Take It Like A Man

The radio softly released the sound of Rihanna’s luring voice as ‘Disturbia’ played throughout the car speakers. Bobbing my head I sang along quietly as I concentrated on my driving. My cell phone went off, and I picked it up but set it back down in the cup holder when I realized it was a text from Kevin. There was no way I was going to risk my life to answer a text message from one of the Jonas Brothers. They could wait.

Turning into an oversized parking lot I stopped my car. Turning off the radio I grabbed my cell phone and locked the car doors behind me as I exited the vehicle. As I walked towards the two large glass double doors I had time to quickly answer the text.

When tour ends I’m going to fly down 2 Chicago & take u out 2 dinner.

My eyebrows rose as I read Kevin’s declaration. I highly doubt he would come all the way to Chicago to take me out to dinner, even if it sounded nice. A boy hasn’t taken me out since… That sounds great! That was the lamest reply I could ever muster, but it was all I could come up with.

“Bethany!” Looking up I caught sight of a tall red head running in four-inch Gucci ‘babouska’ heels. Her name was Madison and she was in charge of bringing every model to their respective areas. “Ted needs you to be ready in twenty minutes for the shoot.” She grasped my hand tightly as soon as she was by my side and started to drag me off into a long hallway. “You are going to be doing a few shots with Sandy Ray, you remember her, you will both be wearing Soko dresses.”

An excited smile sprung upon my face and I clapped my hands to emphasize my happiness, “Ohhhh! I love Soko!”

“That’s why Ted wanted you to do this shoot. He said you mentioned to him about loving their designs, and he wanted someone who enjoyed the clothes,” Madison notified me with an anxious grin. “But you better get to makeup fast or else-“ she wagged her finger to emphasize the trouble I’d be in, “- Sandy is already getting her hair done!”

“Sandy is an overachiever,” I rolled my eyes. “Of course she’d get here earlier. It’s not my fault I have a three year old to take care of.” Sandy Ray and me never really had gotten along well. She was a suck up and cough, slept, cough, with many people to get where she is today. Unlike some people, like myself, who actually worked their asses off to get the position I was currently at. And I was doing pretty well for a short, well-breasted model.

Madison exclaimed a worried “shh” as if someone was going to hear me bitch about Sandy. Hurrying my pace I opened the door to makeup and was immediately hit by the smell of perfume, burnt hair, and more various scents. Danny, a hair stylist, ran over to me and quickly shoved me down in a chair and began to brush my wavy hair. Another stylist, Fiona, ran over to me with mineral cover up and makeup tolls. The two worked on me rather speedily, not even saying a word excluding a few excuse me’s.

“Beth,” Danny’s unusual feminine toned voice called as he scooted the rolly chair over to a large vanity. “You are going to be wearing two different dresses from Soko today. The first is going to be a maroon dress with some gold and gray. It’s absolutely beautiful,” he sprayed an unnecessary amount of hairspray across my entire head. “So I did these curls, because you look so beautiful with these loops. Fiona is going to use a shimmer gold eye shadow. It’ll look stunning.”

“Thank you so much Danny,” I laughed. Holding out my hand to him he tsk’ed at a crack that was evident in my manicured nails. “I can fix this in a jiffy. Just be careful during the shoot-“ he dug through a drawer as Fiona came over with an eye brush and gracefully doused my eyes in makeup. “- too much moving could cause it to ship again. All we need here is a dash of glue.”

Fiona dabbed liquid eyeliner thinly across the top of my eyelid across my lash line, “Did I ever tell you that you have the most beautiful shade of brown eyes I have ever seen?”

“Every time you do my makeup Fiona,” I laughed, blushing deeply at her comment. Fiona and Danny were my favorite people to work with when doing makeup and hair; they always knew how to brighten my day. Hurriedly, Danny shoved me out of the chair after they finished my makeover. Fiona took my hand and dragged me over to a changing room where she handed me the dress. With no time to spare I changed fast. Darting out of the room Danny handed me a pair of Soko rain boots as I dashed on set.

Sandy Ray was giggling while holding Ted’s forearm; he looked rather annoyed. Ted was one of those rare fashion photographers that actually looked for talent instead of easy models. He’s basically the reason I was able to get my big break in The Chicago Fashion Magazine.

