Asher
It’s been nearly three weeks that I’ve been back at colleges since Thanksgiving and a lot has happened. Most important of all, I met my little sister, Carly. She’s turning five in a few months and chatters away all the time. She’s got a slight lisp because one of her front teeth fell out recently. She keeps pushing her tongue through the gap making me laugh.
She was a bit shy when she first met me but after twenty minutes she was sat on my lap tracing my tattoos and asking our Dad if she could have one. I burst out laughing while Thea and my Dad tried to explain that they weren’t for girls. What they couldn’t see until Carly pointed it out was the woman sat at the table behind them with a full sleeve. I ended up distracting her with crayons in the end.
Thea is a lovely woman. I can’t help but regret that she wasn’t in my life earlier. Now I know she didn’t break up my parents’ marriage I can appreciate how happy she makes my Dad. She calls me about twice a week herself now to check in and see if I need anything. I’m touched that she’s accepted me so fully, after all my actions must have really upset me Dad and she was left to deal with it.
I brought Carly an iPad so we can Skype. The first time she used it we were talking and she said she had to go tinkle. Instead of putting it down or handing it to my Dad who was going to take the opportunity to talk to me, she ran off and talked to me while she sat on the toilet. She’s so fucking cute.
After a long talk with my Dad, he convinced me to go and see my Mom. I’d been putting it off. He encouraged me to forgive her even after he admitted that he never would. I went home last weekend to see her. I stayed at my Dad’s but tried to talk to my Mom about everything. I walked in to find a scrawny bald man at the kitchen table with her. She introduced him to me. His name was Carl. He left not long after I arrived. I guess I didn’t exude a very welcoming vibe. We talked and talked. She made more excuses and I yelled eventually clearing the air.
There was one thing that I wanted her to do. I’d approached a lawyer to write up papers for her to sign relieving my Dad of his duty to pay her alimony. I know she has plenty of money of her own from my grandparents and she works. My Dad shouldn’t have to give her a cent. They could save it up and send Carly to college ten times over for what she was getting from him per month.
I drove with her to the lawyer’s office so that her signature could be properly witnessed. I could tell she didn’t want to go through with it. Even now she still wanted to be linked to my Dad in some way. It’s pathetic and more than a little sad. That night I surprised my Dad with the notarised paperwork. He was so happy that I’d done this for our family.
That night my Mom rang me crying that Carl had dumped her when she told him she’d not be getting her alimony anymore. Turns out he didn’t want her without a seriously heavy cash flow. Then she had the audacity to blame me for asking her to do it. It’s fair to say things are strained between us again but I’m not making the same mistake twice and closing the door on our relationship. I’ve asked her to get help to deal with her obsession, now it’s up to her to follow through.
I’ve seen Bow around campus a few times. Every time I do I want to run to her, drop to my knees and beg for forgiveness. However, I know after the way I acted it is going to take more than that for her to give me another chance. I’ll figure everything out. I’ve got to, there’s no other option. Bow is it for me, I love her. I’ve never been more certain of anything and I’ll never forgive myself that I threw hers back at her that night. I pray that one day she’ll want to say it to me again. My initial plan is to go over to Oddball tomorrow and plead my case properly. If that doesn’t work I’d try every day for the rest of my life. I’ll make her listen one way or another.
My biggest obstacle is actually the rest of the Oddballs. They have been fine with me when I’ve seen them around college. I nearly had a stroke when both Michael and Glen wished me luck for a game and patted my back. Hell, I even had the urge to hug the bastards but if they’re with Bow they blank me out. I may as well be a ghost drifting past them.
I’ve seen Bow looking at me from the corner of her eye or staring when she thinks I can’t see her. Every time it gives me hope that eventually she’ll give me a chance. I’d be going over there right now if I hadn’t promised Colby and Tate a boys night tonight. I’ve neglected them too over the past couple of weeks and as I need their help tomorrow to distract the Oddballs, I’ve got to keep them sweet.
