Model Behavior

by Claire Highton-Stevenson

  “I don’t want a dress!” she shouted.

  “For?” Hilary asked, ignoring the outburst.

  “My mother is having a party, and we have to look the part,” Olivia explained, rolling her eyes and then laughing out loud. “Actually, I don’t think she would care what I wore, but she has been a tremendous support to me, and I want to—”

  “Do her proud?”

  “Yes, exactly.” She grinned, and just for a moment, all of the sadness in her eyes dissipated. Hilary liked that too.

  “Okay, so what is the party for? I mean what kind of outfit are we looking for?”

  “It’s my mother’s birthday, and it will be somewhat formal, but will probably end up being a raucous affair once her and her friends have had a few too many cocktails. Hey, you should totally come!”

  “Yay, come to the party!” Gracie said, jumping up and down before running off to stare into the window of a store with the biggest Lego display.

  “To your mother’s party? I doubt she would want a stranger there.” Her heart had actually skipped a beat at the invitation, although she knew it highly unlikely that Olivia meant it, or that she would be able to go anyway with her work commitments.

  They walked together towards the spot where Gracie now hunkered down, examining every block. “She wouldn’t mind, and anyway you’re not a stranger, you’re my friend. Will you come?” Olivia looked at her with such intensity that Hilary actually had to look away for a moment. “Please, there won’t be anyone else my age there.”

  “When is it?”

  “Saturday.” Those big brown eyes were so unfair, Hilary thought as she looked into them and tried so very hard to stick to her guns.

  “I’m probably going to be working. I work Saturday nights, and I dunno if I can drop my shift this late notice.”

  Gracie grew tired of the display and they moved on.

  “But you’ll try?”

  “Sure, I’ll try.”

  Olivia grasped Hilary’s arm and tightened her grip. “I really hope you can.”

  ~MB~

  Olivia marched around the store, plucking items from rails as she went, examining each one, holding it up against herself, showing it to Hilary and putting it back if Hilary so much as wrinkled her nose at it. Gracie traipsed behind, letting her fingers touch the material as she stomped around after her mother. Hilary was exhausted just watching them both.

  With several items picked, they headed toward the changing rooms, where Hilary held out the items of clothing for Olivia to take and try on.

  “Are you not coming in with me?” she asked, wide-eyed and innocent.

  “Uh well, I figured you know, there probably isn’t much room...”

  “Don’t be silly, there is plenty of room. Come on.”

  Olivia’s life thus far had been spent mostly in and around changing rooms, with other women, all of whom had no qualms with undressing in front of one another. There wasn’t time for self-consciousness when you were on a catwalk. You did your thing, came off and got changed quickly, ready to go back out again. Nobody took any notice. It was just work.

  They also all had figures to die for. They knew it, the client knew it, and the audience knew it. So there was never anything to be embarrassed about.

  It was, however, a strange phenomenon for Hilary. She spent half the week undressed and parading around in her underwear without batting an eyelid, but this was different. This was Olivia, and right now, Hilary was understanding more and more that her crush was developing. She liked Olivia, was attracted to her. It would be wrong, wouldn’t it? To openly stare at her half-naked body while imagining all of the things she wanted to do with it? And then she had the answer: Gracie. She could busy herself with Gracie while Olivia was changing. Then she only had to look up, appraise the outfit one way or the other, and return her attention to the kid for the next change.

  Olivia grabbed her hand and pulled her into the large changing area. Thankfully, at least there was nobody else in there. Strolling confidently across the room, Olivia hung the clothes on pegs to her left. Without a word of warning, she lifted the hem of her top and pulled it off before Hilary could even sit down. She couldn’t stop herself from staring. Olivia was tanned and taut. The lilac-coloured bra did little to cover her small, yet pert breasts. Hilary pulled her eyes away and found Gracie staring up at her.

  “Shall we take a seat here?” Hilary said, leading Gracie to the wooden bench off to the side. Gracie climbed up onto it and Hilary sat down, but the move didn’t hide the vision of Olivia tugging her jeans down to reveal matching panties.

