The First Punch

Watching Ru Paul cuddled up with your best friends is a good end to a shitty ass fucking day. My phone started to ring and I pulled it out of my pocket to see who it was. I saw it was Tory, I tried to ignore it but I couldn’t.
“What Tory?” I answered as Adrien paused the show. Mel looked at me questioningly and Adrien rolled his eyes and mumbled ‘douchebag’ under his breath.
“Uh Alex I’m sorry about Lian and all but I need you at the apartment with Mel, Adrien, another makeup artist, and another fucking model. As soon as possible.” He said rushing and obviously pissed off.
“Okay why do you need so many people?” I asked agitated.
“Because two of our models and two of our makeup artists got together and they left the whole industry, moved to China or something like that. And I need you and Mel to replace the girls that left.” He huffed.
“And if we don’t go?” I asked tired of his bullshit.
“Annie will be here alone and you know what happens when that happens. And she could leave SuicideGirls for another place. Like what the fuck, no other place is as good as us. But anyways can you make it here? Please I will give you guys the normal shoot salary. Please we need you guys. I’m only calling you because I know you can get this done. Please Alex.” He was basically pleading to me.
“Yeah, be there in a few.” I sighed as if I was in pain and I stood up. "Adrien, Toby, Em, and Mel… We have a shoot to go to. At the apartment.” They all whined but got up anyways.
“Uh Alex… Why do I need to go?” Toby asked as he watched Luke get up.
“Yeah why do I have to be there?” Emme also asked, as she followed Adrien walking to the door.
“Just a rule of this business, don’t ask questions until you’re at a higher level. If you ask questions people think you’re immature. It’s stupid but the truth. But Toby you’re doing makeup of course and Em you’re modeling with Annie, Mel, and I.” I explained and Luke grabbed his keys off of the counter.
“I’ll drive, we have a bigger vehicle.” Luke said smiling and taking Toby’s hand. I shut the door behind me and got into the back with Adrien and Mel. In the front seats were Toby and Luke, and in the way back were Emme and Shep. Luke revved the engine of the SUV and pulled out of the drive way, heading towards the apartment. “We are here.” Luke said pulling into the private parking lot for the building. After he parked we all hopped out and started heading for the building quickly.
“Hello!” Rob said happily to us. We all waved and I pushed the elevator button repeatedly.
“Okay so when we get up there Adrien will take a table and so will you Toby. Us girls will get into clothes and we’ll get going. And Emme… He didn’t mention needing a third model but I brought you. If they fight you being here have them talk to me. And never ever get close with Tory, got it?” I asked and she nodded. The door to the lift opened and we all piled in. Quickly we made it to the top floor and we rushed to the door that led into the SG apartment. Once we got in we saw the crew standing around and Ashley sitting on her table filing her nails. Once Annie saw Adrien she sat in the chair that was his and he got to work on her, her hair was already done. Us girls rushed to change clothes and Toby took Emme when she was in her’s, and Ashley did the same with Mel. We all had robes on covering us and I walked over to Tory.
“Who the fuck is your friend? I never said you could bring her.” Tory complained watching Toby do his magic on Em. “I mean she’s beautiful but I don’t know if we have space.” I turned and looked to him.
“1. We have room and 2. Don’t try to get with her, she’s Ricky Horror’s.” Okay I may have been exaggerating but he doesn’t know that. He nodded and 30 minutes later he called for Mel and Annie to get ready for the shoot. I quickly got into Adrien’s chair and he fixed me up. He got my makeup done very quickly, hair was the only thing that needed to be done. When my hair was done I stepped into the shoot with Mel and Annie. A lot of shots were taken and I looked to Emme. I waved her on and she molded in perfectly to our picture. We got a lot of shots done then they had Annie do her own and Emme do her own. After a long 5 hours of shooting we were finally done. Tory let us keep what we had shot in and said he’d pay us later. I took my pack of ciggies out and handed one to Em, one to Mel, and another to Angel. We headed for the balcony and lit up out there. We were just talking about how it felt weird to not see Lian today. By now I was feeling numb almost like I had no emotions at all. After a short amount of time we realized that they were taking pictures of us like that.
