by Suzie Nelson
“Look, we have to be seen by the photographers. So let’s just get this over and done with.” Danica didn’t want to stand there anymore and feel the shame from their pretense. “Is the car out there waiting for us?”
Jordan looked over at Blake as he couldn’t see the car past all of the paparazzi. “Yeah, it’s there. The restaurant manager called it round for us.” Blake smiled at Danica and, even though she was embarrassed, she didn’t see any judgment or condescension in his look.
“Well, let’s get this over with.” Danica held out her open hand to Jordan knowing that it would look better if they were holding hands. He looked at her open palm for a second and then he took her hand in his. His skin was warm and smooth but his grip was tight. Danica linked her fingers through his and waited for Jordan to lead them out.
“Thanks for arranging the dinner with Barrack, Blake. I’ll give you a call tomorrow or something.” With his free arm, Jordan gave his brother a side hug.
“No problem. It was great to see you again Danica. Take care of this guy for me.” Blake smiled and it seemed genuine but Danica assumed he was saying everything just in case people around them could hear their conversation.
“I will. See you around, Blake.” Again, Danica felt the awkwardness of the arrangement and she just wanted the whole evening to end.
“Okay, you ready?” Jordan put one hand on the glass door ready to push it open.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” She squeezed his hand and together they made their way out of the restaurant and into the open street where over a dozen photographers flashed their cameras and yelled out Jordan and Danica’s name. Jordan held on tightly to Danica’s hand as they both used their free hands to shield the blinding lights from their eyes. They were both used to being in the spotlight but having photographers hound them in the street and get in their faces without the protection of the red carpet made the whole situation seem more real.
“Are you okay?”
They jumped in the car and within minutes were speeding off down the street. Jordan released his hold of Danica’s hand and instinctively put his armaround her shoulders.
“I’m fine, nothing we haven’t had to do before.” Danica tried to play down the drama of their frenzied escape from the restaurant but from the moment she had jumped into the car, she had wanted to leap into Jordan’s arms and kiss him. She hoped that he could feel her desire as he continued to hold her and for a split second they almost gave in to their physical attraction.
Jordan blinked and remembered that the whole evening had been manufactured. He slipped his arm off her shoulders and sat back into the leather seat. Danica, also adjusted herself, flattening down her ruffled red dress and fastening her seatbelt in place. The life of a model was always fast paced but there was something about being with Jordan and about being a part of this performance that was exciting. Danica could feel her heart racing and she wondered if Jordan felt the same.
“They’re still following us, sir,” the chauffeur called back to Jordan to make him aware that several members of the paparazzi were still pursuing their car on motorbikes. Then just as it had been brought to their attention, faded lights started to flash in the tinted windows and the occasional bang knocked the glass.
Danica jolted back from the door, unsure of what was happening.
“Don’t worry, they can’t get any images of us through the tinted glass.” Jordan reached out his arm and put his hand on Danica’s lap in a reassuring manner. This was not part of the charade, Jordan was showing some real concern and affection for Danica. “Johnson, it’s best we head straight to my building. We won’t be able to lose them on these crowded streets.” Jordan shouted his order back to the driver.
“Very good, Mr. Ramsey.” The chauffeur nodded his head and then closed the partition window so that Jordan and Danica could have their privacy.
“We won’t be able to switch you over to your own car like planned. If the photographers get a snap of you jumping into your own vehicle they are going to figure something is up. Come back to my place and once it’s calmed down I’ll have Johnson take you home.” Jordan had taken control of the situation easily and without the need to consult Danica. On any normal day, she wouldn’t have been pleased about someone commanding her but she had no issue taking orders from Jordan. There was something about him that demanded respect and even though it was in her nature to rebel, Danica found it comforting to have someone take care of her for a change.
Within a few short minutes, the stretched limo had pulled up inside the garage of Jordan’s building and the pair were walking hand in hand to the elevator. Some of the photographers had been able to sneak a few flashes of their cameras by leaning over the barrier but once they were in the elevator both Jordan and Danica were finally able to relax.
“I guess we can stop pretending now.” Danica slipped her hand free of Jordan’s grip as she gave him a bashful smile. In the same moment, he also realized that they had still been holding hands and felt a bit embarrassed.
“Oh yeah, sorry.” Awkwardly he rubbed his hands together as Danica watched the elevator number increase. She could smell his intoxicating cologne and as they waited in silence she thought about what might happen if she stayed the night. They finally reached Jordan’s floor and the doors opened up to his marble-floored lobby.
“Ladies first.”
Danica followed Jordan’s instructions and walked out into the hall half expecting Barrack to pop up from somewhere. “No Barrack tonight?”
Jordan gave a slight laugh and knew exactly what she was thinking. “Barrack doesn’t actually live here, despite what you might think. I’m sure he’s out at some party or event – he likes to work hard and play hard.” Jordan smiled hoping that Danica would understand his meaning.