  “Wow,” Hilary said, without restraint. Her hand flew to her mouth when Olivia turned to look at her.

  “Huh?” Olivia chuckled as she realised what Hilary had said, and now with the blushing, she got it completely,

  “Oh my God, did I say that out loud?” She bit her bottom lip as Olivia pulled on the white shirt.

  “You said, ‘wow,’” Gracie confirmed.

  Olivia grinned. “Considering I haven’t worked out in months, I am going to take your comment as a compliment.” She grabbed the pair of skinny-style trousers that matched perfectly with the white shirt still hanging. Hilary watched in awe as she pulled them up tanned thighs. “And considering how good you look without clothes on, I am going to take it as a double compliment.”

  Hilary burst out laughing. Gracie followed suit, even though she had no clue why they were giggling.

  “Why are you laughing?” Olivia said, buttoning the shirt, not quite sure what she had said that was so funny.

  “I was thinking how funny it is that we’ve both seen each other half-naked and never even been on a date.” Hilary twirled her fingers, indicating Olivia should turn in a circle, which she did. “I like it, it’s very…you, but is it a party outfit?”

  “Hmm, you’re right.” Looking at herself in the mirror, Olivia continued. “Maybe we should.” She caught Hilary’s eye in the mirror and held her gaze.

  “Should what?” Hilary asked, her brow frowning quizzically.

  “Go on a date.”

  Now it was Hilary’s turn to widen her eyes. “Oh.”

  “I mean, if you wanted to, obviously.”

  “Uh yeah, yes, I just – I didn’t think you—” Olivia tilted her head with interest as Hilary stammered her way through her answer. “I wasn’t sure, if you…”

  Olivia turned around to face Hilary, wanting to give the blonde her full attention.

  “I would.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The shopping trip was a relative success, mainly in that Hilary had scored herself a date with Olivia, but also in that Olivia had bought several of the items they had found, and then a few more in some of the other stores they visited, and Gracie had gotten her way with a pair of dungarees she had seen. Hilary was looking forward at last to something other than just earning a living.

  By Wednesday, she was more than a little excited. In just three hours she would be meeting Olivia once again. This time there would be no Gracie and no reason why, if she played her cards right, the night couldn’t end with them being a little further down the path of more than friends.

  However, she did have one concern. She had just spent a day with Olivia, who thought nothing of dropping several hundred dollars on a few items of clothing. Hilary’s wardrobe paled in comparison. She pushed hangers one way and then the other, but nothing she came up with was anywhere near classy enough to go on a date with Olivia Copeland.

  There was only one thing for it. She needed to speak to the one person who would put her straight: her dad.

  “Pop! Help, I have a date and nothing to wear.” She could hear her dad chuckle on the other end of the line, and it made her smile.

  “Okay first off, is it with the girl from the text?” he asked.

  “Yes! And I just spent the afternoon with her spending hundreds of dollars on clothes, and I have—” She looked in her wardrobe once again before adding, “Nothing.”


  “Okay Hils, since when have you ever worried about that? You have always had your own style. Even as a child you wouldn’t wear the clothes your mother and I picked out.”

  She was reminded of Gracie and grinned. “That is true,” she conceded while looking again through her wardrobe.

  “And didn’t you tell me she was special?”

  “Yeah.” She placed the phone in the crook of her neck as she pulled out several tops and a dress. “I think she could be.”

  “So, do you think you would think that about her if she was the type of girl that judged you on what you wore?”

  She stopped what she was doing. He was right. And that was why she loved her dad and he would always be her go-to man. He could put her at ease and know exactly what to say, every time. “You’re right.”

  “So, the likelihood is that she likes you for who you are and what you wear tonight won’t change her opinion of you because she already likes you and has seen your awful dress sense.” He roared with laughter at his own joke.

  “Dad!” she exclaimed. “That’s mean.” She couldn’t help chuckling though; he didn’t have a mean bone in his body. “Thanks Dad.”

