"Nice try."

There was like one inch before it happened, just enough space for my hand to reach up and stop his face from getting any closer. Spreading my fingers on top of his entire face, I pushed it back.

Once I dropped my hand, Joshua faced my accusing expression.

"Really? I'm nice to you for about five seconds and you pull this shit." I tell him in a monotone.

I should take my lack of reaction as a bad sign, any other time I would have freaked and probably ended up falling from the balcony, except, I was starting to get used to this. Plus, I was not ready to get my face vacuumed off, hell no.

Joshua smiled sheepishly before sliding his legs out of the bars.

"It's not my fault that you were all over me," I can tell he's smirking as he stands.

I was about to tell him off, but when I look up to meet his eyes I can tell that he's just joking. I can also tell that he's grateful that we got over his touchy subject. Both of us sucked at emotions, I realized.

I took his hand when he extended it out to me, deciding to be a bitch and make myself heavy. Joshua realized what I was doing and tugged harder. Good luck with that.

I put all of my weight down to the floor making myself even heavier.

"Really?" Joshua laughed.

I smiled up to him, but he slipped the smile off of my face by catching me by surprise. I felt my body being lifted as he scooped me up bridal style.

"No! Not this again!" I yelled.

I started to worry when he carried me into the room and started to countdown under his breath. Once he hit the final number, he launched me into the air and onto the bed.

I landed with a loud thud and bounced repeatedly in a fit of giggles. I hated to giggle, but I just couldn't help myself.

I rolled off onto the other side of the mattress, regaining my balance in the process. Joshua was smiling from the other side, his brows up.

"Nice hair, Lilly," He says making fun of me.

My hands shot up to my hair, I was positive that it now looked like a bird's nest.

I climbed on the bed again, all the way to where Joshua was still standing. I caught him by surprise when my hands reached up and tangled his own head of hair. We ended up messing up our hair and running around the room. I abruptly stopped, laughing while I told him to stop.

"Alright, alright! I think our hair is messy enough now!" I tried to say over my laughter.

Joshua took one last hand to my head before pulling away.

"You should go to bed, you have a photoshoot tomorrow and it's already late." I told him going back into my business mode.

I started to walk towards the exit, but turned when I heard him speak, "Bye, Lilly."

Joshua winking at me was the last thing I saw.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Score one for the Lilly team!

I managed to get Joshua to his photoshoot right on time for the first time. It really helped that he didn't put up a fight when I told him to get ready and was entirely friendly and pleasant during the taxi ride.

The looks on Johnny, Gola, and Amanda's faces were worth every embarrassing moment that I had endured during this trip.

I was standing off to the side, while Joshua stood and posed in front of the camera. Never mind that it was December, but the shoot composed of a cheesy beach scene with beach balls, swim trunks, sand, and all of that jazz. It seemed like every shoot he did composed of him being shirtless. Not that any of the female staff cared, and neither did some of the males.

I was eyeing the snack table once again, seeing what I could scarf without looking like a starved kid. It didn't make sense they offered so much shit if the models weren't going to touch a piece of it.

A small timid hand tapped on my shoulder, breaking through my thoughts. My head pivoted towards a small blonde girl. She didn't look very old, probably in her early twenties like me. She had been with us throughout the entire trip, but I hadn't paid any mind to her. Hell, I didn't even know her name. I only recognized her as the girl who had handed Joshua the phone.

"Yeah?" I asked her.

Her small voice broke through the awkward silence that was forming, "Um, there's an issue with Gola in the fitting room..."

The hell?

I let the timid girl lead me to a room towards the back of the property. Sure enough, I come face to face with Gola. Or something that resembled Gola, because the person standing in front of me wasn't the gorgeous perfect-skinned blonde.

My mouth dropped as I stared in shock. Mascara dripped down her checks, leaving a grey slimy trail through all of the foundation that the makeup artist used to conceal the problem. It didn't do such a bangin' job and she would need a few more gallons of the shit to conceal the problem that took over her entire body.

"It's not that bad..." I try to lie.

"It's not?" Gola wonders with new hope.

"Holy shit, Gola! Darling what did you do last night? Party with a swarm of bees?" Johnny comments from behind me. I didn't even feel him creep up.

Asshole!

After hearing him, Gola breaks down into fresh tears. I give Johnny my worst evil eye.

"What did I do wrong? I only told the truth!" Johnny tries to defend.

"Yeah, well, you look like that every day and you don't see me commenting on it." I tell him off.

That sends him to a nearby mirror to inspect exactly what 'that' is.

I walk over to where Gola is hunching, the grips her stomach and I wonder if she's going to throw up.

"Gola, did you have an allergic reaction to something?" I ask her outright.

"Not that I remember. I'm only allergic to blue berries, but I make sure to never have those!" She yells in a frustrated voice.

"Well, maybe they can Photoshop you or something?" I try to assure uncertainly.

I really have no idea what to do in this situation. Things escalate to even lower than low when the designer steps into the room.

I remember his name being some tacky French sounding thing.  He's incredibly tall, like a string bean, higher than six feet for sure.

"What is happening here?" He's nasal voice echoes through the room.

