“I want to show you something today,” Rachael stated, barging into my room and catching me off guard as I was slipping into a shirt.
“What?” I asked, pushing the shirt down and looking at her.
“You’ll get to know. Just dress up as soon as you can and we’ll get going in a few minutes. There’s probably going to be some media out there where I’m taking you because some idiot accidentally leaked out the information that I’m going to be present there today,” Rachael huffed, rolling her eyes.
“Um… I don’t think that’s a good idea. I mean… I’m not used to getting exposed to the media… I-I…” I trailed off for lack of words to explain my situation.
Rachael rose a perfect eyebrow at me. “What? What do you mean you’re not used to it?”
Realizing my slip up, I bit down on my tongue harshly and quickly amended my statement. “I-I mean after such a long gap… I’m not ready to face them.”
Rachael looked sympathetically at me. “I understand but don’t worry, I got it covered. I promise no one will get any pictures of you. Just dress up and I’ll be waiting downstairs.”
“Can Olivia tag along too. I promise she won’t be any trouble.” I asked because really if she wouldn’t be there with me, I’d totally blow our cover.
Rachael looked hesitant. “Juliet, what I’m going to show you is something that shouldn’t get out there, at least until it’s not revealed by myself. Are you sure I can trust Olivia with this?”
“Yes, of course. She wouldn’t tell a soul.”
“Okay. Bring her along.”
“One more thing. How am I supposed to dress up? I don’t know where we’re going.”
“Hmm.” She said, stepping closer and making her way to the closet. She rummaged through it for about a minutes before she pulled out a black and white stripped halter dress.
“It’s simple yet perfect for this occasion. Tell Olivia to dress similarly.”
“Okay.”
Thirty minutes later we were all seated in our respective cars and were driven wherever Rachael wanted to take us.
It felt like a long time until we finally pulled into a parking lot who’s entrance was crowded by paparazzi. Good thing I had sunglasses on. This was going to take some getting used to.
I looked up and saw we were outside of a building which had ‘R?? SON’ written in big, black and bold letters.
We quickly made our way inside so no one would be able to snap pictures of us. I was being particularly careful about concealing my face.
Once inside, I took in my surroundings. We were in a brightly lit and spacious office which had a long hallway with several rooms, or were they studios?
A friendly looking receptionist greeted us all at the entrance before we were pulled into one of the studios. All around were mannequins assembled in an orderly fashion on a high level stage. I gaped in fascination at the clothing draped over them.
“Do you like them?” Rachael asked, sounding oddly nervous.
“These are so beautiful.” I said, not able to form words that would accurately describe the clothes and everything in there.
“This will be my first show. And you’re the first person in our family who’s getting to see this. I haven’t even let mother and father see them.”
I turned and met her eyes. “Your first show? You’ve designed these yourself?” I asked, purely awestruck at how someone could be so talented.
She merely nodded. “It will be showcased at the Paris Fashion Week sometime next month. We’re all going to fly there and see my creations come to life.”
“That’s amazing, Rachael. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.”
“I’m a little nervous, even if the show is weeks away,” Rachael admitted.
“You’re the greatest designer on the face of the earth! I’m sure you’ll rock it out there!” I smiled genuinely at her because I did know that she would be amazing.
I didn’t know where this was coming from but I seemed to get a boost of confidence myself. I was trying to fit in. And as much as I hated to admit it, I was actually liking it here a lot more than I should. Of course I wouldn’t admit that to Olivia. For all I knew, she’d somehow convince me to live here forever. And that wasn’t going to happen.
Even though I had met Rachael just yesterday, it felt like I knew her for quite some time. And I loved her little bundle of joy, Rebecca who we had left behind in the mansion because she was still asleep.
We browsed through the dresses for about an hour with Rachael showing me all of them and me complimenting them all. We all went out for some coffee afterwards. Thank God the paparazzi weren’t lingering around anymore.
After we returned home, we went to our respective rooms to change into something comfortable.
When I made my way downstairs, everyone was missing from the house. A maid informed me that they were all out at the poolside. So I made my way there and found Rachael on one of the poolside benches reading a magazine and in a bikini. There was no doubt she was born to be a model. She would’ve done great in that field. She was like a Greek goddess come to Earth to grace us poor souls with her beautiful presence.
