Chapter 11- Jennette

I stared at my screen, thinking back from the night Samuel stayed with us. I overheard bits and pieces. He wasn't that quiet. He kept saying he'll get it done and said Talia's name. Talia's door opened before I could hear anything else. I couldn't sleep the rest of the night, Samuel's conversation was still in my head. Did Talia know?' At least I made it to work on time. I didn't see Talia before I left. The new Black Panther series came in today to be shipped in comic stores for fans to clamor and complain. The graphic team was going to reveal the new cover. I pouted my lips, leaning against my desk staring at my screen. Talia's not here yet. Probably in her department already. We didn't get a follow up from those cops. Have they seen others from the party? We couldn't be the only suspects. I was still in shock that people were hurt. I didn't remember much from that night, but I know me and Talia stayed out of that. I'll make sure of it.

"I wanna go back to bed," I heard Jeff whine in a tired voice. He leaned on my shoulder. The start of the week, I wanted the day to be over already.

"Me too," I agreed. He smelled like cinnamon, "did you have french toast today? You smell sweet."

"Waffles, with whipped cream," he answered.

"Sweet. You should get back to your desk before we both get in trouble."

"Shut up." He looked at me with a blank stare of his chocolate brown eyes. He broke and laughed, I joined him, pushing him by the shoulder. "Where's Joe?" He mentioned our manager. He typed something up on his computer with a frown.

"Coffee?" I shrugged. The door opened, speaking of his name, and he showed up. I was right, he was holding a Starbucks Styrofoam large cup. Probably a cappuccino, talking animatedly to a man in a trench-coat. Laughing at whatever joke he said to the man next to him. I've never seen him before. I cleared my throat and squared my shoulders. He sure was handsome. But I learned my lesson to not mix business with pleasure again from Nick. I hope he was doing ok after resigning. Jeff wheeled back to his desk, pretending to type on his computer. He must be the new hire. "Morning, Joe." I tittered to myself of the cliche phrase.

"Jennette, hey. Is Jeff here?" He cleared his throat.

"Right here, sir," Jeff announced, raising his hand behind his desk.

"This man right here, is hilarious." He boasted. "I want you to meet some of my staff, this is Jeff, this is Jennette. This is Alejandro Perez."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Perez." Me and Jeff simultaneously said, I waved.

"Please, call me Alejandro." His voice was low and easygoing. It sent chills down my spine. I hid my jitter with a smile. He was taller than Joe, about two inches. Who was he? Was he the corporate guy that was going to be monitoring us for the whole week like Joe said? Because of some breaking and fraudulent activities, we're being watched like Big Brother. He kissed the back of my hand. He was certainly handsome, and had a jawline that could cut glass. I giggled, my cheeks were hot from my obvious blush.

His stare was hard, like I was the only one in the room. I swooned a little, straightening my posture. "Alejandro."

"Jennette." My name rolled off his tongue like butter. He met Jeff, handshaking him as well. Even lingered on the handshake.

"He's gonna shadow me for the rest of the week, you'll see him around the office," he told us. Alejandro followed Joe to his office, not taking his eyes off us until he shut the door behind him.

"Whoa, intense," Jeff whispered.

I sighed and nodded.

"But fine as hell."

"Hell yeah." I agreed.

The first twenty minutes went by and I answered emails. My phone rang, one of the publishers will be moving their appointment from noon to 3. I'm not published. I made my own art, edited some on the website Webtoos for others. I have almost completed my first season posting on the site. Right now, the day job pays my bills.

"Jennette, Joe wants to see you," Jeff told me.

"Oh, okay." I locked my screen and stood up.

"Good luck,." Jeff said with a grin. I patted his shoulder as a thanks, heading to Joe's office and knocked.

"Come in," Joe said. I pushed it open. Alejandro was sitting in front of Joe's large desk. The office wasn't big enough for four people, this had to be the limit. I scooted and sat on the spare seat next to him. "I've been telling Alejandro about your work ethic," he paused, taking a sip from his cup. I licked my lips, itching my palm. Oh shit, I'm fired. I didn't do anything. We need to pay rent this month. "It's been nothing but glowing reports. You turn in everything on time and the charts are accurate for customer sales."

"Thank you," I nodded and swallowed.

"Joe gave me the surveys, you make quite an impression," Alejandro chimed in.

I laughed lightly, "thank you, s- Alejandro."

"I like how you say my name." He moved in closer. "You can roll your r's."

"Thank you." My face was heating up again, I shifted in my seat.

"Do you speak Spanish?"

"Un Poquito. I took classes in high school and college. I'm not that fluent."

"Que Bueno."

"Gracias," I smiled again.

"The reason you are here is we are thinking of giving one of you a promotion as assistant manager. Double pay and more shifts on the weekends. We have you in mind to promote."

"Oh," I can't take that job. Last week, Sara was eyeing that promotion. She needed it. She told everyone that they shouldn't think about touching that position. I didn't want it anyway. Plus, it wouldn't give me time to make my comic panels.

"What do you say?" His eyebrows were raised with hope.

"As much as the promotion sounds amazing, I can't accept it." I shook my head.

"That's fine, thank you. You can go back to work."

"Thank you both." I stood, heading out. I felt their eyes on my back. I had to rush out of the office. Jeff's on the phone with one of the stores, I could hear them screeching that they don't have enough Captain America. Oh shit, here we go again.

xxx

Day of Photoshoot

After my usual routine of shower, teeth and braiding my hair, I headed to Talia's room and knocked on her door.

