Etoile (The Mannequin Series)

by Olivia Besse

  “What... what are you talking about?” he asked slowly as he sat up next to her.

  Elodie let out a long sigh as she fumbled with her hands. “I... I just...”

  Almost comically, Tyler's phone began to vibrate on the table. He ignored it as he continued to look expectantly at her for an explanation.

  “Answer it,” she said in a hollow voice. The screen displayed a 10-digit phone number, but no contact name. Something caused a gnawing feeling in her chest as she dreaded who the caller might be.

  “Not until you tell me what's wrong,” he replied with a sigh, not even glancing at the phone as it danced noisily across the wood.

  Elodie closed her eyes tightly. “Just answer it,” she said quietly. “Please.”

  If it's not her, then it's not true, she bet with herself pathetically.

  Tyler let out a deep breath before answering the unknown caller. “Hello?” he asked in annoyance as he glanced at Elodie's distraught face.

  The voice on the other line was unmistakable, as were the ear-piercing giggles that followed. But of course, Elodie thought as her shoulders slumped in defeat. But of course.

  Elodie let out an exasperated sigh as she rose from the sofa and walked towards the entryway. Tyler quickly hung up and threw the phone on the sofa, following after the despondent girl.

  “I didn't even give her my number,” he tried to explain in as level-headed a way he could. “You know that.”

  Staring at her shoes, of which there were now four, she realized that there was no way that she could walk in heels right now. Elodie picked up her boots and bag as Tyler grabbed her wrist. The room whirled around her as she attempted to gather her senses and her sanity. “Elodie,” he began firmly before she cut him off.

  “I am very drunk,” she told him with a sad smile as she pulled her arm free of his grasp. “We can talk about everything later. But I have a meeting tomorrow, so I should get home.”

  Thirty-seven

  “My darling little superstar!” Adam squealed uncharacteristically as he pranced past the row of computers and towards where Elodie stood in her hungover glory. A few of the other agents turned to watch him with confused expressions on their faces, seemingly unaware of the fact that Adam knew how to smile.

  “Tell me all about your a-ma-zing trip, sweetie!” he began as he grabbed her hand and led her to his station. The rapid movement made Elodie feel sick. “Do you want something to drink? One of my minions can go and get whatever you want. Anything! Shall we get a bottle of champagne?”

  “No thank you,” Elodie told him with a weak smile, cringing inwardly at the thought of alcohol, not to mention her discomfort with her booker's newfound peppiness.

  “You're right. Empty calories!” he sang out. “You make me so proud. So. Tell me ev-er-y-thing. How did you do it! Well, I mean, I know how, but tell me how.”

  “Huh?”

  Adam patted her on the hand dismissively. “It's okay, never mind. Don't worry your pretty little head! Your pretty little Ero Beauty head! Estella's team is super happy with the perfume proofs so far, and they want to arrange for a few other shoots. You know, mascara, blush, lipstick. Whatever. We'll get to those when the time comes. But please tell me all about your fancy little time in Pa-ree!”

  “What do you mean?” Elodie asked, utterly confused by the knowing wink that Adam shot her.

  “Oh, sweetie, I thought we were friends,” he retorted as he opened his eyes widely at her. “No need to pretend! You can tell me, girlfriend!”

  “I am so confused,” Elodie muttered as Adam continued to direct deranged smiles in her direction.

  “If you insist,” he replied huffily, turning to his computer and clacking away at the keys. “For future reference, I know everything!”

  Elodie followed his pointed finger to the images on the screen, her eyes widening in horror as she saw what he had been referring to. She felt the color drain from her face as she stared at a row of pictures of herself and Tyler from that night out in Paris with Lauren & Co. The series of photos had been taken from a few yards away with a grainy camera phone, but the two models' faces could easily be distinguished in the dim light.

  The first showed Tyler with his arm nonchalantly thrown around her shoulders as they spoke, while the second was of him grabbing the top of her head and staring into her eyes. The third was of him with his arm around her again as they conversed with the three American girls, while the last photo was the most incriminating.

  In it, Tyler had his hand on the small of her back, and it had been taken right after he had drawn her dangerously close to his body. Anyone who hadn't been there would assume that the picture had been snapped as the two were about to share a kiss.

  “Where...where did you find these?” Elodie asked weakly.

  “Some 13-year old girl's Tumblr,” Adam said with a wave of his hand. “Tyler is everywhere on there. Just so you know, there are hundreds of death threats headed your way. So exciting!”

  “How is that exciting?!” Elodie demanded as she tore her eyes away from the images to look at him. Stefan, the booker who had the misfortune of having his station next to Adam's, peered curiously at the screen before nodding approvingly.

  “Honey, you know that nobody is anybody until they're getting death threats from tech-savvy teenagers,” Stefan told her. “It's, like, common knowledge. I bet you're trending on Twitter.”

  “This is great exposure!” Adam continued excitedly, smirking in Stefan's envious face. “Now we just have to wait for all of the options to roll in.”

