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“He’s a friend Ty, of course he likes me.”
“Helikesyou, Bella. He’s ready to propose if you’d so much as bat your eyelashes in his direction.”
“Then it’s a good thing that I’m not going to do that, isn’t it?” she stated kissing his cheek. “Don’t worry I’m not about to do something as stupid as getting married. I think it’ll be enough to get back out there and model, though we might have a few issues…”
“What sort of issues?”
“Well back in the hay days of Arabella, she never went out with the same guy more than once, but as Jess indicated everyone knows we’re close…”
“So what?” he said shrugging.
“They’re going to wonder about the nature of our relationship, telling the public we’re just friends isn’t going to go over well if they see us together all the time,” she warned.
“What are you trying to say Bella? That I’m no longer needed or welcomed in your life?” he asked his eyes flashing angrily at her.
“No…god no, Ty. I’m just saying we’re likely to hear the question of whether we’re dating over and over. No matter how many times we say we’re just friends they’re not going to buy it,” she said pausing at the look that crossed his face, the anger making her heart flutter. “Ty, you’re my best friend and I love you, but I don’t want to cause issues with anyone who might be or is in your life, that’s it.”
“There’s no one in my life and no one on the horizon, Bella. I don’t care if people speculate that we’re more than what we are, we know where we stand—right?” he said looking down into her eyes.
“Right,” she said a bit too quickly. “I guess that’s it, thanks for helping…I can’t believe I’ve accumulated that much stuff.”
“Think of the hassle trying to move out of your apartment would be you’ve been based there for what…twelve years?”
“Do you know how many times I’ve had to clean out my closets because I don’t have any more room for the new items Angels sends?”
“Two, three times a year?”
“Pretty much,” she laughed lifting the collar on her coat to ward off the chill in the air. “It looks like it could snow already.”
“Don’t say that we’ve got an hour drive to Mom and Dad’s place,” he warned.
“Can’t we say something popped up and we can’t make it?” she pleaded not wanting to face her family for the entire day.
“Nope, it won’t be that bad, I’ll be there to protect you from the insanity,” he promised kissing her forehead as a cab stopped to pick them up.
“You might warn your mom to lock up the knives, I can’t promise to not use them,” she said only half kidding.
“Not very angelic there Bella,” he teased.
“Angelic is the last thing I feel when it comes to the Remsens. You have no idea how much I want to go to the airport right now, hop on a plane to Tahiti and lie on a shaded patio beside the beach for the weekend…”
“I’ll keep that in mind for your birthday next year,” he said wrapping his arm around her.
“You do that,” she laughed sending up a silent prayer to get her through the next few weeks with her sanity intact.
***
“Bella, you look brilliant darling,” Calvin stated snapping some frames as she got ready. The show was set to start in thirty minutes and though the scene outside her dressing area was chaotic she was calm. “I finally get to photograph that gorgeous face of yours…no don’t move that’s perfect…”
“Calvin, it’s a good thing you don’t use rolls of film much anymore,” she laughed, “you’d have burnt through ten already.”
“But it would be worth it to capture your face perfectly just once,” he said moving to the doorway to get some shots of the other girls.
Five minutes before the show was to start, she walked out of her area and smiled at the other girls, most of them were eight to ten years younger than her but as Grace said yesterday at the final fitting, she didn’t look any older than they did, until you got to the eyes, and it was there that the difference could be seen. Her eyes held a mysterious air of knowing a deep dark secret the others could only hope to discover and it had been that way for years.
“Arabella, I cannot believe you are here,” Jasmine stated. “You do not look any different than the last time I saw you.”
“That’s not true Jasmine, I know for a fact I’ve got a few extra lines that weren’t there eight years ago,” she told her before turning to talk to the full group. “Okay everyone, let’s rock this…you’re representing the Angels Brand tonight. Smoldering looks are fine, but you better show some teeth, remember this is being televised so there will be more than five million people watching you.”
