The Model Project

Chapter 12

Roses were thrown everywhere, and the whole little stone walkway was full of rose petals and lined with candles. L.J walked down the path, wearing a golden Greek type of dress with a long silk cape. As she walked down the path, soft violin music drifted to her ears, setting the scene. She walked closer and closer to the bench at the end of the walkway, and when she got there, she sat down waiting. Soon a guy started appearing out of nowhere, dressed in a tuxedo, with his hair gelled up, and his hands in his pockets. L.J felt weak to the knees when he smiled at her, and she slowly stood up, reaching out her hands so that he could take them in his. He reached her, and gently placed both her hands inside of his large ones, looking down at L.J with love and adoration. He then bent down to one knee and L. J's face contorted into one of horror. He pulled out a small black velvet box and opened it in one swift motion. A bright light emerged from the box, blinding L.J as she put her arms in front of her face. She looked back at the little box and the guy on one knee to see that there was a giant diamond ring in it, and that he was actually proposing. L.J screamed and started to run away, but as she ran away, she fell into a pit and fell down, down, down. When she got out of the pit, she was standing at the altar with the guy next to her, as he said, 'I do' and she shut her eyes, screaming as loudly as she could.

"NOOOOO!"

"L.J!" She heard her name being called and she shot upright in her bed and felt hands on her back. She looked to her side to see Cam and Shane on both sides of her, rubbing her back for her. She shivered and shoved their hands off, getting out of bed, and running to the kitchen to get coffee. She felt gross and violated by that "dream".

"L.J, what is going on?" Shane asks her with worry clear in his voice, and she thought it was cute that he worried about her when she had a nightmare. She closes her eyes, and takes a deep breath, quickly taking a sip of coffee before telling them what nightmare she had.

"I dreamed that someone was proposing to me, and when I tried to run away, I was already at the altar and…" She choked on the last few words struggling to get them out. L.J always had a weird fear of marriage and she didn't like all the fuss and mushy stuff about weddings.

"You were what?" Cam asks and takes a small step closer to her, making sure she doesn't hit him for scaring her.

"I was… already married!" L.J yells in agony, and Cam and Shane's faces fall neutral at her words, and suddenly they start to laugh as hard as they can. She looked at them, shocked to her core that her best friends would laugh at her nightmares, making her feel stupid. She glared at them hoping they would stop laughing, but that just made them laugh harder at her.

"Fine, laugh away, but the next time you guys have a nightmare I will not be there to comfort you!" She scolds them loudly over their laughter. She stood there drinking her coffee, waiting for the guys to calm down. She looked around the kitchen and noticed that Aaron wasn't with them all, and she slightly frowned at that.

"Hey guys, where's Aaron?" She asked as the guys started to calm down.

"He can't hang out today" She furrowed her eyebrows at Cam's words and was about to ask why, but Shane beat her to it.

"He said that he had some stuff to do today" L.J nods and pours herself some more coffee.

"Aren't you going to offer us some coffee?" Shane teased, and she shakes her head at them.

"No, this is your punishment for laughing at me" Shane chuckled at her as she crinkled her nose, as she scolded them.

"Well, I can't stay for coffee anyway" He says and L.J frowns at those words.

"Why not?"

"I got into trouble with my mom for not doing my chores this week, so she's making me stay home, and do them today" He says and L.J groans.

"But we're going out today to buy me some more clothes!" She says and Shane smiles at her complaining.

"You have Cam with you" He says and L.J looks to Cam and then whispers in Shane direction.

"I won't survive an entire day with him alone!" She was only teasing Cam, and she knew it worked when he started to yell at her.

"I am standing right here, I can hear you, Lara-Jean!" She chuckled at how upset he looked, and she walked over to him hugging him tightly, as he returned the hug.

"I'm just kidding. We're going to have so much fun today" She says, and she felt Cameron's chest vibrate as he laughed.

"Oh, hell yes. You can even try on some lingerie for me" He says, and she lifts her head to look up at him, and glare at his stupid smirking face.

"No way in hell, Cameron!" She says her voice low and threatening. He chuckles at her face when she looked like she was about to punch his nose off.

"I'm kidding sugar" He says, and she shivers at the nickname he used on her.

"Don't call me that" She says and leaves his embrace.

"Anyway, I'm going to go get ready" She says and then hugs Shane to say goodbye, and then goes upstairs to take shower. When she walked out of her bathroom in a towel, she nearly dropped it to the floor when she saw Cam laying on her bed like he was a Greek god painting, like the ones you see on the roof on a casino.

"Cam, get out!" She yells at him, and he sighs but leaves the room anyway.