Everyone is silent, fearing the worse. I know that the ship will sink soon if this designer is let down. He's some big shit, or so I've heard. I wonder if his name is fake, because I detect a fake English accent masking a Texan one. I'll Google him later, I tell myself. No one talks for the longest time, and I realize that it's because they're all staring at me.

I awkwardly clear my throat, "Well, nothing really, just one of our models has experienced a little allergic reaction."

So much for playing it down, the look that the designer gives Gola and me clearly states that I'm lying.

"A little?" His voice becomes taunting. I'm not fooled though. I can tell that this is a big problem and he's seconds from being majorly pissed off.

"Yeah, I mean can't you just do some touch ups and Photoshop or something?" The look he starts to give me makes me feel dumb. Something I almost rarely feel.

Now I would be degraded by a stuck-up designer with a fake British accent? Good god, my standards were dropping low.

"What's your name?" He asks me with narrowed eyes.

My eyes twitch towards the doorway for the briefest second and I see Amanda and Joshua staring from behind the doorframe.

"Lilly?" My name comes out sounding more like a question than a fact.

"Lilly, I'm sure you don't know a thing, because you wouldn't be sputtering such rubbish if you did." His voice ends up sounding much more Texan than British when he says the word rubbish. It's the only thing that sticks to my mind.

"Are you from Texas?" I wonder out loud. At that point I was already insulted and intimidated, made sense that I would sputter stupidity during the spotlight.

I hear Johnny chuckle behind me, Amanda look down in disappointment, and Joshua start to nod his head telling me that I've made a mistake. They're all watching me drown.

The designer's face turns red in indignation. Shit.

"Look here, if your modeling agency can't supply a model in the next five minutes I will personally make sure that your model's entire career ends." He snaps his fingers in anger. I look around the room looking for someone to volunteer. I would save this, I promised to myself.

The short blonde girl was pretty enough, but much too short to do it. That left Johnny and Amanda. I was sure that he didn't need a stumpy gay guy. That left Amanda. I saw that she had the same intent from the other side of the doorway. We had a brief silent conversation, both agreeing on the same thing.

"I would love to do it," Amanda speaks up.

Turning on his heal, the designer looks Amanda up and down.

"Won't do," Are his only words after a minute.

I see Amanda's eyes widen like she wasn't expecting being shut down.

"How old are you, anyway?" He asks her in front of everyone.

"T-t-twenty-six, today" She stutters. My chest feels hot, because I'm starting to feel bad for her. I remember that today is her birthday.

"Exactly. This is a fun, summer, young look we're going for." He puts extra weight on the word young. Something that Amanda is not anymore, in his eyes at least.

"You!" He yells. I look around me to figure out who he's directing himself to. Shock travels through my body when I notice that he's talking to me.

"Young enough, skinny enough, but not beautiful," His words sting more than they should. But he's right.

"Not beautiful for sure, but interesting." He continues. He looks at me differently after that, like he just had some sort of epiphany.

"Different, interesting, unorthodox, yes! I see it now!" He snaps his fingers some more and starts to rock on his heels. I can tell that he's getting excited with all of the ideas in his head. He motions for one of the wardrobe managers to come closer. I stand there confused, looking at the faces around me. Johnny's mouth looks like it can't open anymore, except to rip off in half.

Joshua is giving me a small reassuring smile from the doorway. What really throws me off is Amanda. She's staring at me, but through me at the same time. Her eyes are wide and shiny with unshed tears. I can tell that she's thinking about something off into the distance. It freaks me out a little.

The designer whispers something into the woman's ear. She nods her head and walks out of the room.

"Alright, let's finish this shoot," He yells and stomps off.

"Good luck," Johnny sing-songs while strolling out. Amanda doesn't give a last look and walks away with Joshua following.

My chest feels heavy, because I'm suddenly scared. How the fuck did I get sucked into doing this? I didn't know the first thing about modeling. Now I was being forced to do it in front of everyone and beside Joshua. I was going to embarrass myself, I knew it deep inside.

It was just me and the makeup artists for a while. Gola had left a little bit after the others in another fit of tears.

The woman that had left before everyone else, returned with a package in her hands. She pulled off the wrapping paper to reveal a swimsuit. I could tell by the fabric. Holy shit, I hadn't even shaved! My cheeks turned solid red when I come to the conclusion that I would have to step out in a freaking bikini. I pictured Gola's revealing one and physically shuddered.

I was surprised when she unrolled it in her hands and showed me the bottom. It was no bikini.

"It's from our vintage collection," The woman answered my unasked question.

"Er, I haven't really shaved and..." I trailed off awkwardly. I saw the woman smile almost like a mom.

"Honey, we'll take care of everything" She said with a huge smile.

Sorry the update took so long, I had some minor writer's block AKA laziness. I already have the next chapter written up, so I will post it tomorrow! I surprised myself! I wasn't expecting Lilly to model (I have other plans lol), but this is where my writing took me. I wonder how Lilly will do? :) Thank you so much for reading and please like and comment. It encourages me to write more! Also, there's a picture of Lilly's bathing suit to the right. :P

Also, I guess I've entered the Watty Awards? O.o I need all of the support I can get! So please, tell others about this book!