Platinum (All That Glitters #3) (24 page)

“I know you’re trying to be helpful,” she said with a smile, “but nothing is as good as having you here.”

He squeezed her tight and picked her up off the ground, bringing his mouth to her lips. “Man, I’m going to miss you.”

“You should go before I decide not to let you leave at all.”

He planted another kiss on her lips. They lingered there like that for a minute. It was a moment mingled with sadness and happiness. They were both excited for Damon’s future and sad that it was going to take them apart.

Then, he quickly released her and got into his car. She had wanted to go with him to the airport, but he didn’t want her to miss any school and thought that might make it even harder to say good-bye. They had basically been inseparable, and it was going to be hard enough with him going away for those few days.

Trihn sighed and got into her own car. She headed back to her apartment and entered into silence. She hadn’t spent a night here in over a week. She felt bad that she hadn’t seen her friends as much, but she knew they understood and were happy that she’d found a stable relationship.

Trihn slammed the door shut behind her and trudged to her room where she changed for class. As she was walking out of her room, Stacia entered the apartment.

“Hey, stranger!” Stacia said cheerfully.

“Hey yourself. Where have you been all night?”

“As if you’ve been here.”

“Nah, I was with Damon. He left for LA today.”

“That’s so awesome!” Stacia skipped over to where Trihn was and took a seat on the couch. “I can’t believe everything that’s happening for him.”

“Me either. It’s pretty unreal.”

“Definitely. I mean, who knew that going to that concert with Bri would change your life?”

“Change Damon’s life.”

“Well,” Stacia said thoughtfully, “yours, too. Now, he’s going to be gone a lot. And if all goes well—and it’s Chloe Avana, so duh—he’ll be recording albums, going out on tour, and doing promotions all year round!”

Trihn frowned. “Yeah.”

She swallowed hard and tried to remind herself of all the things that Damon had said to her. They would be okay. They could make it.

“That’ll be amazing for him. At least I’ll be around the apartment more,” she said.

“No one blamed you for being gone. Anyway, the apartment has pretty much been empty. Bri has been at Eric’s, and I’ve been with Marshall.” Stacia giggled at the end of her statement.

“So, does that mean that you and Marshall are together now?” Trihn asked. She knew it was always a tough call with Stacia. Her relationship status usually changed from one day to the next.

Stacia shrugged. “I’ll get him there. Right now, he’s in it for the sex.”

“And you?”

“I’m in it for the money.” Stacia winked.

“No, you’re not!” Trihn said, laughing at her friend. She had finally gotten Bryna to see the insanity behind her gold-digging ways. She was bound and determined to get Stacia to see it, too.

“Well, he doesn’t have any money yet, but when he gets drafted next year, he will. And then I’ll join the NFL quarterbacks’ wives club!”

“Is that a real thing?”

“Duh!” Stacia flipped her short blonde hair and relaxed backward on the couch.

“Such high goals you’ve set for yourself.”

“I would take that as a compliment, but I know you’re being sarcastic,” Stacia said. “You’re dating a soon-to-be mega-successful music star. It’s really not any different than a star quarterback.”

Trihn sputtered in disbelief. “Damon was a nobody when we met and started dating!”

“And so is Marshall.”

“A college quarterback at a major university is hardly a nobody.”

“Details, Trihn!”

“Okay,” she said, holding up her hands.

She couldn’t argue Stacia’s logic with her. Stacia had no intention of listening to a word Trihn said.

But Trihn did know one line of conversation that would get Stacia to break out of this bubbly character. “Have you heard from Pace?”

Stacia stiffly sat up and seemed to retreat in on herself. “He’s been around,” she said softly.

“Around like, you’ve been sleeping together? Or around like, he wants to get back together?”

“Just around. I don’t know,” she said, looking down at her hands. “I miss him sometimes, you know?”

Trihn knew where she was coming from. Pace might have been a total asshat, and Stacia might be a dumb blonde cheerleader, but together, they had seemed to work. It hadn’t made sense, but it’d worked for them.

“Does he know that you miss him?”

