The Model Project

Chapter 11

"Why do we still have to do this?" L.J asked the boys as they threw a pair of shorts at her with a crop top.

"Because even though Roy said he didn't mind a girl like you, he will get tired of you eventually" Cam said and L.J sighed. She did ask for their help, but she didn't think it would be this hard, and she definitely didn't think that she would start to feel so bad about herself. She walked into her bathroom, put on the clothes and then walked out, making the boys whistle.

"Damn girl, look at those legs!" Cam said as he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Yeah, yeah" She says nonchalantly but couldn't help but feel a little blush make its way up her neck. She wasn't used to boys, or anybody really, complimenting her.

"How does this look?" She asks and spins around once. When she turned back to the boys, she noticed Shane's eyes on her body, but she brushed it off, thinking he was only looking at the outfit.

"You have abs?!" Cam yells out in shock, and L.J looks down at her exposed stomach. They haven't gone swimming in a while and since then L.J actually started working out more than usual, working on building muscle and fixing cars, lifting heavy gear all the time sure did help as well.

"Yeah, I have had them for a while now" She says, and Cam licks his lips in a teasing way as his eyes raked over her body.

"Damn girl, you should dress like this more often" Shane hit Cam across the head, and Cam grabbed his head in pain, as Shane scolded him.

"Stop it you creep" Shane stood up and walked out the door and yelled out behind him when he reached the stairs.

"We leave for the mall at five alright!" He says, and Cam stands up about to leave the room when he got a call. He grabbed his phone from his back pocket, and smirked when he looked at the screen. He answered the phone with a cocky tone, running a hand through his hair.

"Hey girl, yeah sure I can hang out" He tried to make his voice a little deeper, and L.J couldn't help but laugh at how stupid he sounds.

"Yeah see you then" He says glaring at L.J as she clutched her stomach from pain of laughter. He hung up the phone and shut his eyes for a second then opened them again to look at L.J with fake irritation.

"I have to go now, see you later losers!" He says his voice very overdramatic as he flicked his head back and gave a little hop out of the room. L.J looks to Aaron as they both laugh for a few more minutes at Cameron's dramatic act he just put on. L.J joined Aaron on the bed, and he looked at her and then let his gaze fall to the bedding underneath him.

"I uh, also can't make it to the mall today" He says and L.J frowns at that. Why were both the boys suddenly canceling.

"How come? Is something wrong?" She asks, and he shakes his head.

"I kind of need to do something today, if you don't mind" He only glances at L.J for a split second, and she knew something was up, but she let it go for now.

"Alright. That's fine, just don't do anything stupid!" She jokes, and he gives a slightly nervous laugh.

"I won't" He says and gets up leaving the room after saying goodbye, and she heard him say goodbye to Shane as well. It was silent for a few seconds, and she laid down on her back, looking at her ceiling, until she suddenly felt the bed bounce, nearly making her fall from it.

"What the heck?!" She yells as she saw Shane on the bed next to her, laughing at her facial expression.

"Why do you look so shocked?" He asks her, still laughing at her face.

"What are you doing here?" She asks, and he tilts his head to the side, confused as to what she meant.

"What do you mean what am I doing here? I was waiting downstairs for you, but you didn't come down" He says and L.J looks at him confused in return.

"I thought you left" She says while shrugging.

"Why would I leave?" Shane raises an eyebrow at her, and she sighs.

"The other guys left, so I just assumed that you would too" She says and Shane chuckles at her.

"Well, looks like you're stuck with me, L.J" He says and pokes her side with his index finger, making her jump slightly.

"Come on we need to go" He says, and she nods getting up and putting on some shoes. They talked and joked in the car ride the entire way to the mall, and L.J thought back to the last time she and Shane hung out alone. That was about a year ago, and she was glad that the they could spend some time alone together again. She always tried to make time for each of the boys individually, to talk about what happened in their lives, and how they felt about certain things. L.J was a tomboy sure, but she was still intact with her feelings, and she knew guys wouldn't talk about that kind of stuff in front of other guys, so she always made up reasons to get them alone, and just talk with them. L.J and Shane got the mall and he parked, and jumped out, L.J following him.

"So why are we here again?" L.J asked him, and he smiles at her while shaking her head. L.J knew why they were there but tried to stall him by making him explain it again.

"We are here to let you talk to boys and comfortable with it" He says, and she nods, saddened by how fast he explained it.

"Can you go into detail about the topic a little more please?" She asks still trying to stall him, but he walked in behind her and started pushing her forward, so that she could walk faster.

"Stop stalling L.J" He says, and her shoulders sag at that, and she walks to the entrance of the mall trying to keep her breathing even and not pass out.

