“Mr. Moore came to see you?!” Florence, the CEO of Magic Model, storms in, and her tone causes a shift in the air. Rather than being nervous about the show, I'm now nervous about her potential rage. “What did he want? What did he say? What did youdo?” Her eyes narrow on me.
My brows furrow at Florence's last question, and when I glance at the door, the rest of The Core Eight, along with a few other models who are supposed to be at our meeting, are standing at the door.
I tell them they can come in, and they do.
“Hello?!”
I turn back to Florence, and when I tell her everything, her jaw is on the floor, along with everyone else.
“This,” she points at me. “This is why you’re my favorite.”
I burst into a laugh when she pulls me in for a hug. She starts givingmyteam orders, and the whole meeting turns into her making sure tonight runs smoothly for Mr. Moore.
By the time we’re getting ready for the event, my team seems nervous, so I turn to them before we leave.
“Hey,”
They all pause what they’re doing and turn to me.
“You guys seem stressed, and it’s going to stress me out, so let's please shake the nerves off.”
They all say they will and apologize, and I laugh at how scared they still seem.
“Okay, listen, let’s just forget everything, okay? First, forget everything Florence was saying about you guys not having room to mess up.” While that was true, and they really can't mess up tonight, I don't want that pressure on them. “She was just nervous, but I know you guys know what you're doing. You guys are alsomyteam, not hers. We’ll do things the way we always do them, so please toss the ridiculous checklist she made; it's confusing me, and Angie already made one.”
My team nods, and my outfit crew laughs as they throw away the paper Florence gave them.
“Second, let's act like Mr. Moore wasn’t just in here. It’s a regular Magic Model show. We own the stage and building; it’s about us.” Our shows always run perfectly because everyone is most comfortable, so we just need to act like it’s our show. They glance at each other before turning back to me, and after a few seconds, I get nods in return.
“Another thing, and I mean this very humbly, but while he's Vincent Moore,heasked forus.If he wanted his team to do my hair and makeup and dress me, he would've told them to do so. You're all worthy of the job you have, so please act like it.” I give them all a pointed look, and I can see the last few nerves leave as they stand straighter.
“Okay, good. Let’s do one more check and go.”
I take a seat as Angie runs through the routine checklist, and my team makes sure everything is in order.
When I get the green light that we're good to go, I rush to stand up, but my blood suddenly runs cold, and dark stars flood my vision. I fall back into my seat and take a drink of water, just waiting for the cold feeling to pass as it usually does.
Figures I'm a bit light-headed since I didn't eat all day today… or last night. I'm getting hungry, but I'll have my one meal tonight and stick to Helena's meal plan.
When the feeling passes, I stand a bit slower and ask one of my girls to grab me a juice. Annet gets it for me before walking me out to the limo, where I meet Helena and Mel.
“Are you nervous?” Mel teases, pushing my knee playfully.
“Honestly, not as nervous as I think I should be. I am hungry, though,” I admit with a sheepish grin when my stomach growls.
“Do you stress eat? Because same–”
“You shouldn’t.”
We both turn to Helena, but she doesn't glance up from her phone. “Don't eat before the show, Sage,” she cautions.
“Why?” Mel asks for me, and Helena sends her the rudest side-eye. I send her a look to be nice, but she ignores me, looking back down at her phone.
“They’re tailoring two new outfits for you as we speak. That’s way too last minute and the last thing you want is to not fit in it. Eat after the show.”
I don’t say anything and lean back in my seat. I look back over at Helena and study her frame. She’s in a gold dress that makes her look stunning, especially with her blonde curls. My eyes stay on her flat stomach and the rest of her thin figure.
I know I’m bigger than she is, and I don’t think that makes her any better or prettier than me, but…shedoesn’t need designers tailoring outfits for her.
