“Okay, everybody!” Collin boomed at the front of the darkened boardroom. “As you all know, we are going to be advertising Capier's brand new line of cell phone products called Clickmark."
A picture of a mauve colored cell phone appeared on the screen along with a list of features.
“This is the concept I have in mind for the campaign. The setting will be an urban metropolis. We will follow a basic storyline, with four or five still pictures comprising the plot. If the layouts look good enough to impress the big wigs, we’ll start production on a commercial before the still photos are released. Hopefully, we’ll be all ready to go by the beginning of November—just in time for Christmas.”
Christina shifted in her seat. For some reason, she wasn’t feeling very comfortable. Maybe it was the fact she was jammed between Dominic and Mark at the furthest arch of the oval-shaped table. She could hardly see Collin’s face and she was having the worst time listening to him. Mark was fidgeting, shifting his weight, and glancing over at Dominic and Alexander every ten seconds. Whereas Dominic was sitting perfectly still. One of his hands was sprawled across the side of his face like a spider. He was biting on his pinkie finger. Apparently, he wasn’t having as much trouble concentrating as Christina and Mark, but even so, Christina had an odd feeling he wasn’t thinking about Collin’s presentation. He had probably sat through a million such meetings. Instead, Christina felt like he was only thinking about her.
When Dominic caught her looking at him, he purposefully turned his head and winked at her. He resumed his thoughtful pose when Christina looked away.
The arched table in the dark was quite full. Alexander and Trevor were sitting together on the other side of Dominic, and Mindy was there, too. Then there was a costume designer, another makeup artist for Alexander, two of Trevor’s assistants (one of which was an extremely smart looking girl in her mid-twenties), Collin’s assistant, and one or two other people Christina couldn’t account for. It was a full house and she was the star of the show.
At least, she felt like the star of the show. She had to dress up as Tina for their only full meeting before shooting. It almost felt like a dress rehearsal even though she had no lines and the only thing she had to do was show up. It seemed like everyone else had something important only they could do. She felt like she was a blank piece of paper and she needed someone else to write on her before she would be of any value. And yet, she was the star and receiving far more attention than Alexander, who was a pro in the business. Christina wasn’t sure, but she thought he looked resentful.
Up at the front, Collin continued, “Tina and Alexander will be in the role of lovers playing hide and seek in the city with our new line of products. We hope to make it playful and sexy with an emphasis on the feelings of excitement a young woman could feel when the guy she likes gives her a call on her cell phone. These are cute phones and we want the female market from teens to grandmas. It’s Alexander’s job to look like the unattainable guy who suddenly can’t wait longer than twenty seconds to call Tina. He’s that attracted to her. It’s Tina’s job to look like the girl who’s bursting out of her skin at the mere idea of our darling Alexander calling before three days have eclipsed.”
“So, this is like the… opposite of reality?” Christina blurted, unable to control herself. She doubted Alexander would call her after three months, let alone the standard three days.
A flurry of laughter erupted along both sides of the table.
It was too late by the time everyone laughed for Christina to realize she had made a deadly mistake. She made it sound like she would be the last person in the world to get butterflies in her stomach over Alexander. “I just meant he would never call me,” she grumbled.
“What are you talking about, Tina?” Alexander said, reaching past Dominic to take her hand in his. “I’d call you the day after.”
Dominic flicked Alexander’s hand away and muttered crankily, “She’s taken.”
Collin put a hand to his mouth and pretended to cough before he said in a crystal clear professional tone, “Tina, if a guy is really interested, he really will call right away. You have to look like the kind of girl that would make a guy want to call without waiting. Do you think you can do that?”
Christina shrunk down in her chair. Yeah, she had definitely put her foot in her mouth. She guessed it wasn’t very mature for her to be cracking jokes when she had never done any modeling before. They were taking a chance on her, so she needed to have a better attitude.
She wanted to apologize, but taking back what she said seemed a little childish, so instead, she straightened and said calmly, “I’m counting on you to help me be exactly what you want. I'll try my best.”
Collin smiled as if to say he accepted her non-apology and then he went on to list the locations for the shoot. One would be on the city streets outside a coffee shop, another one would be in an underground train station, and the last one was in their own office.
Alexander groaned when he heard the last one. “You’re not going to make me pose in your office again, are you? Haven’t we been through this already?”
Collin nodded. “Yeah, we’ve been through this before. If you’re not interested in doing those shots, then Tina can do them by herself since she’s being so cooperative. Photo editing is amazing these days. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Alexander turned away grouchily and refused to answer.
“Well, you can think about that,” Collin said crossly. He closed the laptop that displayed his notes and asked his assistant to turn on the lights. “Now we’ll talk about logistics. Trevor will be presenting this segment." Collin took a seat and Trevor stood up to take over.
