Chapter Twenty One
The businessman Ornette was paired with for the second official week was a man of industry. His company was Venus Floats. They manufactured the base of the floating city. His name was Westen Falks. She was supposed to meet him at the reception the night before, but she had been preoccupied with Rowen and then she was hauled off by Varner, so she’d missed her chance.
Regardless, Westen was a man of business, and she was sent an itinerary that she was forced to read over during breakfast. Instead of making an ad campaign, she was supposed to go around to each of his factories and do some internal relations work by handing out swag to his employees. His situation was unique on Venus. He didn’t need to do public relations. Everyone on Venus needed his services. If a panel of floating city started sagging, it was up to his company to get it rising again. Not only that, but no one could build on Venus without first purchasing a floating panel from him.
There were a bunch of companies that held indestructible monopolies. There were the companies that controlled the floating panels: Venus Floats worked with the company that made the bubbles that went over individual properties and city districts, Bubble Works, and the company that filtered and supplied air to all those places, Air Supply. They were all owned by the same people, the same connection of friends and family. In this round, Ornette was the only one who was sent to work for one of the big wigs.
The itinerary was laid out for her.
Day 1: Lunch with Westen. Shopping for wardrobe and toiletries.
Day 2: Tour of Bayara Factory. Travel to Sholpan destination and arrive in the morning.
Day 3: Tour of Sholpan Factory. Travel to Vishera Vallis and arrive in the morning.
Day 4: Tour of Vishera Vallis Factory. Travel to Vakarine Vallis, will arrive early.
Day 5: Tour of Vakarine Vallis Factory. Return to floating city Nepra
Day 6: Dress fitting. Dinner with Westen.
Day 7: Goldilocks Zone filming.
The biggest question Ornette had was whether or not Westen was going to accompany her to all these locations himself, or if he was going to send her on her own.
She chewed her breakfast slowly. She was not in a rush to go to lunch with Westen. Once she finished her breakfast, she had to go back to her room and do everything she could do to make herself look fantastic. She had things to wear to her other meetings, but she was running out. There wasn’t much left in her overnight bag.
After breakfast, she found The Coordinator and explained her problem.
He gazed down at her like he was so busy he couldn’t be bothered. “Didn’t you see on your itinerary that you’re going shopping today?”
“Yeah, but isn’t that just clothes for this week?” Ornette countered.
“It’s okay if you show up for the luncheon in brown paper. The sadder you look, the more likely Westen is to fork out a decent amount of money for your things. Go in what you’re wearing now.”
Ornette looked down. She was wearing a white sports bra with a tie-dye maxi shirt and the runners she’d got from Joel.
“Really? This is fine?”
The Coordinator looked down at her body until his eyes rested on her bare stomach. “Ornette, you’re winning this game.”
“There are no winners at this game,” she replied.
“There are two winners. One is the model who stays in the game the longest. The other winner is the one who gets Papa Bear to bid on her. You’re well on your way to winning both.”
Ornette struggled. “And what does a girl get if she achieves the highest bid? What does she get if she gets Varner to bid on her?” Desmond had told her that there were cash prizes for the girls and the figures earned were based on how long they managed to stay on the show, but he hadn’t given actual numbers, so it was hard to get excited.
The Coordinator looked at her like she was stupid. “Why are you trying so hard at this if you’re not interested in winning just for the glory of it?”
She gave him a dead-eyed stare. “I haven’t been trying.”
His eyes bugged out. “You’re not?”
“No. I’m not. If I’m doing well, it’s because the game is rigged to suit someone who is a good Sleeping Beauty Inc. model. That’s all.”
The Coordinator’s expression grew more and more puzzled. Finally, he averted his gaze and went back to looking at the tablet in his hands. “Uh… There are rewards. Trust me. Rewards are in store for you if you keep doing what you’re doing. You don’t need better clothes than what you have on. What you’re wearing now will mildly offend Westen, so in that case, you’re right, but it’s okay to offend him. He’ll buy you the most wonderful clothes to match his ego.”
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Ornette rolled her shoulders in response and went to her bathroom to do her makeup and hair. If she had to wear what she was wearing, she’d have to beef up her game in other areas.
If she didn’t even want to win, what was she even doing?
***
Lunch was at the same extravagant restaurant Hans where had taken Ornette, except Westen got a private room because he was one of the wealthiest men on the planet, far wealthier than Hans who only made timepieces. Westen was a man of fifty with all his hair, blue eyes that looked as intelligent as helium balloons at a fair, and a smile permanently affixed to his face. Yet, even though he couldn’t stop smiling, he still managed to look disapproving of Ornette’s outfit.
Otherwise, he put her in a chair across from him, ordered what she would eat for lunch without consulting her, and explained to her that he enjoyed fashion and he had made arrangements for her to be dressed by a clothing supplier he knew. He made the whole thing sound very low-key, like nothing at all, but Ornette didn't think that could be true.
“Did you already choose what you want me to wear for the four days I’m touring factories?” she nodded.
He nodded. “I’m sorry. You must be disappointed.”
“I’m not disappointed. I’m sure you chose beautiful things for me to wear,” she replied, and she smiled.
