Cuffing Season

by Danielle Allen

  “And you’ll be sold out by the day of the show, and that’s what matters.”

  My voice was low as I sighed. “Thanks. I just want everything to be perfect, and I wanted to be completely done before the semester started.”

  “And you were. But then you got caught up in school work and planning the show, and I think you lost sight of what’s important.”

  Shaking my head, I eyed my reflection in the mirror. “And what’s that?”

  “Having fun. Enjoying your final year as a college student.”

  “I know, I know.” I took a deep breath. “I’m less stressed now.”

  “Of course, you are! Sex is a natural stress reliever, and you have options. Explore those options!

  “Oh, last night I did… and it was pretty great, but…”

  “But?” She interrupted, worry tinging her words “But what? What happened?”

  “But that’s not the only reason I’m less stressed.”

  She sighed. “Oh, I thought you were going to say something bad happened. Like the sex was bad. Or the condom broke. Or that you didn’t use a condom—yikes.”

  Rolling my eyes, I scoffed. “No. No. And hell no. The reason I’m less stressed is a secret.”

  “I’m listening…”

  Looking around, I allowed myself the indulgence of grinning giddily. “Luca Romano called me!”

  “What? What?!” Her voice elevated as I started repeating myself.

  “Luca called me! He called me! He wants to meet me!”

  “What?!” Vanessa’s screams melded with my own.

  “I know!”

  “How? Why? Are you serious? How did this happen?”

  I took a deep breath. “One of his students approached me to pose for one of the assignments for his photography class. I may have given her a card and asked her to turn it in with her work.”

  “Yes! Taking risks! I love it!”

  “It was a big risk, but even though it’s a borderline offense, I didn’t violate anything they told us we couldn’t do.”

  “You mean besides proposition Luca Romano?”

  I let my head fall back as I laughed loudly. “I didn’t proposition him! I gave my card to someone who sought me out. This woman approached me and asked me to pose for her. All I did was hand her my card and asked her to turn it in with her work,” I argued. “So technically, I didn’t approach Luca, and I didn’t break any rules.”

  “Loopholes for the win!”

  “Loopholes for the win.”

  “So, he called and what did he say?”

  “He said he was interested in working on something with me. With me!” I squeaked in disbelief.

  “Oh my god… this is it! Simply Serena is about to blow up!”

  My heart swelled at my best friend’s word. “Thanks, Nessa.”

  “I’m serious… having Luca photograph you in your own line will catapult your career. That’s what happened with—”

  “Jordan Brewers,” I interjected. “I know. But he didn’t actually say he was going to photograph my line. He wants to talk to me about a project he has going on. But I’m hoping I can spin that into him photographing me in Simply Serena.”

  “Of course, you will get him to do it!” Vanessa’s tone was confident and matter-of-fact.

  “That’s the plan. I just have to wow him with whatever it is he wants me to do. If he’s impressed by my modeling and professionalism, the least he’ll do is look at my line. And if he sees it, I think I could get him to see my vision.”

  “Great idea! Be so good at his thing that he’ll want to thank you by doing your thing.”

  “If I could get him to photograph my line ahead of the fashion show...” I sighed. “That would be so huge for me. That’s the break I need.”

  “That’s the break you’re going to get.”

  My stomach fluttered with excitement. “I know. I feel it. I’m going for it. I have nothing to lose.”

  “When are you going to get more information?”

  I opened the door to my car and stepped out. “No clue. I talked to him not even an hour ago, and he had no idea I was attending the showcase.”

  “You had tickets for that for a week so it’s not at all going to look creepy that you showed up,” Vanessa assured me.

  I stopped in my tracks. “You think it’s going to look creepy?”

  “You talked to him an hour ago and then show up where he’s going to be… yeah, a little. But because you already had your ticket, it won’t.”

  “I didn’t even think about that.” I stood on the sidewalk and glanced between my car and Rich Gallery.

  “No! Don’t let me get in your head. You need to go in there.”

