Imperfectpictures

6/2/2019

Episode Thirty-Five: Worth

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Episode Thirty-Five: Worth

Suzette Collins-Worth was a long time Broadway actress who had been winning Tonys since the early eighties for her fantastic singing and bold acting. Six Tonys to be exact. She had multiple television awards as well that she kept displayed in the foyer as soon as you walked into her home in a large lighted glass cabinet. She was an extreme talent by anyone's gauge. She was well known around New York especially for her show-stopping nightly performances. She was a tall, rail thin, blond woman with overly large brown eyes and a sharp but pretty face.

And I hated her fucking guts.

By the fifth day spent with her, I seriously considered up and quitting after she screamed for twenty minutes at her daughter's tennis coach. Because it was raining outside. Sleeting, actually. She treated everyone horribly. Family, friends, cast, crew... it didn't matter. Anyone could be her victim. I tried to take the most flattering photos of her, but it was hard after a while. Not because she wasn't pretty, of course, but because I wanted to head butt the bitch in the face. Damaging my nose and my camera were the only things stopping me. My only solace was that I got to go home and talk to Edward, sometimes while he was filming late at night. The filming had to be delayed for a couple of days for whatever reason, so it was taking longer than he had planned. Luckily, he was already prepared for that possibility.

I had moved to a walking boot instead of a cast, and it still hurt. I was using one of the forearm crutches that Edward purchased for me to help me get around. The other kind hurt my armpits too much. I had a couple of shoots the week before with my boot, but it was the most I had stood up on it since I had broken it. It made me glad I didn't take all my drugs at once. I needed half a pill at night just to get it to stop throbbing, and I went through a whole massive bottle of ibuprofen in the short five day period time. It was making it hard not to down the entire bottle of strong painkillers every night.

Jessica called me the early the sixth day.

“Hey, Bella. Sorry to bother you while you're working.”

"She's still in bed. It's fine," I said sourly. This woman's day was supposed to start two hours before with some sort of meet and greet, which she definitely blew off. I could have been asleep for another hour myself. Or edited. Each night I edited for hours because I couldn't sleep through the pain. I would be ready to send the pictures of the heinous person on Monday morning, and I would never have to look at her again.

The following Monday, I was supposed to be a leader on a short trip to an old heritage site where they did reenactments. Then Wednesday I was scheduled to do a shoot for Vaudevillian and finally Thursday I would be flying to Los Angeles once again to be with Edward. It was all I could think about. I missed him more than I expected, and it bothered me to a degree. I had already grown so attached to him.

It had felt like there was a hole in my chest since Edward had gone. I couldn't deny it, even if I tried. It was something I had been talking to my new therapist about. I had seen her a few times already.

“You don't sound happy,” Jessica commented, pulling me out of my swirling thoughts.

I didn't feel like explaining all of my life's issues over the phone. It probably wasn't very professional. "My foot hurts, and it makes me cranky." She had seen my break, and we had talked about it over cocktails after a photo shoot the week before. We spent a few hours discussing Edward in great detail. She was more surprised than I was that he was not the internet douchebag we expected him to be.

"Oh. I can understand that. I'm sorry, honey. I was just calling to let you know that we need to reschedule Wednesday. There was a conflict with the model's schedule, so we're moving it to the twenty-first. Does that work for you?"

It took me only a second to do that math. "I'm leaving town for Christmas the twentieth, and I won't be back until the eleventh of January," I explained to her quickly.

There was a slight pause. I had never turned down a job before from them. “Oh, okay. Well... That's the only time we can get her.”

“I can't. I'm sorry. I've already made arrangements and bought plane tickets. I have promises to keep for Christmas.”

There was a rustle of paper in the background and a little sigh on her end. “It's okay. I understand. It is so close to Christmas. I'll get someone else then. I'm sorry it didn't work out. You were a good fit for this session, Bella.”

I think someone wanted to go for drinks to gossip again. I smirked a little to myself.

“It's alright. Maybe next time. I think I might be sick of taking pictures of women, or people in general, after this for a while,” I told her honestly. “I need another vacation already.”

Jessica gasped quietly, “oh, no. Is she terrible? I really like her. I've seen her perform a bunch. I’ve seen her last three plays.”