He was an idiot, and Ornette was looking down on him as she smiled at him. Okay, he wasn’t a complete idiot, but he was going to pay for a shopping spree for her whether he liked it or not. If he had bought her clothes from a private designer’s collection, those clothes would not be her size. They would be made for women who were taller with smaller breasts. He was about to watch her try on a collection of clothes she would either swim in or not be able to do up.
At least he fed her. The food he ordered for her was actual food and it filled her. It was fish that had been raised on Venus at a fish farm. Ornette hadn’t had anything that delicious to eat since she was a little girl and she thanked him, not only for lunch, but for ordering something so perfect for her to eat.
“Thank you,” she said sincerely. “If you choose clothes as well as you choose lunch, I’m in very good hands.”
They finished eating and he took her in his private helocarrier to the clothing supplier. When they got inside the vehicle, he directed her attention to the pilot. “This is Stonic. He’s our pilot today, but he’ll also be transporting you to the factories. You’re going to spend a lot of time with him.”
Ornette did not look at the pilot. She looked at Westen. “Aren’t you coming with me to tour the factories?”
He was about to answer her when the answer popped into her head and then out of her mouth.
“But that would defeat the purpose of having a spokesperson to do the rounds for you,” she supplied.
Westen smiled. “Exactly right. Let’s just have a good time today and then I’ll see you again for your dress fitting on the last day.”
“Perfect,” she said compliantly.
Then she turned to give her attention to the pilot who was going to be her actual owner for the next few days.
The first thing she noticed about him was that he had a wildly boyish face. He looked like a baby who had never grown up with enormous dimples. He turned in his pilot chair, hooked his headphones around his neck, and shook her hand with vigor.
“He’s not my man,” Westen explained. “He’s on loan from Sleeping Beauty Inc., so he has a bracelet like you. He used to pilot models between the moons of Jupiter, so he has so much experience dealing with women like you that he can be trusted completely.”
Stonic had never flown Ornette before, but she wasn’t surprised that Sleeping Beauty Inc. brought a few of their boys home for this very week so that other models could be ferried around without their potential buyers present.
With that, Stonic turned back to the controls and within a few minutes, they were up in the air.
At the clothing supplier, Ornette met the tailor. It was a bent man who had worked for Westen’s family for decades and just as Ornette predicted, not a single thing he had in the place fit her. She tried on everything and when she came out of the dressing room with the sagging or stretched piece of clothing she tried to make it sound like the piece of clothing was not at fault. It was her who was wrong and she could make what they’d given her work.
Piece after unfitting piece, Westen got more and more uneasy.
The tailor struggled. He didn’t want to let his best client down, but he was not used to dressing a woman of Ornette’s height. He was trying to fit her in trousers and low-cut tops, exactly as his boss asked him. The legs of the trousers were too long. The tops were worse as they were made of stretchy material that was really meant to hang loose, but Ornette’s shape contorted them so that she was showing so much of her breasts as to make her look utterly unprofessional for the task at hand.
After the fortieth try, Ornette heard the tailor on the phone arranging for a petite clothing supplier to send some clothes immediately. What should they bring? Anything her size. He was reading her measurements off on the phone the way a fighter pilot sends bogie coordinates. Five hundred miles an hour simply wasn’t fast enough. He ordered from three places while his underling hemmed a pair of pants for her.
All the while, Westen got increasingly peeved.
The tailor emerged from the back room. “I have some children’s clothes in storage and a friend of mine who specializes in dressing petite women is sending some of her samples over. They should be here within the hour.”
“I leave it in your hands,” Westen said, realizing that it would be more trouble than it was worth to stand around and wait for the tailor to work it out. He didn’t say anything to Ornette on his way out.
Ornette watched him go with a smile on her face. She wasn’t going to have to deal with him! After Hans, she was delighted not to have to bother with another handsy man.
She was not properly dressed for the tour of the factories until after dinner. The toiletries had been ordered and were set to be delivered to the studio dorms by morning. She did not see Westen before she was picked up by Stonic in his helocarrier and returned to the dorms.
He gave her a reminder of what time he would be there to collect her to take her to the first factory. It was part of Nepra, so it wasn’t a long ride first thing in the morning. He told her that the back of the helocarrier would be configured differently and she wouldn’t have to worry that there wouldn’t be a place for her to sleep while they traveled. There would be. The back would have two beds and two seats.
“One bed for you and one bed for me?” she asked, trying to be friendly.
“Yes,” he said, obviously anxious to finish their conversation and be on his way.
Ornette complied and got out of the helocarrier. She strode into the dorms. She was tired. Long days filled with clothes made her happy, but they also tired her out.
She walked in just in time to see Desmond leaving the lobby. He went a different direction than the way to the contestant dorms, but the man was in the building. Ornette smiled at The Coordinator as she came in.
“Did you get some good clothes?” he asked sharply.
She scrunched her nose. “Yes! I got the best clothes.”
Naturally, she did not get the best clothes, but Desmond was in the building and if he was in the building, she thought he might show up in Goldilocks’ house and sit in her chair or take a nap in her bed. The thought put a naughty smile on her face.