I go downstairs to the TV room and Colby hands me a pile of score cards. I look at him likes he’s crazy.
“What are these for?”
“Ash, it’s Victoria’s Secret night. The runway show is coming on any minute. Get ready to score ’em, bro.”
I’ll play along even though there’s only one model that matters to me. Tate and Colby flank me as the show starts. Rihanna is introduced. The first theme is Bondage. She starts singing her hit, ‘S&M.’ An angel is revealed with her back to the runway. All you can see is spiked black leather wings, a tight ass and legs in sexy as fuck shoes. The brothers are all hollering already. As the camera shot pans in, I freeze. I’d know them legs anywhere. I grab onto Colby for support. I might just fucking collapse.
“What’s wrong, Ash?”
I can’t answer, I’m glued to the screen. As Rihanna’s song picks up, Bow in all her glory, spins and struts her fine ass down the runway. She’s wearing tiny black latex panties with side ties and a black latex bra. Torn and laddered thigh high stockings grace her legs while she twirls a crop in her right hand.
Reaching the end of the runway, I can see her face clearer. Her make-up is smoky, making her mis-matched coloured eyes pop. Her natural, shiny blonde hair tumbles in loose waves over her shoulders. She flirts with the camera for a short moment before turning around to make her way back. I can see her fine ass for a few more seconds before the camera focuses on the next model. All the brothers are throwing up tens. Fuck, she’s way beyond a ten.
We continue to watch and the camera momentarily pans to the crowd where you can see famous celebrities enjoying the show. Tate and Colby grab me now. They just saw what I saw; Michael and Pepper sat behind Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. I need to get them out of this room. Now.
Colby will freak any second. Keeping hold of their arms, I drag them through the brothers and then run up the stairs to my room. They are right on my heels. I push open the door and slam it shut behind them. They’re looking at me with questions in their eyes but like me, they can’t verbalise them.
“Yes.” Is all I say.
“You’re saying that yes that was Michael and Pepper at the Victoria’s Secret show in London?” Clearly they need me to spell it out but I can only nod. “Why the fuck are they there, nearly in the front fucking row for that matter?”
It occurs to me this is going to need a visual explanation and I don’t want to miss any more of the show either. I hurry to turn on my TV and using the TiVo start the show from the beginning. I can tell they think I’m trying to find Michael and Pepper in the crowd yet I’m concentrating on an entirely different person. When Bow starts her walk all I say is “watch closely.”
When it gets to her bit at the end of the runway where they zoom in, I pause the TV.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Tate is getting agitated.
“Just look, really look.” They both do, then turn to me again.
“What are we missing?” Tate yells.
“Who does Bells Stratton remind you of?” I emphasise the name.
I see Colby freeze but Tate still isn’t getting it. “You’re telling me that Bow Stratton is really Bells Stratton?” Colby’s yelling now. Tate gasps.
“Bow’s full name is Bow Bells Stratton.” They stare dumbfounded at the TV for a few seconds.
“This is the secret the Oddballs keep. They all keep Bow’s secret.” Tate is thinking out loud.
“This is what you found out. Why you broke up.” Colby adds.
“Yes. On her birthday, after the cook-out,
she was going to tell me the truth. She’d dug her portfolio out to show me but I found it first and flipped the fuck out. I assumed she’d been lying to me about everything and was living a double life, like I thought my Dad was, so, I left her. Of course, it turns out she hasn’t lied about a thing, not even her name. She just didn’t tell me about this.” I point at the TV.
“You stupid bastard.” Tate spits out. Colby and Tate are staring at me now.
“So, let me get this straight. Your sweet, clever, funny and generous girlfriend turns out to be a supermodel……so you dump her.” Colby speaks slowly like he can’t believe he’s saying the words coming out of his mouth.
“When you put it like that, Colby, of course it sounds stupid. You know how much that stuff with my Dad fucked with my head, made me question everything. It felt like that was happening again. My world was starting to revolve around Bow and I thought it was going to fall apart. I automatically jumped to conclusions and wouldn’t hear her out. Yes, I made a huge mistake and I’ve been sorting my head out so that I don’t fuck it up again.”
