chapter 1: nikki

It smelled like stale popcorn and an over-abundance of sugar, all capped with a layer of fried food. Bri couldn’t help but wrinkle her nose at it all. She knew that hundreds of people came here daily at least in part to enjoy the food, but all she could smell was a ruined diet.

Bri was much too in control of herself to allow such fleeting indulgences as fair food.

The small theme park was otherwise nice enough. It wasn’t as entertaining as Disneyland or thrilling as Six Flags, both just a few hour’s drive from the beach town of Palma where Bri called home. It was perfect for the locals and the California tourists driving along the coast eager to get away from the bigger cities Bri looked forward to moving to one day.

But for now, she was growing her empire.

She found herself at Seal City Theme Park on business; the park had agreed to let her and some influencer friends do a photo shoot there for free publicity on their socials. Bri’s personal brand – BeautyByBri – had gotten a request from the chic clothing store Sora to do a spotlight on some of their summer fashions outdoors, and the carnival-like atmosphere of Seal City seemed the perfect backdrop to show them off.

Her followers would eat it up, she was sure of it.

In the last decade, she had amassed over 850,000 of them by knowing exactly what her audience loved and freely giving it. She offered them the best looks of the season, suggested where to get the coolest clothes, and showed off how to enjoy it all through the luxurious lifestyle that her follow count afforded her. Because when a brand wanted to pay her to market the exact styles or products she loved, she was plenty happy to accept their checks to give her audience more of what they wanted.

Her followers trusted her to only suggest the products and fashions that she herself would use to become as beautiful, classy, and glamorous as she always was. And she was happy to help them achieve it all.

But what her audience didn’t know was that behind the scenes, some days were less glamourous than others. This was one of those days.

She sighed as her tennis shoe got stuck in mud… again.

Luckily, she had grabbed last year’s fashions, so it wasn’t like she’d be able to wear them anywhere important. They could get as muddy as they pleased. But it was still annoying to have to pull her foot out and hear the squelch of muck pulling free from her soles.

She took out her compact to make sure her make-up was still on point. She had spent hours on her hair, contour, and eye shadow to get it just right. She might be a make-up guru, but that didn’t mean beauty didn’t still take time.

After giving herself a good once over, she decided she looked amazing as always. She put away her compact and then checked under her light, long jacket to be sure the sundress the clothing brand had sent her didn’t have a spot of mud on it.

“A little hot for all that, isn’t it?” Bri turned to find a rugged looking girl in a dirty, faded, blue jumpsuit. She had grease on her face and her hair was in a braid filled with fly-aways. Bri could tell she didn’t have a skincare routine. Or a hair routine. Or any beauty routine to speak of.

Bri looked forward, focusing on where she was going. “Beauty is work.”

The girl snorted. “So is repainting a barn, but you don’t see me jumping all over myself to do it.”

Bri gave the girl a sharp glare.

The girl lifted her hands. “Sorry, sorry. Just trying to be light-hearted.”

Bri looked forward again. She knew the way this conversation was going to go. Another girl who wanted to make it clear she was ‘above’ all this beauty stuff, that Bri was just vain and stupid. But Bri knew better; she was cashing checks bigger than this girl’s yearly wage by posting a few pics on her socials. She had the brains to build her brand and the body to keep people coming back for more.

As much as girls like this wanted to be better than her, the second Bri posed in front of the camera, she could see them looking on with envy.

“The Ferris wheel is that way.”

“Hmm?” Bri brought herself back from her thoughts, turning to find the girl pointing past a bumper car tent.

“The Ferris wheel. Everyone else is already there, thought maybe you’d like to join them.”

“Right,” Bri said, turning and marching to where the girl’s finger was indicating, pulling her Louise Vuitton a little higher on her shoulder as she saw the giant wheel emerging over other rides and buildings.

The girl began whistling as they walked past a few more game stalls and rides, making Bri bristle as they walked up to the small group prepping for the shoot.

“Ms. Cook! We’re all ready for you. The ride is ready to go, you just say when.” Margaret Wells, the owner and manager of the theme park hustled over to Bri’s side as she walked up. She was a thick woman, just past middle age, with laugh lines and an easy smile. Bri had set the shoot up with her over a few calls and emails, it was clear Margaret was excited for it to go well. It was cute how eager she was.

“Nichole here will be operating the ride. She knows it inside and out, so you can rest assured…” Margaret frowned. “Nikki, you didn’t say something rude to Ms. Cook here, did you?”

“What! No! I just collected her and brought her here like you asked me to!’

“I’m sorry, Ms. Cook. My niece is smart and the best we have, was basically raised here in this park since she was ten and could fix any of the rides if they went down by the time she was a teenager. But she has a habit of running her mouth.”

“Auntie! Bri and I went to high school together. She knows me.”

“We did?” Bri turned, looking at the jump-suited girl with new eyes.

“Ok, she doesn’t know me. But we did have sophomore year geometry together.”

“With Mr. Finkle?”

“That’s the one. See? Old pals.”

Margaret gave Nikki a disapproving look. “Get in the booth before you say anything I’ll regret.”

“Sure thing, Auntie,” Nikki gave Bri a quick wink before walking at a brisk pace towards the Ferris wheel booth, her hands deep in her pockets as she struck up her whistling once more.

“Bri! Get over here, the light’s perfect!” Bri turned to see Jaclyn and Teeg, her fellow influencers, already posing before their camera man as the camera assistant held up a large, white bounce to catch the light. “Let’s show the brand what they pay for!” Jaclyn laughed.

“We have a spot for you to set your things down here,” Margaret said, pointing to a few folding tables and chairs that had waters and snacks too caloric for the influencers to ever touch on them. Bri said thanks before heading over to take off her jacket and switch her tennis shoes for heeled sandals before joining Jaclyn and Teeg in front of the camera.


*****

How much fun do you think feeders/feedees could possibly have at a theme park?

I'm going to try to post 2 more chapters this weekend or early next week. Keep an eye out for them!

~LM
@LitMistress on Twitter