She scoffed. “As if I’d tell him. He’s so arrogant. He would use that to his advantage, and I can’t be with him the way he is now. Plus, I have Marshall…and that’s what matters.”

“I just think that Marshall seems like a tactical choice, and Pace seems like one that comes from your heart.”

“Pace is a quarterback, too, Trihn,” Stacia reminded her. Her eyes were wide, as if she didn’t want to consider that she actually cared for Pace.

“I know, but he’s not the starter. You don’t even know if he’s going to the NFL.”

“I don’t want to talk about Pace,” Stacia said quickly. “We broke up. We’re…whatever…on and off again whenever he feels like it and isn’t fucking someone else. I’d rather talk about Damon and him working with Chloe and your model call! I’m really excited for that.”

“Me, too. Are you and Bri still coming to the studio to help out this afternoon?”

Trihn had booked out the studio for her model call. She’d emailed some of her friends who she’d modeled with in the past. She hadn’t heard back from anyone, not that she had really expected to. The university didn’t pay for models, and unless she wanted to pay out of her own pocket, she would have to get a bunch of models with little to no experience. Offering free headshots and runway experience wasn’t exactly the same as hiring models for a magazine shoot. Having gone through this process herself, she knew it was going to be an ordeal. She had a feeling she was going to be there all night, even with Bryna’s and Stacia’s help.

“Yep! We’ll be there. Hopefully, it’s only one day though because, from here on out, we’ll have four to six hours of practice every day to get ready for the NCA national competition in Orlando.”

“Think you guys will bring home first prize this year?”

Stacia nodded vigorously. “Getting fifth last year was an embarrassment. We can do better, and we will!”

“I believe it.” Trihn grabbed her purse. “I have to get to class. So much work to do on top of this fashion show. It’s going to keep me plenty busy. I’ll see you guys at three.”

“See you then!”

Trihn left the house, and the weight of all the work she had to do before the end of the semester crashed over her. It was well and good that she was wrapped up in her boyfriend, but she couldn’t let everything else slip.

By the time the afternoon rolled around, she was already mentally exhausted and had three new papers to work on for next week.

Bryna and Stacia showed up ten minutes after her, and the visual arts major she’d gotten to photograph the models appeared right behind them.

“Hey, thanks so much for showing up,” she said, shaking his hand. “I’m Trihn.”

“Jasper.” He swept his longish mop of hair out of his eyes and itched for the ponytail holder at his wrist. He was lugging a giant camera bag, a tripod, and some other equipment, including one that looked like a boom.

She wasn’t entirely sure how he was carrying it all around.

“You can set up in there. We’ll send models in to you after their interviews and measurements,” Trihn told him.

“Cool.” He nodded and then disappeared.

He’d had experience working with the fashion design school in the past, so she was sure that he would get the shots she wanted. It would be different when they did the photo shoot with her designs. She’d want to be there to see what was going on. But, right now, he could handle it on his own.

“Where did you pick him up?” Bryna asked, sitting down on the desk and raising an eyebrow.

“He’s working for free.”

“You get what you pay for,” she said.

Trihn rolled her eyes. “And that’s why millionaires pay for your time.”

“Because I’m worth it, of course.”

“Okay. Girls should be showing up soon. I’m going to sit out in the waiting room with the girls, so I can observe them without them knowing who I am yet. I’ll need one of you checking people in. Stacia, probably you since you’re friendly.”

Stacia skipped over to Trihn and took the clipboard. “Got it.”

Bryna rolled her eyes. “I’m friendly…when I want to be.”

“Right. Let us know when that time comes around this year,” Trihn said.

Bryna flipped her off.

“Once everyone has shown up, I’ll work with you on interviews, and Stacia will direct people into the room.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll just sit here and wait then,” Bryna said.

Stacia went out to the front room as girls came in to audition for the model call. Trihn came in shortly afterward and pretended to sign in with Stacia.

