Someone Like You (2 page)

“Please, with lips like those?” Margo waved a hand in the air.

Jason struggled to contain a laugh. He took a deep breath and read the statistics on his iPad. “It says here you’ve done work for New York Fashion Week 2010. And a bridal show in 2011. And other smaller fashion shows throughout. Nothing for this year.”

Emily Smith nodded.

Margo eyed Emily Smith like a detective would a crime scene. She eyed the model’s hands, her arms and her bone structure. She inhaled deeply. “No, you won’t do. Thank you for coming, “Margo said brusquely.

The model left the room with eyes as wide as saucers, unable to believe that she had been rejected. She had lasted only a minute and a half inside the aquarium, which was a record for the shortest time spent inside, to say the least.

Alex bit her lower lip. She did feel sorry for the model who had most probably starved herself for a week to book the audition.

“Mother, you’re such an ice queen,” Jason said laughing as Margo took a sip of water.

Margo pursed her lips. “Alex, see that building maintenance fixes whatever damage that smoker’s caused. Now that we’ve gotten rid of a nuisance, let’s get on with the audition.”

Alex nodded. “Miss Carlie Williams.”

Alex read off the more pertinent data from the model’s file. “Commercial ad for shampoo as extra on set for 2011, runway shows in Milan and Paris for 2011, print model for upscale brand at Nordstrom for early 2012.”

“Could you turn around?” Jason asked the model, twirling a finger in the air.

The model complied.

“Smile, please,” Margo asked her, tapping a gold ball-point pen on her well-defined cheekbone.

The model smiled and Alex saw a glimmer in Margo’s eye. It looked like this model was going to be included as a finalist for the yogurt brand that had tapped Temperley. She saw that glimmer in Margo’s eye every now and then, but an enormous smile was rare, so rare it had only happened once since the agency began its operations.

That model was a favorite of Margo’s and one that Alex desperately tried to avoid as she had the face of an angel but had a quick temper, especially after the model landed her first major magazine cover. Her name was Vicky Stanton and her other colleagues nicknamed her ‘Vicious Vicky’ for her diva-esque tantrums. Vicky had landed a booking to be the face of a cosmetic brand and had thrown a fit when served a salad with Caesar dressing instead of vinaigrette. The shooting was delayed for a couple of minutes only due to Alex’s quick thinking. She had run out of the studio and into the nearest coffee shop to buy new salad which Vicky barely ate from that day.

Jason’s voice interrupted her reverie.

“Thank you,” Jason said smoothly. “We may or may not call you back.”

Alex placed a tiny checkmark on her list. Next. “Karmin Stevens?”

And the auditions went on and on until all the models had left. Out of the twelve that had auditioned, only two made it to the final roster. Jason’s preferences reflected that of his mother’s.

“Tell them to come back. The marketing assistant for Big Apple Frozen Yogurt’s coming over tomorrow. We decide then.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“And Alex? “Didn’t I tell you to put something on your pale face?” Margo asked as she got into her office.

Alex smiled sheepishly as she adjusted her eyeglasses. “I’ll do it after I call them, ma’am.”

Jason gave a short laugh. He liked to laugh a lot. He had this silly laugh that Alex liked hearing. Jason was definitely more affable than his mother was but he also had a shrewd side, far shrewder than his mother and his father combined. He seemed to have a soft spot for Alex amongst the team, likening her to the ‘nerdy older sister I never had’.

“If I remember correctly, I gave you a blush compact last week,” Jason said with a brow raised and pursed lips.

“I didn’t have time today.” At least that was true. Besides, blush made her face itch sometimes.

“Mother’s gonna fire your ass for looking like a homeless person even if you’re so competent,” Jason sighed. “Anyway, ta-ta. I’m off to have another boring meeting. Wait, where’s my assistant? Selma!”

Alex bit back a smile and went back to her desk. First she called the building maintenance staff as the cigarette butt had left some paint damage on the windowsill. Then she called the two models for another appearance the following day, this time requiring them to be in full make-up.

She glanced back once in a while at Margo’s office, observing her talking on her mobile with a smile on her face and a laugh now and then. It only meant that she was talking to either top honchos or VIP clientele or to her current beau who was ten years her junior.

She continued collating Marie’s report until the clock struck noon. She sighed and stopped. The report was a bit long and not like what Marie had made it seem. As usual.

“Time for a quick lunch, then,” she thought.

There was a cafeteria located at the first floor where the staff and other building tenants usually took their lunch. Alex often ate with Selma, who was unfortunately out with Jason. But she was used to eating alone too or sharing a table and minding her own business.

Today was alone time. There weren’t too many people inside the cafeteria since it was a Thursday and payday had been yesterday. None of her co-workers were there, either. It was pretty relieving since she disliked gossiping and it was a national pastime for some in the office.

She bit into her vegetable panini as she absentmindedly doodled on her Moleskin notebook. It was her second one in a year. It was nearly filled with random musings and sketches of just about anything. She usually doodled during work breaks for stress relief, especially if closing her eyes didn’t do the trick.

