Keep Me Where The Light Is

After getting a lengthy chat from Mr. Langston, addressing my preference for over priced coffee drinks over getting a proper education, and texting Cassie under my desk all fifth period because all of the sudden she was sure that Jacob would date her and, omg, how was she going to tell Sydney, and what would she wear when she went over to his house, and other incredibly important topics, I finally made it to the last bell and out into the street car that the agency sends to take models home, thank god for Fridays. The line of black limos stretched down the street and out sight. I hopped in the one nearest to the school, flashing my ID card on the scanner at the doors so the driver would know where to drop me off. The car was immediately pulling away from academy and onto the highway toward freedom.
It was a short ride to my apartment, supplied by the agency for convenience since my parents' house is almost an hour away from both the city and academy. I stay with them for vacations, some weekends, and on occasion ask my driver to take me to their house after school, but other than that I like to live closer to the city. The area isn't the prettiest, but I requested somewhere that the paparazzi wouldn't frequent: and the agency agreed that if I lived in a less popular area, I would be allowed to come and go as I please without being spotted with someone the public would see as 'odd.' Odd meaning that if one night I went out with an A list celebrity, going out with someone who was "dating" a D list film director would seem out of place. The less questions asked, the better.
I thanked the driver as I left the limo, clocking out of the car by flashing my ID at the scanner. I had just barely made it past the doorman at the front entrance when my phone starting buzzing in my pocket. My agent's name scrolled across the screen, and I waited until the elevator doors closed behind me to pick up. "Hello Desmond, how are we doing today?" I greeted him, putting effort into how bubbly I sounded.
"When we get an assignment, it's always a good day, isn't it?" The older man replied, and I could hear his car radio playing classical music in the background. "You're at the apartment?"
"You know I am." I answered, repeating the same conversation we had nearly every week. He called, we flew through some small talk, and went right into work information. He knew I was at my apartment, not because it was always where I went after school, but because the agency, or Desmond more specifically, put GPS in every models phone. The radio I heard before confirmed that he was already on his way over. If I had a friend over, now would be the time I would ask them to pick go me up some Starbucks and a movie, or, if it was an agency model, would tell them to hangout in the lobby for thirty minutes, which wasn't as awkward as it seems. My apartment wasn't in the prettiest area, but it was very expensive, and most of the residents here and both young and rich. This building is the perfect distance away from the academy, and away from practically anything else.
"Be there in five." Desmond said, giving me the classic warning that if someone was over they would need to be gone while I received my assignment. I didn't both giving him a response, because he hung up before I could tell him anything else. Desmond wasn't sentimental, even though he had been my personal agent ever since the agency recruited me. He was always down to business, always serious, but never in a cruel way. He the perfect agent, for me at least.
Stepping out of the elevator and onto the third floor, I headed left and to the last door on the right side of the hall. Every floor had five units, three on the right, street-facing wall, and two on the left side. Being on the left side meant less street noise, but it also meant you didn't get to enjoy a personal terrace, and to me it was worth all the activity outside. Besides, the street is general quite. I don't know anyone else on my floor, excluding the Beck family. Quinn and Devon met me by complete accident, stumbling into my apartment instead of their's drunk one night when I had forgotten to lock my door. Surprisingly, we became fast friends after their intrusion: the young married couple gave me advice on never driving intoxicated, apologized to next morning with a muffin basket, and now I babysit their daughter occasionally when they want to go out.
Entering my apartment, I started picking up all the clothing I had thrown around since the last time I had to clean up for Desmond's weekly visit. Tossing my school bags onto the couch, I threw the laundry into a basket to take down to the laundromat downstairs. Afterwards, I closed the door to the disaster that was my bedroom, and threw everything on my kitchen counter into either a cupboard or the trash. Satisfied with my work, I sat down on the couch, just in time for my doorbell to ring.
Not bothering to look through the peephole, I ushered Desmond into my home as he handed me a green tea frappuccino from Starbucks, closing the door behind him. He took a quick glance around my apartment, and apparently satisfied with that he saw, sat down at my dining room table. "Longer case this time." He begun speaking to me, pointedly looking at the chairs next to him so I would sit down. I pulled out a seat and reached for the mannila envelope, but he pulled it away before I could touch it. "The first event is tomorrow, late notice." he continued.
"Okay, I got it Desmond, hand it over." I joked, still eyeing the envelope the would hold all the details about who I was dating. He opened the folder and slid the papers with the information regarding the client across to me. I took it from his hands and quickly flipped through it. His name was Harry, he was in an up and coming band, he was four inches taller than me, his 'personality profile' went on for ages but I got the gist of it: humorous, humble, and outgoing, like most other clients I've dated.