“Great actress. What a talent,” I replied instead of bad mouthing the woman directly, just in case she walked into the room. Which was doubtful at that point. I was getting more and more pissed off about it.

“Never meet your idols,” she told me with another loud sigh. “Are the pictures any good, at least?”

“She's very beautiful... on the outside,” I mumbled the last part.

“Well, that's what counts, I guess,” Jessica replied. “That's all anyone cares about. I'm sure the pictures will be great.”

When we hung up, I called Alice, who was getting ready for work for the day. She had a late start and slept in. It was a Saturday, and no one would be in the office but her. "Can I be terrible?" I asked in the way of a greeting.

“Usually?” She replied back almost in boredom

“Can I say I broke my foot and call in sick Monday?” I asked her in a quiet voice.

“Does your foot hurt? Do you need anything?”

"No… I mean… Yeah, it does hurt, to be honest. And, I was going to suffer through it, but Vaudevillian canceled on me for Wednesday. I think I'm going to leave earlier for LA. Is that okay?"

Alice didn't hesitate for even a second. “Yeah, I had someone on call for you already if you couldn't make it. I knew you weren't going to be up for it. You barely made it through the movie trip a few days ago.”

"Yeah. You're right. I should have listened," I admitted to her. She had been fussing at me for weeks to sit down before I hurt myself more. I was doing too much in her opinion. She also thought I should have gone to LA with Edward when he left. "You're the best almost sister, and I love you so much.”

I felt absolutely giddy when we hung up.

The mean old Botox filled raisin was asleep for another two more hours, so I started looking up flights on my phone. First I looked at Monday's flights, but then I started looking at Sunday's as the time lurched on at a painfully annoying crawl. She would be performing twice the next day, a play I had already seen three times and was going to see twice more if she ever got up off her flat ass. For each and every hour she wasted my time, I looked for an earlier flight.

There was a flight leaving at six o'clock with one ticket left, non-stop. I would have to go in the middle of her first performance around four to make it. I had plenty of pictures of her and who was going to stop me?

She had not spoken directly to me once. The only time she seemed aware I was there was when she asked her assistant to tell me to remove my walking boot in her house when I first arrived. It had to be explained that I couldn't and why.

She was an idiot.

I canceled my tickets for Wednesday and bought the Sunday night flight with zero regrets. I would surprise Edward this time. It seemed only fair. It was a Christmas gift for both of us. I didn’t want to be away from him any longer.

I barely made it to my flight on time. It was a rush, but it made it a little more exciting somehow. Luckily traffic wasn't terrible. I needed a pain pill on the flight from my speed walking, though. Almost the entire five-hour trip I edited pictures of that horrid, horrid woman. I arranged the files and the email to be sent first thing in the morning. I would never speak the Botox raisin’s name ever again.

It was just after nine thirty at night when I arrived in Los Angeles. I had a missed call from Edward and a message that said he hoped the old bat didn't keep me too late and that he hoped I didn't kick her and break my other foot. I grinned at my phone on the plane as I read it.

I was in a taxi before I called him. I was practically dizzy with excitement and joy, but I had to calm my voice so as not to give it all away at once. I didn't want to shout at him to be waiting for me outside. Well, I did. But that's not how I was going to do it. I was going to be the smoother one for once.

“Hi darlin',” I said in a soft thickly accented voice when he answered the phone after a couple of rings. “How are you doing?”

I could hear the yawn in his voice. I could almost see the stretch he did where he reached his arms over his head and twisted them up over his eyes. When he did his shirt would lift a little and expose his delicious stomach. “Tired. I finished filming my final scene this evening.”

“How did it go?” I asked quietly.

“Good. Everything went smoothly. Such a long fucking day though. I have a few new bruises too,” he complained in a little bit of a whine. “What are you up to now? Are you in bed?”

“I'm in a taxi heading home right now,” I told him truthfully. He didn't need to know who's home, yet.

“It's so late there, love. You must be tired, too. What time is it? Midnight? One?” Edward questioned gently.

I bit my lip. “I'm a little wired, to be honest.”

“Mm,” he hummed in a warm sleepy voice. “Do you have a lot more editing to do?”

I played with the zipper of my camera bag. “Not really. I've kept up with it pretty well. What are you up to?”

