Chapter 13
1669 Words
CHAPTER 13
Alena POV
I survived a week with Evander. I started working part time at the book shop again and was so busy with school and photoshoots that we only had brief discussions. He asked me about my studies and we made small talk every night. I guess we were becoming friends and it was nice in a way. There were three things that I realized. He's an introvert. He really likes spicy food and doesn't like talking about his family, boxing or work.
I was currently looking for Patrick at his office. I came to surprise him with lunch before I went to a photoshoot for one of the brands I would collaborate with on insta. ‘’He’s out.’’ the receptionist says and eyes me for a second.
‘’I know you!’’
Great, here we go again. ‘’My daughter follows you on i********:! I didn’t know Patrick was dating a well-known gal!’’ She takes a photo of me without asking and I smile awkwardly.
‘’Will you be competing in one of those pageants again?” she asks, but I just shrug my shoulders.
‘’I just did it for my sorority, not really my, scene, if you know what I mean.’’ I admit, but the lady gives me a frown making me wish I just swallowed my words and said what they all wanted to hear like usual.
‘’I actually don’t know what you mean? You have a responsibility when so many people look up to you! You post a lot about yourself and I don’t even know how I didn’t recognize Patrick in your posts! My daughter always comes to show me!’’ I shake my head and I’m grateful when I feel familiar hands wrap around my waist.
‘’Hi pumpkin! What are you doing here?” Patrick says and hugs me against his side.
“I brought you some lunch.” I hug him and ignore the lady eyeballing me. I loved i********:. I learned to love creating content, but when being told by a total stranger I had to do it, it was kind of off putting. I grab his hand and the lady says something under her breath, pissing me off, but I stay quiet and just smile at her.
“Thank you for the chat! I’ll try my best!” I say and she just nods at me.
Influencers have lives too. Not one of those people know who I am and they do not have the right to dictate what I want to do with my life.
We walk into Patrick's office and he suddenly turned me around to face him.
“Why are you spray tanned?” Patrick asks and I look at him confused.
“Yeah, I told you I had a shoot with that bikini company today.” His eyes widen and he pulls a face. Oh great.
“I hate it when you model in a bikini! I don’t like people seeing what's mine. Can you get out of it?” he asks and I just stare at him for a sec thinking he was joking. Oh no.
“The deal was they sent me those pieces for the both of us.” I pointed between us and looked him straight in the eye. He loved those swimming trunks. We had four matching sets. “And then I have to model for them for their website. Don’t you remember this whole discussion?”
“I just don’t like it and would appreciate it if you listened to me.” he almost growls and my mouth falls open.
“Please tell me you're kidding me right now.” I say, and he ignores me and just starts to eat the sandwich I just brought him. He keeps on ignoring me, making my blood boil.
“Patrick, give me your phone.” I asked and he wanted to object, but I grab it from his pocket.
I open his i********: and go to the settings and click on liked posts. I make a strangled noise and turn his phone towards him.
“I can't post myself wearing a bikini, but you're allowed to like and wait, is that a comment?” I look back at the post and look at him when I see the username.
“Ah, and it's one of the girls you had s*x with. Great. So you’re telling me I’m not allowed to do a shoot because you're insecure? I signed a contract that you also benefited from and I will do what's right and go do this shoot. I won't share it on my profile if that's what makes you feel better? Because that's all that matters, right? What makes you feel better?” My voice breaks and I scan all the girls' posts he liked and then look at him.
“Why? Why do you even still follow them?” I whisper and he has the audacity to roll his eyes.
“It didn’t mean anything and we’re just friends now. I don’t care what they post, but I care about what my girlfriend posts! Every guy is like that! You’re not cheap and I don’t want you to come off cheap when you do these types of shoots.”
“It’s a couples brand and they target couples going on honeymoon! I’m not cheap and I won’t be compared to girls that barely wear anything! I don't take sexy pictures! I hate it and I have a little sister, remember? I need to be an example for her and right now I'm kind of disgusted that you think I'm doing it for attention!”
"You could have fooled me." His words strikes a nerve.
I drop his phone on the ground, grab my car keys on his desk and walk out.
“Alena!” He calls me, but I don’t look back. I swallowed down the tears in my throat. As I stood in the elevator, I waited. I just stared at the hallway waiting to see if he would come after me. My phone beeps.
Patrick: *You’re being ridiculous!*
I push the button as I read it and just leave it on read.
As the elevator doors closed, I stared down at my feet. I hate feeling like this.
My phone beeps and I see that the photographer was going to be a couple of minutes late. Great.
When I find my car I’m shocked to see how dirty it is. What the hell!
He can’t even look after my car. My stepdad would have my head if he saw how dirty my car was on the inside too.
I drive off listening to some Taylor Swift. The manager of the shoot calls me and I swallow my tears. Show time.
#####
4 HOURS LATER
When I stepped into the apartment, I see Evander on the phone in his room sitting on the edge of his bed. I awkwardly wave at him and he just nods at me.
I pour myself a glass of whiskey and decide I deserve a really long bath. When I sink into the warm water, I hear a faint knock on the door.
“Hi Alena, I’m ordering us some sushi. Is there anything you would like?”
“Anything, but could I please help pay this time?” I ask and quickly scrambled out of the bath and wrapped myself in a towel.
“No, it’s my treat.” he says as I pop my head out.
He looked so startled for a second at my sudden appearance that it makes me laugh under my breath.
A beat passes between us.
“Rough day?”
His questions catches me off guard.
“I’m fine.” I point at my purse on the table in the kitchen. “I really want to pay for this round, it's the least I can do after all the lovely groceries your mother sent.”
He looks at me, his eyes flickering between mine as if he was searching for something.
“Are you really ok?” he asks and the way he does it makes me swallow hard. I don’t need him to look at me with pity. He didn’t have a clue what I was going through. I just nodded because I was unable to speak.
“Alena.”
He says my name sternly and I look away.
“I said I’m fine, just let me pay please.”
I close the door and listen to him through the door. It took him about two minutes to walk away and then I finally got back into the tub. I pick up my phone and see Patrick hasn’t tried to text me again.
I swallow my pride and text him, asking if he was ok and on his way home. After ten minutes of staring at the delivered text, I gave up. The water goes a little brownish and I grab the soap and wash my skin raw. My skin stung when I finally decided to climb out. My phone beeps and I quickly grab it hoping it's Patrick. It's not. I opened up i********: and saw I'd been tagged by the clothing brand from today's shoot. The shots came out great. I quickly sent a text to the manager thanking her for the great day and using such a sweet caption. A name pops on my screen of someone who had just liked the image and I see it's Layla.
I click on her profile. She had a very fitness-orientated profile and it looked like she was dating a guy. He looked so familiar but I couldn't place him. I went through her posts and saw Patrick liked each one and even commented some kind of inside joke about her chin on one. Strange. I got another notification and saw she had actually commented on my post.
“Wow! @Patrick_18 you're one lucky guy!”
I like her comment, but then she immediately deletes it.
- Writer