There was also information about the four other members in the band, I skimmed through their profiles but paid the most attention to Harry's information. After I had read all the information pertaining to anything and everything Harry, a fan girl's wet dream, I passed it aside and held my hand out for the picture part of the packet. This would usually include tons of body and face shots of the client, as well as their planned outfit for the night, so the agency could dress me appropriately. Desmond reached inside the envelope and pulled out the pages about the event, then turned the envelope upside down a shook it. Nothing fell out, and he opened the folder and peered inside, just to make sure it was empty. "Forgot the pictures, did you Dez?" I asked jokingly, reaching across the table and taking the event information from his side.
"I apologize," he replied, pulling out his phone. I assumed he was trying to find the pictures from his iCloud, so I went over the event. It was a smaller publicity event for up-and-coming musicians, as well as more relevant artists who would lend advice. My job was to be Harry's date for the night, maybe answer a few questions about their music, but mainly make Harry look popular and desirable to the public. I would sit with him through the event, then afterwards go out to dinner with his band and two of their girlfriends. The night would finish around one in the morning, but I would stay assigned to Harry for the rest of the month, and attend award shows, dinners, and other dates with him. Easy enough.
The instructions were to keep conversation flowing easily, make it seem like we were a fun easy-going teenage couple. Keep touching to a minimum, but don't seem awkward. Apparently the band's management wanted Harry and his band mate to be going through some sort of fight, or maybe they were actually having some sort of tiff, because I was instructed to not talk to Perrie, Zayn's date, or at least keep talking to her to a bare minimum: exchange hellos, exchange goodbyes, and that was it. The rest of the members I was supposed to seem aloof but familiar with, and become closer with them throughout the night. Two of the other members weren't bringing dates, so I wouldn't have to bother to learn extra names.
"I printed the pictures in some else's office, and forgot them there, so I don't have them on my phone," Desmond admitted, then slid his phone across the table to me. I stopped it with my hand and looked at the dress on the screen. "I did, however, take pictures of your dress before I left. The theme of the event is "white out," so that's what you'll be wearing, and he'll match." The dress he showed me was fairly simple, but elegant. Full sleeves, high neckline, with triangle cutouts around my lower abdomen. The dress ended four inches above my knees, where the fabric was cut to show off my legs, but flowed out to the floors behind me. Ordinary white heels were hung beside the outfit, as well as a few white pearl bracelets and earring. I nodded my approval, then passed Desmond his phone back.
"Google pictures of the client before the event, yeah? I'll check in tomorrow morning, you're getting picked up around two to prepare, the limo arrives to take you to the event at five-thirty. Ring if anything comes up." He concluded, leaving the packet information as he headed to the door, taking one last look around the apartment as he did so.
"Yes sir." I answered him, before shutting the door behind him. I headed to my bedroom to retrieve the basket full of laundry to take downstairs, before calling Bri, an agency model, to see if she wanted to have a movie night. I hadn't seen her in forever, Cassie had been extremely, extremely needy over the last month, and I felt like we needed to catch up. I could have her spend the night, go to breakfast in the morning, and that would give me just enough time to get back to the apartment before heading to the salon to get prepped for the event. I had just stepped foot out of my doorway, arms full of dirty clothes, when Devon appeared, his daughter Blair in his arms. He stopped when he saw me leaving the apartment, smiling the sly grin to always did when he was about to ask a favor.
"You're totally gonna hate me for this, but Quinn just got a flat tire on his way back from the airport and I need to go take a cab and then wait for the tow truck with him, you know how he gets, and I'm not about to take Blair on a cab ride to the airport, I mean could you imagine? So I was just wondering if you could watch her for like, two hours tops. We have to figure out which auto shop we want to go to and everything, and I'm not about to have Blair miss her dinner and throw off her routine." He pleaded, trying to put his hands in prayer position while holding a child and a diaper bag. Blair grabbed at Devon's scarf around his neck, kicking her chubby little legs back and forth.
Well, there go my plans. "That's fine," I accepted, and I opened my apartment door to set the laundry back inside before taking Blair out of his arms, as well as the bulky clothes basket. Keeping my foot wedged in the door frame so the door wouldn't close, I set the bag next to the clothes basket. "What's dinner supposed to be tonight?"
"It's all made. I set out some formula and her bottles in the bag, just get into my apartment with the code and it's in the fridge. She's having butternut squash and chicken, with avacodo on the side, and green beans or diced sweet potato if she's still hungry. Order thai food or whatever for yourself from out apartment for dinner, they'll just charge it to our card automatically so don't worry about that or whatever. Honestly Ramsey, you're a life saver, I'll do something to pay you back." Devon promised, already pressing the button on the elevator while calling who I presumed to be Quinn on his phone, while kissing Blair on the forehead. "Goodbye Blair," he cooed, leaning over so his face was right beside her's. "Goodbye cupcake, I'll see you later darling. Goodbye lovely!"
"You always do, don't worry about it. See you around five." I replied, and Blair waved goodbye to her father while chewing on her pacifier. I waited outside of the apartment until the elevator doors closed, then grabbed the diaper bag from just inside the door. Punching in the code to Devon's apartment, I stepped inside, lugging the bag with me. Devon always packed one, just in case I need to go somewhere unexpectedly while I was babysitting, but it hadn't happened yet. Blair whined to be set down, so I placed her on the carpet in front of the television in the living room, which was blaring some new-age sesame street. New-age, because they had vegetable man on the screen as opposed to the cookie monster. Unholy.
