and I stomp on his foot.
"Everyone, this is Jaime," says Cam. "A friend of mine since elementary school."
That's when some of my models can't hide their surprised expressions. The only ones who knew that I knew Jaime prior to EPE was Evan, Delilah, and Dallas. "The plot thickens," Ella whispers behind me. Cam hears and chuckles. I shoot her a glare.
Finally, after what feels like hours of my parents handing out drinks and chatting with everyone, like they’re trying to learn the details of everyone's individual lives, I hint that we should probably be heading to the rental house.
"Oh, of course," says Mom. "We'll call you a cab."
When the sliding glass door closes behind them, I finally exhale. "Thank fucking God."
I get everyone organized for the cab, wishing that I could take a shot of tequila. Unfortunately, I have to play driver. When the cab arrives, I load up Jaime, Evan, Dallas, and Cam in my Jeep Cherokee. My brother is coming only because it would look suspicious if I took Jaime and not him too.
I text Micah on our way before punching his address into the GPS on my phone.
We've lived in our big Malibu house almost my entire life, and I know the streets of the area well. I make my way up the winding road leading to the cliffside houses, following the arrow of my GPS. Dallas and Evan are behind me, oohing and aahing excitedly at the outlandish and expensive estates we pass. Jaime sits in the front seat next to me, his hand on the armrest between us, fingers dangling into the cup holder. Like he's seeing if I will bite and hold his hand, even though Cam is sitting right behind us.
"I'm surprised your parents didn't throw a bitch fit when you bought this thing." Jaime knocks on the hood of my Cherokee.
"Oh, they did," I say. After a year of earnings from EPE, I bought my Cherokee from a used dealer and told my parents they could sell my three-year-old Lexus. They couldn't fathom why the hell I would do such a thing, when the truth was that I wanted something that I had earned, not some rich bitch's car that was given to me with Daddy's money. That was the only time Dad ever checked my inheritance. He thought I'd blown all of my money on drugs or something horrible. Which of course didn't make sense considering I didn't sell the Lexus, but gave it back to them.
Money does weird things to people.
"Holy shit balls of fire," Evan murmurs when I turn into the house's driveway. We can just barely make out the house from behind the gate, but it's enough to spark a reaction.
I roll down my window and press the button on the box in front of me.
"Is that Britain?" It’s Micah's voice.
Jaime chuckles next to me, and since I know the reason he is chuckling, I smack him with the back of my hand.
"Yeah," I say. "Everyone's here."
The gate begins to swing open. I drive through, and the cab behind me follows.
It’s like the first time I saw Veda Manor, although this house looks entirely different. I can't help but be perplexed at the monstrosity of a building and the strange architecture I'm going to somehow incorporate into my shoot. Everything about Micah's Beach house is completely modern. Strange angles, curved glass walls, triangle roofs.
I park my car in the circular driveway. As the cab pulls up and the models unload their luggage, Micah walks down the cement steps leading from the house to greet us. I try to flatten my sea-swept hair, not knowing why I feel the need to look put together in front of him. Maybe because I'm his fakey-fake girlfriend.
He holds his arms out, and when I hug him, he squeezes me for just a little too long. I wrangle myself away and when I turn around, Jaime looks all sorts of smug with himself.
This might be worse than him actually being angry about the whole girlfriend arrangement.
"Welcome, welcome ,” he says. "There are seven rooms.”
"That's more than enough space," I say.
"Good. After tonight, I'll be staying with my parents for the next couple of weeks, so I’ll be
"Everyone, this is Jaime," says Cam. "A friend of mine since elementary school."
That's when some of my models can't hide their surprised expressions. The only ones who knew that I knew Jaime prior to EPE was Evan, Delilah, and Dallas. "The plot thickens," Ella whispers behind me. Cam hears and chuckles. I shoot her a glare.
Finally, after what feels like hours of my parents handing out drinks and chatting with everyone, like they’re trying to learn the details of everyone's individual lives, I hint that we should probably be heading to the rental house.
"Oh, of course," says Mom. "We'll call you a cab."
When the sliding glass door closes behind them, I finally exhale. "Thank fucking God."
I get everyone organized for the cab, wishing that I could take a shot of tequila. Unfortunately, I have to play driver. When the cab arrives, I load up Jaime, Evan, Dallas, and Cam in my Jeep Cherokee. My brother is coming only because it would look suspicious if I took Jaime and not him too.
I text Micah on our way before punching his address into the GPS on my phone.
We've lived in our big Malibu house almost my entire life, and I know the streets of the area well. I make my way up the winding road leading to the cliffside houses, following the arrow of my GPS. Dallas and Evan are behind me, oohing and aahing excitedly at the outlandish and expensive estates we pass. Jaime sits in the front seat next to me, his hand on the armrest between us, fingers dangling into the cup holder. Like he's seeing if I will bite and hold his hand, even though Cam is sitting right behind us.
"I'm surprised your parents didn't throw a bitch fit when you bought this thing." Jaime knocks on the hood of my Cherokee.
"Oh, they did," I say. After a year of earnings from EPE, I bought my Cherokee from a used dealer and told my parents they could sell my three-year-old Lexus. They couldn't fathom why the hell I would do such a thing, when the truth was that I wanted something that I had earned, not some rich bitch's car that was given to me with Daddy's money. That was the only time Dad ever checked my inheritance. He thought I'd blown all of my money on drugs or something horrible. Which of course didn't make sense considering I didn't sell the Lexus, but gave it back to them.
Money does weird things to people.
"Holy shit balls of fire," Evan murmurs when I turn into the house's driveway. We can just barely make out the house from behind the gate, but it's enough to spark a reaction.
I roll down my window and press the button on the box in front of me.
"Is that Britain?" It’s Micah's voice.
Jaime chuckles next to me, and since I know the reason he is chuckling, I smack him with the back of my hand.
"Yeah," I say. "Everyone's here."
The gate begins to swing open. I drive through, and the cab behind me follows.
It’s like the first time I saw Veda Manor, although this house looks entirely different. I can't help but be perplexed at the monstrosity of a building and the strange architecture I'm going to somehow incorporate into my shoot. Everything about Micah's Beach house is completely modern. Strange angles, curved glass walls, triangle roofs.
I park my car in the circular driveway. As the cab pulls up and the models unload their luggage, Micah walks down the cement steps leading from the house to greet us. I try to flatten my sea-swept hair, not knowing why I feel the need to look put together in front of him. Maybe because I'm his fakey-fake girlfriend.
He holds his arms out, and when I hug him, he squeezes me for just a little too long. I wrangle myself away and when I turn around, Jaime looks all sorts of smug with himself.
This might be worse than him actually being angry about the whole girlfriend arrangement.
"Welcome, welcome ,” he says. "There are seven rooms.”
"That's more than enough space," I say.
"Good. After tonight, I'll be staying with my parents for the next couple of weeks, so I’ll be
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