Breaking it up
“How did it go?” Mindy asked Helen when she stepped into their apartment very late that night.
“Badly,” Helen said as she dropped her keys, bag and shoes in the entryway. She came into the living room and threw herself into Mindy’s recliner. “I hate everyone,” Helen said expressionlessly, even though that wasn’t how she was feeling.
“Well, I warned you,” Mindy said, shrugging in her more-experienced-than-you manner. She leaned forward and asked, “So, what’s the verdict? Do you get Mark, like you wanted?”
“I’m not sure I want him anymore. Did I tell you that he got offered a job in London?”
“No,” Mindy gasped. “Bloody Hell! Is that what this is about? You were trying to get him to stay?”
“Not exactly. I was trying to get him to like me properly, but you were right about that, too. He’s never going to like me the way I want him to. Now I'm so confused about who I am, I’m not sure I can salvage things with Mark even if he doesn't go anywhere.”
“You might not be able to,” Mindy conceded. “Loads of relationships fail.”
“I just thought he was so intelligent, so good looking and so everything I ever wanted in a guy that I couldn’t stand for him to only like me half-way. What is it about stupid men that make them lose their minds over girls like you or Vera?”
“I am NOT like Vera,” Mindy snapped, getting up and coming over to Helen. “I am not like you when I work as an escort.”
“But you’re the one who taught me to be like that!”
“Right, but that’s because I knew that style would work for you. You come off like an innocent little girl who is discovering love for the first time because, Helen, that’s what you are! In case you hadn’t clued in, that’s why you are such a good choice for your company’s ad campaign. And that’s why it works so well for Mark to be your partner for it—because it’s all real. Except now you’re discovering that love can be a brat, too.” Mindy paused and took a deep breath. “And that is why I’m not like you. I already know. I was a little girl once too, but I’ve been disappointed too many times to look innocent.”
Helen frowned. What Mindy was saying made a lot of sense. A lot more sense than she would have liked. If it was true, then she wouldn’t be able to make a success of the job Dominic offered her, even if she wanted to take it, because that would require someone good at modeling. Or at least it required someone who actually wanted to be a model, which she didn't.
“All right,” Helen admitted, putting a weary hand to her forehead. “What can I do to cope with this?”
Mindy settled down a little and dropped herself back down onto the couch. “I guess that all depends on how badly things went. Did you break up with him?”
“No.”
“Did he break up with you?”
“No,” Helen said, feeling a little better. At least things hadn’t deteriorated that far.
Then Mindy asked the crucial question, “Do you want to break up with him?”
Helen winced. Then she said miserably, “I can't see how I can straighten this out and get the kind of love affair I want and my pride is bruised. He's thinking about how far he's willing to go for me... for Vera. He didn't give me an answer, and even if he does, I'm not sure I want to hear it.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
Helen thought about it for a second, but if she really was going to break up with him than the answer was pretty clear. “First, I need to swallow my feelings and make it through this last photoshoot.”
“Correct,” Mindy said approvingly. “It really wouldn’t look good on me, you, Mark, Trevor or Collin if you ran squealing at this point. You would look worse than Alexander, especially since this is your first time modeling.”
“Then I need to quit my job working as Mark’s assistant,” Helen continued.
“Are you sure you’re okay with that?” Mindy asked. “I mean, you worked so hard to get an honest job.”
“Well, if I’m breaking up with him then I can’t keep working for him. After I make it through the photoshoot I won't be able to work with him for one more day.”
“I guess if that’s how you feel,” she mumbled.
“Come on, Mindy,” Helen pleaded. “If you’ve been hurt, you have to know how important it is to get away from the person who has hurt you.”
“I didn’t disagree with you,” Mindy defended.
“Good. Then I need to get on a bus to visit my parents. Then I’ll figure out what to do from there.”
“What about the wrap-up party?”
“What about it?”
“Don’t you need to go?” Mindy asked.
“Maybe,” Helen considered. “But don’t I just have to show up, order a drink, pour it onto a plant, congratulate Collin, and then head for the door?”
Mindy bit her lip, “What if I’m not comfortable with that?” Helen shook her head, “Why should you care?”
“During this whole thing, you have been Vera when dealing with the crew and I don’t want you to leave sniveling. You should have perfect PR during this whole thing no matter what you want to do next. Besides, I want to do a favor for you because you got me that job doing your makeup.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’ll be your last night dressed up like Vera, right?”
“I don’t know,” Helen said, fingering her false hair. “I spent so much money on these extensions it seems stupid to get rid of them.”
“It’ll be your last night with Mark, then?”
“Yes,” Helen choked. She hadn’t said she was going to break up with Mark, quit her job, and run for the hills, but before she finished talking she knew that’s what she was going to do.
“Then, let’s do it with style.”
“It’ll have to be in my innocent style then because I don’t know if I can pull off your experienced one,” Helen said, pinching her nose between her eyes.
“Escort style,” Mindy corrected.
Helen looked up. At once she knew what Mindy was talking about. “Mindy, you are an absolute angel!”
***
The final photo session was to take place in Collin’s office. They dressed the room up like a woman’s office. The general idea was that it was supposed to be Vera’s office and Mark was coming to visit her. They did quite a few shots with him peeking around the door. Then they did some with her sitting on the desk with her cute cell phone. All the pictures included shots of the cell phone, but these didn’t have Mark in them at all. They were just her and the phone. Helen was starting to get quite attached to it. She was thinking of buying one when they came on sale.
The last shots were a lot easier for Helen. Maybe it was because she’d been doing it for the past two days or maybe it was because Mark wasn’t as intense as he’d been in the past. He made his face look the way Trevor wanted, but other than that; he was pretty hands-off about the whole thing.
When they were finished, the entire crew planned to go out to a club. Since clean-up took a couple of hours, everyone wasn’t ready to go until around eight. Helen and Mark helped too since there was so much work to do.
Right before they were set to leave, Mindy plopped Helen into her makeup chair and did her makeup one last time.
“Don’t think too much about what we’re doing tonight,” she advised as she applied Helen’s blush. “Just have a good time.”
“I’ll try,” Helen said, finally allowing herself to feel mournful. Nothing Mark had said or done that day had convinced her she was making the wrong decision. He was polite and courteous, but not remarkable. Lucky for him, he didn’t look smug. If he had Helen would have looked forward to twisting the knife. Instead, he just looked indifferent. Helen could never tell how he was feeling anyway.