Trevor didn’t get far into his portion when Christina lost her ability to pay attention. She didn’t understand a word he was saying. Apparently, the upcoming portion was more for the benefit of everyone besides Christina and Alexander, the two who only had to show up and look pretty.
Maybe Trevor was right and modeling was different than being an escort. She had to appeal to everyone who might look at the photograph instead of just one man. She stole a glance at Mark, the one man she had to appeal to. He seemed very interested in his brother’s portion of the presentation, since he had completely given up fidgeting. It didn’t feel like he was thinking about her the way Dominic was, because she was positive the devil's mind hadn’t wavered.
***
After the meeting, Mark and Christina got separated. He was talking with Collin and Trevor while Christina's only route was to leave the building with Mindy. Christina wasn’t expected to work as Mark’s assistant on days when she was working as Tina, so she only had to make an appearance at work during the morning for the meeting. It was noon and she and Mindy were planning on eating lunch together in a restaurant down the street. At least, that was the plan until Dominic commandeered them.
He was on the street outside Capier's building putting Alexander in the back of a limo when he saw Christina and Mindy step out of the building. Abruptly, he shut the door on Alexander and banged on the roof of the limo to let the driver know it was okay to go without him. Then he turned on his heel and approached Christina and Mindy.
“Good work today,” he said to them both cheerfully. By that point, Mindy and Dominic knew each other rather well. He took Mindy with him on both his phony dates for Laura’s benefit. At least they knew each other well enough to be friendly.
“You too,” Mindy said, echoing his sentiments.
Christina gave him a dirty look. What was he doing here? “Aren’t you supposed to be with Alexander?” she asked grouchily. “Won’t he be mad at you for blowing him off?”
“Dang! Was I supposed to escort him out?” Dominic smiled as he watched the limo disappear around a corner. He shrugged his shoulders. “Too late now. I’ll catch up with him after I take the two of you to lunch.”
“We already had plans,” Christina said, trying to make her casual lunch with Mindy sound like something important. “You can’t just cut in on them at the last minute.”
Mindy rolled her eyes and made her feelings known before Dominic had a chance to argue. “Didn’t you hear what the man said, Christina? He said he was going to pay for both of us to have lunch with him. Did I not teach you anything? Not to mention if we go out with him, we’ll probably get to eat at a restaurant where we don’t have to carry our food to the table ourselves. Catch my drift? Let’s go, Dom.” With that, Mindy put her arm through Dominic’s and let him lead them down the busy street.
Christina was left to trot meekly behind them—scowling. She couldn’t help it. She didn’t like Mindy’s way of talking openly about being a sell-out in front of Dominic. Christina guessed Mindy didn’t care because it wasn’t like Dominic didn’t know what she was. Why bother with the pretense of being someone you weren’t? Christina wished she could be that honest—except not in front of Dominic. She had the feeling there was more to lunch than he said. She couldn’t forget what he said to her weeks ago at the escort service. He hadn’t given up on her.
Once at the restaurant, Christina got to hear a detailed account of Laura’s dates with the male escorts. Christina had heard a little from Mindy before, but it was more interesting when Mindy told the story with Dominic because then she got to hear both their perspectives at the same time.
“Shane was tough, even though he looks like a sissy,” Mindy said brazenly when recalling Laura’s first date.
“Tough?” Christina asked. She couldn’t imagine sweet, blond-haired, blue-eyed Shane being anything different than a little brother type. “How could he be tough?”
Dominic shook his head, “Well, you said he should get her to confide in him and to tell him about her troubles with Mark. Naturally, she didn’t want to. He was patient though and chipped away at her defenses until she finally pulled him aside to talk to him. I guess she told him everything because when we found them, she was crying her eyes out on his shoulder and he was…”
“Patting her head,” Mindy finished, unable to wait for him to do the honors.
“Really?” Christina asked, not quite able to visualize the scene even though it had been her idea in the first place.
“Yeah,” Dominic said, looking as surprised as Christina felt. “I still can’t get over how well it worked out, but I guess she was a little extra sensitive because she knew you were out with Mark.”
Dominic looked into Christina’s face to see her reaction to that observation, but Christina refused to be rattled. She maintained that it didn’t matter if she existed or not, Mark would never have fallen for Laura. So, she waited for Dominic to go on and eventually, he did.
“She even asked to be set up with him again since they missed exchanging cell phone numbers. After that, we took her out with Gregory.”
“How did that go?”
“I think Laura was disappointed it wasn’t Shane again,” Mindy said, gulping her water.
“Yeah, it felt like we were pitting Gregory against both Mark and Shane which would have been cruel.”
“How did he manage?”
“We went to an amusement park because it was supposed to be ‘all about distraction.’ Remember?”
