Model Behavior

When Delaney first saw the flower dress with leather trimmings hanging on her rack, she thought it might have been the ugliest piece she’d ever seen Louis Tomlinson make. It was certainly not the work he was known for, and for a moment she thought it was a mix up with another designer’s piece, but when she saw his usual stitching on the hem, she knew it was his, and it only made her more curious.

“Well, are you going to try it on?”

Delaney whipped her head around to find Louis standing behind her, his hands in his pockets. He snuck up on her all too often, and she wanted to tie a collar around his neck with a little bell like a kitten, so she could always know where he was, especially after their last meeting.

Louis had proved to be quite a confusing lad, with him being nice to her one minute and mean to her the next, and she only wondered when he was going to snap at her again. She hoped that for once, she’d be able to deal with kind Louis for more than an hour, but she couldn’t be sure.

“Of course,” Delaney responded, smiling back at him. She pulled the dress from the hanger, trying her best not to get nervous about changing in front of him like she had before. She wanted to prove that she was just as capable as the other models, and it was a first step.

When she managed to get the dress on, without any fumbling, she was extremely pleased with herself, but couldn’t tell if he was too. He simply looked at her, with his head cocked to one side, as his eyes roved over the dress. His teeth nipped at his bottom lip until it turned red, while his hand pulled at the skin on his chin. It was obvious he wasn’t sure about the dress, and she wanted to reassure him.

“This is a really lovely dress,” she said, running her hands over the fabric on her hips. His eyes tightened at her, and she knew she shouldn’t have said anything. He obviously didn’t care what she thought about it.

“Follow me,” he said, as he lead her out of the model’s room and past the hair and make-up station. She followed him until they entered his design room, which was filled with bits of fabrics and enough sewing machines to make a sweat shop.

She simply stood behind him, unsure of what he wanted her to do, until he turned around with a thread, needle, and a large flower made of different pink fabrics.

“Don’t move.”

His hand, which was holding the flower, moved to her chest. He pressed the flower against the fabric and began weaving the needle through it, the whole time being careful not to poke her. She could only look down at him as he worked, with his tongue between his teeth and his eyebrows furrowed. He was so close to her that if she stumbled for even a second, his face would land right in her breast and she nearly laughed at the thought.

“All done,” he said, as he pulled away. He looked back at the dress, which now had the flower pinned to it, and smiled. “That’s better.”

Louis’s small smile made Delaney smile and she was sure that the dress only looked that much more beautiful with the flower attached. She trusted Louis’s vision, as she should have, and she knew he wouldn’t put anything but the best out on the runway.

“I talked to Madison about you wearing that dress.”

Delaney knew which dress he was talking about. It was the one he’d originally assigned to Madison, but loved on her when she tried it on for a hemming.

“What did she say?”

“She trusts my vision,” Louis replied. “It doesn’t matter what she said.”

Delaney dropped the subject, knowing better than to do anything that might push Louis’s buttons. She hated how fearful she was around him, but it was part of their relationship, as he could never be nice to her for longer than a minute.

“You can go back with the other models now,” he said, shooing her away. “Try not to get in anyone’s way.”

Her eyebrows furrowed, while she puffed out her lips. She wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but she knew it couldn’t be good. With a deep breath, she took a few steps away, her heels clicking beneath her.

“Delaney, wait,” Louis said, behind her.

She almost didn’t stop. She almost pretended she didn’t hear him and kept walking right out of the design room. She just knew he was going to play his little switch playing game and she was sick of him always going back and forth with her like that. He could only keep going from mean to nice and back again so many times before she couldn’t put up with it anymore.

Instead of taking one more step, she trusted her gut and spun around, being met with Louis’s soft blue eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, before quickly shutting it again. After a few more seconds of him simply staring at her, he shook his head. “Just make sure you’re not late tomorrow.”

Her eyebrows furrowed and she pursed her lips. “But I’m never late.”

“I know I was just making –”

“No, you weren’t,” she interrupted. “You were going to say something.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Why do you always do that?”

Louis shook his head. “Delaney, I wasn’t doing anything. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Delaney knew it was a bad idea to talk back to Louis, but she suddenly didn’t care. She’d had enough of him changing his personality at the drop of a hat, and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

“Don’t give me that,” Delaney said, as she took a few confident steps towards him. “You were going to tell me something, but you changed your mind. Just tell me.”

He groaned, as he slammed his hand against the table, causing Delaney to jump back. He paused for a second, before taking a deep breath. His eyes shut, while he spoke through gritted teeth. “I was going to tell you that you look fat in that fucking dress. Now get out of my design room!”

Delaney pulled back, her eyes blinking several times as his words washed over her. She knew he could be mean, but she never thought he’d be so cruel. She thought she understood his anger, but he took her by surprise.

“Oh, fuck off, Louis. No job worth this shit.”

Zipping down her dress, Delaney tossed it to the floor, full prepared to walk out of the building in only her panties and never look back. He was impossible to deal with, and she was done trying.

Before she could step away, his hand latched onto hers, and he pulled her towards him, instantly crashing their lips together. Every ounce of anger that had filled her body was gone at the gentle touch of his lips against hers. It seemed impossible that someone so angry could kiss so passionately, but it was all Delaney felt as she melted against him.