"Talia, get up," I yelled through the door, still in my towel. Talia's bedroom door swung upon, ponytail messy and wearing a baggy, crisp white button-up shirt and no pants. Samuel came over last night, I had to wear my noise canceling headphones from all the yeehahs and refer to his penis as a 'fat eggplant.'

She ran her hand through her strands tiredly, "it's too early, Jenn," her voice was hoarse and dry while she spoke with her eyes closed.

"We need to head out soon for the photo shoot," I told her.

"I'm soooooo tired," she complained, leaning her head against the door frame.

"You said you wanted this gig and I really want to meet Amina."

"You just want to get free samples." She popped her hip.

"Yes." Her natural products were exceptional, though. Her brown sugar scrub for my daily shower routine kept my skin glowing. I had a few of her floral blouses and jeans. I loved her makeup, I could use some more eyeshadow. And lip gloss. And lipstick. And sugar scrub. She might not use me for modeling photos, I can be a photo assistant for Dennis. We're all getting paid, extra cash for us.

"She's paying us. We should get a move on." Samuel came behind Talia, wrapping his arm over her neck, gripping her face as they both kissed passionately and firmly. "I'm uncomfortable," I smiled tightly and walked to my room to get ready. I still had to talk to her about why she hid him from the cops.

The GPS redirected us to three spots, twenty minutes away before we came. The building was brown and black, at least four or five floors, parking lot vacant, and a lot of windows. I spotted Dennis waiting for us outside, phone in his hand he spotted us and waved with a wide grin. There was a fluttering in my chest, I smiled.

All three of us climbed out of the car, I carried my bag carefully on my shoulders. All of us met him in the front. He hugged me and Talia, gave a small handshake to Samuel before he ushered us inside. The room was abuzz already, hearing the bulb clicks from cameras, models in chairs getting their hair tussled and sprayed. "I'll be right back. Get situated. Talia, Amina will want to meet you," Dennis said, directing Talia. Samuel followed behind them. I sniffed the room, the scent of sage and another herb I couldn't recognize, it was inviting. I dropped my bag at the near table, smiled at the woman touching up one model. I laced my fingers together, twiddling my thumbs around. "Jennette," a voice said behind me.

"Alejandro." I chuckled, "wow, what a coincidence. Twice in a week."

"I dabble my hands in my talents."

"I see. Do you know Amina?"

"Yeah, I knew her sister in college," he told me.

"Oh." I got chills when he got closer, standing while watching the shoot with me. Talia was in her chair getting made up. She made an excited expression when she spotted me. I snorted and shook my head.

"Friend of yours?" Alejandro asked.

"Yeah, and roommate. She works in the graphic department."

"She's gorgeous."

"Well, she is a model part time. She's done some magazine shoots."

"You're not a model as well?"

"No, no. I'm more behind the scenes, I'm just here for a favor." I shook my head in a dismissive manner.

"Wow. Their loss." Alejandro grinned, staring at me with a warm gaze. I scoffed with head shake, Was he just-

"Hi," I turned to the voice. Amina came over, took off her shades and smiled at both of us. "You must be Jennette." She hugged me, squeezing my left shoulder. "You're beautiful."

"Oh, thank you so much! So are you. I love your products," I complimented. Especially what she was wearing. Her gray dress was fabulous.

"Thank you, I'm glad. Alejandro, happy that you can make it."

"I'm always here to support you." They both kissed each other on the cheeks.

"So, do you know what clothes you're posing for?"

"We just arrived, so no."

"Well, Tori will get you situated, right there." She pointed to the girl with beach wavy curls that was cleaning her mirror.

"Okay." I walked at a steady pace, meeting Tori. We handshook and I sat on the chair facing the mirror.

She brushed and caressed my face. "Your skin is a bit dry."

"It is?" I frowned; "I moisturized this morning." I touched the middle of my forehead of any dry spots.

"I meant you're not wearing any makeup." I groaned. I took off my make up at night. If I wore makeup today, I would sweat it off. I'm nervous. "Don't worry, I have something for it." She brought a bottle and sprayed it in my face.

"What the hell?" I frowned, some got in my mouth, I coughed. It went in my mouth.

"It's face mist," she said simply with a shrug.

"Give me warning when you do that." I squeezed my eyebrows together.

"Apologies. You should close your eyes and mouth." I did what I was told, she spritzed me three times. It smelled like lemons. I sniffed it, it was calming. I opened my eyes. She applied a primer first, a foundation that matches my skin tone.

"You got some major raccoon eyes," she stated, patting under my eyes with the blending sponge.

"I know, I draw at night."

"Try using cucumbers or eye masks."

"I'll keep that in mind." I grinned tightly. At the corner of my eye, I saw Talia and Sam chatting with someone in a suit. It was Damon from the party. He squeezed her upper arm, and then moved a strand of her hair from her cheek. It made her blush. What's he doing here? He was in a new suit.

A deep green one this time. His hair was neat, neater than it was from the party. His blue eyes were bright, like he took an energy shot today. He was a good-looking man, just touchy. He liked to put his palm on my knee. Was he here because of Samuel? He kept glaring at him when Talia wasn't paying attention. They exchanged looks, a private conversation between them, drinking from a flask. What the hell was that?

The makeup artist faced me back to the mirror. She blended in the rest of the foundation. My skin became glowy. "Lips out," she directed. I pouted my lips as she applied red lip gloss. I used my eyes to see them, they were gone from my vision. I felt my palms sweat; I rubbed my fingers together. It was like the first time I had to draw on commission for a big company. This was another big company, like the first time I rode that rollercoaster on Six Flags. I'm not even a professional model like Talia. took a deeper breath, to ease the tension in my head.