“I’m so sorry Teddy!” I slid the boots on my feet. My boss only chuckled as he patted my back, brushing Sandy off. “I had to make Aoife pasta.”

“Don’t worry about it Beth, you’re my favorite girl. Take as long as you need.”

I smirked at Sandy, who gave me a fake smile in return. Did I mention it was a mutual hate? We both walked onto the set, which was a plain white wall. It would probably be edited to have some cool, unique, funky background afterwards.

Flipping her golden hair, Sandy shot me a look of pure evil, “Took you long enough to get here.”

“Sorry. I have responsibilities,” I grumbled as I flattened the dress I was wearing to fit my curves. “Your dress looks rather slim. Lost weight?”

“Looks like you’ve gained some,” she sneered as she glanced down at herself.

“At least I’m not anorexic.”

She glared, but didn’t have a chance to make a comeback for Ted was clapping his hands behind the camera smiling, “Alright ladies. I want you to look distant, but pure. But at the same time wild and sexual.”

I turned to Sandy, who had a face of confusion. Laughing I gave her my back and posed for the camera as Ted had explained the way he wanted the pictures to look. It took a few shots before Sandy and I knew we were complimenting each other rather well because Ted was getting more ecstatic with every picture taken. When these pictures were down I was sent back to Fiona, who redid my make up to match a creamy colored dress. It only took four more hours of non-stop picture fun before I was getting ready to leave home.

Picking up my phone I realized I had two new text messages, one from Joe and another from Kevin. Sitting down in a chair that was provided in the dressing room I decided after hours of neglecting the two boys I should probably answer.

U can choose the restaurant though. I’ve never rlly stopped in Chicago for long. - Kevin

Smiling at the words I wondered if Mary was right about what she had said earlier this morning. Was Kevin hitting on me? If he was I really didn’t comprehend the idea of flirting. I was taking everything in a friendly manner. Hitting reply I casually typed, hoping not to lead Kevin onto thinking I liked him more than a friend, We could to Portillos! Aoife loves that place. If I brought Aoife into the picture maybe he wouldn’t take it as if I wanted to go on a date with him. Now the other brother…

Text me as soon as you get off work. I think u are going 2 be surprised. - Joe

Furrowing my brows I re-read is text in confusion. What did he mean I was going to be surprised? Just as I was about to reply to Joe’s message Ted entered the dressing room with a grin spread across his face, “Good you didn’t leave,” he said as he motioned for me to get up. “I forgot to tell you something. I don’t know how it slipped my mind…”

He signaled for me to follow him out of the changing rooms and into his office, which was conveniently right across the hall. Ted pulled out a chair for me to sit in and I had a small smile of perplexity on my face, “What’s all this about Ted?”

My boss and photographer sat down in his office chair and grinned, “You were requested to do a very huge and highly paid project.”

“What?!” I leaned over in my chair in anticipation. “For what? Oh my Ted! You know how long I’ve waited for this.”

“It might not be exactly what you were expecting… it’s not for modeling.”

I raised my eyebrow. I was a fashion model… what else would I do photo shoot for? “Then what Ted?”

Taking a piece of paper off his desk he licked his lips and beamed wildly, “I just got a call from, you’ll never guess who-“ he handed me the parchment and I shook my head in amusement. This is what Joe was talking about. “- The Jonas Brothers want you to be an extra in their music video. They told me they would be honored to have someone as beautiful as you to be in their music video.”

Biting my lip I nodded my head, instantly amused and extremely exciting. After giving my boss a brief update on my answer for the video I exited his office and started leaving the building with a giddy smile on my face. Taking out my cell phone instead of texting Joe back I dialed his number, it rang once and then twice before the sound stopped and a confused “Hello?” Was heard.

“Oh my Lord! Joseph Jonas!” I yelped in happiness. “Why didn’t you just ASK me?!”

He laughed at the cheerfulness in my voice, “It was a surprise.”

As Joe spoke my heart just did an extreme series of acrobatic events and I attempted to shield my smile from myself. I think I was going insane.