CHAPTER 3

"Thea! Wake up! You're gonna be late!" Lorie screamed at me, my beloved best friend and flatmate. I groaned, tossing my pillow lazily at her, I missed.

"I made coffee", she said as the scent of caffeine wafted towards me. I stifled a second groan and sat up, I took the coffee from her and took a sip. I'm practically a zombie till I've had coffee.

"You feeling alright T?", she asked.

"Yeah I'm alright just don't wanna get off my bed", I answered.

"But you need to go to work or call in sick, I don't want Hans in my hair today, I've been avoiding him." She said

"Why?" I asked.

"Cos he insists on being in a relationship and I have no interest in going down that road, especially with him."

"What's wrong with him?" I asked while making my way to the bathroom

"Girl, do you really need to ask?" She rolled her eyes

"Yeah, Hans can be a bit annoying sometimes" I replied.

"nahh, all the time, he's average and clammy hands, I'm so not interested, plus he's arrogant, I only put up with him at first because I needed him to give you this job, he's so in love with me or so it seems", she answered.

"Every guy is in love with you Ri, have you seen you?, I don't blame him"

Taking a glance at my phone "Shit! I'm running late"

"Told ya! I'll make a sandwich for you and drive you"

"You're the best" I say while rushing into the shower.

I jumped out in 2 minutes, dressed hurriedly, I put on some jeans and threw on a lavender colored sweatshirt, and a pair of black sandals. It's a chilly morning. I've never been the type for makeup, today is no different. I rushed out to the living room with my purse.

"Don't you have work today Ri?", I asked.

"Nope, I'll be launching my latest line in 2 months, so I'll be working from home for now, I'll just check on the store every now then, the shoot is in 2 weeks, so Deandre would email the list of models to make selections" she says handing the sandwich already packed in a paper bag, she grabs her keys as we make way to the garage. "You're definitely gonna be one of my models'', she added.

"You know I won't, I'm not model material", I replied.

"Duh, who says? You're stunning and amazing but you never take my word for it, you keep insisting on dressing in dull colors and jeans, you don't even make an effort and yet you're the most beautiful person I know T"

"you're pushing it Ri", I said.

"C'mon I'm not!"

"Alright, you win, I'll think about it"

Her Toyota mustang chirps as we get into her car

"I won't give you a choice Thea", she chipped in.

I met Lorie when I was 18, at college, an orphan. She was like a sister I never had. She never really told me her story until we got quite close. An abusive father, a crackhead mother. She came back from school one day and found her dead, she OD'ed, went to the neighbor's, they called medics and took the body out. She never saw her father after that day. Such trauma at a young age, neighbors called social service and they took her to a foster home, she was just 10, at the time. She moved from foster home to foster home, and got into a lot of trouble. As she got older getting a new family got harder. She applied for college when she turned 18 and we wound up as roommates. We both began taking shifts working tables in a fancy restaurant to pay tuition. Although my dad sends some money every now and then, I have never really been the type to depend on people to do things for me. She then met this guy who had a modeling agency, he picked her as one of his models. It didn't surprise me, she's like sex on legs, with a height of 6.1ft, gorgeous curves, a strikingly beautiful face, hazel eyes, defined cheekbone, gorgeous honey blonde hair and long legs. She did a little bit of runway fashion and brand influencing, and met a lot of people. At age 21, she was making headway in the industry, Lorie did quite well for herself, opening a designers store in the city. We moved to a better apartment.

We spent 3 years in college, we graduated with 1st class upper. Lorie studied Fashion Designing, I on the other hand studied Business Administration and Management. She invited her friends and a few of mine, she made such a big deal out of it and I was so proud of her. She practically dragged me out to a club with her friends, we got wasted, an experience I won't like to repeat. I didn't make it home by myself that night.