I Like the Remix

Victoria walked into a delicious aroma coming from the kitchen. She also heard Raelyn singing. She walked over to the doorway to the kitchen and leaned against the door frame as she watched Raelyn stir something in a pot, a happy smile on her face as she sang along to a Breaking Benjamin song. Well this is not what I expected to walk in to… She watched her best friend in silence for a few minutes before making her presence known.

“Someone’s in a good mood! Whatcha makin?!” She asked excitedly. “It smells amazing.”

Raelyn pulled one earbud out and grinned at her. “Spaghetti. And yeah, I’m going to be getting a new shoot tomorrow, and I’m really excited for it. I’m sorry I stormed off and left you with them.” She bit her lip as her face fell a little.

“It’s fine, nothing happened. Well that’s not true, Zacky stormed off after you left and broke up with the blonde bimbo.” Tori stated and watched Raelyn for her reaction.

Raelyn shrugged as she stirred the sauce and then started boiling the water for the noodles. She turned back to look at Tori. “I know. Zacky ran into me at the beach. He admitted he broke up with her. I also ran into her and Michelle at our door earlier, where she repeated that. I don’t really care either way. She’s trying to blame me for it. I don’t know if that’s his stance on it too… But whatever.”

“I brought home some wine and whiskey because I wasn’t expecting you to be in such a good mood.” Tori admitted shyly as she walked back into the living room and walked back in with the two bottles. “Do I get to know any details about this job?”

“I’ll tell you tomorrow.” Raelyn smirked devilishly and watched Tori pout. “Crack open the wine, dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes.”

“This isn’t fair… But if I argue you won’t let me have your spaghetti… So fine.” Tori sighed, but went to find the corkscrew. Her excitement for the food coming back when she noticed the garlic bread sitting on the counter, waiting to be put in the oven.

---

The next morning both girls made their way to Angels and Demons, they walked into the office and greeted the secretary. “You want a good laugh?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. “According to Jeff, some loser called pretending to be Tony Hawk and said he was looking for a model.” Tori started laughing as Raelyn just shook her head slightly. “He claims he’s going to be here in about ten minutes to select a model.”

“That’s stupid.” Tori agreed with a laugh. “Why did he take the phone call though?”

“He told me to go home to save payroll.” The girl shrugged. The two continued going back and forth making fun of the supposed prank call as Raelyn made her way into the back room where the models hung out. She nodded to a few of the beautiful ‘angels’ and made her way to a couch in the back of the room. She looked over her emails and smirked when she heard a high pitched scream, and frantic calls for Jeff to come to the front office.

She walked towards the door and walked over towards the doorway to Jeff’s office and knocked. “Janette is calling for you.” The two walked out into the front office and she smiled at Tony who was standing there. “You’re late.” She teased when she noticed it was 10:05.

“Sorry, was signing a couple of autographs. You the manager?” He asked Jeff who was staring at him awestruck. Most of the time when the models were requested… It was through a manager or agent… never from the famous person directly.

“Yes. I’m terribly sorry about yesterday. Most prank calls come from people claiming to be the actual celebrity.” He stumbled over his words. “We only have a few of our models in right now…” He admitted nervously.

“That’s fine. I already knew which model I wanted for my line to begin with. I need someone who can tell the difference between the proper skating stances and various tricks. Which means they need to know how to skate. Which means it’s gotta be Raelyn Benson.” Tony stated plainly. “No offense ladies,” he stated politely towards Tori and the blondes that were now peaking through the door from the back room. “It’s going to take at least a day, maybe longer. Will that be a problem?” He directed his question towards Jeff who immediately shook his head. “Awesome. Shall we?” He asked Raelyn as he gestured towards the door.

“Sounds good. Let me go grab my purse.” She headed back into the backroom with Tori following her on her heels.

“I can’t believe he still remembers you!” Tori stated excitedly. “This will be so good for you, you can go on to do sports wear ads!”

“Chill out, Tori. I’m already excited enough!” She grinned. “I’ll tell you more, later! Hopefully you get something fun to do.” Tori nodded and watched as Raelyn grabbed her purse and left.

---

Victoria found herself in an uncomfortable situation. She had been lucky enough to get a job… The only problem? It was a modeling job for Brian Haner, Sr. What he could possibly want her to model, she had no idea. She’d been told to meet him at his home… Which made her even more uneasy. She parked on the street and got out of her car, she nervously wiped her hands on her denim skirt. Having known who she would be working for, she had dressed a little more modestly… Well at least with the skirt. The denim pencil skirt went just past her knees, she was in a red halter neck crop top and a pair of white heels.

She took a shaky breath to calm her nerves and walked to the front door. She raised her right fist and hesitated for a moment before knocking twice. She swallowed nervously and put on her business smile when the door opened. “Hello, Mr. Haner.” She greeted softly.

