Vixen

           COFFEE WAS ALWAYS Scott’s go-to when it came to fueling his creative endeavors, especially when he had spent the entire night prior staying up to work on a new track. After ordering an Americano, he adjusted the strap of his shoulder bag before scanning over the cafe for a place to sit. It was just then when his gaze caught a beautiful face amongst the other patrons. He wet his lips, trying not to stare too much. But before he could glance away, she spoke up. He almost questioned if she was actually addressing him but she was looking DIRECTLY at him. A smile eased its way onto his lips, “Oh, hey. It’s nice to meet you, I’m Scott.” He drew in closer to the table she was seated at. “I do, actually. I’m a music major, what about yourself?” It was nice to have a genuine conversation with someone considering all the girls he became involved with her mostly one-night stands at parties.

Syros was a Greek island located in the Aegean Sea, and has often always been a significant port town and was even at one point known to be more significant than Piraeus. The island was well known currently for having a lot of neo-classical buildings, old mansions and white houses cascading down from a naturally amphitheatrical site, going straight down to the harbour. The port of Ermopouli has these cascading sets of houses and mansions flowing down from the top to the bottom of the hillside, creating a perfect view of the island and a magnet for vacationeers, tourists, locals going out and about and photographers and models having some shooting sessions.

Andros made his home here in one of the old villas at the harbour of Ermopolis, where the view of the beach was pristine and perfect – he made his retreat here, once he had settled on staying at the island as if he was an expatriate. Being filthy rich, a tad young with nothing else to do, the man spends his life in luxurious seclusion going around the island, tasting local Mediterranean cuisine, mingling with the locals there and hooking up and subsequently having sex with the women who came over: ranging from youthful college girls having their European vacation, lonely housewives of the place and abroad enjoying their trip, to models who come over to the place to do their work or just laze about.

That was exactly what one agency, did, as they asked to borrow the beachfront and parts of his villa to take photos, and it was already wrapping up, as Andros came down with a towel around his neck, clad wearing nothing but his white speedos as he planned on taking a dip in the seawaters – just as one model, a tall brunette, came up to him as she held out her hand, grinning at Andros as she introduced herself and thanked him. “Hi, Vivian.” He said with a grin, eyeing her overall look in the process. “And thanks. It’s all your agency’s doing, really, but it’s nice to have your presence around.” He nodded.

             Vivian looked at Andros as he looked at her. However old he was, he looked great. Especially in the white speedo that he modeled around so freely. It was fine. It worked wonders for his tan skin and toned physique. “Well, yes, they made it happen, but you also agreed, so I'm thanking you for that...” It was obvious that he wanted to get to some form of water. Whether it be the beach or a pool judging by the speedo and towel around his neck. All Vivian knew was that she was done for the day, and he caught her attention. 

         Vivian had always been a courteous worker, making sure to say thank you for everyone’s hard work to make her photoshoots and runway shows possible. Even after being told by other models and even some of the people she was thanking to stop being such a ‘goody two shoes’, but they didn’t even know her and she wasn’t going to stop being polite, or have good work ethic because others didn’t and it bothered them. They and their assumptions about her could go right ahead and fuck off. 

          Today Vivian was working at a photoshoot of some big deal CEO back home, and she could see why they use his villa, it was gorgeous and the location was prime for photoshoots. When the session was over and everyone was packing it up, Vivian wanted to thank you to the homeowner for allowing them to take pictures and compliment on his beautiful place. The only three things she knew about Andros was that this was his villa, he was a CEO and his first name, but she did not know what he looked like, so she found herself asking and when they pointed him out to her she was, pleasantly surprised. 

