Convincing her

After two hours, the girls were settled in a restaurant and had all ordered their food with the exception of Laura who was on a diet. She decided not to eat at all because salad would be completely tasteless infront of what everyone else ordered.

"You aren't going to eat?" Nancy asked worriedly.

"I have to be in tip top shape by the end of next week. I will only cheat if I have a fork in my hand" Laura said in despair. She knew she would take a bite from everyone's plate of she had the cutlery. They all nodded in understanding before the topic changed to Jen.

"What happened today? Was it urgent?" Leanna asked curiously.

"I had to take Lucas to the hospital this morning-" Jen tried to explain but was promptly interrupted by the girls.

"Oh my god what happened?" Rachel asked worriedly.

"Is he sick?" Nancy asked.

"Is it serious?" Laura asked

"Should you be here?" Leanna asked with a frown.

"You would know what happened if you let me talk, okay?" Jen said in annoyance shutting the girls up.

"So what happened?" Laura asked when he noticed that Jen was taking too much time drinking her juice. Added to the fact that she was only having water, she was feeling slightly bitter as well.

"Well, his nose was really badly bruised this morning, I even thought it was broken. It was just too scary. So I had him quickly get dressed before we went to the hospital together. Fortunately, as I said, it was just a bruise. I think Ethan might blacklist us after this incident" Jen said before she closed her eyes and sighed.

"You called Ethan?" Leanna asked surprised.

"Well, he is a doctor isn't he?" Jen responded.

"Although he said he was a neurosurgeon. Isn't this exploitation?" Leanna asked.

"Hey, are you defending him right now? Wasn't this his hospital? If I asked him to come and treat him at home what would you call that then?" Jen asked eeling incensed.

"Calm down girls, Is this something to get worked up about?" Laura said trying to mediate. It was obvious who got worked up, Leanna was just being her senseless self.

"Sorry, my aunt just came today. I'm hormonal" Jen said and continued drinking her juice. She noticed her period started when she was showering as she was getting ready to come out with the girls. She felt like marking that day as the most tiring day of the year. It would explain why her mood was so unpredictable that day.

"Ah~" the girls said in unison and nodded in understanding.

"By the way, how did he get injured in the first place?" Laura asked. When Jen remembered their circumstances she couldn't help but feel like it was a bit too unbelievable. 

"I accidentally head-butted him" Jen explained briefly.

"I'm assuming this has something to do with why you sound like that today" Laura commented and Jen's cheeks flushed red because she had suddenly remembered why her voice was like that.

"I must be right" Laura said proudly making the other girls laugh.

"Let's not talk about this any further" Jen said effectively dropping the topic.

"How has work been? Any progress with James?" Nancy asked Laura curiously.

"I'm basically living on smoothies, chicken breasts and leaves. James turned out to be an efficient manager maybe even too efficient. I hoped working with him would help us cultivate feelings for each other, but I might just end up hating him" Laura complained. 

She didn't think she would ever come to regret her choices up until she decided to make him her manager. If it was someone else she could have been overbearing but he just said she was being cute and did not comply with her. Infact, if he was in a good mood, he would find her even more work. She suddenly felt like kicking something.

"It sounds like you'll start earning money pretty fast" Nancy said with a laugh. She didn't see anything wrong with a lot of work.

She would have happily modeled if she was tall enough. She was the shortest of all the girls gathered although it seemed like they were all just taller than average since she was about 5ft 6' compared to Jen who was 5ft 9'. 

"Since you decided to become a full time model, you should have expected at least this much work right?" Rachel said as she patted her shoulder.

Before Laura could say anything in response, their food arrived and as Laura looked at the spread, she realised that she may have overestimated her will power. She caved and ordered herself a salad, without any dressing and waited for it as they all chatted about different things.

Once they were done, they walked around the mall to see if there is anything they like or would want to buy and that was when Jen saw the masks that Lucas was asking for. She did not hesitate to go into the shop to get him some.

She didn't expect that the shop only sold masks and she was soon overwhelmed by the variety. The other girls followed her out of curiosity but they were also stunned when they walked inside.

"How may I help you?" the store clerk asked politely when he noticed that the girls were all staring wide eyed at the store.

"Umm, i'm looking for masks, but isn't this a bit too much?" Jen said as she looked around curiously.

"What type do you want?" the clerk asked with a smile.

"The basic ones" Jen said when she noticed a mannequin that was fitted with a mask that had grills on it.

"I think I saw that in some futuristic movie" Rachel said as she pointed at pitch black that covered the mannequins face all the way down to its neck.

"This way please" the clerk said in a stable voice. He was really trying to hold back from laughing. He was surprised to see the four girls walk in, and was even more surprised to learn that they were actually planning on buying something.

Laura followed the clerk to another side of the shop where much more normal masks were put on display. They did not have any crazy accessories and they all just had different kinds of prints. She ended up picking two dozen of them since she had a hard time making up her mind and she also wanted to get some for herself. 

Laura also decided to buy some for herself because she realised that with James' pace, it wouldn't be too long until she starts getting recognised on the streets. The clerk even gave them a discount since they had bought so much. The masks in the shop were all designer, so they were not cheap at all he happily swiped their cards and even gave them membership cards.

The other workers regretted not approaching the girls first as they imagined the commision that their coworker was going to be getting at the end of the month.

"Should we all go back? Or is there something you want to get?" Jen asked as she checked the time. It was already almost 7pm, she felt like she left Lucas alone for too long.

"You must be worried about your boyfriend, we won't keep you" Laura said. She planned on shopping a bit with the other girls.

"I'll come with you, I have plans later tonight" Rachel said as she waved at the other girls and followed Jen outside.

"Tsk tsk, I should also start dating" Nancy said enviously as she watched the two women walk away.

"As long as he isn't a workaholic, it should be fine" Laura said as she remembered James. She unknowingly shut Nancy up since she did not know that Nancy was interested in the icon of workaholics.