  Elodie plopped down into one of the empty chairs nearby, slowly shaking her head. She hadn't even noticed anyone looking at them, let alone taking pictures. What if James saw these? What would he think?

  “So. Tell me all about you and Tyler,” Adam purred, interrupting her thoughts. “That boy is just precious.”

  “Nothing,” Elodie said with a furrowed brow, shuddering inwardly as she thought of her ridiculous behavior just a few hours prior. She had woken up full of regret and self-pity, which were only made worse when she checked her phone to find a cryptic text from Tyler.

  Call me when you feel like it

  What does that even mean? Elodie had asked herself as she buried her head into her pillow and groaned loudly, waking a very grumpy Heddi.

  “It is nothing,” Elodie repeated with a frown. “Anyway, was this the urgent reason why you needed to see me at 9 AM?”

  Adam pursed his lips at her, rolling his eyes dramatically. “Fine. Don't tell me,” he drawled out. “But no. We need to get you some new pictures, especially since you're going to be my little star. We can't be sending you around town with outdated test shots, can we?”

  “I guess not,” Elodie grumbled as he began printing something for her.

  “Well, you'll love me, because this one's going to be great for your book,” Adam chirped as he handed her the paper. “Make sure to be at the studio by noon, because I doubt he'll wait.”

  As Elodie turned the warm piece of paper over, she felt her stomach drop for the second time that morning. She must have done something really terrible in a past life, she thought with a gulp, because karma was definitely not working in her favor.

  Thirty-eight

  “Well, aren't you just a sight for sore eyes.”

  Elodie fought the urge to shudder at the cheesy line, plastering a fake smile on her face instead as she walked into Matt Twinings' loft-cum-photo studio in the East Village, the land of trust fund babies-cum-artists. A thick muslin backdrop had been permanently affixed to the brick wall on one side of the scantily furnished apartment, and Matt stood at the edge of it, adjusting the height of the camera tripod.

  “Hello,” Elodie greeted him in a firm voice. She looked around and noticed that there was no other sign of life in the entire place. “I did not think I would see you again so soon. No assistants today?”

  “Nope,” Matt said with a suggestive grin. “Just the two of us.”

  “
Oh.”

  “Need photos for your book, huh?” he asked as he proceeded to mount his camera on the stand. The silence in the room was deafening.

  “Yes, just a few,” Elodie replied as she nervously bit her lip.

  “I can do that for you,” Matt said, turning towards her and walking closer. “Gladly.”

  Shit, shit, shit, Elodie thought to herself as her eyes fell to the floor. Each of his footsteps echoed throughout the barren room as he neared where she stood. As she saw the toes of his battered Golden Goose sneakers enter her field of vision, she quickly dropped her purse and scurried over to the stool that sat in the middle of his makeshift set.

  Matt gave an appreciative laugh and nodded his head. “Ready to get down to business, hm?” he asked with a grin as he walked over to his camera. “I like a girl who knows what she wants.”

  Elodie gulped as she awkwardly perched herself at the edge of the stool. “What would you like me to do?” she asked, partially dreading his answer.

  “Well, your agency said they wanted some natural shots,” he began, surveying her with narrowed eyes. “How about we take off that shirt and get some bare shots? What could be more natural than that?” He flashed her a smarmy grin, obviously proud of his twisted logic.

  Giving him a tight smile, Elodie fought the urge to vomit all over herself. “No, I think I am okay with my shirt,” she replied firmly. “It is just a white tee shirt, so it is not distracting.”

  “I've worked with a lot of big clients, you know. Vogue, Bazaar, Elle. I bet they'd all prefer that there wasn't a tee shirt in the shot of a girl they were considering,” he said with a pompous smile.

  “I am okay,” Elodie repeated, trying not to roll her eyes at his blatant lies and name-dropping.

  Matt shrugged his shoulders and proceeded to take some boring shots of her doing boring poses with facial expressions that emitted sheer and utter boredom. I am too hungover for this, Elodie thought to herself as she stood still and frowned at the camera.

  As she let her mind go blank, the mortifying scenes from Tyler's apartment crept into her head. Even picturing the confused look on Tyler's face at her dramatic outburst made her want to crawl into a hole and die. She shuddered as she recalled how immaturely she had acted. What did Tyler think of her now?

  “No, no,” Matt piped up as he abruptly stopped snapping frames. “That's not a pretty look. Do what you were doing before.”

  Elodie grumbled an apology as she rid her face of any emotion once again, trying her best to look as indifferent as possible. Matt gave her a thumbs up and resumed shooting away.

  But why had Caroline been calling him? Was everything that she said true? Tyler did seem to get especially bothered whenever she was around. Could it be that he still had feelings for her?

  “How about we try this,” Matt began with a sigh, snapping Elodie out of her thoughts. Shit, she thought to herself as she gave him a nervous smile. Had she been making ugly faces again?

  He set his camera down and walked towards where she stood, leering at her all the while. Elodie felt her body stiffen as he loomed dangerously close behind her.

  “We can just take off your clothes,” Matt whispered in her ear as he ran his hands up and down her arms. “You can keep your underwear on. If you want.”