“Best shot of the day right there. You guys can leave now!” Tory said basically shooing us out of the apartment. Before we left I changed back into my clothes. As we were walking down the hallway I pulled out my phone and looked to see what notifications I had gotten through the shoot. I saw that Tony had called 3 times and left a lot of texts. Mainly just asking where I was and if I was okay.
Tony The Turtle: Axl I’m heading home now with Jaime and Vic.
Tony The Turtle: Where are you?
Tony The Turtle: Are you okay Axl? Are you alone?
Tony The Turtle: Axl I’m really scared call me..
Tony The Turtle: Wait… Did you have a shoot today? Isn’t it kinda late?
Tony The Turtle: Babe call me..
Alex: I’m so sorry Tone!! I had to go to am impromptu shoot. We’ll be home soon. I love you!
Tony The Turtle: Ok.. I was really scared. I’ve Vic here with Jaime and Ellie. Love you!
Toby pressed the button for the elevator and when it got up to our floor we got in. I just stood there emotionless as the elevator him the bottom floor. After Li’s funeral I really was just numb. I couldn’t cry anymore and it was a pain in the ass to smile. We got out into the lobby and walked towards the doors.
“Have a nice day!” Ron yelled and Luke yelled back.
“You too!” He waved and we headed for the SUV. We all piled into it and headed for my house again. We had Octane on and all of the music that we listen to was on. MIW came on and Immaculate Misconception was on. Everyone was slightly head banging and singing/screaming along. We soon arrived to my house, we saw that Ricky’s car was here so we assumed other MIW members were here. Luke parked the car and we all fled out. I pushed into the house and saw Tony, Vic, and Jaime on the floor playing with Ellie. Not that you can do that much with a new born but they were trying. Tony stood up and came over to me.
“Hey Axl.” He came over and gave me a kiss. “We’re trying to play with her but it’s kinda hard…” He sighed as we watched the guys on the floor talking in baby voice to Ellie. Everyone was now in the living room and we saw Ricky, Chris, and Ghost in the kitchen. They were trying to make vegan cupcakes for me to cheer me up, but all they were making was a mess. At this point they were filling the liner and putting them in the oven. They didn’t even notice me walk in, they were so focused on making cupcakes. Ricky turned quickly and so did Ghost and Chris. They all had on aprons that my grandma would’ve worn, and they looked adorable as hell. Emme couldn’t help but let out a bit of a chuckle when she saw Ricky. He turned bright red and walked over to her.
“Hi..” He said looking at Emme and blushing.
“Hi…” She said kissing his cheek, everyone oohed and they both went bright red. My little kitten ran over to me and I picked him up. He nudged into my neck and it tickled. He was purring like crazy and it made me smile. Soon I saw little Forrest fall off of the couch and run over to me. I put down Ghost so he could play with him, and Ghost started to chase Forrest.
“So who are your fri- Lukas fucking Rios…” Vic stood up and bro hugged Luke. “Haven’t seen you in forever. Heard you left The Day It Ends, looking for another band? Or are you going solo?” Vic asked.
“Not sure yet. How’re you Vic?” Luke asked. Vic nodded and so did Luke.
“But anyways you guys know Adrien, Shep, Emme, Mel, and Luke. So this is Toby. He worked at Restoration Hardware, but now he works with Adrien. He’s a makeup artist.” Everyone waved except Jaime whom was looking into Ellie's eyes..
“Shit what time is it?” Shep asked quickly pulling his phone out of his pocket. “Our flights is at 8, bollocks. We have to go!!” Adrien gasped and let out a sad sound.
“Well I guess we have to go, we’re going to New York for a month. I wish I could stay and help you Alex but this job will pay a lot. And I have to go real estate shopping to see where I can open my store.” Adrien walked over and kissed my forehead. Shep gave Mel a hug and kiss and went to gather all of the seasons of Ru Paul that he had brought. Laving behind the makeup and clothes.