“I know what you mean. I meet a lot of PR people being a model and all the successful ones love to social and party. It must be a job requirement.” Danica followed Jordan as he made his way over to a standalone bar that was tucked away in the corner of the living room.
“Yeah, I’ve been out with him a few times but I can’t keep up with his pace. I’m more of a stay in and read a good book type a guy.” Jordan turned and started to pull out crystal wine glasses from a cabinet as Danica sat down on one of the stools.
“Really?” Danica was surprised that such a young and wealthy guy would not spend his evening partying with the millions of women that would throw themselves at him. “I didn’t have you down as a bookworm. I thought you would be out partying with all the other fashion glitterati.” Danica dropped her silver studded purse on the table and rested her head on her hands.
“Fashion glitterati? Ha! No, that is not my scene.” Jordan uncorked a bottle of merlot and began to pour. “Wine?”
“Hmm, yes please.” Danica happily took the full glass of red liquid and started to sip. “But you’re in the fashion world. Why would you run a fashion label if you don’t like fashion?” Danica could feel the sweet warm wine in her mouth and swallowed down another gulp.
Jordan stood opposite her at the bar, relaxed and completely at ease. It had been a long time since he had any female company in his penthouse and he was enjoying Danica’s straight forward questions. “I didn’t say I don’t like fashion, I love it actually. I just don’t like all the other crap that comes along with it.” He paused and took a mouthful of the wine which trickled down his throat like fragrant water. “I completely understand Blake and his friend Shelby. They have ideals of what fashion, music and the world should be and I respect them for that but I like to try and do a little more than just talking about it.”
“What do you mean?” Danica had loved Blake and his friend, and although Jordan was definitely different from them he hadn’t given any other indication throughout the night that he agreed with their philosophies.
“I like fashion and I’m good at business but as a particularly blessed individual, I feel that I have a responsibility to use my posit
ion to help those less fortunate. Therefore I use my fashion label to create jobs in areas where they need them, to fund education programs for kids that have no schooling and to reinvest my profits back into the places where my factories are located. These are just some of the things that Ramsey allows me to do but there’s so much more we can accomplish.” Danica could see the fire in Jordan’s eyes as he talked about his plans. “So I love fashion because it has enabled me to help people but I don’t particularly care for all the drama and the partying that goes with it.”
Danica looked up at Jordan as she sipped from her crystal glass and realized that she had finally met a man that she could love. Nothing he said sounded phony or like a line to get her into bed; everything was his heartfelt desire to really help people. “Then I do must seem pretty pathetic in comparison,” Danica blurted out her self-pity, her words sounding sarcastic and bitter.
Jordan’s expression changed and he looked hurt by what she had said, as though she had made a judgment about him. “No, not at all. You shouldn’t think that.” He walked around the side of the bar and perched himself on the empty stool next to her. “I’m in an extremely fortunate position where I can make all these things happen. It’s my duty to do something with my business.” Jordan put his hand on Danica’s shoulder and realized his words must have sounded like he was boasting when he had only tried to be honest with her. “I’m sorry if it sounded like I was gloating about my company, I just feel very passionately about…”
Before he could finish his apology, Danica leaned forward and planted her lips straight onto his. Their mouths pressed against each other’s before Danica pulled back in a moment of panic. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.” She jumped up from the stool and stood back as Jordan was still in a little shock that she had kissed him. “You just sounded so amazing the way you were talking about helping people and I’m a little tipsy from drinking, I’m just really, really sorry.”
Jordan lifted up his hand and then walked over to her. “Danica, it’s fine.”
“It is?” Her round blue eyes widened as her heart beat uncontrollably.
“I’ve been hoping you would kiss me some day...and not just because of our fake relationship but because you want to kiss me.” Without realizing it, Jordan was saying everything that Danica had hoped to hear from him.
“I do. I mean, I like you but we don’t really know each other. This is all meant to be a set-up, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but it doesn’t have to be.” Jordan stepped forward and took hold of Danica’s hand. “I’ve wanted to know everything about you from the moment I saw you at the diner. You are the complete opposite of everything I expected you to be and so much more. Danica, we can use this time to really get to know each other.” Jordan’s eyes held a longing that was more than just his physical craving for Danica but a burning desire to be close and personal with her.
“You want to know me?” Danica almost sounded like a little girl as her words escaped her mouth. Most people took one look at her and couldn’t care less about what was going on within her, in her mind and soul. Her heart ached and she wanted to cry from simply being overwhelmed at meeting a man that was interested in more than just her looks.
“I want to know everything and if you’ll let me, I want to share everything with you.” Jordan’s words sounded so perfect like he had been rehearsing the lines of a romance but she couldn’t detect any ulterior motive in his steady gaze.
