Evading The Billionaire

The most difficult thing for me to do was to pick out a dress. I mean, for an aspiring model, dressing up was not easy, at least in regular life. But for me, picking out the perfect outfit required a lot of time.

“Maybe I should wear the green dress,” I muttered to myself. As soon as I plucked it out of my closet, I put it back in.

“No.” I ran my eyes over my dresses hanging on the metal rail. “Maybe the blue one?” When I removed the blue dress, it took everything in me not to groan out loud. Damn it, I needed to go shopping, none of these dresses were perfect for today, nothing.

It was in times like this when I missed Hailey the most, my best friend. She always helped me pick out the right dress, and now, I had no one to help me with my clothing dilemma. Hailey was happily married to Theodore; and even though I was happy for my best friend, I missed her and couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit jealous. She had the perfect man—crazy and dominating, but perfect.

Sighing, I gave up on searching for the perfect dress. Maybe I should find a new best friend since Hailey was now busy with her husband and her soon-to-be-born twins. But I knew no one would be able to replace Hailey. She had always stayed with me, always helped me, and there was no one like her.

Before I could dwell more on my best friend and her new life, my cell phone rang. Checking the caller ID, I accepted the call when I saw it was Josè. He was a photographer, who I hooked up with once. Sex with Josè proved to be a scary experience for me because I thought I was pregnant with his baby, but thank the Lord it was just a false alarm.

“Hello Josè, what’s up?” I asked, making myself comfortable on the couch.

“Hi Amanda, I got good news for you?” Josè sounded cheerful, which meant that whatever he wanted to tell me was really good.

“Oh, what is it?” I asked.

“Well, a new fashion company wants you to model their dresses, and let me tell you, Amanda, the dresses are amazing,” Josè replied.

My heart started pounding with excitement. Oh my God, a company wanted me to model for them; I couldn’t believe my dream was about to come true.

“What is the name of the clothing brand?” I questioned.

“Uh, it’s a weird French name, it’s not a big brand, but the dresses are amazing. You can meet me in a few days and I’ll take you to them, then you can decide if you want to model for them,” he said.

“Yeah, of course. Definitely. Are you free after three days?” I enquired.

“Yes I am, we can meet at a cafe, and go from there. But Amanda, the dresses are truly beautiful, and I’m a guy!” I had never heard Josè complimenting any clothing brand before, and now, he couldn’t stop talking about this one. Now I really wanted to model for this brand and I had no idea what it was.

“Yeah, all right. I’ll see you in three days. Thanks Josè.” With that I hung up with a smile on my face. Since the moment Josè and I hooked up, he and I had become pretty good friends. Both of us just needed a night of casual sex, no strings attached, and I was glad that Josè and I were friends now.

Feeling happier than I had been all day, I decided to go shopping. I was addicted to shopping, and it was my source of comfort no matter what the situation was. I was glad that I had started to earn money. Maybe one day, some famous designer would want me to model their dresses.

Grabbing my purse from my closet, I checked my wallet and counted my money, and only when I was satisfied that I had enough to buy a dress or two did I put my wallet in my purse. I grabbed my cell phone and was about to leave my room when it started ringing again.

“Hello boss man,” I said to Theodore with a grin on my face. I had no idea why Theodore was calling me, but whatever it was, I would listen to him, for Hailey.

“Hello Amanda, how are you?” Theodore asked me politely.

“I’m great, boss man, how are you?” I had never stopped calling Theodore boss man, and I never would.

“I’m good, thank you. Listen, I wanted to invite you to dinner. My whole family is going to be there, and I would love it if you can come.” He told me.

My heart sank when he mentioned that his whole family would be there. I never did well around families. For some reason, I thought that families judged me, a lot, and I hated that. If Theodore had told me he was inviting me to dinner with only him and Hailey, I would’ve agreed in a heartbeat, but now, I wasn’t so eager.

“Uh, boss man, I don’t know your family, what am I going to do there?” I queried.

“I’ve invited Ingrid and April as well, you know, Hailey’s cousins, so you’ll know somebody there,” he replied.

“Yeah but, it’s your family, won’t I be intruding?” I really didn’t want to go.

“No you won’t be intruding at all. Look, the reason I want you to be there is because I am going to propose to Hailey, and I want her family and my family to be there, so please don’t think about declining, Hailey will be happy if you’re there.”

“All right, I’ll be there, when is it?” I finally relented, only because I wanted to be there for my best friend. And I kinda fell in love with Theodore when he told me he was going to propose to Hailey, the man really loved her.

“Tonight.” The word had my heart stopping. I glanced at the clock to see it was already 5:30 pm.

“What?!” I nearly shrieked. Shit! I had no dress, what the hell was I going to wear?!

“I know, it’s short notice but please, Amanda, you have to be there, you are important to Hailey, she won’t be happy if you’re not there,” Theodore pleaded.

“Fine.” I heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Where is the dinner going to be held?” I asked, eyeing my closet as if it was my life saver.

“I’ll text you the name and address of the restaurant right now.”

“Fine, I’ll be there at 7:30,” I muttered.

“Great, thank you so much, Hailey will be happy to see you.” With that, Theodore hung up, leaving me to worry about the perfect dress.

Dropping my phone and purse on the bed, I headed towards my closet. “Okay, now please give me the perfect dress to wear for this dinner.” I pleaded to my closet. I wished I had magic so I could conjure up the perfect outfit for this occasion.

Flinging the doors of my closet open, I grabbed a bunch of dresses and took them out and threw them on the bed. I did this until my closet was empty and all my clothes were strewn on the bed. Then, I begun to inspect each and every dress I owned thoroughly, and the outfits which were a definite ‘no’ were flung to the other corner, while the dresses that could be worn to a formal dinner remained on the bed. At the end, I was left with ten dresses. And after another round of thorough inspection, I finally settled on a blue dress.

It was a blue gradient dress made up of sheer chiffon. It was strapless with a sweetheart neckline and fell just a few inches above my knee. The upper part of the dress was a beautiful dark blue and the color lightened as it flowed south, forming a beautiful gradient. And since I could pair the dress with my jewelled heels, I thought it would be perfect for this dinner. With a silent ‘thank you’ to God above, I quickly went to change.

~*~*~*~*

I arrived at the restaurant at 7:15 pm. The restaurant was beautiful and looked expensive, I could tell that it was the perfect place for a proposal. I eyed a grand table with glasses and other utensils before my eyes fell upon Ingrid. Sighing in relief, I headed in her direction.

“Hi Ingrid,” I said with a smile. She was talking to a beautiful red head.

Ingrid turned to face me with a smile. “Hey Amanda, I’m glad you’re here. Listen, do me a favor and go talk to April, she looks as if she needs a savior.” Ingrid gently shoved me in the direction of April, who was standing in a corner while a guy who strongly resembled Theodore was trying to talk to her.

“Hi April,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t tell me to go away.