Thank you for all the reviews so far, guys :) I read every one with a smile on my face!
Anyway, here's chapter 10...

PAST AND PRESENT

"You'd better have pulled something good out of the bag." Maryse told Alicia as she let her assistant lead her onto the photoshoot set where an undernourished model in a tunic that swamped her tiny frame and killer heels, sat eating a salad out of a plastic container. And when Maryse said salad, she literally meant a pile of dry lettuce leaves.

"Stand up," Alicia's eyes widened at the model, who got to her feet and twirled, showing off the outfit to M magazine's fashion director. "So, what do you think?"

"Not bad." The blonde made a few adjustments to the model; removing the thread bracelets and replacing them with a chunky bangle and rolling up the sleeves of the outfit. "The hair needs to be tied up, she's got a great neck that we need to show off. Only problem is she's too skinny – I know it was all in to be size zero in 2008 but the starving look isn't working."

The model looked offended but didn't complain.

"My advice? Put a little dressing on those sad little leaves and cut back on the cigarettes. Models smoking is also very 2008 – I wish someone would tell Kate Moss that. No-one's going to want to hire you for a beauty shoot if your fingers are as yellow as the summer Chanel polish they put you in."

Alicia politely shoved the model back into the dressing room and closed the door, leaving her to face the full wrath of Maryse.

"Like I said, it wasn't a bad job, it just needed some improvements, although I must admit that the YSL tunic I selected would have been slightly more flattering than this one." When you do the generous thing and let assistants style shoots, mistakes would be made. One thing she did know, however, was that you should never completely destroy your co-workers egos. "The shoes are cute though. Oddly enough, I think they're cuter than the Manolos I picked out. Kurt Geiger?" Alicia nodded, proud that her hardest critic was complimenting her. "Adorable. But we need to put some leggings underneath so her knobbly matchstick knees aren't on show."

Maryse didn't consider herself to be a bad boss; she was a perfectionist that knew how she liked things done and in the long term, she was making someone like Alicia a better worker. She knew the assistant was the future of this magazine and by being hard on her, she was helping her. People may have called her a bitch but that was a title she was willing to accept – Anna Wintour didn't get where she was by kissing ass.

"Go get the model." She instructed. "We need to start shooting in a couple of minutes – and if you can, try and get her to eat something filling. There's pasta down in catering, try and force some of that down her."

In fact, she cared about the magazine's models more than she let on. In her years at M, she'd seen far too many girls come and go looking as if they were on death's door, all for the sake of 'fashion'. Yes, clothing looked better on skinnier models but it wasn't worth risking their health for. Usually she refused to work with size zero models unless they were willing to put on some weight. She herself wasn't some stick insect; she had breasts and hips and she liked it that way – so did her husband.

Speaking of her husband, just as Alicia disappeared off the shoot, Maryse's Blackberry buzzed in her blazer pocket and she pulled it out to answer. "Hey honey."

"Good evening to you too." Ted replied. "Just wondered whether you'd be home anytime soon – it's almost eight o'clock and I thought you said you were going to try and get the night off so we could do something together. I reserved a table at Chess for eight thirty. What's going on?"

The blonde went into her office so she could speak to her husband without the prying eyes and ears of the rest of the fashion team. Once the door was closed, she said "They delivered the wrong tunic so we have to work with Donna Karen instead of YSL, not to mention the model was late and she looks like a bag of bones so I'm doing everything in my power to bulk her up a bit – hopefully she'll bloat before we start shooting. Everything's been pushed back and I'm so sorry but we're going to have to reschedule."

"Seriously? Come on, can't you just get away a little earlier?"

"We haven't even started shooting yet! Chances are, I'm going to be here until about half eleven and I have to go in early tomorrow to meet with the editor. That meeting should be finished by midday but after that, I'm all yours."

"And you honestly can't just skip tonight?" Ted sighed.

"This is my job, Ted. It's not like you can cancel architecture projects and meetings so you can spend the night with your wife."

"Actually, I'm the boss so I can."