  “Have a wonderful time, Hil. Just be yourself and she won’t be able to resist.”

  “Thanks Pop.”

  She put the phone down and pulled out the dress again.

  ~MB~

  The restaurant was Hilary’s choice this time: a small family-run Mediterranean restaurant on La Brea. It was busy with every table booked, but the ambiance was quiet and allowed for conversation as well as being somewhat private enough that nobody could overhear them.

  As was usual with Hilary, she had arrived early and sat by herself with a glass of white wine as she waited for Olivia. Looking around, she made eye contact with a guy who looked to be doing the same as her: waiting on a date. His leg twitched nervously, and he kept picking up his drink to take a sip before placing it back down on the table and looking around hopefully whenever the door opened.

  She hadn’t been on a date in over a year, not since breaking up with Gemma. That was when she had gone travelling and was never in one place long enough to meet anyone worth having a date with, but strangely, she didn’t feel nervous at all. Looking up, she saw the door open and was disappointed when the beautiful woman who walked through it wasn’t Olivia. Instead, this woman smiled and walked confidently past and over to the guy who had been waiting on the table next to her. He stood up and kissed her cheek, grinning from ear to ear. “Yeah, out of your league, Hun,” Hilary muttered to herself with a grin to match his. “But I hope it works out for you both.”

  The clock was just ticking around to seven on the dot when the door opened once more, and this time she could only imagine that her smile matched his as she took in the sight of Olivia.

  She looked stunning in a black dress that hung loosely to just above her knees, with long sleeves that fanned out at the wrist slightly wider than the rest. Her heels were just high enough that she matched Hilary, and she carried a little matching clutch.

  “You look amazing,” Hilary gushed. She stood to greet her and then, just like the guy, she leaned in and kissed her cheek.

  “Thank you, I could say the same for you,” Olivia replied. Stepping back, her eyes swept up and down, taking in every detail of the cute summer dress Hilary had chosen.

  “I got here early, so I ordered a drink already. Would you like one?” Hilary asked as she helped Olivia to her seat. Olivia smiled and without asking, picked up Hilary’s glass to take a sip.

  “I think we should just get the rest of the bottle.” Olivia grinned, placing the glass back on the table, much to Hilary’s amusement. So, Olivia likes to share, she thought. Another box ticked.

  Hilary waved over the waiter and asked for the bottle – and another glass, just to be polite. While they had his attention, they ordered their food.

  The entire time she was speaking, Hilary could feel Olivia’s eyes on her, and she enjoyed every second of the attention. With the waiter gone, she turned back to face Olivia. “So, I am going to be upfront from the start.” She bit her lower lip and scrunched up her nose before adding, “I haven’t done this in a really long time.” She smiled and hoped that she didn’t sound like an idiot, but she wanted to be honest. Dating wasn’t something she did that often.

  “Well,” Olivia said, reaching for Hilary’s glass and taking another sip. “If it makes you feel any better, neither have I.” She smiled over the rim of the glass before placing it back down within reach of Hilary. “And as we’re being honest, I should remind you that my last relationship ended badly, and I have a five-year-old at home who requires a lot of my attention.” She winced a little. Talking about Ava on a first date with Hilary hadn’t been her plan for conversation, and if she could swerve away from it then she would. However, she felt she owed it to Hilary to be upfront from the start, especially where Gracie was concerned.

  “So, is this your rebound, kinda?” God, she hoped she wasn’t just going to be a notch on Olivia’s bedpost to help her get over the ex.

  “I don’t know. It’s not that I’m not over my ex. Believe me, I really am. It’s just…it takes time to allow yourself to fall back into that space where you can open up and be good for someone else…I don’t know that I am completely there yet, but I mean it’s just a date, right? We get along and I enjoy spending time with you, and I find you very attractive, but we’re not going to get married tomorrow, are we?”