“Please, Tori, you know better than to call me Mr. Haner.” Brian Sr. chided as he moved back and let her into the house. “Come in, dear.”

Tori nodded and walked into the Haner household. “So what am I modeling for?” She blurted out the question almost immediately. Her cheeks heated up as Brian Sr. looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. “Sorry, I was just wondering is all.”

“We’ll get to that. I’d just like to catch up with you first, if that’s alright with you.” Brian Sr. stated with a fatherly smile. “Would you like something to drink? We have water, juice, wine or beer.” He offered.

“Water’s fine. I’m working after all.” She stated with a small smile despite the fact that at this point a shot of whiskey sounded much better in her opinion. Once he left the room to grab the water, she gulped at the thought of ‘catching up.’ She wasn’t sure she wanted to face his questions. She had no idea what his son had told him of their break up. Did he make her out to be a total bitch? Had he been honest? She wiped her hands on her skirt again as she took a seat on the couch.

A moment later, Brian Sr. had returned with a bottle of water for her. “So, how have you been?”

“Good. Busy with work.” She answer as she folded her hands on her lap to try and keep them from giving away her nervousness. “What about you, any fun projects that you’re working on?”

“Not at the moment.” He let out a sigh. “You don’t have to be nervous around me. I’m not trying to make you feel awkward. I just want to catch up, you’re a nice girl… One of the very few girls that I’ve approved of with Brian. I was genuinely sad when I heard you guys had broken up.” He responded honestly. “More upset that I never heard from you again.”

Victoria felt guilty now. “I’m sorry, Papa Gates. It wasn’t fair to alienate you because I was upset with Brian.” Her voice came out barely above a whisper. She looked away from him and looked out the living room window.

“I get it. He hurt you. And I think he realizes that he was wrong.” Brian Sr. stated solemnly. “I need to know you aren’t back to cause problems for Brian.” Her eyes snapped over to his. “I know he hurt you but-”

His words came to an abrupt halt when Tori looked up with a furious glare that had him shocked. “I don’t know what he’s told you, but he did more than hurt me. And then he had the nerve to tell me I walked out on the best thing in my life. Your son needs an ego check, and back when I broke up with him, probably an STD test too.” She stated darkly as she stood up quickly. “Now that that’s been said, if I’m not here to actually model anything, I think I’ll be leaving.”

“Victoria,” He stood up quickly and stood in front of her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you angry. I… All he told me was he really fucked up, and you deserved better. He came to me the other day and said having you back in his life has him feeling confused.” He admitted.

“I don’t give a fuck if he’s confused. He’s married. End of story. So you don’t have to worry about me causing problems for him.” She finished strongly. She went to walk around him when she heard their front door open.

“Dad, you home?” Came the voice from the one person she didn’t want to hear. “Dad? You-” He cut off when he walked into the living room and saw Tori in the room. “What are you doing here?”

“I thought I was working. But your dad just wanted a heart-to-heart to make sure I didn’t have any hurtful intentions. Does he know?” She inquired, a dark look in her eyes.

“Heart-to-heart?” Brian looked confused as he glanced to his dad and then back to Tori.

“Does he know?” She repeated and when he kept his gaze on her and stayed silent, she let out a bitter laugh. “He doesn’t know. You just told him I left your sorry ass and left it at that.” She rolled her eyes. “Pathetic.”

“What don’t I know?” Papa Gates asked from behind the two who were toe-to-toe at this point.

Tori looked from Brian Jr. to Brian Sr. and then back to Brian Jr, as she spoke. “The reason I left your son during one of his most vulnerable times was because I couldn’t take his cheating anymore.” She stated and watched as Brian’s face fell slightly. “And it was more than just Michelle. I finally gave up. If he wasn’t wasted out of his mind, there was some random whore in our bed. But Michelle was the icing on the cake since he’s hooked up with her before. Enough was enough… I wasn’t going to cry over him anymore. I packed up my things one night and went back to my mom… Who repeated what she’d been repeating since I started going out with him...He was bad news and I told you so.”

Papa Gates gasped as he looked over to Brian who was looking at the floor guiltily. “Brian, how could you be so stupid?” He stated, clearly disappointed with his oldest son.

“I just hope he was careful in his drunken stupidity.” Tori stated barely above a whisper. “Now if you don’t mind, my roommate made some amazing spaghetti that’s sitting in our fridge. I think I’d rather go home to that, then get paid for today. Have a lovely evening, Papa Gates.” She stated, turning to give him a quick hug before heading towards the door.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Came a screech that had Brian cringing and Papa Gates rolling his eyes.

“I was invited. So sorry if that upsets you. By the way, I heard about your little warning and have one of my own… If you ever try and touch Raelyn again… Or me… It’s not going to end well for you. Raelyn likes following the legal aspects of things… I don’t mind spending the night in prison for assault.” Tori stated with an evil smile on her face. “Have a nice night, slut.” She hit Michelle’s shoulder on her way out the door.