Chapter Text
"Absolutely not."
"Mira, please! We need a woman for today, and you're gorgeous!" Samira's roommate is stood in front of her with pleading eyes, holding up her phone with a flyer for 'Nude models needed, paid.' "You're the one that's always saying you need to get out of your comfort zone, too. This is perfect for that!"
Samira sighs, setting her coffee down on the counter next to them. "Today is supposed to be my day off, Lori. And you want me to..." *she looks at the flyer.* "pose naked for a bunch of art students?" Lori puts the phone down and gives her a look. "It's paid. Not to mention, it'll get you out of your shell."
"I am not in a-"
"You absolutely are in a shell. Ever since you started working with 'Doctor Abbot'-" *his name is said with a certain amount of teasing* "you haven't even tried to have a social life! You need someone to see you naked, Mira."
Samira splutters when she hears Jack's name, more at the end of that. "Your grand plan to make me friends is 'get her in a room naked?'" Lori shrugs. "There'll be a male model too, who knows? Maybe you'll hit it off and stop yearning for a man 20 years older than you."
Samira throws her hands up in frustration, just wanting her to stop talking. "Fine! Fine, I'll do it." Lori shrieks and throws her arms around her before texting furiously into some groupchat, presumably to tell them she has someone.
Samira downs the rest of her coffee, coming to terms with the fact that she just agreed to do this. Maybe Lori's right, and it'll help her self-confidence, maybe get her some friends? She sets the empty cup down and exhales. "Do I need to... I don't know, shave or something?" Her roommate shakes her head at that. "No, as long as you're, like, clean, you'll be totally fine. And there's no phones or cameras allowed in or anything, it's a closed room, so don't worry about any of that stuff." She nods. "Alright. And the guy I'll be... posing with?" It feels too weird to her to say the 'naked' part out loud. "Oh, he's new I think. Saw the flyer online I guess, since no one seems to know him. We like background checked him though, John's in charge of making sure anyone we dont know isn't weird. I think he like, gives to charity or something? I can't remember now." Samira nods, a little relieved that he probably won't be a serial killer. "But Mira, if you get uncomfortable at all, just say the word and I'll shut it down. And also kill him. Although for legal reasons, I didn't say that part." Samira laughs at Lori's incredibly serious expression when she says that. "Yeah, alright. I will."
When Samira arrives at the art school, she's guided in by a very excited Lori. She's ushered into a little changing room with a couple of girls who wave with smiles. "Samira, this is Sophie and Ivy. They're here to help you with your hair and all that." Ivy grins. "We're here to make you as hot as you can be. Although Lori wasn't joking when she said you'd be a perfect model, you are gorgeous." Samira smiles back a little more tentatively, she likes this girl.
They give her a sheet to wrap herself in for now, and turn around to give her some privacy as she undresses. She keeps her breathing as level as she can as she kicks off her underwear and wraps the sheet around herself like a burrito, reminding herself that she's fine. She's confident. Her breathing returns to normal as she calms herself down. "Alright, I'm done." The girls turn around and guide her into a chair in front of a brightly lit mirror, Lori saying goodbye to presumably go and set up her canvas. Samira somewhat zones out as they put something in her hair that makes it smell fantastic and shake it out so it falls loose on her shoulders. She pays attention to their talking as they apply makeup. "Girl, the guy you're gonna be posing with? Hot as hell. Polite, too. He's in there now, helping one of the lads set up the lights since he came early and insisted on helping." The girls titter over the lovely man for another minute before standing back. "If you're alright, we have like a spray-on oil that we use for the body. Helps you look more alive." Sophie holds up something that honestly looks like a weapon, but Samira just smiles and nods, carefully unwrapping the sheet and draping it over the chair she had been sat on. Sophie walks around her, gesturing for her to close her eyes as a gentle mist of a pleasant-smelling oil envelops her. Samira exhales, it's strangely relaxing in the face of walking into a room naked.
Eventually, she hears "Okay, all done!" and she opens her eyes, instinctively glancing into the mirror. She looks... honestly, she's not sure what she looks like, but she likes it. The oil seems to be giving her the illusion of glowing skin, and she loves it. She smiles at herself in the mirror, turning on the spot to see every angle. "Oh my god. I didn't even know I could look like this." The two girls are grinning at her, giving a hopeful look. "Glad you like it, but it's mostly you." Samira looks back at the mirror, feeling bolstered. "I guess it is. Thank you, anyway. My skin's never looked better." "Are you ready to head in?" Ivy asks, tentatively. Samira only hesitates for a split second before she nods. "Yeah, I'm ready."
She's fairly sure nothing can shake her right now, as she takes a sip of water and the girls help her lift the sheet up to hold it as they guide her through another door into a round room with a high ceiling. There's a circle of easels, with different people at behind each, chatting and preparing their materials for the session. She spots Lori and gives her a little smile and a wave with the hand that isn't holding the sheet around herself, getting a much more enthusiastic wave in return. There's a large, cushioned chair in the middle of the room, and she looks around. Didn't they say the guy was in here too? A voice comes from behind an easel as a light clicks on. "See, I told you that usually if you just give it a good kick, it'll sort itself out." *Samira freezes as she slowly turns. She knows that voice. A figure steps out from where that voice came from, a sheet wrapped around his waist, and surprise flits across his face.
A face she'd know anywhere.
Jack Abbot.