“Bye Gaydrien… I love you.” I said giving him a hug, he took Shep’s hand and walked out. I heard the car start and they left, for a month. “Jaime, How’re you doing?” I asked looking at his pained face.
“Shitty...” He said holding Ellie. “Everything reminds me of her. The clouds, the sky, the birds chirping… Everything..” He sighed and I could see he couldn’t cry anymore.
“I know Jaime… I know..” I said sitting next to him and looking at Ellie who was now smiling and holding her daddy’s finger. I could see a small smile appearing on Jaime’s face. For the first time through all of this catastrophe I knew that things were going to get better. All of a sudden the timer went off in the kitchen and Chris rushed to the oven. He pulled out the cupcakes and had a sigh of relief.
“THEY ARE PERFECT!!!” He yelled, high-fiving Ghost and Ricky. I giggled a bit and walked over to look at them. I high-fived all of the guys when I saw that they were perfect. They were mint green cupcakes and I assumed they were going to put baby blue icing on it because they had a huge bowl of it off to the side. “Do we need to let them chill or can we frost now?” Ghost asked looking to the guys confused. They both shrugged their shoulders and Emme came over.
“Yeah let them cool for a while then ice them. That’s what I do anyways. I love to bake!” She smiled and looked to each of them. I walked back to Tony and took his hand. We sat on the couch and watched Jaime sit with Ellie.
“Do you want to hold her Alex?” Jaime asked holding her. I nodded and carefully took her from him. As she looked up to me she was smiling and making those cute baby noises. I let her take my finger and she started to put it in her mouth. Tony started to play with her and she had the sweetest face. I really didn’t like babies, but just holding Lian’s and seeing how Jaime was happy with her really made me happy for him.
"I think we are going to head home. It was great hanging out with you guys!” Toby kissed my cheek, then Mel’s. He headed for the door and Luke followed him. They both waved and headed outside.
“Toby and Adrien saved our asses today at the shoot. Why the fuck would we have to do a shoot that we weren’t assigned to?!” I was starting to rant then I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I took it out to see who it was and I saw it was one of the members for SuicideGirls that chooses who gets to be one and who gets cut. I gently gave Ellie back to Jaime and took the call. I got up took Mel and Emme with me and headed for the bedroom.
“Hello? Alexandria? This is Rose Marie Scott, one of the 'decision makers' for SuicideGirls. I have a few questions for you regarding a few different topics. Could you please answer them for me? And how’re you?” She asked in her usual peppy tone of voice. She was a tastefully tattooed woman who never took shit from anyone.
“Yes, of course. I’m well and you Rose?” I asked looking to Mel and Emme.
“I’m fantastic! Thanks for asking. So we have gotten several complaints from the girls about one of our shoot managers. Of course you have worked with Tory Knaff, correct?”
“Yes, what kind of complaint?” I asked already knowing the answer to it.
“Well sexual harassment complaints. We have gotten over 15 complaints just today. Has he ever tried to get with you or has he done anything to sexually harass you?” I let out a little scoff/giggle.
“Yes he has to almost every girl I’ve ever worked with. He flirts with us inappropriately and suggests tons of sexual stuff. I mean last year he got a model pregnant and she can’t work anymore. Yeah I have a few problems with him.” I said putting the phone on speaker.
“Very good, that will be noted and taken care of. Do you have a model with the name of Emerald Blair Waters working under you as a prospective model?”
“Yes, why?” I asked looking at Emme.
“We saw picture from the shoot today and we think she is incredible. Though we have never heard about her until today.” Rose stated and I could hear her typing on a keyboard.
“She’s new to the industry. I saw her working as a receptionist looking through alternative modeling magazines and I asked her if she would like to be a model. Are you going to take her on?” I asked anxiously looking at Mel who was holding Emme’s hand.