“Juliet, come on here.” Olivia beckoned for me and I stepped closer. “Join us.”
“Um… okay. I’ll be right back.” I said, seeing as she was in a bikini too.
I quickly went back and changed into a yellow bikini. When I reached back there, I saw that Ethan and Antonio had also decided to join us. I groaned. Why did? he? always have to be there?
Olivia and Rachael were engaged in an animated conversation and I instantly knew it was about dresses and makeup. Rebecca was in the pool with Ethan and Antonio and wearing her own Spongebob swimsuit.
As I neared them, I heard the two discussing whether girls make good makeup artists or boys do.
“Girls of course.” I interrupted them. “They are far more talented and have a good sense of style where women are concerned. And plus, it’s not like men apply makeup like women so women know what looks good on a certain face type better than men. But then, experience and expertise only comes with learning. So we can’t really judge based on gender. But still, if I have to choose, I’ll say women do it better.”
“Excuse me?” Ethan said from the pool. I turned to look at him. “It doesn’t matter if women wear makeup more often. You can’t say that women are better at it just because of that. Guys can actually do it the best because they’re less prone to commit mistakes. I’ve seen some women who’ve been terrible makeup artists.”
“You did not just indirectly state that only girls make mistakes and fail! Guys are no better.”
“I never said that.”
“Well, you implied it.”
“You want to test who’s better at it?”
“Let’s do it.”
“Just not in the field of makeup. How about another game of pool volleyball? But this time, it’s us who’s going to win.” Ethan declared as he motioned towards him and Antonio.
“You really are a little overconfident, aren’t you?”
“I’m just telling you what’s eventually going to happen, sweetheart.”
“I’d like to see your face when you’ll lose again.”
“Yeah, and that’s going to happen in another parallel dimension.”
“Or not.”
“Guys, just shut up. Honestly, once you two start, you never stop!” Olivia exclaimed. “I’m tired of this.”
“Are they usually like this with each other? Oh, who am I kidding? They were always like this with each other,” Rachael rolled her eyes. “I’ve got used to it. Didn’t think some time apart would’ve resulted in a change because there clearly wasn’t.”
“So girls, you two up for a game of pool volleyball?” I questioned.
“Again?” Olivia groaned.
“Yeah, you two are definitely on my team.”
***
I didn’t even know why he tried to challenge me into something. If he just wanted to embarrass himself, he was more than welcome to come to me for it.
Everyone knew who was going to be the winner. I even thought I saw him biting down on his nails a few times because even he knew where the game was going.
We won, obviously.
And I took great pleasure in throwing his overconfidence before the game back at his face. What I deeply regretted was not taking a picture of his face after he lost.
“Dude, this is all your fault. If you would’ve just stopped ogling Juliet for a second and concentrated on the stupid game, we would’ve actually won. And stop staring at her shamelessly in front of everyone, will you? It’s disgusting.” Antonio shuddered. “I’m her brother right here and I’m supposed to be protective. I’ll even throw a punch your way for some extra effect.”
Ethan rolled his eyes. “You can’t blame me. I actually can’t stop staring at someone looking that hideous in a bikini. That’s not something you get to see everyday!”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “You aren’t a sight for sore eyes either,? sore? loser.”
“You must be really blind then. And do? not? call me a sore loser. I’m anything but that. And besides it wasn’t a fair match. Your team had three players whereas there were only two of us.”
“Really? Well, I think it was fair seeing as you were looking like you weren’t going for stop playing unfairly anytime soon.”
“Whatever. I’ve got better and more important things to do than be with you losers.” It seemed like his go to comeback when he lost something to me was telling us that he got something important to do.
“If I distinctly remember the outcome of the game, it’s you who’s the loser, along with Antonio.”
Ethan just glared at me before Antonio decided to speak up.
“What are you going to do now?” Antonio asked Ethan.
“There are some people I’m supposed to meet today. I’ve invited them over. So I’m just going to take a shower. They’ll be here in around half an hour. We need to discuss about the new bunch of restaurants that were recently opened in Latvia and Netherlands.”
“Okay.”
Ethan left but not before throwing a glare in my direction whereas I just smirked at him in return to annoy him.