“Fuck. My best guess was that she was a daughter of a mob boss or something. I never would have thought this. Saying that, I did think she looked smoking hot on her birthday.” I give Colby a dead arm as Tate starts to play the rest of the show.
The next time Bow is on, is the last section called Matrimony. I hear Colby mumble “lucky bastard.” She’s wearing a massive glittering veil that she twirls around her using her hands. She’s in a white short lace bodice now that barely covers her tits and white lace barely there panties. She’s got a garter around the top of her left leg with a flashing pink heart light on it and again, sexy silver stiletto shoes. Bruno Mars is performing ‘Marry You’ and takes Bow’s hand, kisses it and walks with her for a few steps down the runway, as if she’s his bride. I’ve never had the urge to punch a celebrity, but I do now.
I see her wave in Michael and Pepper’s direction as she does her famous strut and the camera once again shows Kanye and Kim smiling up at her. Who am I kidding? She probably knows them too, but it’s who else the camera shows this time that has us all jumping in place.
“Glen and Janie are there too! They’re all fucking there!” Colby shouts. “We need to get to London.” he concludes.
“Whoa! Pull the break on your the crazy train, Colby. There’s no point in going to London. By the time we get there, they’ll be flying back.”
“I know what you’re saying, Ash, I do, but I just know that some suave, rich English dick with a panty-melting accent is going to put the moves on Pepper at whatever after party they end up at.”
“I never thought of that. What if Bow meets someone there too?” I’m starting to think he’s right.
“You’re feeling me now, brother.” We’re firing each other up.
“No guys. Ash you were right before. They’re probably at the after party right now as we speak anyway.” Tate reasons with us.
Colby nods, his face fierce as he fumbles for his phone. I snatch it off him. I know he’s planning on calling Pepper. “You can’t call, Colby. You’re not meant to know anything, remember?”
“Well, they should have thought about that before going on national TV!”
“If you tip them off that you know now, they’ll probably cut you out. They’re Bow’s family. If they get the slightest inclination that you can fuck things up for her they’ll close ranks tighter than a rat’s asshole. Hell, Glen probably has protocol for such a situation.”
Colby takes a deep breath and nods. “You’re right. I’ll chill. You need to figure out your shit with Bow fast though, Ash. There’s no way I’ll be able to pretend like I don’t know and to be honest, I don’t want to have to pretend either. I consider Bow and all the Oddballs good friends and I don’t want her or them to worry about her secret with us when they don’t have to. We found out by accident and I’m sure they would have told us eventually, otherwise Glen would have never have added finger print entry for us at the pool house.” Tate nods along as Colby rants.
“Glen added you?” That is a big step.
“Yep and I’m sure Bow’s thinking of letting us move in. She added our names to our own cubbys in the changing room and I saw the original plans for the pool house, there was only one bedroom and now there’s two….Don’t make me leave you behind, Ash.” He grins.
“Fine. But I’m still gonna need your help.”
Chapter seventeen
Bow
The Victoria’s Secret show was a huge success. When I found out the day before at rehearsals that I was first out, I was ecstatic. We spent the two days after doing touristy stuff. I’ve been to London lots of times so I let everyone pick what they’d like to see. The only thing I insisted on was going to St Mary-le-Bow church to light a candle for my parents. Everyone wanted to know the significance, so I explained.
“My Dad was born in London and moved to the states with my grandparents when he was seven. My grandma always called him her ‘cockney lad’. To be a true cockney you have to be born within earshot of the Bow Bells. That’s the name of the bells at the church. He loved his parents very much and so when I came along he named me, Bow Bells.” They all thought my name was that much cooler now they’d heard the story behind it.
We went to the Tower of London, Covent Gardens, Buckingham Palace and Leicester Square with a small shopping trip down Bond Street. I may have gone a little crazy with my shopping. Glen joked that Tate and Colby’s dreams to move in would be dashed when they saw that the pool house bedrooms were being turned into more wardrobe space for me.