“That’s really nice,” a voice said.

Alex looked to her left and stopped sketching. It was the security guard who worked the early morning shift.

“Th-Thank you,” Alex stammered, blushing a little.

“You work at Temperley, right? Fashion designer?” the portly, amiable security guard asked.

“Uhm, not really. Just an assistant…” her voice trailed off.

“You’ve got some real talent there. Well, excuse me,” he said giving her a little salute.

She sat quietly and contemplated. The security guard wasn’t the only person who said she drew well. There were times when she’d sit alone in Central Park, sketching the day away and people would come up to her and give their compliments. Of course, her student days were over and she couldn’t very well draw all the time when there were bills to pay. She actually missed being in school. Life was much simpler then. She checked her watch again. Lunch time was over. She sighed and gathered her notebook and mobile phone. There was a message from Margo.

“Reserve Monday morning 9:00-11:00 for meeting with Conrad Group Ltd. Cancel prior.”

She sighed again and walked back to the office instead of using the elevator. Her thoughts shifted to applying at an ad agency again. She had applied numerous times only to be rejected by all that she had applied to. She had told herself it wasn’t meant to be just yet. Yet. She was counting on that word. She was a fairly positive person and tried to find the best in everything- and everyone.

Back at her desk, she called to confirm a meeting with the Conrad Group and to cancel the first meeting. This company was probably a bigger client than the first scheduled. Margo was out of the office on a lunch meeting and wouldn’t be back till three in the afternoon, just in time for the second audition.

She finished typing Marie’s report and handed it to her. Marie was busy with a social networking site. She said quick thanks and diddled on her mobile once more. Alex bit her lower lip to control her bubbling exasperation.

The nerve of it all.

The day went on uneventfully. The audition for the afternoon was quick; Margo seemed to be in good spirits and no one else approached her to do their workload. She got home a quarter past six in the evening and flopped on her bed and closed her eyes. She planned to make a quick dinner later.

Her mobile rang. Sighing, she picked it up.

“Hey, Mom.”

“I haven’t heard from you this week,” her mother said. Alex’s mother lived in Florida. She was a marine biologist working for Sea World. Alex had grown up loving the sea because of that.

“Sorry, been really tied up with work.”

“Gammie’s asking if you’re going to visit her in Chicago next month.”

Gammie was her term of endearment for her father’s mother. Her father had passed away when she was just ten, leaving her mother to rear her with the help of her grandmother. She was a feisty eighty-year old with a no-nonsense personality but was loving all the same.

“I’ll try mom. I really do miss Gammie’s cooking. How’s Florida?”

“Hot,” her mother laughed. “I haven’t seen you in ages! I’ll try to drop by next month, too. Then we can go to Chicago together to see Gammie.”

“Sure mom. I hope Margo gives approval for a vacation leave.”

“Mhhmm. So are you dating anyone?”

“Mom!”

“Just asking,” her mother said defensively.

“Are you dating?” Alex retorted with a laugh.

“Some and some.”

“What kind of answer is that?”

“I met this really nice guy, he’s an oceanographer.”

“You really like your men tanned or sun burned, Mom.”

“He reminds me a bit of your father,” she said excitedly.

Alex’s father had been a well-respected marine oceanographer and had met her mother while she was finishing her degree in marine biology.

“When do I get to meet him?”

“After a year if all goes well,” her mother laughed again. “Can we Skype this weekend?”

“Sure.”

“Gotta go dear, work beckons.”

“At this time?”

“Plankton studies,” her mother said.

“Figures!”

“Love you, Lexy.”

“Love you too, Mom.”

Alex stretched after putting down her phone. She turned her laptop on and listened to her favorite chill-house music as she made her dinner. Opening her small fridge, she took out some greens, tomatoes and some left over grilled chicken and proceeded to mix her salad with black sesame seed dressing.

Her phone rang and she picked it up.

“Good evening.”

“Alex, I forgot where I placed my iPad. Have you seen it today? I’m still in the office and I’ve looked everywhere,” Margo said in a ticked voice.

“You placed it inside the white desk. Third drawer.”

Margo could be such a scatterbrain sometimes.

She heard Margo fumbling for the drawer. “Ah! There it is. Thank you.”

Margo hung up and Alex tossed her phone on the bed. She ate her salad with another mug of tea, green tea, this time and read a book. She had no television set and preferred the company of books to watching TV shows.

She was reading Oscar Wilde’s
Dorian Gray
this time, a favorite classic of hers since high school. At half past eight in the evening, she stopped reading, washed her dishes and took another shower.

Now in cotton pajamas, she stepped out into the tiny balcony her apartment had. She liked to see the lights twinkling all over the street. The air was cold and she shivered a bit. She could see the taller buildings of the city in all their resplendent, modernistic glory. She mused that she didn’t have much of a social life, preferring books and a few of her close friends back in Florida and Chicago. There was something about flea market hunting that gave her peace of mind, too.