At that point, Mindy started to laugh. “Gregory is a riot. I didn’t know him too well before, but man alive, I want to find out all about him now. You’ll never guess his superpower!”
“Superpower?” Christina repeated, stunned.
Mindy took a deep breath before she answered carefully, “It seems that in a past life, Gregory was a carny.”
“A carny?” Christina exclaimed.
“That’s right,” Mindy giggled. “He used to be one of those guys who stands there at the carnival and shoots paper targets with a BB gun. You know, the person running the stand who can actually score enough points to get a really big prize. That way, everyone thinks it’s easy. So, Gregory found the game he used to run and he won Laura this gigantic pink spotted frog within the first ten minutes.”
“No way!”
Mindy shrugged her shoulders, “Then he took her on the roller coaster and kept her moving until it was time to go. They even got their picture taken together in a booth. I was surprised that Laura had enough stamina to keep up with him, but then his energy is infectious. That must be why he’s so popular.”
“Wow,” Christina said, completely dumbfounded. “Her next date was supposed to be with Michael, right? Has she gone on that one yet?”
“She went on Saturday… by herself,” Dominic said meaningfully.
Christina leaned closer to him across the table and whispered, “Did she tell you how it went?”
Mindy leaned in to listen as well. “Yeah, tell us.”
Dominic looked at both of them twice before he spun his sunglasses between his fingers and answered, “I’m not sure she’d want me to tell you.”
“Come on!” Mindy groaned. “Haven’t we been your partners in all this? Christina cooked this all up and I went with you on those two dates. Come on! Spill!”
“I don’t know,” Dominic continued, sighing and appearing to be torn.
“You can at least tell us if it went well or not, right?” Christina encouraged. “If it’s super personal, then yeah, don’t tell us the details, but you can at least let us know which way the wind blew. Right?”
“Well, it didn’t go as well as you expected it to, darling Tina. Michael was a little smoother than Laura likes. Yeah, from her description, it sounded like he knew what he was doing. His moves sounded smoother than butter. To be honest, I sort of wanted to go beat the crap out of him after what Laura told me. But he was supposed to be the last escort-made date, so I think it is okay to let it slide.”
As Dominic talked, Christina remembered the next phase of the plan. They were supposed to set Laura up with a real guy.
“Do you have any plans for who should be her next date?” Christina asked seriously. Dominic frowned for an instant before he flourished a fantastic smile and said,
“That’s why I wanted to ask you two out for lunch. We need to talk about something.”
“Ask,” Mindy said acting like whatever Dominic was going to say involved her as much as it involved Christina.
“I have someone in mind for her real date, but it involves putting you, Tina, in a rather awkward situation when you’re already going to be stressed. Mindy, you have to help her.”
Christina’s body suddenly felt hot and uncomfortable. From his tone, she knew it was going to be something she wouldn't like.
“Explain quickly, Dom,” Mindy said in her sternest voice which was anything but inviting.
“I want to set her up with Trevor. I think they’d match. It’s just that Laura will need to be on-site during the shoot from time to time. You know, to make sure that the two of them see each other a little before I suggest they go on a date. Do you think you’ll be able to deal with her daggers, Tina?”
Christina stared at him with utter revulsion. He really was the devil; horns and everything.
***
Christina’s first instinct was to ask Dominic if he was punishing her for choosing Mark over him or if he was truly a sadist at heart. If Laura hung out on the set it was going to be a thousand times worse than just an ‘awkward situation.’ First of all, her presence was completely unnecessary, because she worked in financial services and not in marketing. Second, Christina didn’t think it was professional for Dominic to invite family members on a shoot. After thinking up those two reasons, Christina’s brain short-circuited and a score of other reasons flooded and clogged the logical part of her consciousness. Mark would be uncomfortable. Trevor would be working, and if Laura hung all over him, who knew what the consequences might be—not just for him, but for the project?
In the end, Christina’s eye twitched. Then she got up and said smoothly while looking down at Dominic, “You're asking for too much. It seems like you're trying to wrap up all your problems in a week. You have to have a man for Laura. You have to make Alexander more popular before he ruins himself. You have to torture Mark. You have to torture me. It's too much! If only you could buy that much with a simple lunch." She paused and looked into his eyes. “Well, you know what, Dominic?”
“What?” he said softly like the wind had been knocked out of him.
“I’ve just thought of a new mandate for your growing list.”
“Go on,” he said when she paused.
