickly withdrew his hand from her thigh and folded his hands in his lap. All mouths stopped moving and heads turned towards her. She closed her eyes and breathed in slowly, releasing it the same.

“I’m sorry,” she spoke quietly, “I just have a lot on my mind and I’m really not in a good mood right now. I shouldn’t have snapped at you Ayden.”

It annoyed her, having to apologize to him when she shouldn’t have; but starting an argument in a car filled with her new intern and her boss, along with two other co-workers, wasn’t exactly the best idea.

The car rolled up in front of the studio and Kytherin made sure she was the first one out, Aimée close by. Kytherin pulled open the door to the building and walked right inside as if she’d been there millions of times. She quickly took a right, having been told before hand where the fitting room was, and took the third door on her left; Aimée following right behind her.

“Um… Miss Carsh?” Aimée asked as she slowly entered the room; shutting the door behind her. Kytherin was over near one of the desks rummaging through the items cluttering the top of it.

“Not now Aimée, I’m busy,” Kytherin stated as she wandered over towards the rack of clothes for the show; flicking through them and occasionally tossing a garment or two over her arm.

“But Ayden said–”

“Not now Aimée!” she barked.

Kytherin layed the items she'd picked out over the top of the clothing rack and took a seat one of the makeup chairs groaning. She rested her head on the table in front of her and curled her arms over her head, messing with her hair as she tried to relax.

Aimée quietly walked over to Kytherin and placed a hand on her back, “Are you okay Miss Carsh?”

“I’m sorry Aimée. I’m sorry I shouted at you, I don’t know what’s up with me today; and please call my Kytherin. I get enough ‘Miss Carsh’ from Kriss as it is.”

“Oh okay Miss– er, Kytherin.” Aimée smiled. Kytherin lifted her head up off the table and shrugged off Aimée’s arm as she walked over to the couch to lay down; Aimée following behind her. Aimée took a seat on the floor and leaned her back up against the coffee table; staring down at her hands and slowly picking away the navy blue nail polish.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly is going on between you and Ayden? He told me that you two were dating, but it doesn’t look that way.”

Kytherin sighed and rolled over to face Aimée, “We are, sort of.”

“How can you ‘sort of’ be dating?”

“Long story.”

Aimée smiled up at Kytherin, “I’ve got plenty of time.”

“Well you see, it started when I was given the job as an intern, like you; but I was intern to Kriss, not Kriss’ assistant. Considering that at the time four years ago, he didn’t have one. Ayden now, was one of Kriss’ new models, being he was only about 18 at the time I met him.”

“Hm, how’d you two meet?”

“Let’s just say, it was rather unexpected.”

“That’s not good enough!” Aimée laughed out, “Come on, tell me what happened!”

“I ran into him okay!” Kytherin erupted into giggles. It had been a very long time since she'd talk to, and actually laughed with someone of the female gender.

“I was nearly an hour late and while I was in a rush to get to where I needed to be, I crashed into him while leaving the elevator; and it basically went on from there.”

“Wow, that’s quite a meeting, but it sounds so… happy. How come you no longer get along?”

Kytherin stood up and walked back over to the makeup stand; leaving Aimée sitting on the floor.

“Ayden changed a lot over the past 4 years. When I met him I was 16, and he asked me out a week later. Being the love struck teenager that I was, I immediately said yes. Over the last few years I learned that when people said that male models could be just as catty and narcissistic as the girls; they were telling the truth. He just isn’t himself anymore.”

“Then why don’t you break it off; wouldn’t that be an easy solution?”

At that moment the door swung open and in walked Ayden. He waved over at Aimée and walked up and wrapped his arms around Kytherin; resting his chin on the top of her head.

“I can’t Aimée, if I do I’ll probably lose it and the show will be ruined.” She hoped Aimée understood her meaning and turned her attention towards Ayden.

“Lose what?” he asked smiling.

“My mind.” Kytherin sighed tiredly, wiggled out of Ayden’s grasp, and went back to messing with clothing; laying out outfits for the fitting. Aimée noticed her discomfort, though Ayden seemed to be oblivious. She quickly walked over and wrapped a hand around her arm.

“Kytherin, why don’t you go get some fresh air. You’ve been working on this fashion show none stop since we got here,” she lied.

Kytherin nodded, catching on to what Aimée was getting at, “Uh, yeah, you’re right. Thank you Aimée.” She gave Aimée a tight hug and whispered ‘thank you’ in her ear. She dropped what she was doing and walked towards the exit, grabbing her coat off the hook as she opened the door.

“Bye Aimée, bye Ayden. See you two later,” she called over her shoulder; shutting the door behind her and making her way towards outside.