"I feel like I can't breathe" She says and Shane scoffs.

"You'll be fine!" He says, and she glares at him over her shoulder as he was still behind her, making sure she didn't turn around and make a run for the doors.

"What if I really couldn't breathe Shane?!" She frowned at how harsh he was being to her.

"If you really couldn't breathe, I would care, but obviously you still can breathe since you're wasting your breath trying to stall me" He says, and she groans at how well he knew her. One thing about having best friends you spend everyday with, is they know almost everything about you, and you can't always fool them.

"Alright, I will stop stalling if you stop pushing me!" She says, and he laughs.

"No way, I know you L.J and I know you will make a run for it" He says, and she sighs, knowing that he was right.

"You know it sucks that you know me so well sometimes" She says and walks further into the mall, closer to her doom. Shane brought her here to flirt with boys again, and even though L.J googled 'how to be a good flirt' she still felt like this was going to blow up into her face.

"Alright" Shane stopped at the food court, and pointed at a dark-haired guy sitting alone, one his phone.

"Go over to that guy and get his phone number" He says and pats her shoulders. L.J turns around, her eyes big with fear as she looks at Shane with shock.

"What did you just say?" She asks him, and he lifts his hands slightly.

"Get his phone number"

"No, no, no! I was just supposed to flirt with guys today" She says, not wanting to die of embarrassment today.

"This is the next step, you have to learn, L.J" He says like it's nothing complicated, but for her it was worse than Math.

"I didn't sign up for this!" She whisper-yells and Shane smirks at her.

"I know, but I did sign you up, and now you have to do it" He says and places his hands on her shoulders, flipping her body around to face her target. He bends down so that his mouth is close to her ear, and he whispers.

"Now, go and get his number, tiger" As he said that he gave her a slight push forward making her stumble a few steps, until she regained her footing. Shaking her shoulders out she walked to the guy and sat down right in front of him.

"Hey there" She says, and he looks up and smiles, putting away his phone.

"Hi" He says leaning forward, smiling in return.

"You looked kind of lonely, so I thought I would come and keep you company" She says, and he nods.

"Yeah, I'm waiting for my friend to come back with the food, but the line is way too long" He says and points to a guy behind her in the line of McDonald's.

"Oh, well, it's a good thing he's not here, because I want to have you alone for a while" She says, and he smirks.

"Oh really?" She didn't know where this side of her was coming from, and it kind of scared her, but at the same time she liked it.

"So, listen, I want to call you sometime, so we can go out" She says and touches his hand.

"Sure, yeah, here's my number" He says and writes it down on a piece of paper for her.

She took the small piece of paper from him and smiles, getting up and leaving, not another word said except for a 'thanks'. She made her way over to Shane again, and she handed him the paper and he stood there shocked to his core for a minute.

"That was…something else, L.J" He says, and she shrugs.

"I don't even know where all that came from, but it worked so I guess that's a good thing"

"Yeah, definitely. You did that so fast!" He says, and they start walking around the mall trying to find another target.

"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" L.J said feeling proud of herself for not puking on the poor guy.

"It's the outfit, it has to be" Shane says as he gave L.J a once over and she suddenly stopped in tracks, snapping her head to him.

"Only the outfit?" She asked in a low tone, wanting some appreciation for the part she played in getting the number as well. Shane looks at her with raised eyebrows, terrified to make the wrong move.

"You did good as well" He says, and she takes a threatening step closer to him.

"I only did good?" She asks, and he shakes his head.

"I mean you did great, L.J" He says while looking down at her. He knew L.J was small, but the guys knew that she was very feisty for someone so small.

"Thank you" She says and smiled stepping away from him, and Shane let out a big huff of air he was keeping inside his chest from fear. L.J and Shane went through the entire mall, and he pointed out guys she should talk to and she did without hesitation and she nailed it with ease. She had all this confidence that she didn't know she had, and she couldn't help but think that it was because she was wearing prettier clothes, or because the crop top was so skin tight that it was stopping the blood circulation from getting to her brain and make her think straight. Either way, L.J felt good about herself and she wanted to feel this way for the rest of her life.

By the time that Shane took her home she had about ten phone numbers in her pocket, and a smile on her face. They were standing outside of her house next to his Jeep.

"Bye Shane, and thanks for today and for…everything" She says to him and he smiles back at her. He hugs her, picking her up and then gently sets her down again, letting go.

"Anytime, L.J" He says and gets back into his car and parks in his garage right next door. It was always funny to L.J how the boys all lived so close to her, but every time they said goodbye it seemed so dramatic like they were going away to the moon. L.J got in bed that night with a nice feeling in her stomach, and a mind full of good thoughts.