  She could feel his dick pressed up against her bottom, and it took every ounce of restraint in her body not to turn around and slap him. Unable to contain her anger, however, she turned around and snapped, “Excuse me?”

  “So cheeky all of a sudden,” he said with a smirk. “Just a few weeks ago, you were screaming my name.”

  Elodie could feel her nostrils flare as she tried her best to calm herself. “Listen, I am having a really bad day...”

  “I can get you into British Vogue, you know,” he said as he cut her off. “I always return the favor for my best girls.”

  “I am not your girl,” Elodie replied back with a scoff as she began walking towards her bag. “And I do not need those kinds of favors. So, please, do not ever touch me again.”

  “Playing hard to get?” Matt asked with a laugh as he grabbed her forcibly by the arm. “I do like a good chase.”

  “Let go,” she tried to say as firmly as she could, though her voice shook as she spit the words out.

  He yanked her closer against him, her skin burning under his forceful grip. "Are you going to make me?"

  Elodie glared at him while spitting out, "I will scream at the top of my fucking lungs if you do not let me go right now."

  Matt dropped her hand as he let out a bitter laugh. “You could have been one of my favorites, you know,” he told her as she turned on her heel. “Your loss.”

  When she felt his hand slap her ass, she lost it.

  “You are a fucking piece of garbage,” she yelled out. “Everyone hates you! You are a shitty photographer! All of your poses are shit! All of your photos are shit! Shit, shit, shit! You prey on girls who are stupid enough to allow it, you talentless load of scum! No one wants to be your favorite! No one!”

  He watched her with a weird look on his face before he let out a snort of laughter.

  “I am sick of all of this shit! All of it!”

  With that, Elodie swiftly kicked him in his crown jewels in retribution for the foul mood he had put her in. Matt fell to the floor, keeled over in pain, as she marched out the door as quickly and fiercely as she could. And, ironically, the expression on his face was the furthest thing from boring.

  Thirty-nine

  When Elodie got back to their apartment, nobody was home. Jelena had been busy as of late, working full-time doing a month of showroom work for Karl Lagerfeld's eponymous line. Tatiana had gone out early, ditching her castings for the day in order to prepare for Daniel's birthday party that evening. And Heddi was off doing who knows what.

  Walking into the empty flat made Elodie feel terribly lonely, especially after her second dramatic blow-up for the day. Exhausted, she climbed into bed and pulled the heavy blanket over her entire body. And, as she lay there, taking deep breaths that suffocated her underneath the thick comforter, she began to cry.

  Tears blurred her eyes and streamed down the sides of her face, pooling uncomfortably in her ears, as she thought about her past mistakes. She regretted the countless nonchalant sexual adventures that had been driven by her unrelenting greed for fame and designer goods. So what if she had three Chanel bags, especially if she had seduced a dickish Italian socialite to buy them for her? Sure, she had thousands of dollars worth of fancy lingerie, but so did high-end hookers. And what good were her Van Cleef & Arpels earrings if she couldn't even bring herself to look at her reflection in the mirror?

  As she recounted all of the times that she had fallen into bed with strangers or people she would have otherwise deplored had they not been disgustingly rich, she allowed herself to cry freely, her lungs burning as they gasped for air. Perhaps a part of her hoped that her tears would wash her past transgressions away, but she knew that they would haunt her forever. When she pulled up the memory of her time in the utility closet with Matt, her fists balled up angrily as a fresh wave of tears flowed out. How could she have been so foolish to have followed the advice of a model who was juggling multiple men at any given time? Who had she thought she was kidding? Even at 19-years old, she was still a child, not even capable of dating two men casually without having a nervous breakdown.

  She was reduced to whimpers as Tyler came to mind, a sad smile appearing on her trembling lips as she turned onto her side. Her blotchy face welcomed the cool air that hit it when she pulled the blanket off of her head, tucking it in beneath her chin. Even thinking about Tyler made her chest tighten with sadness and fear, even more so now than ever after her bathroom confrontation with Caroline. Even though he had nothing to do with the matter, the arrogant supermodel's presumptuous words had instilled doubt in Elodie's fragile heart. And in that moment, as sleep crept up on her and caused her eyelids to grow heavy, she realized that she would nev
er be able to fully trust Tyler, or herself, if she were to end up with him.

  Elodie slept for a long time, her rest filled with blackness due to her fatigued state. When she finally stirred awake, she was met with a numb feeling on her face.

  “Lo, you up!” Tatiana chirped as she sashayed into the room.

  “I cannot feel my face!” Elodie yelled out worriedly, bolting upright as her head hit the top bunk's railing.

  Tatiana beamed at her. “You so swollen when I check, so I put ice pack on your face. I did good, no?”

  Elodie let out a sigh of relief as she rubbed the top of her head, making her way towards to mirror to inspect the damage. Thanks to Tatiana, any sign of swelling had resided, save for some redness around her eyes. “Huh,” she remarked with a laugh as she patted Tatiana on the back.