“Yes! We would love to have Emerald Waters as one of our newest SuicideGirls. We only ask that you teach her more about the industry and get her more comfortable with modeling. Sound like a deal?”
“Yes! Sounds great! Anything else you would like to ask?” I said after watching Emme jump in joy about her new position.
“Just one other thing. Can you take me off of speaker though?” I did as she asked and she got right tot what she had to say. “Okay so Alexandria.. You’ve been working for us since the day you turned 18. We would like to have you retire from modeling and go around the country recruiting models. How does that sound? You will make more than triple of what you make now. So, do we have a deal?” Rose asked.
“If I don’t take the position now can I take it later when I want to retire?” I asked nervously biting my nails.
“Alexandria the spot will always be open to you. You could also still be a model and do some recruiting in your free time, with a partner I might add.” I could here her peppy voice get happier.
“Awesome, I might just do that. Do Mel and I get paid extra?” I watched as Emme ran into the living to announce her news. Mel stayed as she heard her name.
“Yes you get double a shoot salary for every model and once you recruit 10 you get triple the shoot salary. Sound good?” My face lit up and I looked to Mel.
“We will take it! So do you pay for me to go around the country or do I pay on my own?” I asked standing up.
“We will pay, you just have to give us the total and we will pay. And you can recruit at your boyfriend’s events… I heard they’re getting pretty big. Wish them my luck and take some for yourself. Have a nice night Alexandria.” She hung up and I threw my phone on the bed.
“Melody Anne Hartley! We are now official recruiters for SuicideGirls. Double shoot salary for every recruit. They will pay us to go around the country and scout out people!” I was so happy I ran over to Mel and gave her a big hug. “I knew we would make it.” I whispered in her ear. Right now I felt better than I had for the past 4 days. I thought after Lian died it would never get better, it may never be the same but I knew I wouldn’t be in this low forever. I let go of Mel and she kissed my cheek. I heard my phone and Mel’s go off at the same time. It was an e-mail saying that we had reached the front page. We started to jump in joy up and down. This is such a bi deal because you get $500 when you make the front page. We walked into the other room to see that Em got the same e-mail.
“What does this mean?!” She asked looking at her phone confused.
“Sweetie we get $500 each.. Congrats you made front page on your first shoot!” I laughed and gave her a hug. Tony was now sat on the floor playing with Jaime and Ellie, he got along with kids so well. I looked over to see Chris and Ghost staring at the cupcakes waiting for them to cool.
“What are you wankers doing?!” Mel asked the guys.
“How long does it fucking take for cupcakes to cool?” Chris asked tired of waiting.
“Dude!!! Let’s put the in the fridge!!!!!” Ghost said as he grabbed the pan with a towel and putting it in the fridge. “And now we wait..” He leaned on the counter and looked over to me.
“Alex” Ghost whined. “Why does this take so long?” He sounded like a small child on a 2 hour road trip.
“Because the cupcakes don't like you.” Mel retorted and gave me a high five. We laughed and watch as Chris rubbed his back playfully and Ghost pretended to be sad.
“It’s okay. I like you and that’s all that matters..” Chris couldn’t stop from laughing and that rubbed off on Ghost. After 10 minutes of talking and joking around Chris went to the fridge. He opened it testing see if the cupcakes were cooler. He triumphantly pulled out the pan and smiled.
“Bitches we are ready to frost this shit.” Ricky said as he walked over.. Let’s just say they were trying very hard but they all looked like shit.
“Okay, okay… Gimme the frosting.” Em walked over and took the frosting bag from Ricky. “This is how you do it.” She frosted each cupcake to perfection and covered up the guys mistakes. In no time the cupcakes were beautiful and everyone was walking over to get one. I just kinda sat on the couch with Ellie in my arms, the adorable baby I would watch grow up before my eyes..

Notes

Hey guys! I know the past few chapters have ben sad but I hope this one lightened the mood just a bit! What did you think of it? Comment, rate, subscribe! <3 xoxo