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Yoshi, having never set foot in a fashion show in his life, hesitated, then quickly nodded when Adam looked back at him.  “Fuck yeah.  Wouldn’t miss it for the world, dude.”

Shaun, sensing that this was the last place Yoshi ever wanted to be, couldn’t stop from smiling at him in appreciation.  “Okay,” she whispered, looking back to Adam.  “You’re sweet to do this for me.”

“Okay, no time,” Adam said, again, softly pushing at her shoulder until she slowly began making her way backstage.  “Tony Milano,” He reminded her with worried eyes.

Shaun turned back to him and nodded her understanding.  She raised her hand and gave and uncertain wave.

Yoshi and Adam waved back, watching her disappear behind the backstage curtain.

“Holy shit, they’re gonna eat her alive.”

Adam wanted to stand up for her, but he wasn’t so sure that Yoshi was wrong.

“Come on we gotta go.”  Yoshi gave Adam’s arm a gentle push.  “We got that morning show in an hour.  She’ll be fine,” he added, completely contradicting what he’d just said moments earlier.

Reluctantly, Adam followed Yoshi out of the hangar and back to their awaiting cab.

--

It was a long taxi ride to the studio where Adam and Yoshi were meeting the rest of the guys for their morning show interview.  The two band mates had been stewing in a strange silence since they’d dropped Shaun off at the park and neither seemed in a big hurry to break it.

Hating the feeling of whatever was hanging between them, Yoshi finally spoke up.  “I hope we get the same chick who interviewed us the last time we were here.  The blonde with no bra—“

“Why was Shaun in your room?”

Yoshi wasn’t surprised by the question, but he was surprised at the way Adam had just blurted it right out. “She was in the lobby when I got back.  Said she had no place to go.”

“She had someplace to go.  She’s staying with me.”

“Didn’t look that way to me.  Looked like she was standing alone in the lobby.” 

Adam’s eyes were riveted to the back of the cabbie’s head, his heart racing. “Did you fuck her?”

“Wow.” Yoshi scoffed. “Not even answering that.”

“You know she’s a virgin,” Adam said, under his breath.

“Nah, I didn’t know that, but I’m sure she’d really appreciate you putting her business on the street.”

“Just…”  Adam felt like he was slowly losing control and he hated that feeling. “Just don’t…”

Yoshi studied Adam.  They had been friends for a long time and knew each other too well.  Yoshi could have split Adam open at that moment and read him like a book.  “She barely made it past the door before she passed the fuck out.  Barely made it to the bed.  I stayed up all night working on the new tracks.”  He hesitated. “I didn’t touch her, man.”

Adam continued to stare ahead with focused eyes, mind racing.

Yoshi had never known Adam to be the jealous type, at least not to this extent. Suddenly, he remembered the strange note of Shaun’s that he’d found earlier.  “Who the hell is this girl, Adam?”

Adam thought that was an excellent question.

He just wished he had an answer.

Eight

It didn’t take Shaun long to find Tony in the backstage area.  In all actuality, he found her.

“You’re short,” was the first thing the equally short Italian man said as he sized Shaun up.

Feeling defensive, Shaun had to bite her tongue to keep from pointing out that the top of Tony’s head barely made it to the bottom of her chin.  She figured it would be better not to burn the bridge that Adam had so kindly built for her, thinking he was doing her some kind of favor.  

“5’7”.”  She said with a sharp nod.

“Oy,” Tony groaned, turning his back on her.  “Follow me.”

He zig-zagged quickly through the hundreds of people that were running around all over the place, never looking over his shoulder to make sure Shaun was behind him. She struggled to get through the thick crowd, feeling rude when she was forced to shoulder her way past people in fear of losing tiny Tony in the swarm of people.

As they broke free of the crowd Shaun caught sight of a line of very brightly lit hair and make-up stations, at least twenty all the way down.  Tony turned to her and motioned to the only empty seat in the middle. 

“Sit here,” he demanded.

