Doctor of the Heart

Chapter 3: A Commodity

Kendrick was in the studio flipping through the papers on his clipboard when Cameron made her entrance. “Good morning, what sort of dog and pony show do they have in store for me today?” She sounded slightly annoyed, as she would have rather stayed home with James that morning instead of taking revealing photos for hundreds of thousands of people to see.

Kendrick looked at her unamused, “You’re going to be here for the next 10 hours, would you really like me to answer that?”

“Oh humor me, will you?”

He sighed, flipping to the agenda for the day. “Well, you obviously have hair, makeup and wardrobe first thing,” he eyed her when saying this. “Then you and the other Bunnies have the group shoot for the Holiday edition."

"And it will take 10 hours to do that?" Cameron scoffed, opening a bottle of water.

Kendrick pinched the corners of his eyes, something he did when he was annoyed by too many things. "There are 13 of you girls that we have to herd like cats. Yes, it will take 10 hours just to get a halfway decent picture of you all. Just, please, Cami, go get ready for the shoot."

Cameron nodded, walking towards the makeup area, not wanting to engage with him anymore if he was already in a mood. Walking into the changing area, she saw at least 10 of the other women in various stages of getting ready for the photo shoot. She hated the holiday pictures; dressing up in skimpy Santa-looking outfits, tall thigh-high black boots, little white fluffy cuffs, Santa hats, the whole bit. The men would dress up as shirtless elves, too. Everything about it made her want to gag. Though winter was months away, they took these shots early to release later, but the models were less than jolly during this time.

"Kelly, you can't just help yourself to my stuff!" Sarah snatched a bag of something from Kelly.

"C'mon, Kelly, quit being a b***h. I only ate two. I thought we were friends?" Kelly retorted, rolling her eyes.

"Would you skanks shut up? I'm trying to meditate and get into a good headspace," Pheobe was sitting on the floor, her voice shrill. Cameron didn't know how she could possibly meditate with all the noise and chatter.

Cameron put her things in her locker, trying to tune the whining out so she, herself, could get into her own headspace. Taking off her clothes, she donned the same pink silk robe that all the other girls were wearing before making her way to the hairdressers. "Good morning, Sharona," she said half-heartedly as she sat down in the barber's chair.

"Cami, my dear, care for a stiff drink? I brought some OJ today," she winked. Cameron knew Sharona had to be somewhat of an alcoholic, she seemed to be constantly drinking. If asked, Sharona would insist her hands were only shaky if she didn't drink, but surely that couldn't be true.

Hesitating, Cameron thought about Sharona's offer. "Sure, why not?"

Pouring a Styrofoam cup for Cameron, Sherona had a light conversation. "I heard what's-his-nuts was on your ass this morning, everything okay?"

"There was another feature about James and me, if you haven't seen it already," Cameron took the cup from Sharona.

"Oh?" She chuckled, "Guess I'm not that on-trend."

"You didn't miss much," Cameron took a big gulp of the tart juice. "Per usual, it was just a bunch of bullshit about Jimmie and me, just because I moved in with him recently."

Sharona nodded, starting to brush out Cameron's dark-blonde hair, "Eh, you know those assholes will take anything and run with it, just don't take it personally. Let 'em talk," she shrugged.

"I know, but you know how personally Jimmie takes it. Any time something like this comes out, he gets upset, he thinks it takes away from his professionalism, and is just another PR stunt for me."

"Jim's pretty famous himself, isn't he?" Sharona sprayed Cameron's hair, some of the fine water droplets peppering her face.

"He's...getting there, I would say. He has hours upon hours of research for his cardiology studies. I don't like to distract him from that. He's trying to get approval from the FDA to make his, um, hypothermia cardio...something more successful." Cameron was almost ashamed to admit that she didn't quite know what his passion project was called. But Sharona was right, they can't take it personally, lest the tension build until something breaks.

"How's your new ex-husband treating you, Camilla?" Lesley giggled on her way by. She must have read the article, referencing what had been written.

"Oh, f**k off," Cameron growled as Lesley continued her obnoxious giggling.

"Stand down, soldier," Sharona had put a hand on Cameron's shoulder, pulling her back to sit in the chair once more.

"Sorry," Cameron grumbled, scrunching her nose in annoyance.

"Save that fiery attitude for the camera," Sharona started to roll Cameron's hair.

Sighing, Cameron looked into the mirror at her and Sharona's reflection. Sharona's white hair and smile lines made her look serious in her work, mature, even. All Cameron saw in herself was a hollow woman, slowly being dragged down by the burdens weighing heavily on her mind. Though only in her early 30's, Cameron was able to look younger with a pound of makeup on, but she felt much older. With her hair pinned up, Sharona made Cameron sit under the hairdryer while she worked on one of the other women's hair. The warmth and volume of the dryer was relaxing, drowning out all the surrounding chatter, the warmth comforting as she closed her eyes.