“Well, what do you want to know first?” Danica sighed and made her way over to the comfy couch where she sat on her folded legs.
“Anything you are comfortable to share with me. Why don’t we start with how you became a model?” Jordan joined her on the couch and offered Danica her wine glass again.
“Oh, that’s all down to my manager Chelsea. I didn’t intend to be a model but she spotted me and made me who I am today.” Danica sipped her wine and remembered the very first time she had ever walked down a catwalk completely unaware that Chelsea was sitting in the audience.
“Ever since I was a teenager, I wanted to be a fashion designer, actually. In fact, I have a diploma in fashion design which I studied for here in New York. But people never give a shit about that. I consider myself as a very creative person; I always loved to funnel my imagination into something real- something that could perhaps cheer up a person on a miserable day and I found it possible through clothes creation. But, admittedly, I was too naïve that a diploma would get me into the industry. No matter how talented you are, it is impossible to get a job without the right contacts.
Anyway, for my last assignment at college, we all had to design and make an evening collection which was to be modeled at a fundraising show for the college. However, when the day finally arrived my friend bailed on me and I had no one to model the dresses so I had to do it myself. I never intended to walk down a single catwalk but I wouldn’t have been able to get my collection graded without doing it, so completely mortified that I was doing it in front of my classmates, I modeled my own designs and Chelsea just happened to be sitting there. She came up to me afterward and offered me a job on the spot but I refused her thinking that I was going to make it big as a designer. However, a few months passed without a single job interview and it was time to either leave New York and work in my father’s shop or model for Chelsea to make some living while still pursuing my designer career. That was five years ago and I’m still walking up and down for my day job.” Danica downed a huge gulp of wine as she thought back on her forgotten dreams.
Chapter 5
“I understand now.” Jordan lifted his foot and rested it on the coffee table in front of them as they remained sitting on the sofa.
“What do you understand?” Holding an empty wine glass, Danica looked at Jordan.
“Why you want to design a collection for Ramsey. You want to show everyone that you have the skills and talent to design your own collection,” Jordan’s words were blunt but with no bitterness, simply a fact, “and why not if it’s what you really want to do?”
“Oh, I do. I really want to be the person that designs the gorgeous clothes I wear, not just be the pretty face wearing them.” Danica allowed herself to imagine what the future could be like if she did make a range of clothes that completely wowed all the critics. She could see herself running around a busy studio looking at luxurious fabrics and selecting the models that she wanted for her own shows. But just as she got excited, she also felt a sudden feeling of shame and loss knowing that it would never happen. Her face fell downcast and Jordan immediately noticed her sudden change.
“Danica, what’s the matter?”
“It’s never going to happen for me.” Her watery eyes remained fixed on the empty glass.
Jordan moved closer to her hoping she would find a comfort in his words, “Sure it will. You will design an amazing collection for Ramsey and everyone will go mad for it. Then you will be able to do whatever you want.” It all sounded so simple as Jordan laid out her future plan so easily but he didn’t know the shame Danica felt.
“I can’t. No one will want anything from me once they know what I’m really like.”
Jordan reached over her and lifted her chin so that she was facing him. “What you’re really like?”
“I’m a fraud, Jordan. A big lying hypocrite!” Tears started to stream down her face as Danica explained how her whole public profile was staged. “Everything that the public knows about is fake. When I started out, Chelsea said that I had to have some sort of angle – something that would make me different from all the other models that are trying to get famous. She created my profile as a clean living, into meditation and anything hippy type all natural model. I’m meant to be free from everything, free from wheat, gluten, toxins, anything that would go against this lifestyle she created for me. At first, it was just the exercise which I do anyway and then it was meditation. Then somehow she convinced me to go vegan and it all escalated from there. Before I
knew what was happening, I was posing for health magazines and Chelsea was feeding me the lines to say. And now I’m making more money than I ever thought possible but it’s all based on this phony life which isn’t me.” Danica put her hands on her face as the tears continued to run down her cheeks. “It’s just all so exhausting!”
Jordan felt heartbroken for her. He knew exactly how tiresome life was in the public eye and how PR people put pressure on their clients to appease the media without thinking of the mental impact. Thankfully, he had Barrack that completely understood what Jordan did and didn’t want from his life in the limelight but he couldn’t imagine how hard it would be without having an understanding friend.
“Have you spoken to Chelsea about how you feel?” Jordan didn’t know much about Danica’s manager but he hoped that there could be some way for Danica to communicate to Chelsea that she wasn’t happy.
“I’ve tried but she doesn’t think it’s a big deal to lie. Pretty much everyone in our industry is lying about something so she doesn’t understand what my problem is. She said that if I don’t keep up with the image she created I won’t get booked for jobs and I’ll become a nobody just as quickly as I became a somebody. I want to stop but I need to find something else to do first, something like designing.”