“If you ever say another bad thing about my friends again, I’ll shut your mouth with my fist. The only reason I haven’t put you down yet is because of my friendship with Tami,” I said in a tight voice.
He puffed up, thinking I wouldn’t do anything to him. Tami knew this was a mistake.
“Brian, back off. If you smart off again, he’ll lay you out, and I won’t stop him.”
I relaxed when I saw the fight go out of him.
“It looks like lunch is almost ready. Why don’t you help the guys bring in the food?” I asked him.
Brian scowled at me and stormed off. Everyone else sat down for a nice lunch. We’d just finished when Kim came back and fixed herself a plate. Tracy got up to go talk to someone and Kim sat down by me.
“I hear you recommended me. I want to thank you. I can’t wait to work with you guys.”
“I’ve learned so much today from both you and Kara. I’m excited to spend several days learning from the two of you.”
We heard a male voice yell.
“You bitch!”
“You asshole!” Kara yelled.
Then there was a high-pitched scream. I knocked my chair over as I went to protect Kara. Tracy was right there with me as we ran to the back hall that led to the restrooms. When I rounded the corner, there was Kara, panting and flushed with anger. Brian was on the ground, twitching. Kara had used a stun gun on him. Tracy had her pepper spray out, and I looked at her.
“If we spray him, let’s do it outside,” I said.
Kara looked at us.
“I have this. You need to go get ready for your next session.”
“You sure?”
“Go on, David, we have this,” Tom answered.
Tracy grabbed my arm and dragged me back to the studio. Fortunately, I didn’t see Brian after that. Tom dropped him off at the bus station.
THE AFTERNOON SHOOT was sports equipment. This was a lot of fun because Kim wanted action shots. I was running, jumping, and being a goof. Kim started to get mad at me because every third shot or so I would make some goofy face like I’d seen a sports star do.
When it was done, Kim gave me a ration of shit.
“Look at all these goofy shots. You look like a hot dog.”
Mr. Hill called Janet over and just ran through the goofy shots in a slideshow.
“Tell me what you think when you see these.”
She giggled.
“He’s having fun. I’d want to go play a game with him. I think these are great, Dad.”
Mr. Hill shrugged.
“I’ll send a mockup of the straight pics and these and see what the client picks.”
“Hey, could you do me a favor and take a few pictures of me with my friends so we can remember this day?” I asked Kim.
“Sure. If you want to have some fun, I think I saw some cheerleader uniforms on the rack.”
I gave my best evil grin and rubbed my hands together.
“Oh girrrrlls, there are cheerleader uniforms, and Kim is taking pictures.”
“I’m game. We can be your adoring fans,” Tami said.
I was dressed like a baseball player, so this would be perfect. I saw Janet sulking as the other girls ran to get dressed.
“What are you waiting on? Don’t you want to be one of my hot cheerleaders?”
She looked at her dad with pleading eyes.
“Can I?”
“Oh good lord, of course you can.”
She ran over and kissed his cheek and then I got one on the lips. She sprinted to join the fun.
They all came out at once and my jaw dropped. Both Kara and Tracy are drop-dead gorgeous ladies. I would expect nothing less, but Nicole did up Janet and Tami, and they were frickin’ hot. We did several fun shots. My favorite was the last one. Nicole drew the imprint of a kiss on my cheek and added some rosy color so it looked as if I were blushing. The girls were behind me and looked like one of them was telling the others a secret. I put on a goofy dazed look with a big grin.
Tom, Kara and I went through the shots, and they all looked okay.
“I want the rights to the pictures of the girls and me,” I told Tom.
“Are you thinking of selling these?” Kara asked.
“I hadn’t thought of that. I want to give each of you your pick. Let me get Mrs. Hill to take a look. She has a good eye for value.”
I went and got her and ran through the cheerleader pictures.
“We could sell them as the cheerleaders chasing the star, with these four as eight-by-tens and the one where they catch him in a twenty-four-by-thirty. If we priced it right, I could sell a lot of these. You wouldn’t make as much per photo, but overall you would net more.”
I got the girls together and told them what Mrs. Hill told me.
“If you all agree, we’d all sign releases giving me full control of the photos. I’d take the expenses off the top, and then we’d all split the profit equally.”
There were many squeals of joy, and I had Janet go tell her dad the news. I wanted him to be in a bind when it came time to negotiate the price for the photo processing. Tom just shook his head when he realized what I’d done.
“Go earn your keep, sir,” I told Tom.
Tom negotiated the deal so we just had to pay for Kim and Nicole’s time. It came to less than $300. We also made out like bandits on clothes. The girls all wanted the silk boxers. They made me keep a pair of athletic support underwear. I guess my butt looked nice in them. The moms both got robes. Kim and Nicole wanted pajamas. The sporting goods stuff netted Mr. Hill a tennis racquet. Tami got the baseball gear, of course. The various balls I gave to Mary to donate to the YMCA.
Before I left, Mr. Hill and Tom went over my availability for the next several weeks. Between Range Sports, Kara’s gig, and Mr. Hill, I would be booked until the end of the year. Tracy grabbed my tablet, updated my calendar, and then forwarded it to Kendal and herself. Tami looked a little sad to see I no longer solely relied on her.
When we got into the SUV, Tracy sent Tami and me to the back seat. She curled up and laid her head on my chest.
“What happened?” I asked her.
“From what I heard, Brian put his hands on Kara.”
“Didn’t you get a chance to talk to him?”
“I did, but he said some rude things to me. If he doesn’t respect me, I certainly am not dating the jerk. How do you find great people to go out with?”
I about choked.
“Are you kidding me?”
I felt her shoulders shake as she laughed at me. She was teasing me. I jabbed her ribs and she shrieked.
“David!”
“If you weren’t my best friend, you’d be walking home.”
“You really are a ‘stupid boy,’ aren’t you? I’ve been working on you since you were six. You’d do anything I asked.”
“I wouldn’t take that bet because we both know I would. You know the saying, ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’”
She jabbed me in the ribs.
“Quit quoting bad comic books. You can wipe that smirk off your face; remember, I’m in charge. Your whole purpose in life is to make me happy.”
I kissed the top of her head.
“You got that right.”
We bantered back and forth all the way home. When we got to her house, I got out and hugged her goodbye. I had survived her first boyfriend in spectacularly bad fashion. Things could only get better. Right?
THE NEXT TO BE DROPPED off was Kara. I walked her to her door also.
“I didn’t get a chance to thank you. I want to make a go of modeling and I value your help. I learned so much today.”
“You, my friend, are going to be awesome. You have instincts and charisma that’ll take you far. I watched your press conference on YouTube. I was laughing so hard that everyone on the set had to see it. You were goofy and fun. If you can keep that attitude, you’ll be doing this for a long time.