The Best Friend Scandal - Lucia Jordan

1

Chapter One (Hensley)

I couldn’t be more excited about Arlo’s new and upcoming fashion line. It was everything I love about design, all rolled up into one remarkable idea that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on.

I knew when Arlo and I had met at my very first fashion show that he and I could come up with some cool collaborations together if we ever had the chance to work alongside each other. Little did I know that four years later, he would be the billionaire owner of the most sought after fashion label in New York City, and I, a crazy-creative grad student in the fashion design program at F.I.T., would be able to work on his latest line.

Arlo and I had become good friends throughout the last few years, and since we were both in the fashion industry, we always had a lot to talk about. Sometimes we had so much to say that one phone call a day just wasn’t enough, and we tallied up the calls and text messages into the dozens in any given twenty-four hour period. We saw each other at a lot of the industry events, and I was every bit as aware of his success with his brand “Luscious” as he was of my promising talent. But I had never gotten to actually work on one of these clothing lines before, and so this was like a dream come true.

Luscious was known for producing high-end, avant-garde statement pieces that got the whole industry excited. As a designer, having my designs walk down the runway at one of Arlo’s shows meant that some of the greatest icons in the fashion industry would see my work. To me, that was everything. I didn’t care about money or fame—which probably explained why I was always broke and lived in a crappy apartment several subway stops away from the college. I only cared about people seeing my designs and having my work be appreciated. Arlo told me I was the epitome of a starving artist. I told him that he was the role model for twenty-five-year-old billionaires everywhere. We tended to tease each other all in good fun at least once a week. I thought he sometimes thought that having a couple of years on me made him the expert on all things, so occasionally, I had to knock him down a few notches.

When I got to my workshop space at F.I.T., I quickly unpacked my supplies and looked forward to this afternoon when Arlo would be coming to meet with me about the new line. The only thing that he had told me so far was that the entire line was themed around the concept of “fantasy,” which meant that my artsy side was jumping up and down with excitement. My mind was flooded with ideas of magical, woodsy dresses that flowed like the branches of trees and sparkled like the stars in the night sky.

I had some great ideas for more edgy designs, too, ones that seeped with the foreboding danger of dark woods. I wondered if he would even let me get really out-there with it and do some headpieces with horns and stuff. I had so many good ideas that I felt like my brain would implode if I had to keep them inside my head for too much longer. Fortunately, Arlo would be here in a few hours, so I would be able to mind-dump all of my thoughts onto him shortly. He was also bringing the two models who would be spearheading the runway show for the big reveal at Madison Square Garden. I had worked with plenty of models in the past, but Arlo had given me a fair warning that his models were the best in the business, and therefore, frequently a pain in the ass to make happy. I didn’t care anything about that, though; all I cared about was that I got to design the clothes.

“Hensley!” Arlo called with a giant smile as he walked in.

I ran up to give him a hug, and he picked me up and spun me around. It was kind of our thing that we did since we both had a flair for the dramatic. And since Arlo had a svelte, muscular body, he picked up my tiny frame with ease. He could have been a model himself if he had wanted to. He had the kind of dark, brooding eyes that made him look mysterious and matched his dark, brown hair.