“Convince me you’re not the devil, because I’m through helping you. If you want to bring Laura on the shoot, knock yourself out. If she glares at me, she glares at me…” Christina paused and inhaled. “You know what I think you're really doing? I think it's not Trevor you have your eye on as a prospective boyfriend for Laura. It's Mark. Neither one of you has gotten him out of your scope, even after our plan has been carried out and you want me to tolerate it. Otherwise, why tell me? You want me to stand there, pose with your brother, and tolerate her hitting on Mark in front of me. And I'm supposed to be so spellbound by this golden modeling opportunity that I don't notice the scheminess of my boyfriend getting stolen from me when it's right under my nose. The stupid part is that you think you'll still have a chance with me after I get dumped. That's the real plan, right?”
Dominic didn't say anything, but his expression denied nothing.
“And you expect me to think you’re better than Mark? Ridiculous!” Christina grabbed her handbag. “Do what you want Dominic, but I’m through with you.”
Christina swiftly marched through the restaurant doors with her cheeks on fire. Was 'scheminess' even a word? Whatever! She was right about him. He was the personification of hell, but if Mindy was so desperate for a free lunch she could stay. Christina didn't hear her cousin jumping up and running after her.
***
Christina didn’t know what Dominic’s reaction to her downpour had been. His face had shown no sign, so she was surprised when it came in the form of a summons to Collin’s office the next day—without Mark.
Christina felt unusually nervous as she took the elevator to the Marketing floor and was waved in by the receptionist.
“Come in and close the door,” Collin said when she knocked at his office. Christina obeyed and sat down on the zebra-patterned sofa. “Is something wrong?” she asked timidly.
He looked at her curiously. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Anything,” she told her boss’s boss.
“Do you want to be a model?”
The question took Christina off guard. At first, she didn’t know what to say. It was a full minute before she made the connection that Dominic must have done something to encourage Collin to speak to her. “I never had any particular aspirations to become one,” she finally answered.
“Why did you agree to do our photoshoot then?”
“I thought it would be fun.”
“But you didn’t have any plans to try to make it as a model?”
“No.”
“The reason I’m asking,” Collin said, putting his feet on his desk. “Is that you have seemed really dedicated to doing a good job, and yet I just got a phone call from Dominic. Apparently, he has changed his mind about whether or not you’re capable of standing up with Alexander and he is willing to provide me a detailed list of female models he thinks more qualified than you.”
“Yeah, he would say that,” she said bitterly.
“Dominic doesn’t usually make professional recommendations as personal favors, but I suspected in your case he may have made an exception. Though at the time, I did not question why. Physically, you are good enough to stand up with Alexander, no matter what back-peddling Dominic is doing now. Can you give me a reason why Domi has changed his mind about you?”
“He found out I wasn’t exactly what he supposed.”
“I don’t understand. You make it sound like you two were scheming something together. Care to come clean?”
“We were scheming something, but not what you think. I never told him I wanted to be a model or anything like that. He bought me a couple of times when I worked for the escort service, but he was only impressed with my way of reading his moods. He told me that was the reason why he thought I would make a good model. I was willing to go along with it because it's an interesting opportunity and at first it seemed like he didn’t want anything in return.”
“What does he want?”
“He wants his sister Laura to get together with Mark, or else he wants to see her happy with someone else—like Trevor. He spoke to me about it yesterday at lunch. Apparently, he ‘owes’ her or something. And he both wants me in the way and out of the way, but—I can't bet my life on what he really after. He's killing me.”
Collin looked thoughtful for a moment and then he said, “Dominic kills everybody. The main concern here is whether or not you’re willing to put your whole heart into our campaign. I don’t care if you want to make a career out of modeling, but I do care that this one thing goes right. It’s not too late to get someone else if you don’t want to do it.”
“No, I made a commitment and I’ll try my hardest,” Christina said, trying to make herself sound more convincing than she felt.
“And you’ll be happy when it’s time to go back to being Mark’s assistant?”
“Of course!”
“Of course,” Collin echoed slowly. “For a second there I forgot the two of you were in a relationship. But if Dominic and Laura are involved, the drama must be oozing. Don't tell me anything more about that. I'll get Mark to give me the details later. Right now, you should go back to him." Then his face cleared and he took his feet off the desk and walked Christina to the door. “Don’t worry about Dominic. I’ll deal with his complaint. He can’t flip-flop on his recommendations. We don’t have to hire Alexander.”
Christina left Collin’s office feeling relieved and uncomfortable at the same time. Why had she said all that stuff? Surely Collin wasn't interested.
Later, as she updated a database on her computer screen, she realized exactly why she was so ticked off with Dominic and why she had made such a good choice choosing Mark. She would never be able to trust Dominic. Even when it seemed like he was doing her a favor, he would always be manipulating things to his own ends. He didn't love her if he could only prove his love by lying to her and scheming.
She peeked around her monitor and saw Mark talking on the phone in his office— smoother than silk. Yeah, he could still sweet talk the pants off any corporate executive.
At that moment, Christina started to question where all her efforts were getting her. Could she really trust Mark more than Dominic not to cheat her?