Trihn observed the girls and even made friends with one gorgeous redhead. Trihn had gone to dozens of model calls before being selected to model for Gucci. She could pick out the bitchy girls, the divas, and the high-maintenance girls who wouldn’t listen to anyone’s critiques. It was cut-and-dry and made her life so much easier once they got into the interviews.

The looks on the girls’ faces when they saw that Trihn was interviewing with Bryna was priceless. Modeling was so competitive that everyone should be on their best behavior at all times.

By the time they had gone through most of the girls, Trihn and Bryna were both in pissy moods. These girls just were not up to the caliber she had been hoping for.

The redhead was the last girl to come through. Trihn had high hopes for her, and even though she didn’t ace the interview like Trihn had hoped, she sent the girl through to the photo shoot anyway.

Jasper returned after the final model had finished and laid out all the images in front of Trihn. After selecting the girls to move on to round two, she realized it wasn’t that many. She would need at least twenty girls for her line, and of the nearly hundred who had come today, she had sent through only twenty-three to the next round.

“Shit,” she murmured.

“Yeah,” Bryna agreed.

“Guess you’ll have to use us after all!” Stacia cheered.

“Excuse me. Is your open call over?” a woman with a thick South African accent said from behind them.

Trihn hadn’t even heard anyone come into the room.

“Yes, sorry, we’re done. We finished promptly at eight,” she said without looking up.

“Well, what a pity.”

“Trihn,” Bryna said, nudging her, “I think we should open the call back up.”

“What? Why would we—” The words died on her lips as she turned around to see the woman standing before her. “Francesca!”

Trihn ran across the room and pulled her friend into her arms. She and Francesca had modeled for Gucci the summer after her junior year of high school. They’d worked together on a few more campaigns before Trihn had decided to quit the work to go to college.

“What are you doing here?” Trihn asked.

“Well, you messaged me, and I’m in between jobs. We wrapped up the new line earlier this week. I thought I would come help out a friend.” She flipped her stick-straight blonde hair to one side. “And I brought in some reinforcements.”

Standing in the entrance to the design studio were nine other gorgeous models, all girls who Trihn had worked with at some point in her time as a model.

“Thank you so much for coming. I can’t pay you though.”

Bryna cleared her throat. “That’s not exactly true.”

“You cannot pay for this!”

Bryna shrugged. “I can do what I want.”

“Well, that’s not necessary,” Francesca said. “We’re doing this for fun. I just wish I could have gotten a few more people together for you.”

“No, this is perfect. I just have to pick another ten then,” Trihn said in wonder and bewilderment.

“Oh, let me take a look,” Francesca said. She leaned over the images they had been sorting through before she’d shown up. “Hmm…”

With ease, she went through them and picked out nine. After a minute, she selected the redhead as their last model.

“That’s who I would go with. They seem to fit the Trihn I know. And we can work with them in the meantime,” Francesca said. “It’ll be like a three-week mini vacation.”

“This is going to be amazing,” Trihn said, feeling more excitement than ever for this project. For the first time, she really thought that she could do this.

Trihn reached for her phone that she hadn’t looked at in hours with all the interviews they had done. She had missed a few texts and a video message from Damon. She clicked on the message and was transported to LA where he was standing in what looked like the midst of a recording studio.

“Hey, love. I just got into the recording studio. Chloe wanted to show me around. Here’s Chloe. Say hi, Chloe.”

The camera veered over to Chloe with her dark hair piled up into a ponytail on the top of her head. She was in dark jeans and an oversized sweatshirt. She waved at the camera. “Hey, Trihn!”

Damon flipped his phone back to face him. “We have to work bright and early tomorrow morning at eight a.m. I have no clue what I’m going to do with myself that early in the morning. All I know is that I’m missing you like crazy, and I hope that your model call went well. Call me back when you get this message.”

The message ended, and before she could even sigh or smile, Francesca leaned over and looked at her with wide eyes. “Was that Chloe Avana?”

Trihn laughed. “Yeah.”

“And Damon Stone?”

“You mean, her hot rock-star boyfriend?” Bryna said with a wink.

“Girl, we have a lot to catch up on,” Francesca said.

“I guess we do,” Trihn said.