Jenna was quickly learning that the number eight had its uses in ways she’d never even thought of. When planning the photo shoot, Josh and Favel quickly came to the conclusion that they should do four photos in Jenna’s mansion and four photos underwater.
As Jenna reviewed the pictures, she learned a few things she’d never known before. The first one was that she was really pretty and the second one was how much she wanted to do something like this with Sardius.
Photo with Favel #1
Jenna was dolled up like a red carpet queen and the photo was taken on the front walkway outside her palace.
Her dress was a slinky black thing that flashed pinpoints of light and hugged all her curves. At first glance, Jenna thought it was covered in sequins. On closer inspection, they were gemstones that had been sewn on. Josh informed her that the dress was worth a large fortune because each of the stones was a kind of black diamond that was rare even in a universe where diamonds were as common as dirt.
That was the dress she had been wearing when she had it out with Rold Xant.
Her hair was done up in a high bun and instead of wearing a necklace, she was informed she would be wearing a scarf and the scarf was going to be Favel, draped over her shoulders like he was a piece of clothing.
During the photoshoot, she had been totally unprepared for how light Favel was. Not only was he light, but he was very easy to carry. He attached his suction cups to her bare shoulders and back. Yes, she had a collection of circle-shaped hickeys where Favel had held onto her during the shoot, but Misha came over and quickly covered them with the makeup they used to hide all injuries and no one could tell that she’d essentially had a wild make out session with an octopus. That was until she had a shower and cleaned off the makeup. Then the purple and green bruises were on display for everyone, and Sardius, to see.
He swallowed his laughter and told her under his breath that he was a careful lover and if she had been with him, she could count on none of her blood vessels breaking.
Ixy always listened to those tidbits with pleasure and giggled like a maniac in Jenna’s ear when Sardius said things like that. Ixy was much happier in a world where the boneman got to sexually harass her boss without reprimand. If Jenna was being honest, she enjoyed Ixy’s laughter, though not as much as she enjoyed Sardius’ continual sexual innuendo.
If Jenna was being honest, she recognized that her relationship with Sardius was almost exactly the same as it had been when he was in her ear. Now that he was with her in person, she got the benefit of the wild expressions on his face and the look of his cut figure, but some things hadn't changed much. He rarely touched her. The most exciting thing that happened was that he whispered the occasional comment in her ear that sent her pulse racing, but otherwise, it was the same.
After they were separated by the prison riot, Jenna thought that the relationship they had was lost forever. It was an unusual realization that they were back where they had been in the old days, with a few little perks, but back where they were nonetheless.
Jenna huffed. She wanted more. She wanted to be out in the open with their love. She wanted marriage, sex, love, and to be partnered up with him in a way no one could break, but he was in a bad position… and he had such weird ideas about her. She’d heard of men putting women on pedestals, but what Sardius was doing was outrageous. How was she ever supposed to be the woman in his arms if idolized her?
Jenna huffed again. She didn’t know the answer.
When Josh presented the final version of the picture of Favel on her shoulders, it was magnificent. Her makeup was flawless and her dark crimson lips were the stars of the show as she threw Favel’s blue tentacle over her shoulder and turned toward her palace like the world was hers.
The best part of the photo was that Favel’s mantle was skooched up against her cheek and the look of adoration in his eyes was as loud as a bell. Jenna had tilted her head toward him and smiled like she loved the attention.
It ended up being a very loving picture. Josh was pleased with it, which was why he opened the presentation with it.
Photo with Favel #2
The second photo was taken in Favel’s underwater mansion. Jenna was wearing another dress that was too fine for her regular wardrobe, which was astonishing to her considering how much of a bump up she’d had in the world of fashion since she became a diplomat. She didn’t know that the flashy dresses she wore every day were only a tiny bit better than a business suit according to aliens.
This dress was pale blue and like the ocean surf. Holding the waves of the blue frothy fabric together were tiny blue pearl buttons sewn all down her arms and in two lines where the darts of a dress were usually placed. Jenna loved the dress, but it was so delicate, she was terrified of wrecking it the way she had ruined the tulle skirt from before. She tried hard not to bleed, so she stayed away from her pets.
The picture was of her leaning against the glass wistfully with her hand up. Favel was on the other side of the glass with his tentacle against the glass in the same place. They looked at each other longingly, lamenting the fact that they lived in different worlds.
