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She twisted through the crowd managing to find her way out into the lobby as her phone rang. “Hi Mandy, what’s up?”
“Okay I know you’re going to say no before I finish so I’m telling you up front to listen to me until I’m done, alright?”
“Okay,” she stated hoping this wasn’t another attempt to get her to reconsider the offer from the latest shoe god.
“Angels wants to put together a runway show for their new line. They want you to headline it, Bella. I know you don’t do runway anymore, but this is the biggest coup possible. You will be front and center; it will re-launch your career.”
“I don’t want to re-launch my modeling career, for goodness’ sake Mandy, I’m almost twenty-seven. I’ve been doing this for thirteen years; it’s time I bow out.”
“Why? You don’t look twenty-six, your body is even more amazing than it was eight years ago when you left the runway, and your contract requires you to do it Bella. They want to schedule it for Christmas Eve, televised nationally, so they can reveal their Angel but if you don’t want your face out there full force, they’ve agreed to make your outfits to disguise you still. Bella your contract is up after this year, if you don’t do this Angels is likely to find a new face…”
“I’ve been their ‘face’, so to say, for twelve years Mandy maybe it’s time for them to find someone new.”
“You don’t mean that Bella. You are the line, and your last photos were absolutely amazing, it took them two weeks to choose which one they’d use before deciding to use two this year. They want to bring you out of hiding…let the world see that you’re more than an illusion, that their Angel is real.”
“I don’t know Mandy. I stopped doing runway because of the panic attacks. I don’t want to risk ruining their first full show. The quick changes, the crowds—it makes me worry that it’ll all come crashing back down on me,” she said already feeling the pressure beginning to build.
“Do you really think the reps at Angels will let that happen?” Mandy asked. “They adore you. They’re not going to want to replace you, and do you want to see someone else take your spot on the billboard in Times Square? Your photo’s hung in the same spot for nearly eleven years Bella what would it feel like to have someone else suddenly up there?”
“Horrible, look, let me think about this. I don’t know if it’s the right time to come back out.”
“We need an answer soon Bella, they’re already getting the ball rolling for the show, with or without you but if they put it out there that you’re returning to the runway…let’s just say it’ll be huge Bella.”
“How soon?” she asked.
“By the end of next week…your birthday is when the release is going to go out.”
“I’ll think about it Mandy,” she promised hanging up.
“Think about what?” Tyler asked startling her.
“Angels wants to do a runway show on Christmas Eve featuring me, a live televised show none the less…”
“What’s to think about Bella? You were the best up there…”
“Until it got to be too much, Ty I left the runway because every time I stepped up onto one, I began to panic. The crowd watching, the crowd backstage, all the hands helping me change…my last show was the worst. I felt like everything was crashing in on me that the walls were caving in, and it took me two hours to make it out of my dressing room after it was over.”
“Does it have anything to do with what happened at the club?” he asked leading her to a quiet corner of the lobby.
“Yeah—I thought I saw him at a show once and after that every time I looked out into the crowd, I swear I saw him, or he’d be one of the crew members backstage…it got to be too much, and I stopped. Before that I loved being on the runway, it was the one place where I could be me, not be afraid to be different, but then it changed.”
“What if you saw him…really saw him, now?”
“I’d yell at him for taking something away from me that I could never get back—not my virginity but my security, my belief that things would be okay, I guess. I don’t know how it happened Ty, but after I told you…it doesn’t hurt as much, and I’m not scared all the time.”
“Then answer me this Bella, had you felt this way five years ago would you have walked away from your modeling career and became my PR goddess?” he asked gently.
“No,” she admitted truthfully to both of them. “There’s a reason I couldn’t let go of the Angels line.”
“Because you love it,” he stated. “I know you do Bella, it’s so clear in your photos, as comfortable as you are being my PR magician you belong in front of a camera.”
“But in front of a live audience…televised live…how do I know I won’t crumble into a little ball?”
“Because I’ll be there on the front row watching, ready to catch you if you stumble, and if you’re worried about the people backstage…demand that the only ones allowed near you are ones you feel comfortable with, Bella. Angels Brands will do anything to get you up on that runway, they’ll give in to any demand you ask for. But before you do it, think you can find me someone as great as you to head up my PR department?”
“You’re firing me?” she asked raising an eyebrow.
“I’m sure you’ll be too busy doing your first true passion to keep up with the demands at Reed Financial and I don’t even want to think about how crazy it would be once the public finds out you work there. Can you imagine the number of new clients we’ll get because they’ll be hoping to get a peek at you?”
