Runway Runaway (One Shot)

[Mir]

The sigh from the woman hanging up the phone was audible and exasperated. She stared at the phone for a few moments, before turning to some of the other women in the dressing room. “We seem to be one person down, Kenzie Sanders had to pull out,” She said. “Do some of you, any of you know someone who we can call under short notice to replace her?” She asked.

A hand shot up.

==-==-==

Reid adjusted her sunglasses as her feet hit the tarmac in Venice. It wasn’t every day she was called in on such short notice for a job. Apparently, Kenzie Sanders had suddenly called to say she wouldn’t be available for the modeling gig. One of her friends was working the gig and had told the staff to contact her and see if she was available. Well, available she was. They had sent a private jet to pick her up from Paris, where she had been finishing up another gig.

There was a car waiting to take her to the venue and on the way there, she went through her social media feeds, seeing different updates from people. After that, she checked her email, to see if there were any other interesting offers coming through. She had been in Venice before, so the sights weren’t as interesting to her. Her crystal clear blue eyes scanned over the unread messages. Reid finished with her email as she reached the venue.

She got out of the car and saw her friend coming out of the building.

“Thanks for thinking of me, girlie.”

Nolan Holloway grinned. “Who else was I going to think about, besides my best friend?” The slightly shorter woman embraced her, almost unsettling the Yankees ball cap on Reid’s head. “There’s a lot going on here, but I think they’ll be able to fit you in with ease. You and Kenzie are pretty close in height.”

“Yeah, we’re not too close in body type though. I hope I can help out.” Reid took off the ballcap and ran a hand through her long blond locks. She’d inherited her mother’s eyes but her hair color was closer to her father’s than her mother’s. Thank goodness for hair dye.

The black haired woman shook her head. “Nonsense, we’ll be able to figure this out.”

She led her into the venue to get her situated. Reid’s eyes moved around the backstage area. There was a lot going on. Then again, that made sense. The sun was starting to set on the day before the show. Of course things would be pretty far along when it came to getting ready. There were a lot of people moving around the area and finishing up all the set up. She could hear sound checks happening. It looked like a big production but that’s sort of what she expected.

Nolan and Reid checked in with the head of model management. They already had Reid’s information, her measurements and what not. But they’d need to compare that to what she currently was. Height, obviously, wouldn’t have changed, but weight may have, as well as body composition. She was used to it though, she had gone through this countless times at runway shows.

It was better than the alternative. Though what was the alternative? Go into the family business? That seemed a terrible alternative. Not just for her but for everyone involved. She knew what her parents would have wanted for her, but she hadn’t been that kind of person. She was much more comfortable finding her own path in life.

Reid knew that eventually looks faded, so she was keeping all of her options open when it came to what she would do down the road. The ole family business was always there, she supposed. Something to fall back on. Which was a wild thing to say considering what it was.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by Nolan who handed her a tablet. The standard releases were there. Reid had already looked them over and was fine with them.

“Did you get a hotel room already?” Nolan asked and Reid shook her head. “You want to stay with me? I’ve got a little space and you can save on the money.”

Reid considered it for a half second. “That sounds amazing.”

Nolan beamed. “Awesome. I’ve got dinner reservations later, let’s go together.”

==-==-==

A few hours later, they had gotten Reid into the hotel room and were now sitting outside, having dinner. They both were watching what they were eating, ahead of the show the next day. But that gave them plenty of time to talk and catch up. Reid hadn’t seen Nolan in a few months. It was one of the longer stretches they had been apart. Nolan had called Reid her best friend and Reid saw Nolan the same way. That was a big reason why she had taken the booking request at the last minute. Normally she liked knowing well in advance, so she could make sure she was at a proper weight and muscle appearance for a show. She pushed around her salad, counting the calories in her head.

“So, what’s new?” Nolan asked. “I feel like we haven’t seen each other in years.”

Reid laughed. “It hasn’t been that long, but yeah it’s been a while. No, I’ve been fine. Same old same old, honestly.” She poked at the salad, eating some of the cabbage and spinach. “What about you?” She asked.

“Oh, you know me. Always trying to find trouble,” Nolan said, a mischievous look in her eye. “I’d probably be in Antigua but I wanted to work with Nora again. She’s so great and her designs are awesome.” She gestured down at herself. Nolan was wearing a Nora design at that very moment. A beautiful luscious green flowing dress, Reid thought she had seen it during last season. It was a nice material and the cut was great. Nolan took a sip from her water. “Have you been in touch with the fam?” She asked.

Reid shook her head. “No, we do better when I’m away from things and they’re doing their thing. I know Dad’s health is getting better so that’s always good. He can still be a bit touch and go though. You’d think he’d try to find a way to cure himself. I should probably go visit him one of these days. But he just goes on and on. He’s always been that way.”

“Well…he is who he is.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” She had to give her that. Her dad was who he was. He had a one track mind and found it difficult to be able to move to a different thing. “Mom was always good at being able to help him mutli-task. Stop him from going down rabbit holes. But…She didn’t have the best hit rate, you know?” She asked, more rhetorically than anything. “We lost so many of them over the years. The people good at keeping dad on track.”

Nolan chewed and considered her words. She knew how touchy a subject this was with Reid. They had talked about it a lot. “Maybe that’s a reason to reach out and visit him sooner rather than later.”

Reid sighed and Nolan smiled, knowing what Reid was going to say.

