Halfway Perfect by Julie Cross

about her, let’s focus on the present, understood?”
    Nobody moves or says anything for what feels like ten minutes but is probably only three seconds. My face is so hot it must be red as a tomato.
    Finally, Alex claps his hands together. “Sounds like a plan to me. And being the diva that we all know I am…” He crosses the small space, moving toward me. “I’m going to remind you that my contract states the photographer or the photographer’s assistant is required to get my approval on the shots for today before you send them on to the designer.” He turns me around to face the door. I seem to have lost my ability to move without direction. “I’d like to do that now, if you don’t mind.”
    The air outside of the RV feels so good on my hot face. Alex’s hands drop from my shoulders and I spin around to face him. “Nobody’s contract allows for that kind of clause.”
    He shrugs. “I’m sure someone’s does.”
    I’m still in shock, so I don’t notice Alex looking slightly nervous until he says, “It wasn’t me. I didn’t tell them anything.”
    â€œWhat?” I shake my head, mentally catching up to him. “Oh…yeah, I didn’t think it was you. It was only a matter of time, right?”
    We’ve put some distance between us and the RV, and now Alex looks like he’s fighting laughter. “It was Elana.”
    I glance at him to see if he’s serious. “No way.”
    â€œApparently a handful of models inspired her to leave home and pursue her dream, and one of those people is Eve Castle.”
    I start laughing so hard I have to lean against the wall to keep myself from falling over. Talk about ironic . When Alex and I both stop laughing, I look over at him and hesitate before asking, “Were you lying about Wes? Has he ever mentioned me?”
    Any hint of a smile or amusement drops from his face. “No, he hasn’t.”
    I don’t know if I should feel glad or upset, but I end up feeling a little of both.
    â€œWe’re all business,” Alex says as if sensing that I might take this personally. “We would never sit around and hash out his past clients. We just don’t go there, you know?”
    â€œI know.” Needing a change of subject, I point a finger at the RV. “Thanks for getting me out of there. And for what you said earlier. You’re not as arrogant and self-involved as I falsely assumed.”
    Okay, so I never really thought Alex was self-involved, but I don’t think he’s going to experience an ego decline anytime soon, and there’s no need for me to go out of my way and boost him up even higher.
    A smug expression fills his face before he turns his back to me. “See you tomorrow, Eve.”
    I stand there for a long time, watching everyone pack up and leave. A long, black car with tinted windows pulls up for Alex, and then another identical yet separate car arrives for Elana. She glances in my direction and gives me a small wave before sliding in the car.
    A rush of emotions I can’t quite identify floods over me as I think of her looking at my picture in a magazine all the way from France. I remember doing the same thing at her age. And I also remember getting into dozens of black cars, closing the door, and finding Wes seated in the back, usually on his cell phone waving at the driver to pull away before anyone could see him. At first it was hot and exciting, sitting there waiting for him to hang up, knowing we would be all over each other the second he did.
    Then later, the walls between us and the rest of the world were so thick, I could sit right beside him in that car and feel more lonely than I’d ever felt in my life.
    In the beginning, if I dropped into my seat, exhausted and frustrated, Wes would rub my shoulders and tell me I was beautiful and that he’d make sure I was a huge star by the time