  I shook off the moment of hesitation. “This isn’t some man I’m interested in. This is the man who is going to change the trajectory of my career.”

  “Exactly! If he photographs Simply Serena, great. But even if he just uses you in his project, that’s huge.”

  “And I’ll learn a lot from him.” I took long strides toward the Rich Gallery. “No matter what, I’ll be able to spend time with him and absorb his creativity. Hell, if I play my cards right, I might be able to pull off my own photoshoot.”

  “You know I’m ready to model, just say the word.”

  “Yes!”

  “Well… I’ve been eating everything while on this getaway, so give me a few weeks to lose the extra weight, and then I’m ready.”

  I laughed loudly.

  We quickly wrapped up our conversation. After she told me that Derrick had arranged for them to have couple’s massages, she made me promise to text her after the gallery showcase. I stood in front of the building as we said our goodbyes.

  “Here goes nothing,” I mumbled under my breath before approaching the front door.

  Chapter Two

  I saw a bunch of people from school. It appeared as if half of the crowd was either a current student or alumni of Hamilton University. The other half of the art show attendees seemed to be a mix of Richland’s artsy crowd and the family members of the artists. The environment felt friendly and crackled with excitement.

  “What are you smiling about?” a gravely male voice spoke from behind me.

  My eyes widened. “Marcus?” I turned to face him. “Marcus! What are you doing here?” I smiled up at him as we hugged. “I didn’t know you were coming to this.”

  “A friend had an extra ticket and asked me at the last minute.” He looked me up and down. “As always, you look really good, Serena.”

  “Thank you.” I grinned. “It’s Simply Serena.”

  “There is nothing simple about you. And as good as you look now…” He leaned down, his lips grazing my ear. “You looked even better wrapped in my sheets.”

  I felt my face heat as the memory of our time together flashed in my brain. I smiled. “It was a good time.”

  He nodded. “It was. I’m hoping for another round sometime soon. You mentioned something about me modeling for you and I’m going to let you know right now, after the way you rode this dick, I’ll pose for whatever it is you want me to. Just give me the details, and I’ll make time for you. I have to go meet someone, but I’m going to text you later and—”

  “Marcus!” A woman with long brown braids sashayed over to him. “I’ve been looking all over for you.” She shifted her gaze to me. “Oh, hello.”

  She was beautiful—tall, slim, and stylishly dressed.

  “Hey.” My lips lifted into a polite smile. Extending my hand, I reached out to shake hers. “I’m Serena. Nice to meet you.”

  She gripped my hand firmly. “I’m Veronica. Marcus’s girl.”

  My eyebrows flew up. Marcus’s girl? Girl? As in girlfriend? What the fuck?

  “You look surprised.” She looked between the two of us before putting her hand on her hip. “Marcus… were you over here flirting?”

  He slipped his arm around her waist. “Can you blame me? Look at her.”

  “She is gorgeous,”
Veronica agreed, eyeing me. “But I’ve only been back in town for a couple of weeks, so I’m going to be selfish and demand all of your attention be directed at me.”

  “Aww, I’m sorry, boo,” he replied, wrapping his arm around her waist. “Serena and I had a business class together in the spring. I was just telling her that we should get together soon.”

  She kissed him on the lips before turning to me. “Well, any friend of Marcus’s is a friend of mine. You should have dinner with us next weekend.”

  “Yeah,” Marcus agreed with a smirk. “Have dinner with us.”

  “Um,” I mumbled. Still in shock, I stared at Marcus, trying to understand what was going on. “Okay.”

  “Great! I’m sure Marcus has your number, so we’ll call,” Veronica chirped. Turning to Marcus, she continued. “I need to show you something hilarious. Come on.”

  As she pulled him away, he looked back at me and gave me a look that I couldn’t decipher.

  My eyebrows furrowed.

  I stood silently stunned. I didn’t know what to say or what to make of what just happened. I was frozen in thought for a few seconds before Jessica Morgan, one of the models I worked with often, tapped my shoulder.

