9Somewhere out on that horizon,
Out beyond the neon lights,
I know there must be something better
But there's nowhere else in sight
- The Eagles
Jen often wondered how she got herself into these situations, because they happened quite frequently. Or maybe it was just since Frazier had been around. Either way, she couldn't figure out why she had such bad karma.
Jen had suggested that Burton meet with her at Femme National for lunch, and then they would go to Julian Studios together.
She didn't know just what Frazier would have going on or how the studio would look, so she wanted to do as much damage control before hand as possible.
(flashback!)
"Mr. Burton, how nice to see you!" Jen said as she walked open-arms toward the short, silver haired man that had just come through the doors. "Hello Jennifer!" Burton said as they hugged briefly.
Burton was the representative Emmit & Layne sent to determine how efficient and reliable the perspective companies they were talking big business with were.
On the outside, Burton was the grandpa everyone wants to have. He was everybody's friend. If you made a mistake in front of him he would laugh it off, but on the inside he was really taking score of all your screw-ups. That meant a lot of ass kissing.
Femme National and Julian Studios had to make sure everything was perfect, from getting the models to the shoots on time down to the right hangers for the clothes. If anything did go wrong, this would be their first and last photo shoot with Emmit & Layne.
"This is a very nice building," Burton commented as he looked around with a smile on his face. Jen rolled her eyes behind his back.
"Yes, I suppose it's alight. But if you'd like to come with me I have lunch waiting upstairs for a few others and us. I hope you like italian," she said as she led him toward the stairs.
"Oh yes, of course. I'm quite starved," he said as he followed her.
Twenty minutes later Jennifer, Burton, DeVore, Jean Monrow and Crystal Shippley (DeVores personal assistant) were all seated in a small meeting room enjoying their food and white champagne.
They had been chatting about Femme National and its success with other prestigious companies and its recent change in staff when Burton had asked who they had hired as their new art director.
" A Mr. Jacob Frazier." Jen answered as she tried to keep her smile from sliding off her face. She noticed how Burton suddenly was a lot more interested in conversation.
"I thought the shoot was with a Julian Studios." Butron said as he leaned forward.
"It is. Jacob Frazier is with Julian Studios."
"Ah! I had heard about him moving to New York. He did always want his own studio, and he was always so independent. This must be that project he'd been talking about. I'm surprised it took him this long..." Burton seemed to be talking to himself now.
Jen looked to Nicole, who just shrugged her shoulders. No one else in the room seemed to know what Burton was going on about either.
"Excuse me?" Jen finally asked, furrowing her eyebrows. Burton shot her a confused look. "Didn't he tell you?"
Jen threw him a look that said 'obviously not.'
Burton leaned back in his chair, looking like he was getting ready to tell a story.
"Julian Studios belongs to Jacob, or the majority does. He's worked in many trendy and up scale studios, but this is his first solo act. I've worked with him many times before, wonderful young man. I wasn't aware that the Jacob Frazier would be shooting our layout."
Jennifer was annoyed by how Burton put empathize on 'the'.
'The Jacob Frazier?' she thought. 'Please.'
After that the conversation had turned from Femme National to Jacob Frazier. Jen remained quiet for the rest of lunch. So many things were running through her head.
If Frazier is really that good, well-known, and respected then why does he need a contract with a fashion magazine? She asked herself as she tried to finish her stromboli.
(end flashback!)
Jen had remained just was quiet in the limo as she had been at lunch. She gave a sigh of annoyance when they pulled up in front of Julian Studios. Though she new Julian Studios made decent money for themselves, she never expected what she saw, and as she stepped out of the limo she couldn't keep the look of shock off her face.
She had seen this place before, though at that time it had been nothing but a run down warehouse. The outside of the building was now all mirrored glass, with Julian Studios on only a small plague to the left of the entrance, which was also mirrored glass, and seemingly blended into the front of the building with the exception of two door knobs. Before the buildings around the warehouse had seemed to lean away from it, trying as hard as they could to seem unfriendly toward it. Now it was the main focus of the street, like it was the only reason people drove down it. Julian Studios had totally recreated it.
'But then again, that's what they're good at.' Jen reminded herself.
"My, my!" Burton said as he stepped out behind her. Jen tried not to notice the impressed look on his face. But as they walked inside Jen noticed Burton wasn't the only one impressed. Nicole, Jean and Crystal also had smiles smacked across their faces. Jen was the only one not smiling.
The moment they opened the doors to the reception area they were greeted with techno music and the smell of green tea.
'I've just entered Hell,' Jen thought as she looked around. That was the only way she could describe a place where Frazier had more power then she did. She inspected the room with a critical eye as the others headed toward the receptionist.
The inside was swank and trendy. There was one of those round couches in the middle of the reception area, with a tree in a pot next to it decorated with colored Christmas lights. The wall behind the desk where the cute receptionist sat looked like big picture of Central Park that had been pasted on the wall, leaving the rest of the walls white but covered in pictures of varying sizes.