"Oh." She remembered her husband's senior position and rolled her eyes, feeling lucky he couldn't see her. "Well, like I said, tomorrow afternoon we can do something together. We could grab a late lunch or something."

"Fine."

"Why do you still sound angry with me? I've said we can do tomorrow."

"I'm not angry, it's just...you leave for work early, you come back late and even on your days off, you're always getting calls from Alicia about fashion stuff. Call me crazy but I feel like it's work, work, work with you and I can't get a look in anymore–"

"Maryse, we need you out here!" Alicia burst into the fashion director's office. "The model's throwing a diva fit because apparently the lighting makes her look fat."

She knew things between them hadn't been right for a while and perhaps she had been putting her career first but that didn't mean she loved him any less. "I have to go, Ted. We can talk when I get home." Filled with guilt, she hung up on her husband and walked back outside onto the shoot, trying to push any thoughts of him to the back of her mind as she continued with the task at hand.

Kelly was proud of the preparation she'd put into the evening's meal. She spent the day cleaning up the apartment and had gone out food shopping. She even did a practise run of the night's dishes before cooking them – she wasn't the best chef but wanted to try her hardest to make it a wonderful evening for everyone.

"Something smells good." Justin emerged from the bathroom, his hair damp and a towel around his waist. "Clearly you've been busy today."

"I have. For starters, I'll be serving a warm crab, cucumber and chicory salad followed by lemon and ginger infused lamb with roasted vegetables, all finished off with a Philly mango cheesecake." The blonde recited, secretly proud of how hard she'd worked. "Now, I made the cheesecake this morning so I don't have to worry about that and the salad's finished too. My main priority is making sure the lamb and vegetables don't overcook."

"Wow. I thought Tiffany was the domestic one. I didn't know you could do much more than heat up a tin of mac and cheese."

"Ha ha, very funny. What are you still doing in your towel? Cody and his girlfriend are going to be here in a minute and you're not dressed! I've laid your pink shirt out on the bed–"

"You know I only let you buy me that pink shirt as a joke?" Justin smirked,

"I don't care, just go put something on and run a comb through your hair." She leaned over to give her boyfriend a sniff. "At least you don't smell of chlorine anymore."

"It's shocking, isn't it? I work at a swimming pool and I sometimes come home smelling that way? Crazy!"

"Now's not the time for you to be a comedian, just try and look presentable for when they show up. Oh my God, I don't even know what this girl's name is. What am I supposed to call her? Cody's girlfriend? Miss? Oh my God..."

"I didn't realise William and Kate were coming to dinner."

She didn't give him the pleasure of responding, instead she pushed Justin into their bedroom and glanced at herself in the full-length mirror. Her own short black dress was smart but finished off with a simple cardigan and opaque tights, it was made more casual. "We never hang out with couples." She mused, pulling her hair out of the bun it had been in, deciding it looked too stuffy.

"We hang out with Tiff and Drew all the time. And the other week we went out for drinks with Heath and that girl he was seeing."

"Whose name neither of us can remember."

"That's her own fault, she had the personality of a teaspoon. Not that Heath cared; that wasn't exactly why he was with her." He winked at his girlfriend, a smirk finding his lips as he thought about his best friend's behaviour.

Kelly didn't have a chance to scold her boyfriend as the buzzer rang for their apartment, signalling the arrival of their guests. She ran to the front door to buzz them up and stood by the front door waiting for them.

"Cody!" She greeted her old friend with a warm hug. He looked...like himself, there was no other way to describe it. It wouldn't have mattered if she told him to dress up because he still wouldn't have, as he sauntered inside wearing a black leather jacket with a blue t-shirt underneath and some jeans.

He was closely followed by who Kelly assumed to be his girlfriend. She was a petite brunette, shorter than the blonde and slightly curvier but with an attractive face. She too wore jeans but the blue and gold top she had on top smartened up the look. Her mid-brown hair was wavy and shoulder-length and she had a friendly smile on her face. "We haven't met, I'm Mickie, Cody's girlfriend."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Kelly turned back to the bedroom and yelled "Justin, Cody and Mickie are here, get your ass out here." Her boyfriend came out of the bedroom, a wide smile on his face as introductions were made between the group. The foursome sat themselves down in the living area and began chatting before Kelly had to disappear into the kitchen to get the starter ready.