Shaun sat obediently and looked to her left and right as Tony draped a heavy cape across her chest and shoulders.  To her horror she recognized both the model to her left, and the one to her right.  Though she didn’t know either of their names, she knew their faces since they were both splashed across many of the ads in the fashion magazines Shaun was forced to read for work.  Her heart began to race.  These were legitimate models she was sitting next to.  What the hell was she doing here?  To her horror her eyes also caught Veronica sitting at the farthest make-up seat.  Judging by the way the blonde was leaning over to see her, Shaun could tell that Veronica had already spotted her.  She waved at Veronica, but quickly pulled her hand away when the blonde frowned in response.

Tony began running his fingers through her curls.  “I don’t love your height, but I love your hair.  We will have to hem whatever you wear but it shouldn’t be a huge problem.”

A tall Russian woman with hair that literally looked like it had been set on fire came up behind Tony with a curling iron and a monstrously large make-up case in her hand.

“This is Zedra,” Tony said. “She’ll be taking care of you.”

And, just like that, Tony was gone.

“Hi Zedra, I’m Shaun.”

“Jes, Jes….”  Zedra eyed her in much the same way Tony had.  “How tall are you, dear?”  Her accent was strong.

Shaun fought not to roll her eyes.  Apparently that was a question she would have to get used to. “I’m 5’7”.”

“Oh my.”  Zedra’s already alarmingly big eyes grew even wider.

“Yeah…”  Shaun trailed off.

“So who’s your juice?”

“My… my juice?”  Shaun asked, holding her breath as the woman began rubbing a warm towel with a foreign, chemical smell across Shaun’s face.

“Jes,”  Zedra drawled, tossing the wipe in the trash before slamming her make-up case down on the counter and catching Shaun’s eye in the mirror.  “Who do you know?”

“Um…”  Before Shaun could answer, her phone rang.  It was Jackson, her editor at Cosmopolitan.  “I’m sorry I have to take this.” She motioned to her phone.

Zedra gave an unintelligible grunt and a wave.  Shaun took this as her permission to pick up the phone.

“Jackson, I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch but I really can’t talk right now.”  Shaun squinted in pain as the woman who she was now sure would be torturing her for the better part of the day burned her with a curling iron.  With everything that had been going on Shaun had completely forgotten that she had an editor-in-chief that she was supposed to report to.  She had promptly sent Jackson everything she’d been working on when he left a not-so-nice message on her voicemail that morning. 

When an impatient looking stranger appeared in front of her with a make-up brush, Shaun jammed her eyes shut, hoping it was the right thing to do.  The moment she shut her eyes she felt the brush sweeping across her lid. She could only pray she didn’t look completely crazy once this was all over.

Jackson sounded happy, something Shaun wasn’t used to, on the other end of the line.  “Of course, of course.  Just wanted to touch base and say that I love what you have so far.”

Love?  Shaun wasn’t aware Jackson even knew the meaning of the word. “You do?  That’s fantastic!”  A tidal wave of hairspray landing right in her eye wiped the smile right off of Shaun’s face. “Ow!”

“Are you okay?”  Jackson asked slowly.

“I’m fine,” Shaun said, holding one burning eye closed all the while choking on the hairspray.  As the toxic cloud slowly dissipated, with her one good eye, Shaun caught sight of the flat screen TV propped up on the wall and almost screamed in horror when she saw her face on the screen.  “Holy shit, I’m on TV.”  She said, almost absently, as horror filled her veins.

“Right.  About that,” Jackson said. “There’s been a few randoms coming into the office and asking questions about you. As far as they’re concerned I have no idea who you are.  Your records with the company have been sealed to protect your identity.”

Shaun breathed a sigh of relief.  She was both surprised and relieved to know that her editor had her back.  Still, she knew that Jackson sealing her files at Cosmopolitan would prove no match for the gossip hungry reporters that swarmed Los Angeles on a daily basis.  If they wanted to know who she was they would surely find out.  It was only a matter of time. “Thank you Jackson. Look, I’m sorry but I have to go.”

“Understood.  Keep me updated.”

“I will.”  Shaun hung up and took in the screen in front of her.