  Hilary hadn’t expected such frankness, but she liked it. It felt good to know where she stood, and it didn’t hurt that she now knew for sure that Olivia was attracted to her. Her tummy flipped at that thought.

  “I’d like to just enjoy whatever it is with no pressure.” With silence forthcoming, Olivia quickly added, “I am sorry, I tend to just say what I think. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

  “I’m not...I’m not embarrassed, I guess I’m just not used to compliments,” Hilary admitted with a little shrug. She picked up her glass and took another sip.

  Now, Olivia’s interest was really piqued. “Really? Why not?” Her elbows rested on the table edge. Fingers interlinked, she rested her chin on the cradle they provided. Her eyes settled on Hilary, giving her undivided attention. It was something else Hilary wasn’t used to having, but she liked that too. Olivia made her feel comfortable.

  “I – I don’t know.” She laughed nervously.

  “Hmm, but you find it so easy to tell me that I am attractive to you?” Olivia’s head tilted slightly as she asked the question. Her lips curved upwards into a lazy smile that had Hilary captivated.

  “Yes. That’s true. I am very comfortable giving compliments, and yet I struggle sometimes to receive them.” She wasn’t going to mention Gemma, but the way that Olivia was looking at her made it so easy to open up. “Lousy ex, never had a nice word to say. It gets easier to start believing them than to think differently.”

  Their waiter arrived and placed a plate in front of each of them, topped up their wine, and asked if there was anything else he could do for them. Given a polite “thank you” and a “no, they were fine,” he left them to enjoy their date.

  “Well, I guess we will just have to work on that, won’t we?” Olivia stated. Picking up her cutlery, she waited for Hilary to do the same.

  “I am still getting over the upset of not being a model.” Hilary grinned, referring back to their earlier conversation.

  Olivia had to laugh. It was so nice to be around somebody who didn’t take themselves so seriously. “Okay, you want the real truth why you couldn’t be a model?” Olivia grinned back, and Hilary nodded. “Boobs, you have great boobs, and as you can see,” she pointed to her own, much smaller chest, “models don’t have breasts.” She laughed.

  “You have breasts,” Hilary assured her.

  “Uh huh, but not like yours,” Olivia said. The mantra of do not look down at her boobs repeating over and over in her head.

  “Nice to kno
w.” Hilary winked, and when Olivia look confused, she added, “That you’ve noticed my boobs.”

  “Hilary, you were half-naked and hanging off a pole. I noticed a lot of things.”

  There was a comfortable silence while they ate, both women enjoying the food, and the company.

  Hilary’s love life for the last two years had consisted of drunken hookups that never went much further than a few hours. Her last date had been a very uncomfortable night with a woman her colleague had set her up with. Describing her as “wildly attractive and huge fun to be around” had actually meant she was indeed pretty; alas, the wild part was more akin to nuts, and the “huge fun to be around” meant, “you’ll be evading the police most of the night.”

  It hadn’t gone well.

  For Olivia, Ava had been her only date over the last three years and even then, over the last year to eighteen months they barely went anywhere. If she was honest with herself, their relationship was over long before she actually left. Their sex life had tailed off when Olivia had begun to realise that Ava was cheating on her. Her biggest question that needed answering was why she hadn’t left then. She had no real answer other than that she hated to fail and she had made a commitment. But it bothered her; it concerned her that she had allowed Ava to abuse their relationship and therefore herself in the process.

  “Did you think any more about Saturday?” Olivia broke the silence, regarding her mother’s birthday. “I mean, I understand if you can’t—”

  “No, I want to, if the offer is still-.”

  “Of course, yes,” Olivia gushed a little loudly, and Hilary smiled at her exuberance. The people at the next table stopped talking and looked their way. The withering look from the man caused a wry smile on Olivia’s face, and they laughed again.

  When the impromptu laughter came to an end, Hilary continued. “I couldn’t get out of my shift at Proton, but I managed to swap for the later one. So, I can go to the party with you, if it’s okay that I leave around midnight? I mean of course you might be bored of me by then anyway and—”