I could hear the rustle of the blankets around him as he adjusted slightly. “Laying in bed, thinking about you. Your soft skin. Your delicious smell. Your beautiful lips. All I want right now is for you to be in my arms so we can fall asleep together,” Edward answered wistfully. “I want to wake up beside you again.”

"Soon, I promise," I said firmly. We were pulling onto the street with his house already. The ride had been so quick, the roads were surprisingly empty since it was late at night. "Um, I'm here. Let me let you go for a second so I can get inside."

"Alright, love," he said in a drowsy tone. "Don't take too long, or I might fall asleep. I'm right knackered."

“It's okay if you do,” I promised him. “We’ll see each other soon enough.”

“No,” Edward said quickly despite being tired. “I want to talk to you tonight.”

“Okay then. Give me five minutes.” I hung up on him then quickly and quietly paid before getting out of the car.

His passcodes were all the same, so I slipped inside without issue. Everything was dark and quiet. I left my suitcase in the foyer and took off my shoe. I switched to the foot brace I had been sleeping in and hobbled as quietly to his room as possible with my crutch. The door was opened just a crack, and I could see his sleeping face resting beside his phone on his pillow. Nothing had changed in his home since I had been gone.

I put my crutch beside the door before pushing it all the way open. It didn't make a loud enough sound to wake him. Leaning against the door frame, I softly called his name, “Eddie.”

First, he quickly picked up his phone as his eyes opened shockingly wide. The room was dark so he couldn't see very well. He brought it to his face before I called his name again, his expression very confused.

“Edward!” I said in a little laugh.

He turned on his tableside lamp, blinking wildly towards my direction. He sat up fully in bed. “No!” He shouted in a laugh as he threw himself out of bed and towards me. Edward lifted me a foot in the air above his head and twirled me around before ferociously kissing me, still wiggling me about as he did. He did not release me from his hold for a full ten minutes.

When he pulled away, he was a stuttering sweet smiling mess, holding me at arm's length so he could fully look at me. It was he like he was checking to make sure I was real.

“What? But. But- That mean old twat? What happened?”

"I got what I needed, and she didn't want me there. My thing on Wednesday canceled, and I called in sick already tomorrow with a broken foot. Because, you know. And, it just seemed fair to return the favor. I hated every moment I was without you," I told him in all seriousness. I felt a little drunk.

"You're so dramatic," he teased me lightly. Edward kissed me a dozen times in quick succession all over my face until I dissolved into giggles. "I'm so happy you're here. I'm recording all day tomorrow and Tuesday, though." He was obviously trying to figure out how he could get out of it. I shook my head.

“I know. I don't care. I just… I just want to be close to you again,” I admitted to him anxiously. “Ever since you left, I've felt like I've been in a daze. Like something was missing.” I rubbed my hand over my bejeweled butterfly tattoo. “I can't even really tell you what I did during that time. I know I worked and did stuff with Demetri and Alice. Jessica. But, it's just a blur. And, it's not because of the stupid painkillers. It’s... just that after being that happy with you around, even when things were terrible, that being back to normal sucked so fucking much,” I confessed to him stupidly, trying not to cry around him again.

He just nodded his head in agreement while biting his lip happily before he kissed me again. And again. And again.

Edward scooped me up then laid me down in bed before he crawled in behind me so that he could spoon my entire body with his own. We tangled around each other completely with one of his thick arms under my neck and one resting carefully around my side. He held me as tightly as he could. Pressing his face into my shoulder, he breathed in as much of my scent as he could. He loved the smell of my shampoo and body wash. I always wore vanilla, coffee, or sugary sweet scents. And a lot of coconut for my hair. He had told me in passing on the phone one evening that I smelled like a perfect morning.

“That’s exactly how I felt, my darling. My heart can’t seem to beat without you now. Though you could blame your blur on painkillers if you wanted to,” he teased a bit dramatically when he finally replied. “I would not blame you. I have no excuse.”

I laughed, turning slightly to kiss his cheek with my hand reached back to touch the other. I held him there for several moments, nuzzling and kissing his silky soft and perfectly smooth skin with my lips and nose. He hummed in pleasure, his temple resting against mine. Edward slowly drifted asleep as I loved on him, his breathing becoming slow and deep. It made me feel so contented. I snuggled against him, resting my hand on his as it laid on my stomach.

We fell asleep like that, both of us so very exhausted from our long days.

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