Amelia Hudson

The next day Amelia work up and took a steaming hot shower. She scrubbed herself clean; washing off last night's disappointment. As she got out of the shower she wrapped her hair up in a towel and put on a fluffy white bathrobe before pausing in front of the mirror.

The mirror was foggy and clouded with condensation. Amelia wiped it away with one hand and considered the reflection she saw on the other side.

She had met Elle. Elle was kind and sweet and pretty, but Amelia couldn't say that Elle was beautiful. Elle's looks were only slightly above average, and there wasn't anything wrong with that, but Amelia found that her own looks on the other hand reflected a much more refined beauty.

As Amelia looked n the mirror she felt that she truly was beautiful. Gorgeous even. It was only natural, she was an actress after all. She had personal trainers to help maintain her slim and toned body, nutritionists, aestheticians, and stylists to help her with every aspect of her image. The truth was that she paid good money to look more beautiful than Elle. It was a truth that Amelia had no trouble accepting, her work required her to do it.

She was gorgeous while Elle was only just pretty and yet somehow Amelia had still lost to her. That was a truth Amelia had trouble reconciling herself to.

What the other girls had said at the party the night before wasn't wrong. For whatever reason, Elle's advertisements had a huge impact on the public and were wildly popular. If Amelia's shoot fell short of Elle's it would be a blow to her career. She couldn't let that happen.

A phone began to ring. Amelia glanced at her cellphone and recognized her manager's name on the caller display.

"Good morning Annie." Amelia greeted cheerfully. "What are you calling for so early in the morning?"

"I have good news for you. Our legal team has looked through the MK contract and given their approval."

Amelia bit her lip. They approved it so fast? She thought she would have more time.

"Why don't you come to the office to sign the contract this afternoon?"

"Alright." Amelia did well to hide the irritation in her voice. "I'll be there at noon."

"Okay, great. I'll see you then."

Amelia hung up the call and tossed her phone on her bed before flopping onto the soft sheets herself.

"It's okay Em." She said to herself. "It's just one small mess to clean."

~~

After having a light breakfast Amelia carefully applied her makeup and picked out a simple dress before heading over to the company. On her way out she passed her father in the living room.

"You're leaving? I thought you didn't have to go to your office today." He asked as he watched her head towards the door.

"Something came up. I need to go fix things."

"Can you take care of it? Do you need help?"

The corners of her lips turned up. "I'm you daughter aren't I?" She said proudly. "There's no problem I can't handle."

Her father chuckled. "Alright, alright. Just let m know if you need anything. You don't have to work hard all by yourself."

"Okay father. Thank you."

"Now hurry along before you're late."

Amelia drove to her company's office herself. She stepped into the building, it's large glass windows and white marble floor were still familiar to her even after all this time being gone.

As she walked to the elevators everyone watched her go by. Some of the younger talents looked at her with awe, most smiled, and some even stopped their own conversations to greet her respectfully as she went past.

'I'm still on top.' Amelia reassured herself. 'Nothing has change. Be confident.'

She rode the elevator up a few levels to her manager's office.

"You're here." Annie said, her eyes lighting up as she watched Amelia walk in.

"I'm here."

"The paperwork is all here, our team scanned through it meticulously and agree that the terms are great. Feel free to look it over once more before you sign it."

Amelia dropped her purse in a nearby chair and took the document from her manager. She slowly paced back and forth in the office, barely reading the words on the pages as she flipped through them, but putting on a good show of pretend to consider everything carefully as her manager watched on.

"Well?" Annie asked as Amelia finally flipped past the last page. "Here, you can sign the last page and we can pass it back to MK for their signature tomorrow." She said as she handed Amelia a pen.

Amelia made a good show of taking the pen as she nervously bit her lip. She brought her hand towards the page, hesitated, then brought the pen to the paper before hesitating again.

"Is something wrong?" Annie asked.

Amelia looked up apologetically. "I'm sorry. It's just..."

"Just what?"

"MK's last model was so popular. I'm a bit concerned about what will happen if my shoot doesn't go well. I've been gone so long, what if the media says I've lost my touch?"

Her manager looked at her sympathetically but Amelia could see her hesitation.

"I understand your worried, but you were the one who insisted to work with MK for your first project back. You pushed to have this contract signed as soon as possible."

"You're right. Our legal team worked hard and rushed to get things done as fast as possible. I shouldn't let their hard work go to waste. I should just sign right?" Amelia brought the pen to the paper again but before she could sign her manager suddenly blurted out.

"Wait."

Amelia smirked. 'I win.' She thought triumphantly before looked up at her manager with innocent, confused eyes.

"You're right. It's risky. I don't want you to sign if your not certain about this."

"But I don't want the company to think I'm being picky. After all I am the one who pushed so much for this opportunity."

"It's okay. I'll say I was the once who had concerns about the contract. We should at least get more money to accept the additional risk involved this time. I'll send the team to negotiate better terms with MK tomorrow."

"Thank you Annie." Amelia said kindly. "You're the best."

They discussed a few more topics before Amelia finally left the office. She smirked, completely pleased with the way she had handled things. The whole time she was also blissfully unaware of how fast her ego was growing.