25 Chapter 22

A month later

"Skylar, please" Nina begged. "Just do it this time for me. I'll promise that I won't ask you again." Skylar opened one of his eyes and closed it back so Alexis could practice her makeup skills on his face.

"What happened to the model?" Alexis asked. "Are they sick or something?"

Nina sighed as she dropped her shoulders. "It's more like that your stupid brother doesn't want to do it with other women. Because he wants to do the shoot with his "precious boyfriend", as I quote."

"And those women harass me!" Ashton yelled as he entered Alexis' room with full speed. "When I try my best to politely decline their disgusting offers, they want to scream and say that I'm being rude. Like how the hell does that make sense?"

"That sounds like a personal problem," Alexis muttered as she tried to blend the foundation.

"You're pressing it a little too hard. You can do it a little softer so you don't punch yourself in the face later," Skylar advised her.

"Okay," she mumbled and tried to blend it softer.

"Cherry, please help," Ashton begged as he got on his knees. "If you help me, I'll give you anything you want."

"I don't need anything."

"You wanted a puppy, right? We can adopt one if you like," Ashton offered. "Or a kitten. Or we can even buy an owl or a parrot."

Skylar raised an eyebrow. "No. I'd rather want a pet when I or we have an apartment."

"I can let my mom design clothes for you."

Skylar shook his head. "Not interested."

"If you want, I could take you away from your own mom."

"Nah."

Ashton's eye twitched. "I'll buy a car."

"Uh uh."

"I'll take you around the world."

"Nein! (No) And stop giving me rich offers. I don't want any of them. And I still have practice with Adrian in the afternoon."

"What does Adrian want to practice with you?" Ashton questioned. "Also makeup?" He turned to Nina. "Is he also into that?" Nina shrugged.

"No. He told me that he wanted to learn kickboxing and I offered to teach him," he replied and Alexis said to him that he could open his eyes. He opened them and glanced at Ashton and Nina. "So I'm busy today."

"Why does Adrian want to learn kickboxing? Does he have someone he likes? He's only 14," Ashton muttered.

"We're almost 15!" Alexis yelled. "And we're almost done with middle school too!"

Ashton scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You'll be 15 in 5 months. And you'll finish middle school in 7 months. So don't start acting high and mighty. Once you turn 15, your whole life will go to shit. Trust me."

Nina hit him on his head. "Stop with your bullshit!"

"But I'm telling the truth!"

As Nina was yelling at Ashton, Alexis turned to Skylar. "Is it true what Ash said?"

Skylar smiled and put his hand on her head. "No, it isn't. You're the one to choose if your life turns to shit. And as we see, Ashton did choose that path. Look how he turned out." Skylar winced. "Not that great." Alexis covered her mouth to stop giggling as Ashton had his mouth wide open.

"Your own boyfriend said that about you," Nina chuckled. "That must hurt."

"Skylar, please. We don't have much time left. You'll get paid," Ashton tried.

"I'm not interested in money." Skylar thought. "But it would help me with choosing a different career. But what about Adrian?" 

"We can move it to later in the afternoon," Ashton decided as he got back on his legs. "We'll tell him later." He grabbed Skylar's hand. "Let's go."

"Wait a minute! I'm busy with Skylar!" Alexis yelled. 

Ashton turned to her. "He's my boyfriend, so I'm his top priority," he smirked confidently. He turned back to Skylar and his smirk turned into a shy smile. "I hope I am."

"We'll finish this later, okay?" Skylar asked Alexis. She nodded and Skylar glanced at Ashton and Nina. "Let's get this over with."

An hour later

"I hate this," Skylar grimaced as the hairdresser finished styling his hair.

"It's not that bad," Nina assured. She eyed the dress she designed. It was a long, light peach-colored dress which was decorated from the top till waist with small, white flowers. From the waist, it widens out like a circle around him as fine silk wrapped around it. 

Skylar's expression became flat. "I'm wearing makeup and a fucking wedding dress. Am I suppose to get married in this? It can't get worse than this."

"You only have to wear this dress. Oh and by the way, does it matter if your face gets plastered around the world?" She asked nervously.

Skylar's eyes widened. "Excuse me what." Ashton decided to show up right when Skylar was planning to run away.

"What did I miss?" Skylar glared at his suit as he was fixing his matching light peach tie. "Is something wrong with it?"

Skylar shook his head. "I also want to wear a suit," Skylar grumbled. 

"I know that you'd rather want a suit, but you're still beautiful in that dress," Ashton beamed.

Skylar covered his face as the other people who heard it awed. "S-shut up."

Nina's phone chimed and she read that they're ready in the studio. "He's ready," she announced and she turned to Skylar. "Can you walk in that dress?"

Skylar scoffed and got off the high chair. "This is child's play." With his hands, he grabbed the front of the dress and lifted it up. "Show me the way," he said to Ashton and Nina. Nina opened the door as Skylar said goodbye to the hairdresser. They followed her to a big room with hardly anything in it. They were greeted by a man in his late 40's, a large camera hanging around his neck.

"Hey, Jake! I have the models with me!" Jake turned around and smiled politely at them. He extended his hand.

"Jake Mooner." 

Skylar shook his hand. "Skylar Kennedy. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," he smiled and looked at Ashton. "I know you already. Can you two stand in front of that grey screen?" 

"Sure." They both went and turned their backs to it. 

Skylar nudged Ashton and he bowed down a little. "What are we supposed to do? Do we have to pose in  certain manners?" Skylar whispered in his ear.