Fully made-up and ten minutes away from walking the runway, all she could do was stare wide-eyed at the flat screen TV mounted against the backstage wall in horror.  Her perfectly smoky eyes and stark red lips were both opened as wide as they would go as she listened to the blonde newscaster’s voice.  A picture of she and Yoshi popped up on the screen.  He had his arm around her and they were both smiling.  It looked very intimate.  Shaun had been in the lobby with Yoshi when that photo was taken and though she knew that moment was nothing more than two new friends having a laugh she was sure the public wouldn’t take it so innocently.

As if to solidify this, the newscaster’s voice chimed in in the background.  “It appears that Shaun has been stroking the keys of more than one member of the band, as she’s seen photographed here going back to the hotel room of The White Keys’ drummer—who
isn’t
Adam.”

“No he certainly isn’t, Lacy.”  The male co-host said with a laugh.  “So why
was
the young model caught going into BOTH Adam and Yoshi’s hotel rooms? That seems to be the question of the hour.  More when we come back.”

“Oh my god,”  Shaun whispered.  As a Charmin commercial began to play, her eyes began to water.

“Don’t cry, darling, you will destroy the eye,” Zedra said, dabbing a dry cotton ball under Shaun’s dark eyes and eyeing the broadcast at the same time.  “Vultures, all of them.  Don’t let them get you down.”

Veronica came breezing by, ready for her turn on the catwalk, and smirked at Shaun.  “I knew something was off about this whole thing.  Adam’s never looked twice at a black girl in his life.”  She sauntered over to Shaun’s chair and held it on either side, leaning in.  “So what’s your price?  A pretty chocolate thing like you must go for a lot more than most girls your shade.”

Without thinking, Shaun released an animalistic growl and leapt from her chair, her hands clawing for Veronica’s neck.

Shaun lost her breath as a pair of bony—but surprisingly strong—arms, held her back from attacking Veronica, who was still smiling.  The leggy blonde sauntered away, her smile having been upgraded to full out laughter.

Shaun was rocketed back into her seat, and she was surprised to come eye to eye with Janelle, who was now the one blocking her into her make-up chair.  Thanks to that awful thirty second broadcast all eyes were now on Shaun in the backstage area, but no one looked surprised.  It was the most quiet, the most still that she’d seen anyone in that room stand since the moment she’d arrived.  Like a swarm of obedient moths, however, they all slowly went back to whatever tasks they had at hand. Soon the place was a madhouse, once again.

“Janelle?” Shaun’s chest heaved.  “How did you?  When did you?”

“I flew in last night.  When I spoke to Adam on the phone this morning he seemed worried for you.  I wasn’t sure what the hell he had to be worried about but now I know I made the right decision when I decided to listen to him and come check on you--apparently not a moment too soon.”

“They’re calling me a whore!”  Shaun cried, pointing to the screen. “And that witch Veronica…”  She couldn’t even finish her sentence she was so angry.

“I know.” Janelle jammed her blue eyes shut and took the chair across from Shaun while running her hands through her red locks. “One of my interns got wind of the story and came to me last night.  I took the first flight out here.  Shaun…”  Janelle leaned in.  “The story is already out there. It’s too late to reverse it, but we’re going to fix it.”

Shaun’s eyes widened even more than they already were.

“We have some serious damage control to do, my dear, but first… you have a runway to walk.”

And, just like that, Shaun was whisked away.  She was the next to walk on the runway, and she could hardly breathe.

--

Later that night Shaun, Adam and Janelle were all holed up in Adam’s hotel room.  Shaun and Adam sat on the edge of the bed while Janelle paced in front of them, hands placed squarely on her hips.  Shaun was just as irritated as Janelle, but for different reasons.  With arms crossed over her chest and eyes riveted to the opposite wall, she struggled to wrap her mind around the day’s events.  The nasty things Veronica had said to her, the fact that the media was targeting her, the article that her boss loved but she wasn’t even sure she could still write… it was all becoming way too much, way too fast.  Shaun felt like one false move would end everything, and she would
lose
everything.