"Alright guys, it's time to lock up and go home. See you all tomorrow" I said to my employees as I finished my meeting with the last client of the day, Miss Lorraine Dempers, a young and upcoming actress who decided that she needed someone who can design clothing that can fulfil to her every need such as glamorous gowns for red carpet events, tracksuits for jogging or even casual clothing for when she's on a coffee break with friends and wants to look fashionable for the paparazzi (she's got a reputation to uphold after all). My name is Serena Clarke and I am 23 years old and considered a wonder child in the fashion industry; Forbes Magazine even named me as the top earner of the year 2013. I've wanted to be a fashion designer since I was merely 13 years old and living in South Africa. My father's a wheat farmer in the Western Cape and my mother the owner of jewellery franchise (she designs the jewellery for all my fashion shows, for which I'm eternally grateful for). I went to live with one of my gay best friends who reside in downtown Los Angeles in the United States because he needed someone to design fashionable clothes for him and his friends since they were well-known party kings in their area and I immediately agreed for I've always wanted to go clubbing in LA and my friend did offer a tidy sum for my efforts.
Upon arrival at LAX I was hugged and kissed by five guys whom I immediately fell in love with. My friend Sam introduced me firstly to André, a handsome former South African who decided he wanted to try out the American dream; Jared, a cute Texan boy; Cody, a Canadian hunk; Robbie, a darling British boy and lastly the 6 foot Spanish heartthrob Miguel La Costa from Madrid. After the eventful first meeting Sam took us to his bachelor pad when I realized that he lives conveniently close one of the most talked about clubs in the world, Headquarters. Another thing I've noticed when we drove by the club is the amount of prostitutes, both male and female, that does business on this stretch of street. That's when I noticed near the steps of the club a tall, ginger-haired man with a beard that covers half his face. From my angle he looks to be between the ages of 35 and 40, but the thing that really makes me sit up and take notice of him is how thin he is. A man of his size should be quite big and muscular, but this guy's unnaturally thin and because of his large 6''2 frame he's almost limping. My heart immediately goes out to him because I know the reason for his failing strength: he's a prostitute and probably doesn't deserve that much money because of his looks. This is so wrong that a person's will to survive forces them to sell their own body in order to make a living and that ever-ending hope that one day you will get out of the dreaded situation and have a normal life. The worst is that few people do anything to help them make a better living and many times the prostitutes are victims of domestic or sexual abuse and don't know other ways to make a living; other times their kidnapped and forced to work as sex slaves for power hungry businessmen who seem to get away with everything, even stooping as low as murdering their "workers" when they run to the police.
As we arrived at Sam's bachelor pad my mind was still on the ginger-haired man and I began wondering whether he has a family waiting anxiously for his return or if he's a runaway, trapped by sex slave syndicates and forced to sell his body for their selfish financial gain. My thoughts were interrupted however when dear Sam announced that they're going to throw a house warming party in my name next month since I'm one of them now, but first we need to go shopping! Finally a chance to unwind and hang out with my new friends and clubbing in Headquarters, this is definitely going to be a night to remember! We went in André's Porsche Panamara, an absolute beauty of a beast, to a clothing store a few blocks away called EWYW (Exactly What You Want) and boy do they have stuff that I want, it's any fashionista's dream shopping place, I spend more than 2000 dollars in one day, but what the heck, you only live once right! I decided that for that evening I'll be wearing a spaghetti-strapped black and blue minidress with heeled spiky silver and gold pumps and the guys will also be going for a darker look. I'll also be wearing a glittery deep purple butterfly necklace with matching earrings and rings.
After the fun shopping experience we went to the local Starbucks and we drank Irish coffee at 11:00 AM (I had 2 so I was feeling a lil bit tipsy and had to lean on Jared for support, not that either of us were complaining about it anyway). Sam were now the one driving us to some secret location since he was the only sensible one to have non-alcoholic coffee (smart guy, my heads pounding a bit, man that whiskey's quite a kicker). We arrived at a friend of Sam's house and he introduces her as Cindy Lane, a well known fashion designer and businesswoman. I asked her how they met and she said, to no real surprise of anyone, that they met at a club (that's how he meets all his friends) and he was a shareholder in her company, Fashionista Infinity Co. She learned that I was an aspiring designer and asked me to come for an interview any time I like. Of course I said "Hell yeah" and made an appointment for tomorrow morning at 10:30. We chatted for a while when Sam said that it's time for us to head home. We parted ways and I invited her to join our party at Headquarters next month. Sam dropped off all our friends except Cody for they were a couple and Cody lived with him.
When we got home Cody ordered three extra large pizzas for each of us "since we worked so hard today and deserve a little treat". I couldn't agree more, especially when those "little treats" arrived. Man those were simply some of the best pizzas I've ever eaten, but it made me homesick for a large Debonair's Triple Decker pizza filled with three different cheeses, yummy! I told Sam and Cody all about the tasty cuisine back home, especially "gebraaide" pork and sheep chops which is almost the same as a barbeque, but way tastier, especially with those tasty braai spices! I also told them of "boerewors rolls", the South African equivalent of the traditional hot dog and Carling Black Label Beer and Oloff Berg Brandy on the rocks mixed with Coca-Cola, delicious! I could tell these boys really want to check out the scenery (and food) in South Africa. After the whole homesickness tirade we said goodnight and went to our separate rooms, except Cody and Sam of course. That night I dreamt of the bearded ginger I saw at Headquarters today and wondered what he looked like underneath the beard, he must be quite a looker…