Photo with Favel #3
By this point in the photoshoot, Jenna was starting to realize how lucky it was for Favel to always have his picture taken while he was naked. No one buzzed over him patting him with makeup brushes, or cinched him into tight-fitting dresses that worked to make Jenna fifteen pounds thinner (which she thought was really unnecessary since she was Sardius’ workout slave five days out of eight). Favel just showed up, made whatever pose Josh asked him to, and slipped back into the water having done his whole duty. It was ridiculous compared to the fuss she endured.
The third picture was of Jenna in a gown so gorgeous, it would have made a lead actress on Earth cry blood at the unfairness of it all.
It was a picture of Favel loading Jenna’s fluit with a ball of juice the color of champagne. The long stick jutted out of her mouth the way illegal drugs had been sucked back for thousands of years on Earth. It was just apple juice in the gelatin ball and Josh assured them that no one would think they were doing anything illegal, but that was what made the picture so fantastic. The look on both of their faces (Favel’s face as much as he could manage since tentacles jetted out in the space between his eyes and his mouth), was one of annoyance at the interruption. They were caught drinking something as innocent as milk, but they hated anyone who interrupted them.
Photo with Favel #4
Josh said it was time for something simple, but he had still cracked out the bathing suits. Also, Josh would not listen to Jenna when she said which suits she liked. She tried on dozens of bathing suits with him staring at her and every time she came out of the dressing room saying she actually liked the one she had on, he scowled at her and told her to get out of it immediately.
It was really quite an odd day to be with Josh. He and Jenna were not alone as Sardius and Vash watched on. It came to Jenna over and over again that she had rarely heard Josh speak before and now he was yelling at her that she had no taste in clothing and that she looked bad in bathing suits. She wanted to scream. She had never been in better shape in her life.
Finally, he yelled at her, “I’ve made up my mind. If you come out here in anything other than a red bathing suit, I’m going to fire you from choosing any more clothes.”
Jenna had been avoiding the red ones. They were way too bright and she didn’t like herself in red. She got way too much attention from everyone when she wore red, even if she only wore a red top with her jeans. How could she wear a red bathing suit?
She stuck her head out of the dressing room. “What are you hoping for, Josh? You hate everything.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I want the furthest thing from the color of the ocean, from the color of Favel’s skin. I want contrast.”
“Do I have to wear a bikini?”
“You have to wear something that cuts up your thigh, Jenna. Isn’t that why you always wear that signature dress with the slit up the side of a flaring skirt? Because you know that your best feature is your thigh and your hip?”
Jenna went red. “You’ve seen my thigh, Josh?”
He swiveled in his chair and faced her. “You’re being stupid, Jenna. The whole universe has seen your thigh. Ryatt,” he commanded, suddenly turning to Sardius. “You’re her workout buddy. You know what I want and why I want it. Go get her into it. She’ll be more comfortable with you than me.”
Sardius cracked his knuckles in preparation. “Plug your ears.”
Jenna backed up in instant apprehension, but as soon as Sardius came into the dressing room, the only thing that happened was that he closed the door and started rummaging around in the boxes of bathing suits. “This,” he said, tossing it to Jenna.
Jenna took it and spread it between her fingers. “This isn’t red.”
“It’s scarlet, which is on the red spectrum. It’s just a lot closer to orange than you were probably thinking,” he yawned. “Josh will probably like it better because orange is the opposite of blue on the color wheel.”
“Is it a bikini?” she whined.
“Sort of, but it isn’t a low-cut bikini. The point is to make the part of your hip here visible,” he said, sliding his fingers over a spot that was now being covered by her current bathing suit. “Josh wants to highlight that spot, not give the viewer a free show of everything you’ve got. He even chose that spot because you show that off all the time when your dress flares open.”
“My dress does not flare open,” she said hotly, clipping her words.
He smiled broadly. “Yes, it does. You’ve just never heard any complaints.”
Jenna glared at him. “You might have said something.”
“It would not have been in my best interests to have said anything, ever. Put that on.”
Jenna looked at it more closely. He was right. It had a very modest top before going to gauze around her midriff and slowly transitioning back to opaque for the bottom part of the swimsuit.
“Fine,” Jenna puffed unpleasantly before she slipped the strap of the old suit over her shoulder, giving Sardius barely enough time to exit the changing room before she got naked.
When she came out with the new suit, Josh clapped his hands. “Great! I should have started with that. I’ll go get set up. Get Misha in here to do Jenna’s makeup. Tell her I want a natural look and if she doesn’t give it to me, I’ll send you back.”
The picture came out brilliantly. The scarlet bathing suit made Jenna look like a lifeguard. She was lying on her side of a surfboard with Favel pretending to drown in the water in front of her. The bubbles made it extra hilarious.
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