The first hour was spent alternating between watching sesame street and playing with the abundance of toys that littered the living room floor. Actually, abundance in an understatement: Blair is spoiled beyond belief. Her toy kitchen puts most actual kitchens to shame: stainless steel, granite counter-tops, actual running water, fake flames, a functional microwave, all the works. There is a high-tech easy bake oven on the large counter, all she would have to do is set a pre-made tray of dessert dough on one side of the belt, it scrolls through the heated portion, and comes out warm and delicious. Of course, Blair is only 8 months old and can barely pull herself up, but that didn't stop me for making a few treats for myself and sharing them with her.
Around five she started getting more irritable and whiny, which meant it was dinner time. I heated up her formula, and after she finished off her bottle, I set her in her high chair for her more solid foods. There was nothing the bib could do to protect her outfit, Blair somehow managed to get squash all over her pants and shirt. She also found it especially amusing to stick her avocado covered fingers in her ears for some reason, and it might have had something to do with the fact that I could keep myself from laughing every time she did so. In the end, I had to spoon feed her the rest of her meal, so she might actually get some nutrition out of it. After she resorted to spitting the food I fed her into her hands and smearing it across the tray in front of her, I took the hint that she was finished and wiped her, somewhat, clean before setting her free to play again.
I ordered myself Thai food from their apartment, just like Devon had suggested. It took mere minutes to get here, which was awesome, and made me just a little bit wary. However, after I opened the container I was sold: it smelled like heaven. I finished the pad Thai while Blair played her toy piano and tried to build a block castle around my legs. Throwing away to containers, I checked the time: around an hour left. Playing a second episode of Sesame Street, one where I had checked the summary to make sure the was no mention of the 'Vegetable Man,' Blair and I waited for her fathers to return.
Just like Devon had promised, he and Quinn returned within the next hour. Quinn gave me a wordless hug and Blair a kiss on the head before heading straight to his bed room. The light seeping through the bottom of the door went out in the next few minutes, signaling he was in bed, falling asleep. Devon apologized for his 'brass' behavior. "He's exhausted, didn't get any sleep on the plane ride, wanted to sleep on the cab ride home but we saw how that turned out, my poor baby." Blair was already back into his arms, reaching to knock the expensive glasses off of his face. He swayed back and forth to keep her amused, sometimes twirling her upsidown when she got too fussy to get a laugh out of her.
"Don't even worry about it." I reassured him, giving him a side hug before heading towards the door of their apartment. "You've had a long day, I'll leave you guys alone. Goodnight!" I gave him a final wave goodbye before he could talk again about how he was going to make it up to me for babysitting, pulling the door closed behind me. He yelled a goodbye from inside his apartment that I could barely hear as I made my way across the hall. Punching the code into my keypad, the front door unlocked and I maneuvered my way around the laundry basket I had left inside when I had been approached by Devon, careful not to trip over it.
It was only six, still fairly early in the evening, so I pulled out my phone to call Bri and see if she had only plans, but when I hit the unlock button nothing happened. I held it again for a while longer, and a white silhouette of an apple appeared on the screen: dead. Fine, if fate wanted me to spend the night alone, I would. Connecting my cell to it's charger before picking up the laundry basket, I held it on my hip while making my way to the elevator and down to the lobby to the laundromat.
There was a woman standing at the front desk who took my basket from me and slid my card before waving me away. I knew the drill: they'd separate the whites and the colors, then the colors and the reds. After, it would all be washed in cold water, which was better for the environment they promised, then hang dry it. Once it had been hung dry, it would go for a short cycle in an actual dryer to get rid of any wrinkles, then was perfectly folded, placed in my basket and sent up to my room. Just like every other time. Deciding that doing laundry was enough activity for the rest of the night, and that a dead phone wasn't about to stop me from having a movie night, I headed back upstairs and entered my apartment to check what movies were newly added on Netflix.
I couldn't find anything interesting on the 'new queue', so in the end I settled for watching Breakfast at Tiffany's. By the time I had showered, changed into pajamas, and cleaned up my bathroom for the guests who were certain to bust into the apartment by surprise tomorrow, it was past eight, which I decided was a proper time to go to settle in for the night since I hadn't had any sleep the night before, and had an late event tomorrow. I took two melatonin pills from off my bedside table before playing the movie, assuming I would be dead asleep before the film was halfway finished, promising myself I would review the assignment once more when I woke up, before Desmond showed up with his crew: the quizzing would be endless at that point.

Notes

Yes, Harry will be in the next Chapter, I promise. If I spelled something wrong or used the wrong word, let me know, the only person reading over it before I post it is me, so I might miss something! Thank you for reading, let me know what you think.

Also, it tried to tell me I spelled melatonin wrong? Why? I think I'm in the right on this one.