Sun's out, suit on (Bodysuit Caption)

 

"Alright Mercedes, smile for us! That's it, keep it up!" instructed Derek, the photographer. Lowering the camera to review the shoot so far, he muttered under his breath "Damn, you're really bringing your A game..." and shot her a smile before bringing the camera up, "Keep it up!"

Without missing a beat, she posed in a variety of ways. After some time, she spoke up.

"How's this? Is this how you want me to pose?"

She got a cheerful thumbs up as her answer, much to her delight. Once he was satisfied with those shots, he instructed her to do more. "I'm looking for something more...sensual. Let's see some skin!"

With that, the skimpy bikini came off. Everything was clicking for the shoot, enabling them to get all the pictures they had hoped for in an efficient manner. Once satisfied, Derek smiled and signaled for the end of the day's work.  Crew members then stepped in to disassemble the beach backdrop, revealing the rest of the studio around them, while he and Mercedes reconvened off in a corner. 

"So tell me, how'd I do?"

"Well, you're going to look like a star. Seriously," he showed her a smattering of the pictures, "You made it look easy. Looks like you were inspired in that suit!"

"Aww that's great! I guess that's what happens when you know how to work with the famous Derek Roberts."

This got him to chuckle. "Ha, well, I can't take all the credit. I just took the pictures--you did the hard work. Speaking of that, you've earned your relaxation time."

"You don't have to tell me twice! Buuuuuut could you do me a favor and send me the pics?"

"For my muse today? Absolutely. Now, go and enjoy your time off now!"

Back in the dressing room, Mercedes was lounging on the couch, spent from the day's work. Flicking through the photos, she found herself giving a quiet critique. "Not bad," she flicked through the first set. "I like this one better. Ooof, this one's okay." Letting out a stifled yawn, she set aside the phone. Standing up and regarding herself in the mirror, she appreciated her stark Latino features. Done admiring her looks, she gently traced a small seam in her neck with a sculpted nail. Her fingers worked their way into the seam, pulling up to deform the now-misshapen face and, with a satisfied huff, revealed a starkly different face beneath. Playing with the mask, Carrie laughed at the stark contrast between her and her alter ego. 

Once she slipped into something more comfortable, she hung up the suit on its hanger. Smiling to herself, she reflected on how comfortable this gig was. It wasn't, after all, every day that you started working more as a model. It also wasn't a common promotion to going from a TBC tester to a TBC model! Wait, she had to correct herself--it wasn't actually her first modeling gig. After all, she was the model behind the "Diana" and "Camille" suits, but being the face, so to speak, of the new Curvy line was something that still felt surreal. Not that anybody outside of the company would know that, but still, it was something that made her burst with pride!

Two alerts on her phone snapped her out of her reminiscing: an email from Derek, and a text from her boss. Opening the former, she grinned at how quickly he'd edited the pictures. Damn, those were even better than what he'd shown her! That smile of hers quickly faded as she saw that her boss messaged her with a thumbs up emoji followed by "Saw what you and Derek did. Meet me upstairs." Carrie wondered if it was about the shoot or the suit, but she was feeling cautiously optimistic. She fired off a quick response saying she'd be there, and hastily made sure she looked presentable enough. Exiting the dressing room, she was going to go directly to the elevator when she noticed some new suits hanging up. It wouldn't take long to make her way to her boss, so she took the time to admire them; she thought that she'd love to be able to test them out, if things went well. One look at her phone told her she did need to hustle, and with that she stepped into the elevator.

As she opened the door to the conference room, she was about to receive news that would change her life.