"So Mickie," Justin took a sip of his wine. "Kelly's told me all about Cody but what about you? What's your story?"

"I'm actually a nurse at Bellevue Hospital. Overworked, underpaid, you know the story." She paused, drinking from her glass. "Don't get me wrong, I love it and wouldn't change it for the world. It's just... I never knew how difficult it would be. Not that anyone ever said it would be easy."

"My mother was a nurse. A midwife, to be specific."

As Justin and Mickie continued to chat, Cody got up and stuck his head around the kitchen door, asking Kelly where the bathroom was. ("First door in the hallway – not hard to miss considering there are only four rooms in the whole apartment!") He thanked her and used the bathroom before coming out again and finding himself glancing at the open door opposite; Kelly and Justin's bedroom. He knew he shouldn't snoop but before he could even consider his actions, he was in the room with the lights on.

It was what he imagined it would be like; simple, like the rest of the apartment, but completely Kelly. The room wasn't large, mostly taken up by a large dark wood bed and matching closet and set of drawers. The bed itself had clothes scattering it, all Kelly's – Cody hoped – and one of the walls was lined with her shoes. He could tell which side of the room was hers, because it was scatty and unorganised, whereas the other side was spotless.

His attention was caught by the set of drawers and the selection of the photos that covered it. Obviously there were some people he didn't know but he recognised Tiffany, Justin, Kelly and her family. There was even a photo of him and Kelly from the Knicks game they went to in junior year of college. He couldn't believe she still had that or that it was out on show in her room.

"Having a look around?" Cody turned around and saw Kelly stood in the doorway, her arms folded but a smile on her face.

"Uh, I needed to grab my cell phone from my jacket pocket." He quickly muttered, remembering that he and Mickie had put their jackets in the couple's bedroom earlier on that night. Quick thinking Cody¸ he thought to himself. "I thought I heard it ringing when I was in the bathroom." He went over to the photo and picked it up, showing it to Kelly.

"I found it the other day and thought it was cute." She looked at it fondly. "That was a great night."

"Remember you had a mini heart attack when you asked that fan to take a photo of us and he almost dropped your camera?"

She rolled her eyes. "I wanted to slap him. And there was that hot dog guy that was definitely giving you the eye."

"He wasn't!"

"Oh, so we kept getting free hot dogs for nothing? It certainly wasn't me he was checking out. I think I had a little too much up here–" She signalled at her chest. "–and not enough down there."

Cody laughed. Even back then, he enjoyed the attention; even if it was from the same sex. "Well, it was because of my irresistible good looks that we didn't pay a dime for wieners that night. You weren't complaining and neither was I."

"It's not my fault you seem to have a crazy gay following. Don't you remember that 3 Doors Down concert we went to with Mike and that girl he was seeing, because her cousin was the drummer or something, and on the way back, there was that couple Dylan and Ollie? They practically begged you to come back to the G Lounge with them!"

"You're just jealous because you don't have the same harem."

"As jealous as I am, I came in here to tell you that the starter's ready." She linked her arm through Cody's and they went back into the main area, where Justin and Mickie were already sat up at the dining table.

"Take your time, guys." Justin commented as his girlfriend went into the kitchen and came back out carrying the plates of warm crab, cucumber and chicory salad.

"Sorry, we started reminiscing." Kelly sat down next to her boyfriend and opposite Cody, smiling across the table at her old friend. They began eating in companionable silence but after a couple of minutes, she broke that, saying "So Mickie, when you're out with Cody, do you ever find he's approached by gay men a lot?"

Justin looked at his girlfriend as if she'd smoked something strange, Cody's cheeks were dotted with pink but Mickie sat forward on her elbows, saying "It's funny you say that. Just last week, we were down in Soho and approached by these two guys..."

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NEXT TIME – Eve makes a big decision and Jay and Trish continue their wedding plans.