          Jeremy laughed at that and shook his head lightly at Vivian. “If all those people were parents and all of that was in celebration of them getting out of their hair? I’m worried about the children,” he joked back, laughing. He had seen various different people with very different purchases from his own. It would be very worrying indeed with the kinds and quantities. More likely students dealing with having to go back to school. “You tried, and you succeeded,” he assured her with a smile. “You’re very welcome, Viv,” he replied and laughed at her words. He shook his head at the girl fondly as she got up to retrieve a corkscrew to open the bottle with. “Plus, I didn’t know what you were making, so I just tried to play it safe,” he admitted. “That and I won’t pretend to know what gets paired with what food,” Jeremy added with a laugh. Jeremy wasn’t exactly a sophisticated drinker. He knew what he liked and he usually stuck to it. Sometimes he got adventurous and tried different drinks, but if you tried to ask him to pair things up with their appropriate orders. He’d be lost. Ask him to mix you a good drink, though? There he would have you covered. He wasn’t much of a cook either, sticking to the simple things and mostly just threw a bunch of different things in a crockpot and hoped for the best, he couldn’t even dream of cooking something up that looked and smelled as good as what Vivian presented him with. He chuckled at what she said and shook his head. “God, I must really be hopeless, huh?” he asked, looking to her and smiling. “You don’t need to do that, Viv. You’re already busy enough as it is without me taking up more of your time by making you do all that,” he replied and shook his head again. “I appreciate the thought and offer, though,” he assured her, smiling back at her warmly. “Well then, to whatever forces brought us together,” he said, raising his now wine willed glass in Vivian’s direction to clink their glasses. 

            Viv laughed and shrugged her shoulders, nodding her head. “I would be too, honestly, then again, I think I turned out alright.” The model half-joked, biting her lip to contain her laughter. Not because she necessarily thought she was funny, but because of all the events in her life that have transpired just flashing past her mind. The brunette wasn’t perfect, no—not even close, but she stood by her words. Vivian turned out alright. The tall woman smiled at Jeremy fondly, “Thank you, I feel like a winner honestly.” Her lips uttered a small laugh as she looked back at the food she made. It was amazing what loving someone could motivate you to do. Shaking the thought away, Viv sighed and took a sip out of her wine glass. “Mm, did you just pick up a random bottle or did you plan on this bottle specifically?” The brunette titlted the wine bottle a little to get a clear view of the name, for future reference. Viv’s brown eyes found his again before she smiled at him lightly. Honestly, she wasn’t well versed with what wine went with which meal, but she wanted to impress him, so she didn’t comment on not knowing either. In fact, the model had every intention of learning so that when she did cook for him again, which she knew she would, she could suggest the perfect wine to go with it. When Jeremy mentioned being hopeless, Viv’s perfectly shaped brows pinned together and she looked at him confused. “Why would you say that? Because I definitely don’t think so... if you are, you’re the nicest, put together mess I've ever met.” The olive-skinned brunette laughed a little. “Hey, trust me, I want to. I may be a busy person, but I'm never busy for you.” Her cheeks flushed at her own words and she ran her hand through her silky locks to calm down. A coping mechanism that she inherited for her foster mother since childhood. The feeling of her soft hair against her hand working wonders to calm her nerves. Worked every time. Almost. “Besides, what are friends for, right?” Viv mentally cringed at her choice of words, but it was too late to take it back now, ao the brunette moved on. Surely, probably, hopefully, Jeremy didn’t get stuck in his own head about it. Viv raised her glass towards his and smiled genuinely. “To the world being us together. Her glass gently clashed with his before she took another sip and put the glass down. “Please tell me if the food is terrible, okay?” 

He looked up at the screen and tapped a few keys, opening his editing suite. A command line came up and he typed in *run: AI preset [viv]* The computer instantly softened her blemishes and threw a rosy filter over the images. He sat back and beamed.  “Took me a whole three months to teach a computer to edit photos of you for me… but if I’m honest, I still do a lot of the work myself.”

        Vivian watched as in what seemed to be an instant, her photos were perfect. She smiled and looked back at Scott with a bright beam. “That’s amazing,” Viv said as she looked back at the screen and listened to him continue to talk. She wanted to learn how to do all of that too.