  “Earth to Serena,” Jessica giggled.

  I blinked rapidly. “Sorry! Hey, Jess.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I was just…” I shook my head. “I’m fine. How are you?”

  Linking her arm in mine, the six-foot tall model beamed. “I’m amazing! I got booked for a national campaign!”

  My eyes widened, and jaw dropped. “Jessica-motherfucking-Morgan! I’m so proud of you!”

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She beamed with excitement. “Most of my portfolio is from the stuff that I’ve done with you, so thank you for believing in me and giving me the opportunity.”

  “You deserve this. I can’t wait to see you in a national campaign.”

  “Well, you know nothing is final until the paperwork is signed, but they called me this morning and I’ve been riding that high ever since.” She squealed, garnering the attention of a few people around us. “Sorry, I’m just excited,” she explained with a laugh.

  “As you should be! This is huge.” I squeezed her arm a little tighter as we walked to the first photo display. “If these people knew that a star was in their midst, they wouldn’t be looking crazy at your excitement.”

  “Speaking of stars…” Jessica lowered her voice. “I saw you talking to Marcus. Did he tell you that he may be getting drafted to play professionally?”

  My head whipped around to face her. “What?”

  “Yes! Have you not been paying attention to the buzz on campus?”

  “If it doesn’t have to do with this fashion show or my line…” I shook my head. “No.”

  “Well, word on the street is that there’s been some increased interest after last season. The professional basketball teams in New York and Philadelphia are looking at him. Ever since that article came out a month ago, people have been flocking to him, and he’s been the ‘it’ guy on campus.”

  “Even more than normal?”

  “Way more. Oh! You know how you made that awesome men’s jacket? You should get Marcus to model it! That’ll bring so much attention to Simply Serena.”

  I nodded slowly. “Yeah, I asked him about it,” I admitted slowly. “But I don’t know.”

  “Why? Use his pseudo-celebrity persona to boost your brand! Use his crush on you to your benefit!”

  “It’s just…” My words trailed off.

  It’s just that I fucked him and am just now learning that he had a girlfriend that everyone apparently knew about but me.

  “Is it because he has a crush on you, and his girlfriend is back in town?”

  I tried to mask my shock as I narrowly missed bumping into an older couple. “Did everyone know about his girlfriend? Because he never once mentioned her to me.”

  Jessica shrugged. “I only found out a couple of weeks ago because she was featured in this newsletter for having the best boobs of the day or the week or something like that. Marcus ended up confronting The Lost Boys, and word on the street is that’s why the newsletters stopped going out.”

  “Wow,” I whistled as we made our way to the next group of photos. “But continue… Marcus confronted The Lost Boys, and what happened?”

  “Half the campus was talking about how Marcus was defending his girl’s honor and the other half was like ‘ummm, Marcus has a girlfriend?’” She laughed. “It was hot news for three days, and then the football team won against Hillman and it was on to the next thing…” She shrugged off-handedly. “You didn’t know any of this?”

  “The only reason I knew about the bullshit with The Lost Boys is because a couple of models who auditioned for the fashion show mentioned they were in the newsletter. Even that caught me by surprise because I thought The Lost Boys were Mu Epsilon Nu and Mu Epsilon Nu was banned for hazing or something a couple of years ago.”

  “It was only for that year, and they found a loophole that classified The Lost Boys as separate from the fraternity because they don’t record the show on campus.” Jessica looked at me with a mixture of surprise and disappointment. “You have to pay attention to campus life, Serena! This was a huge deal! For almost two weeks, these asshats were calling out women around campus for wearing low cut tops, and they were calling breasts fun bags.”

  “Fun bags?” I scoffed, my lip curling in disgust. “What the hell is that?”

  She giggled. “Exactly! It was a mess.” Shaking her head, she bumped me with her hip. “All of this was happening on campus, and you were none the wiser. You need to get out more. You’re twenty-six and your twenties are just passing you by!”

  I laughed.