"They will tell us what we have to do," he whispered back. "But it's gonna be mostly poses where you have to put your hands on me."

Nina heard their whispers and smiled evilly. "You two have to come up with your own ideas of posing. We're not telling you anything."

"Shit," Skylar muttered. He turned to Ashton. "What now?"

He shrugged in response. "We test some things out and see if my mom likes it." He wrapped his hands around Skylar's waist.

"Hey!" 

Ashton shushed him. "Wrap your arms around my neck. After that, turn to the camera as I look at you." He did what he was told and Nina clapped.

"I told you that he got talent for this," she told Jake. "Take the picture."

"Okay, okay." Jake put the camera ready and crouched down a little. He took a couple of pictures and after he was done, he showed Nina them. 

She nodded in satisfaction. "Nice," she mumbled as she turned to Ashton and Skylar talking. She snapped her fingers and their eyes turned to her. "We need another one!"

About two hours passed and Skylar sighed deeply. "I feel dead on the inside."

Ashton hugged him tightly. "We're almost done. Remember that the last one is whatever we want."

"Tell us when you ready." 

Ashton leaned next to his ear. "I have something to tell you," he mumbled in his ear.

"What is it?" Skylar asked back.

"I love you, Skylar." Skylar's mouth dropped and he leaned back at Ashton, tears swimming in his eyes when he saw the raw honesty shining in his eyes.

"I love you too," Skylar whispered as he wiped a tear away. Ashton saw the perfect opportunity to lean in for a kiss. 

Nina nudged Jake. "Take the photo! This is photo quality!" She hissed at Jake. 

"I'm on it," Jake sighed and took them from a few angles. After they broke apart, Ashton turned to Nina. She nodded.

"We're done," Jake announced. "Do you want to see the pictures?" Jake went to his laptop and put the SD card inside it. Tons of files were shown on his laptop and he scrolled through them. 

"They came out better than I expected," Nina commented as she looked at them. Skylar hummed in agreement.

"I'll send them to you so you can choose your favorite ones." 

Skylar turned to Ashton. "So what are we gonna do now?"

A few days later

"Scott, look how beautiful this wedding dress is," Lisa gushed as she showed him a picture in the magazine she was holding. It was 7:45 in the morning on a Monday and Scott's girlfriend Lisa decided to stay the night. Miracle was eating her cereal silently as she texted Jumin.

Miracle: when are you guys going to be here? I'm tired of hearing about wedding dresses

JMK (Jumin): Parker and I will be there at 8

Miracle turned her phone off and glanced at Scott. "Bear, I'll be going at eight."

Scott's eyebrows knitted as he stared at the magazine. "Miracle, can you come here for a sec? You need to see this." Miracle groaned as she got off her chair. She walked to them and peeked from Scott's broad shoulders at the article.

"What the hell?" She muttered and narrowed her eyes. "Is that Skylar?" Her eyebrows shot to the roof. "It's freaking Skylar!"

"Is that the name of the model?" Lisa asked. "She's so beautiful! And is that her boyfriend?" She pointed at Ashton. "Because the article says something about him being her partner. Is this her first shoot? Cause I've never seen her modeling for Nina King."

Miracle nodded. "Yeah, first one. Can I take a quick picture of the pages?" Lisa handed her the magazine and Miracle took the pictures quickly. She turned to the last page and saw one of them kissing. She rubbed her forehead and took the last pic. The bell rung and Miracle turned her phone off.

"I'll be going then. Bye!" She grabbed her things, put on her shoes and got out of the house. At the door, she saw Parker and Jumin. 

"Good morning!"

"Morning," they both said back. 

As they made their way to school, Miracle grabbed her phone. "Did you two know about this?" Miracle demanded as she pushed her phone in their faces. "And why haven't I heard anything about it?"

"A fashion magazine? I don't give a damn about that," Jumin replied.

"You know that I only have an interest in anime or video game news," Parker replied. "Why are you asking two guys about something that they don't care about?"

"I don't give a fuck about it either. What I do give a fuck about, is this." She zoomed in Skylar's face.

Jumin squinted his eyes. "Damn, I can't see shit on your phone. Put your brightness higher." Miracle rolled her eyes and showed them again.

"Is that fucking Skylar?" Parker asked in disbelief.

Miracle nodded. "That's definitely him."

"Oh wow. There he is again," Jumin said as he pointed at a billboard. Parker dialed Skylar's number. 

Skylar picked up after the second ring. "Yeah what's up?" Skylar asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"I thought that we were best friends," Parker cried. "Why didn't you tell us anything?"

"Tell you about what?" 

Miracle grabbed the phone out of his hand. "About your face being plastered everywhere!"

Skylar sighed. "I didn't get time this weekend. The same day of the shoot was the same day that they persuaded me into doing it. Nina said that she has only gotten good reviews, so that's good."

"Yeah, even Lisa was telling my dad about how pretty you are. But she thought that you were a girl," she snickered.

"I think that many people would think that," Skylar grimaced. "I hope that the other girls at school won't start talking shit about me."

Miracle scoffed. "Who in their crazy mind would look at wedding dresses when they're in high school?"

"There are girls like that. Maybe even guys," Skylar responded as he put his lunch in his bag. "Hey, I have to hang up. I'll see you guys at school, alright? Bye."

"See you later." He hung up the phone and put it on the counter. He heard his phone ringing again and picked up without looking at the name.

"Hello?" Skylar heard a familiar chuckle and a chill ran up his spine.

"Hi sweetheart, did you miss me?"