Jen let herself like it, but not much. 'At least Hell has a good interior decorator,' she thought.
"Impressive, is it not?" Burton asked when he noticed her looking around, "Especially for his first project."
"I suppose," she answered flatly.
Burton eyed her for a moment and was about to say something more, but before he could their attention was turned to something else. "Oliver Burton? Is that you?"
Frazier had just walked into the room.
He had a big goofy smile on his face and his arms opened.
"Jacob my boy! Why didn't you tell me you had opened your own place?" Burton asked as he walked toward him.
The two embraced warmly, giving Jen the mental picture of grandson and grandfather. She felt the annoyance in her double. Sure, he could win over the old man with just a smile, but she had to work her ass off to make everything perfect. Life wasn't fair.
"We've really just gotten started, everything's been so crazy."
"Ah yes, I understand that. Beginnings are always crazy." Burton agreed with a nod.
"I've had a lot to do. But we'll be having our first open house soon, and it'd be an honor if you'd come." Jacob said.
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world."
As Jen stood and watched them, she noticed something different about Jacob. He attitude and body language was much different with Burton then with anyone else she'd seen him talk to. He was speaking softer and not as demanding, he was also leaning forward and had his eyebrows slightly risen. Not mention he hadn't stopped smiling.
'Oh, so there is someone more important to you then yourself, someone you want to impress.' Jen thought when she realized what she was seeing. She let a smirk come to her lips.
Five minutes later Frazier and Burton were still talking to each other and hadn't given a single thought to the Femme National team. They were all standing there quietly -Jen with her arms crossed and tapping her foot and the others just looking around- letting the two carry on. Jen looked at Nicole, who just shrugged.
'Good God,' Jen thought as her patience ran out, 'Do I have to do everything?'
"Eh-hem." She said loudly.
Both stopped talking and looked at her. Frazier threw her an irritated glare. He obviously didn't like being interrupted.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," she said as threw Frazier's' glare back at him, " But we have a very tight schedule here."
"Ah yes, I must see the place!"
With that Jacob and Butron turned and walked through the doorway Jacob had come from, leaving the others to do nothing but follow.
As Crystal and Jean walked ahead Jennifer fell back to be next to Nicole.
"Have you been here before?" she asked DeVore quietly.
"No, but it's impressive, isn't it? It's even better then I thought,' Nicole answered as she followed the others into the studio.
The studio was impressive. But again Jennifer only allowed herself to be impressed a slight bit
The room was big and open, as the warehouse had been built that way, having enough room for five different shoots to be going on at once. The studio was white, with the wall to their left being the one that faced the road and so made completely of glass, letting a perfect amount of natural light into the studio greatly reducing the need for artificial lighting. The ceiling was in fashion of a usual warehouse, high with beams showing. It was, however, strewn with lights. Some were actually mounted to the ceiling and colored differently while others were attached to the beams and could move back and forth like spotlights.
The main attraction of the room, however, was the catwalk. The room clearly could be set up for a fashion show if the photo equipment were moved out of the way.
Jacob was leading Burton around to each shoot, explaining what they were photographing and who for, as the others followed a short distance behind.
Jennifer knew that Jacob was trying to insure Burton that everything would go smoothly. She didn't blame him. Julian Studios needed this contract as much as Femme National. If this didn't pull through both would be taking a major cut in profits and both their good names would be on the black list (or close to it) for at least a year.
If they pulled this off, Julian Studios would have proved they were reliable and could handle big labels such as Emmit&Layne, and even bigger ones. Femme National would use this to get them ahead of their competitors for contracts with other labels.
Jennifer watched Jacob as he lead them through the studio. He was dressed in all white except for a red belt. She noticed that his hair was shorter then the last time she had seen him, and the difference in length made it wavier and curl slightly at the ends. His walk was lazy, which told her that he felt at home and was confident in his work. It reminded her greatly of another man she used to know. His walk had been the same, confident to the point of being cocky.
"So this is where the shoot will be held."
Jens thoughts were interrupted. They had stopped in front of a set of green double doors. They were closed, but on one 'Geisha Room' was painted in fancy white letters.
"Geisha Room?" Burton asked with a bit of excitement.
"You'll understand once we're in." was Frazier's answer.
He pushed open one side and held the door for everyone to walk in. Jen followed behind the others, but didn't look at him as or offer as much as a 'thank you' as he held the door open for her.
'I don't suppose it's where you store your whores?' Jen asked him mentally as she walked past him. She smiled when he pretended not to notice she had stepped on his toes with the heel of her stiletto.
Ok so here's the deal…this story had been going for a while now and I lose intrest then gain it back like really easily. So if it goes a couple of months with no updates then I'm really sorry. I also lose track, I guess you'd call it writers block or something…so if you have any ideas then I welcome them. I Love You All..