"She locks her door behind him, and quickly gets dressed. She got dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans, with combat boots, and a white tank top. She walked out the door, to see Cameron, leaning on the wall next to it, with a puppy dog face.

"Why did you make me miss the show?" He asks her, and she sighs.

"Why do you make me want to cut my ears off?" Cam gave an over-dramatic gasp at L.J's choice of words and she laughed at his horrified face.

"You wound me L.J" He says, pretending to wipe a tear away from his eye, as he held on hand over his heart.

"Come one let's go!" She says ass she drags him out of the door by his hand. She got in her car and drove off to the mall, the entire way they were screaming out the lyrics to 'Always win' DJ Khalid

When L.J parked the car and got out, Cam was by her side in a second, throwing his arm over her shoulders as they walk to the entrance.

"People might think we are a couple, you know" She says, and he shrugs.

"So, what? Let think what they want to" He says and L.J sighs. Cam looks at her, and then frowns slightly.

"What's wrong, L.J?" He asks sincerely, and she quickly glances his way.

"I don't know. It's just that girls like me don't ever get seen with guys like you. Our species never date at all, so I just thought that you wouldn't want to make it seem like we were a couple since it might be jeopardizing your reputation" She says, and Cam stops in his tracks, looking pissed.

"That's what you think? And really? Our species? We're the same thing L.J, just because you're a tomboy doesn't mean that you're a disgusting repulsive beast. You're one of my best friends and I love you so much it hurts sometimes. I know I don't say that enough, but I really do, and I don't care what people think about you or us together. I care about you and I think you're great and amazing juts the way you are" He says and L.J was shocked to see Cameron so intact with his emotions. He was right, he hardly ever says that he loves L.J but she knew he did, but when he reminded her of it, she always felt special, and wanted.

"Thanks, Cam" She says as she hugs him, and he embraces her, kissing the top of her head. He grabs her shoulders again, and they walk into the mall, cracking jokes, and talking with each other like they didn't just have a very serious conversation just now in the parking lot.

They got to the clothing stores, and L.J bought some new things that she liked, and that was more girly, but also still close to her own style. She bought a leather jacket and a new pair of high heels that Cam forced her to buy, saying that she needs to learn how to walk in them. They were sitting at a restaurant, having lunch when Cam's eyes widened in excitement and L.J knew that he was planning something evil in that pretty head of his.

"No" She says flatly, not wanting to hear what he has in mind. His face falls at that and he groans.

"Come on, just let me say it at least" He begs her, and L.J caves and gestures with her hand to let him speak.

"Let's do your hair today" He says, and she was about to open her mouth and protest but shut it and tilted her head to the side. That idea wasn't really all that bad, and she wouldn't mind seeing something different.

"Alright" IS all she says, and Cam sat there with his eyes wide open, shocked at her words.

"Wow ok, that was easier than I thought" He says and L.J chuckles.

"It doesn't sound too bad" She says, and Cam pretends to dust off his shoulders.

"See, I have good ideas as well"

"Yes, once a year" She teases him, and he scoffs at her.

"As if you have the greatest ideas"

"At least I wasn't the one who decided to jump into the pool that one winter and got so sick you had to be rushed to the hospital" She says, and he sighed.

"I thought it would be fun" He says, and she laughs.

"Sure, Cam" They both laugh at that, and finished their meals. When they left the restaurant, he led her to the salon in mall, and sat her down in one of their chairs.

"Hey guys, how can I help you?" A lady asks Cam and L.J and L.J just shrugs, but Cam started going into detail about what she needed to do.

"Can you maybe just cut off in inch of the tips, they're really dry, do some highlights, and straighten her hair for me?" He says and the lady nods as L.J just sat there shocked.

"Cam, you sounded so professional right then" She says, and he plops down on the chair next to her, and smirks.

"I know. I love her, I mean have you seen mine?" He asks her and looks into the mirror checking out his gorgeous head of hair. L.J laughs at how he was basically flirting with himself in the mirror.

"Let's get started, shall we?" The lady says behind her, and L.J nods, feeling excited for what was about to happen.

"Hot damn, woman!" Cam says as L.J walks up to him and flips her hair around a bit, showing off. She had golden blonde highlights in her dark brown hair, and they straightened it, and since she cut it a bit it was about right above her lower back but felt lighter than ever.

"How does it look?" L.J asked him, since she hasn’t looked into the mirror yet, too excited to see the outcome.

"You look hot, L.J" Cam says, and she turns to the mirror, and gasps lightly at what she saw. She looked so different with her hair down, but she looked beautiful. She smiled, and Cam took her hand and dragged her out into the mall again.

"Let's go show this off to the guys" He says, and they start to make their way home. L.J never did her hair before, but this felt really felt good, and she wouldn't mind coming back and doing it again.