I often ask myself what it is about her. I mean, is it the hair? The attitude? The idea of Audrey Kitching? Because it's got to be something. There's got to be a reason why all of these teenage girls look up to her as their punk rock queen. Because I personally think she's highly overrated.
"Let's go Audrey. You're up on stage eight." I tell her, camera in hand.
"Okay." She says briefly, setting down the Alternative Press she was reading and walking over to the bright, white area.
I followed her over and took a couple hundred frames. Soon, before we know it, these will be all over the internet, in web layouts, banners, blends, and all that other crapola they make on the web.
When we were finished, I quickly went to my bags to put my camera up and get out of here. It's a great job, but I was ready to go home.
"Wait! Erin, is it?" Audrey's agent tried to catch me as I reached to door.
"Yeah..." I respond.
"Take my card." She says, handing it to me.
"Why, you need me again?" I ask, taking it.
"No, I actually think you could have a career in modeling." She says, smiling. I stare back and forth from the card to her. Finally, I laugh.
"Nice one, lady." I say, turning and starting to exit. She stops me again.
"No, really. I like your look. If you change your mind, meet us here tomorrow for another shoot. I'd really like to work with you." She says. I can't believe my ears at the moment.
"Uh, okay. I'll think about it." I say, finally getting to leave.
"I think you should do it." Bert says, leaning on the kitchen counter and looking at the car.
"I think you need to put on your glasses." I say, washing the last plate in sink.
"What are you talking about? You're gorgeous." He says.
"It's nice to know you think so. You are sleeping with me at this current time." I say, drying my hands.
"Really though, you have to admit it'd be interesting. And hello? It's Audrey Kitching you'll be modeling with. Oh, and maybe even sooner or later, Hannah Beth." He says, grinning.
"Since you're so excited about this, why don't you do it?" I ask, turning to face him.
"I would, but I might blind them with my sexiness." I snort.
"Is that funny?" he asks.
"Quite."
"Do it, Erin. Seriously."
Why did I listen to my dumbass boyfriend? I dont look to him for decision making. So why am I here, modeling hoodies next to Audrey Kitching?
"Hey, you're the photographer from yesterday." Audrey says to me after the shoot.
"Yeah." I say, scratching the back of my neck.
"Are you part of the group now?" she asks, smiling.
"Yeah, I guess. That's what that lady says." I say pointing to the woman from yesterday. She snickers.
"Yeah, what she says goes. If you need anything, I'll gladly help you out. But mostly, just pose." She says, laughing and causing me to join in.
She gets called for some single shots and I stand there at the snack table, figuring to myself that this wasn't so bad, and maybe, though a rare occasion, Bert was right.
"How would you like to be hired full time?" the woman from yesterday asks me, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Wha-oh, I don't know..." I start.
"No, you'd love it. It pays extremely well, and you're a natural." She says. I think about it. I do need the money, and temping for photographers doesnt pay as much as I'd like it to.
"Well, okay."
"We have a deal." I say, shaking her hand.
"Excellent." I look over to where Audrey is and she smiles at me. Here we go.
"Great job, girls! Way to work the camera!" Audrey and I snickered at her corniness. She'd been making comments like that this whole shoot. I'd been with the group for about a month now, and I loved it. Audrey had pretty much become my best friend, despite my past thoughts of her, though I still found her a bit overrated. But whatever.
After we were done, it was late. I grabbed my things and went to my car, excited to finally get home. I just wanted to sleep so badly.
When I got home, I expected Bert to be asleep, but he was sitting at the table in the kitchen folding his arms and looking at a card that lay there, the only light coming from lit candles. I was confused. Then it clicked. We were supposed to be celebrating our anniversary. It becomes a big deal after being together for five years.
"So nice of you to join me." He says, looking up and giving me a dry, fake smile.
"I--" let's face it. What could I possibly say here?
"Don't bother, Erin. Because whatever you say, I'm not gonna care." He says, knocking the card off of the table and going to our room. I bent down the pick up the card and read it. Then I shook my head at my stupidity. I knew somehow this would go wrong. To think I wanted to come home and tell him I'm doing this full time. But now somehow I think it's the last thing he wants to hear.
"He'll come around." Audrey said when we went out to lunch the next day.
"I hope so." I say truthfully. I don't like him ignoring me like this.
"And if he doesn't you have me. You can marry me." She says, grinning. I look at her, and then laugh.
"Wow. Okay, I'll keep that in mind. You'll be my rebound girl." I say jokingly.
"That's the ticket!" As she says that, her cell phone rings. She puts a finger up and answers it.
"Oh hey...do you guys need me down there? Oh...okay..." she looks down. "I see...it's for you." She says, handing me the phone. I look at her, confused, and talk into it.
"Hello?"
Tell me why I got called in and Audrey didn't. She's like the queen. I'm the second rate one here, not her. But yet, I stand here posing or the cameras while she sits there on the couch, waiting for me to finish. The kicker. This continues for about a week. Until I'm getting called everyday and she sits on the sidelines, getting called sporadically to pose with me.
"You're mad at me." I say to her one day.
"I'm not mad at you. Congratulations." She says.
"What?"
"You're in the spotlight now. Soak it up and enjoy it, because it won't last forever." With that, she walked away, leaving me in deep thought.
"I'm quitting." I say, throwing my keys on the table when I enter my apartment.
Bert looks up from the couch with his eyebrows raised.
"Are you sure?" he asks.
"You know you want me to quit." I say.
"Well yeah, but what you want matters more." He replies. It just made me want to quit even more.
"I'm one hundred percent sure." I say.
I walked in to a different shooting spot the next day, and saw a new girl standing in front of the cameras getting her hair touched up. Audrey sat on the couch flipping through a magazine. That'd been her spot for the last half year. It was like she was never needed anymore.
"Hey." I say to her. She looks up briefly.
"Hi Erin." She says quietly, not in her usual tone. I go over to the woman who put me in this position in the first place.
"Hi." I say. She turns around.
"Oh hi, Erin! What do you need?" she asks, in her cheery voice that gave off a small air of fakeness.
"Um, I think I'm going to quit doing this for a while." Her expression did not change.
"Okay then." She says, smiling.
"You're okay with it?" I ask, surprised.
"Of course I am. We just needed you to replace Audrey until we found someone else. We had to bring her down somehow. She was getting old." She says, as if I'm supposed to laugh with her.
I just walk away towards the door and Audrey salutes me from the couch.
"Hang in there, soldier." She says, smirking. I salute back.
"Will do. As long as you do." I say. She just smiles.
Then I realize. I was probably considered overrated through my five minutes of internet fame, but its okay. Because it would've been over in the blink of an eye, belonging to someone else. There's nothing wrong with holding on to the spotlight for as long as you can. Because you have no idea how long it'll be in your possession.
O-O-Open wide, cause you'll go out in style.
O_O Hello there. Cookies?