“Sure, but we both know what’s going to happen. He’s going to want me to stay and want me to help and….and….and…” She said, punctuating each word with a turn of her hand. “I usually last a few days before I get stir crazy and he’s comfortable just being there.”

“You could help out with the kids.”

“The last thing I want to do is babysit a bunch of nerds, Nolan, you know that. They’re younger than me or my age. They’re usually guys. They’ve never really been around a woman. And…” she trailed off, leaning in to continue. “Last time I was there, I found out for a fact that a couple of them had pinups of me on their walls. I saw it with my own eyes, Nolan.”

Nolan laughed, rocking back in her chair. “What’s wrong with that? Wouldn’t that make them want to listen to you more when you tell them not to get themselves killed or whatever?” She asked.

“I know what we do can have some weird misogynistic connotations. I know that. We’re hired because we have certain body types and we look a certain way and we make clothes look better. Its aspirational. Makes people want to buy them. But guys use those pictures a lot differently than women do. I don’t need to be trying to talk to a guy and wonder whether or not he’s jerked off to me.”

Nolan’s eyes went up and down Reid. “You don’t need to wonder, babe.”

“That’s gross, thanks, Nolan.” Reid rolled her eyes. “Why do you think I don’t date? It’s like some actress who goes nude in a movie. You know they’re talking to you but are they talking to you or the image of you they have in their mind?”

Nolan shrugged. “It works for me either way, but I get it. Speaking of what we do, though, a lot of the fashion world is in New York. We do shows and gigs in New York.”

“That’s when I stop in for a few days.” Reid laughed.

“Kinda seems like you’re running away from your responsibilities. Your last name is your last name just like your dad is your dad.” Nolan said. “You gotta get back in touch with your roots, girl.”

“I definitely do not. I just had them touched up.” Reid shook her curls. She knew she was ignoring Nolan’s actual point. It was something she wasn’t too keen on addressing.

Maybe Nolan had a point. Maybe she was running away from what was in front of her. At the same time though, she didn’t ask for this. She didn’t ask for any of it. She had been born into it, as Nolan had said. Reid had her mind made up about what she wanted to do in the world and she wasn’t going to let other people tell her what she could or couldn’t do. Or what she should or shouldn’t do. That wasn’t how this worked. She was going to make her own way in the world.

“How’s things with Grayson?”

At first she was glad that Nolan had changed the subject, but then again she wasn’t that fond of this subject either.

“Why do you think I don’t date?” Reid repeated.

“I missed you,” Nolan said. “I don’t know what you’re doing. Grayson is rich as fuck and he wants to waste all that money on you.”

“I have an MBA and I do really damn well at my job,” Reid said. “Grayson is just a douchebag. If my dad could fix that, I would keep talking to both of them..”

“Is there anyone that doesn’t annoy you?”

“You,” Reid said, picking up her sparkling water. They clinked glasses.

==-==-==

Reid smiled as tears strolled down Nora’s face. The show had been a success and they were celebrating backstage. She was sure the reviews would be coming in, fast and furious. She was glad she had been able to help Nora, who was continuing to build a bigger and bigger name in the fashion world. The woman was able to go by one name, which when you thought about it, was pretty damn cool. Nora pulled Reid in for a tight hug.

“Thank you so much for coming in at the last minute. You could have taken someone else’s offer or stayed on your couch. We needed you so much.”

Reid didn’t believe that, but she believed Nora believed it. It was endearing and she appreciated it. She returned the hug. “What was I going to do, not help you out?” She asked. “Perish the thought, dear heart.”

Nora laughed, wringing one hand while using the other to wipe away some of the tears of happiness. “Whenever I get the new show set up, you’re at the top of the list. You and Nolan, you guys are life savers.”

“You call and I’ll see what I can do.”

“Just wait till I tell Rowan I got to work with Nolan Holloway and Reid R-” Nora was interrupted by another well wisher.

“Who’s Rowan?” Reid asked.

“Who? Oh, Rowan. My best friend. Probably my maid of honor down the road.” Nora reached out and touched a passer by on the shoulder and the two shared a quick look of happiness. “She works in D.C. but she loves all my stories of working with you guys.”

“Glad to help,” Reid said as an assistant walked up with her cell phone.

“Your phone has been blowing up.” The assistant handed her the phone and pulled Nora away to talk to some other people.

Reid frowned, and scrolled through the notifications, still standing in a dress that was over a thousand dollars. She saw repeated texts from Grayson as well as phone calls. She wasn’t going to let that idiot dampen her great mood. Reid also saw she had received a phone call from Sinead Flanagan, one of the lawyers at the law firm the family used. Now that was pretty strange. She knew Sinead but the woman rarely reached out to her. Ignoring Grayson’s messages, she called Sinead back. There was a time difference, but she didn’t care, it was probably in the afternoon.

There had to be a reason Sinead was calling her.

“Reid, I’m so glad you called back. Where are you?”

“Good to talk to you too,” Reid said, her brow creasing. “I’m in Venice, I was working a show with Nolan, you remember Nolan?”

“Uh…..yeah.”

“Yeah they had a cancellation and…It doesn’t matter, why are you calling?”

There was silence on the other end and Reid thought maybe she’d lost the connection. She said Sinead’s name and waited.

“I’m trying to figure out how to say this.” Sinead took an audible breath. And said a sentence that changed Reid’s world forever.

Her father…Reed Richards…Mister Fantastic…had died.