  We talked about Simply Serena, the national campaign she booked, and how we could take our careers to the next level. Catching up with Jess was always good for the creative soul.

  “Oh, hello!” I remarked, stopping in my tracks.

  Jessica’s soft brown curls bounced as she moved her head from side to side looking around at the photo display. “So. Many…”

  “Dick prints,” I finished her sentence as I gawked at picture number three.

  “Who is Akila Bishara? She’s my hero,” Jessica murmured as she closely examined each photo.

  “Akila Bishara?” I looked at the nameplate on the wall and then looked around until I spotted the woman who approached me weeks prior. “That’s her!”

  “That’s who?”

  “That’s—” I stopped myself from confessing the Luca connection. Clearing my throat, I started again, turning my back to Akila. “That’s the woman that took my picture for an assignment.”

  “Well, obviously she has great taste because she captured your beauty and then she also captured these dicks!” She gestured to the crowd around us. “And she captured everyone’s attention.”

  I laughed. “True. This had to be a fun assignment.”

  “It was,” Akila replied from behind me. As soon as I turned, her smile grew. “Hey! I thought that was you.”

  “Akila! Hey!” I grinned with the excitement of my secret. “This is Jess. Jess, this is Akila.”

  “Akila…” Jessica dragged her name out as they shook hands. “I’m going to need the phone number of a couple of these men. Once the crowd moves, I’ll be able to narrow down my selection. Give me one minute.”

  I laughed as Jessica moved down to check out the rest of the photos in the photo story.

  “Thanks again for letting me get that picture of you,” Akila started. “I got an A if you were wondering.”

  Lowering my voice so no one else could hear, I filled her in. “Luca called.”

  Her eyes widened, and she let out a silent scream. “That’s great! Have you two set anything up?”

  “No, he just called a few hours ago.”

  “I knew it! You have such a cool look—beautiful, edgy and with great style. Perfect model. I knew he�
�d call!”

  I put my hand over my heart. “I appreciate that so much. I’m actually a fashion designer first, and I got into modeling and photography to show-off my designs.”

  “Oh wow! So, what is he going to work with you on?”

  “I don’t know. But honestly, I’m just excited to meet him and learn from him.”

  Akila’s eyebrows flew up. “You haven’t met him yet?”

  I shook my head. “Not yet.”

  “Let’s change that.”

  Grabbing my wrist, Akila pulled me to the other side of her wall. “Excuse me.” She dropped hold of my arm and walked up to Luca Romano as he was speaking with a broad-shouldered man. “Excuse me, gentleman…”

  The man talking to Luca turned and lit up at the sight of Akila. Seeing his profile and the way he gazed at her, I immediately remembered him from the day she approached me.

  “Carlos, Luca… this is Serena.” She turned to me. “Serena, this is my…” Her smile grew. “This is my boyfriend, Carlos.”

  “Hi, Carlos.” I took a step closer and shook his hand.

  “Nice to meet you, Serena,” Carlos responded with a firm handshake.

  “And this is Luca Romano,” Akila continued, stepping beside her boyfriend and gesturing to the superstar photographer.

  I inhaled sharply. Luca Romano.

  He was handsome—clean-shaven, chiseled jaw, close Caesar haircut, flawless caramel skin, full, sexy lips and almond shaped light brown eyes. He was wearing black slacks, a black button-up shirt, and black shoes. The top two buttons were left unbuttoned, and I noticed a necklace tucked inside. Besides the platinum watch, he looked understated. He was sleek and sexy, but more low-key than I expected. As good looking as he was, it was the cool confidence that he exuded that made my face heat under his gaze.

  He could change my life.

  “Luca Romano,” I stated in awe, reaching my hand out to shake his.

  Nerves knotted my stomach.

  Our eyes locked, and there was a brief hesitation before he extended his hand to meet mine. “Serena Brooks. In the flesh.” He paused. “And to be clear, we spoke earlier.”

  “How could I forget?”

  “It was a memorable conversation. What was it you said? A fake ass accent?”