I got some awesome photographs from our mini vacation. My favourite is all of us stood together before the runway show, I’m in my bondage angel outfit. That baby’s going on the wall. We all look so styled and happy and we’re all waving an American flag in one hand and a Union Jack flag in the other.
I wish I could have invited Tate and Colby along, I know they would have loved it. Michael and Glen both thought I should but I wimped out. It’s just after my experience telling Asher my secret I’m a bit cautious to do it again. I know I’ll have to do it soon. Everyone agreed to them moving in after Christmas break, the guys especially. I don’t want to keep hiding at home and they’ve got to be told before we take our road trip. I’m not wearing my disguise for two and a half weeks.
Ralph suggested getting them to sign non-disclosure agreements but I don’t want my friendships to be contractual. It should be about trust. I still partially trusted Asher when all evidence was to the contrary. When my Agent rang to inform me they’d traced the leak to a temp in their offices, the space around my heart felt a little less empty. It was also gratifying that my trust hadn’t been misplaced. Glen even apologised to me for saying once that I was too love-struck to see the truth when I’d spoken up for Asher once. I think he was nearly as relieved as me that it wasn’t Asher. I know the guys like him despite what’s gone on.
The whole time I was on the runway I was picturing Asher on the other side of the camera. Every sexy move was for him. I’ve made a decision to confront him when I get back. He needs to listen to what I have to say, to let me finally explain myself. I miss him still, so much. I’ve been avoiding him like the plague, afraid to put myself out there again. Lighting the candle for my parents reminded me of what my Dad said, “life is literally too short.” I’m not going to waste one more day wondering, I’m going to take the bull by the horns and get my boyfriend back.
Everyone smiled when I announced this on the plane ride back. I didn’t need their opinions this time to motivate me into doing the right thing. Asher is the man for me and I’d make him see I’m perfect for him too. I got hit on a lot in London and not one guy even slightly stirred my interest. Not once since I met Asher.
By the time we get back to the house at 2 am, we are all drained. I didn’t sleep very well on the plane, too wound up thinking about my plan of attack with Asher and planning it out with Michael. Now though my mind has gone quiet
and only has one thought; bed. I barely get my clothes off before I crash.
***
I wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day. I head out to go to class. I’d be seeing Asher today in marketing. My plan is to arrive after him and sit in my old seat, right next to him, giving him no choice than to be next to me. I have Glen’s handcuffs in my bag. I didn’t dare ask why he had them. As soon as class is over I’m locking us together and not letting him go until I’ve said my piece. I will force that stubborn man to listen.
When I walk into marketing at the same time as the teacher I get a bit flustered. I wanted to seem cool and collected while casually taking my seat, now I’m scrambling to pass people. I look up and see Asher, he hasn’t noticed me yet. There’s a seat free on either side of him. The seats next to them have girls in them, one being that witch, Sylvie. Looks like I’m going to be sandwiched between heaven and hell.
I keep my head down when I’m making my way to Asher. I can feel him looking at me now. When I eventually get to my seat, I feel like I could collapse. I didn’t realise I’d been holding my breath the entire walk over out of nerves. I settle myself and start reaching for my notepad when Asher tries to speak to me.
“Bow…” I jerk my head in his direction.
“Not now.” I ensure I sound strong and determined. I’m not letting him say anything before I do. I manage to tear my eyes away from the face I’ve missed terribly and turn to the front of the classroom. As the teacher warbles on, I sneak peeks at Asher. Sylvie is whispering to her friend that I’m pathetic and that he’ll never take me back. It’s not true. I won’t let it be true.
When the class ends I pretend to be digging around in my bag for something to let the chairs next to me empty. I need a clear run to the door. I feel the cold steel of the handcuffs in my palm. I attach one cuff to my left wrist and then taking a deep breath I pounce on Asher’s arm and quickly close the other part around the thick wrist of his right arm.
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