Model Behavior

Tapping her foot against the ground, Delaney took the deepest breaths she could as she stood in the work room, waiting for Louis to come in. She didn’t know why he’d called her in, and she had to admit that she was terrified.

Ever since Louis had invited her to the business dinner, all the thoughts she had about him had completely changed. She was even more confused than she was before and everything that used to make even an ounce of sense made no sense at all.

She was so used to the bitter, jaded Louis that catching a glimpse of the completely different parts of him just through her for a loop. Most of all, she wondered what Louis she was going to see from now on. Would he be the sweet, almost caring Louis from the dinner or the rude Louis she had come to know? She really hoped it would be the former, but with the way Louis was there was no telling what would happen.

“Ah, you’re here.”

Delaney nearly had a heart attack at the sound of Louis’s voice and clutched her hand against her chest, attempting to get control of her heart beat which was now racing. She assumed that even if he hadn’t startled her, her heartbeat would still be sporadic.

When she’d gotten over her fear of passing out, she nodded her head as she spoke. “Candace said you needed me.”

“I do.” Louis nodded back. “I wanted to do a final fitting before the runway.”

Delaney wasn’t sure whether to be upset or pleased by the fact that he wanted something so simple. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, she had been hoping that he just wanted to talk to her, but of course it was strictly business.

Nodding her head, she took slow steps towards him while he held up one of the dresses she was supposed to wear on the runway. It had been a little big around the waist the day before so she assumed he had taken it in so it would fit perfectly to her body.

He held the material out to her, and she gently took it from him, while slipping out of her dress. She couldn’t help but notice that he turned his head and shut his eyes, which he had never done before. She didn’t care to ask why because she was just thankful that he was doing it.

When she had slipped the dress on, she tapped on his shoulder and he opened his eyes again, looking straight at her. She couldn’t help but stare into his crazily confusing eyes, looking for something that could help her determine how the rest of their meeting would go.

His expression wasn’t blank, but it wasn’t something she knew enough about to read. In fact, he looked pretty confused himself.

Letting out a deep breath, he began running his hands over the dress, checking to see if it fit in all the right places. Delaney’s breathing stopped as his hands moved over her so effortlessly. She knew it was part of his job, but she couldn’t help that her heart was racing even more quickly than before.

“Looks good,” Louis said as he pulled his hands away from her. “You can go.”

“Don’t you want to check the other pieces?” she asked, biting her lip when she finished speaking. She knew better than to say anything contrary to what he said, but she had plenty more dresses that she needed to be fitted for.

Louis shook his head. “That’s it. You can go.”

Delaney simply nodded her head, deciding she’d be better off not saying anything else. If she was going to make any more progress with Louis – if you could count their business dinner as progress – she couldn’t do anything to mess it up.

As Delaney turned around and began walking out of the work room, Louis called back to her and she could feel a lump forming in her throat. The last time it had happened he told her she was getting fat, so she could only imagine what was going to happen this time.

“Can you come here for a minute?” Louis asked, causing Delaney to begin walking towards him. She knew she must have looked terribly awkward walking over to him. Her eyes were blinking at a speed that rivaled a hummingbird’s flapping wings and her feet were so sweaty that she thought she might slip out of her shoes.

When she reached him, she swallowed deeply, attempting to keep her voice calm.

“What is it?”

Louis brought his hand to her cheek, rubbing his thumb against her skin. The moment he touched her she thought she’d fall to the floor, but her knees locked in place stopped her from doing that.

Only seconds had passed, but to Delaney it felt like a lifetime of Louis just simply looking at her, and it took her breath away. His eyes moved over every inch of her face, as though he was memorizing her for one of his sketches, and they only stopped when she cleared her throat.

Louis paused for several moments, biting at his bottom lip so tightly that Delaney thought he might chew right through the skin. She wondered what took him so long to move, but was too focused on watching him to ask.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Candace called behind them, ushering Louis back to the stylist room to fix a ripped piece. It took several more seconds for Louis to acknowledge her presences, and Delaney was beginning to wonder if he ever would.

“I’ll be right there,” Louis called to her as he dropped his hand from Delaney’s cheek. The moment his fingers were gone, she felt whatever force that had been lifting her up just disappear, and her knees suddenly felt weaker than before.

Honestly, she’d never wanted to hit anyone as badly as she wanted to hit Candace at that moment. As Louis still stood in front of her, she hoped that he’d continue with saying whatever it was that he was going to say before she came in, but she knew she wasn’t that lucky, and she could feel the moment slipping with every second that passed.

When Louis finally spoke, it was as though mountains were moving between them, the path in front of them now so clear that a blind man could walk through it.

“You’re the most confusing girl I’ve ever met,” he said simply, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he looked to the ground. Delaney thought he would say something more, but instead he began walking out of the room and to where Candace needed him.

All Delaney wanted to do was stop him and force him to explain himself, because she had no clue what she had done to make herself so confusing. If anyone was confusing, it was Louis.

Before she had a chance to say anything, Louis was out of the room and surrounded by people who needed every little thing from him. He was bombarded with work and Delaney knew there was no chance she’d be able to talk to him now.

The whole thing was totally and completely unfair, because she was growing tired of all the games.