DANNY Chapter 57 by Roberta J. Cabot This is a story about Daniel, a guy with a unique talent and an even more unique problem: A great singing voice and the looks of his gorgeous sister. And how he and his family deal with his having breasts. And how he ends up as the female lead singer for a high-school cover band as well as a radio DJ and the country's newest fashion icon and idol. It’s Day Two of Dannie’s and Robin’s first photoshoot as Blumenfeld House’s newest models. This day it's Dannie’s turn. Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang. Note to the reader: This is a continuation of the still-unfinished story, Danny, so I’m sure you’ll need some background info to make heads or tails of this. Therefore, feel free to read the story. The link is https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/14774/danny . Thanks!

  Chapter Fifty-Seven: Dannie On The Set

***** (Danny) *****

I was switching clothes with Danielle. We should have gotten a duplicate of the outfit for me to wear but Blumenfeld fashions were expensive. So Danielle-as-Dannie got out of her outfit in the plane’s bathroom and put on a bathrobe. I then replaced her in the bath and took off my Robin wig and my current outfit – the sweater, blazer, and boots. I then put on Danielle’s outfit, which was a Blumenfeld black turtle neck long-sleeve knitted T-shirt, a basic scuba skater skirt in bubblegum pink, black pantyhose, and a pair of two-inch pumps.

I then called out. “Nikki? Is the coast clear?”

“The pilot stepped out of the jet,” Nikki called.

“Okay.” I stepped out, and I waved Danielle into the bath, I gave her a thank-you kiss on the cheek and she closed the door.

“Wait,” Joanne said. “I better get in there.” She stepped into the bathroom, too. By now, I was used to this kind of thing – it was just Joanne going in to help Danielle with the hair and the outfit. As for me, Nikki helped me comb my back-to-red hair straight. She put some barrettes that matched my skirt in my hair and kept it pinned back from my face.

“Guys!” I called. Nikki and I are going now!”

“Good luck, Danny!” Joanne said through the door.

“Love you!” Danielle said.

“Love you, too!”

I stood at the plane’s cabin door, with Nikki’s hand in mine.

“Guess I’m ready for today’s shoot,” I said.

“Okay,” Nikki said and gave me a kiss. “Let’s go then.”

 
***** (Mindy) *****

When Dannie arrived with her dresser, Nikki, and Dannie's bodyguard, Tyler, it was like a whirlwind. The two were like a breath of fresh air. The models at the breakfast were all young, or at least young-looking - some were even actually eighteen and nineteen, though most of the others were in their twenties, but these two were actually sixteen, going on seventeen. They were actually part of our YA line's target market.

But besides that, these two were amazingly good-looking despite being young and newbies: Nikki because of her clothes and attitude and beauty; Dannie because of... I don't know... Sure she was incredibly beautiful, her clothes were an understated but incredible combination of our Blumenfeld fashions, and she comported herself with great elegance and yet with an approachable kind of aura. But it was more than that. In fashion circles, there's much talk about the so-called "X Factor," and Dannie just had it. She reminded me very much of Robin - that was another one with the X Factor.

Dannie was a little shorter than Robin, and obviously, she was a redhead instead of a brunette, but she was quite similar to Robin. I couldn't help but think they were sisters or something.

As they walked in, they grabbed everyone’s attention, and a kind of silence fell as they watched the two walk into the restaurant. One of the waiters near me said “Whoa! Who’s that?” Robin didn’t get that response. She almost did, but Danny’s impact was more than Robin's. How much more – I don’t know. My gut said not much, but I will have to tell Sarah and Ed about this because they might want to fine-tune their campaign given this info.

The other models looked at Dannie in a haughty, or perhaps snooty kind of way, but the girls were probably jealous, which was not an unusual thing for models. I guess the models were already feeling the winds of change – that Dannie would be the new star for Blumenfeld. We have to protect Dannie from that somehow.

Still, I noticed that Dannie was still trying to be friendly as she and her dresser made their way through the crush. Her bodyguard, Tyler, wasn’t too happy, but he couldn’t do much. Based on Dannie’s previous visit, Tyler was probably under Dannie’s instructions again.

Tyler was in casual clothes. Something needs to be done about that, just like what we did with Kelly yesterday.

Dannie spotted Sally, and she went to her for a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. Dannie spotted me and the three made their way towards me.

"Mindy!" she said and gave me a big hug. "I'd like to introduce you to my new dresser, Nikki, and you, of course, remember Tyler."

"Hi, Dannie," I said. "Hello, Nikki, Tyler." I shook their hands. "I'm glad you guys are here. On time, too. Sarah will be pleased. Follow me. "

I led the three to Sarah and Mr. Blumenfeld, and after the pleasantries, I led them to this function room I arranged for.

Tyler stayed in the back while everyone else sat around a round table. I went to Dannie and whispered to her. We then went to Tyler and explained, and Tyler went with me to get him a suit.

 
***** (Ed) *****

“What was that, Dannie?” I said.

“Oh, nothing important, sir,” Dannie said as she walked back to the table. “Mindy is getting Tyler, my bodyguard, a suit.”

“Ahhh. Well, let’s talk about today’s shoot.” The bulk of the shots for today were going to be in a high school that we arranged to use, with shots of Dannie playing volleyball, running track, in a classroom, and walking in the hallway. Then Dannie will be having shots out on location, exactly like Robin’s shots from yesterday (1) Dannie reacting to Robin from the sidewalk in by of the city’s main highways (Robin’s part from yesterday’s shoot will be digitized in, of course), (2) walking on the sidewalks of downtown Minneapolis, (3) shopping around in some supermarket and a high-end boutique (we’ll be using one of Blumenfeld’s signature outlets, of course), (4) at the park, again with the giant cherry and bent spoon, and (5) in the same fancy restaurant that we shot Robin in yesterday.

“Sounds like a lot of work,” Dannie said.

“Sorry, my dear,” I said, “but we only have today.”

“Well… we cleared it with my dad and Nikki’s dad, and we also asked permission from school, so we’re taking tomorrow off from school. So, in case you need to have more photoshoots, we can do more. Dad does insist that Nikki and I be in bed by midnight, though, and Tyler’s under instructions to make sure of that. Just an FYI.”

Sarah and I looked at each other.

“That gives us more than five extra hours of shoot time,” Sarah said.

“But that’s going to be in the evening…” I said.

“I think I have an idea, and we can make use of Dannie’s special skills…”

We talked some more about Sarah’s wild brainstorm, and she got Dannie’s and Nikki’s input. Dannie said she had to get in touch with Daniel, her brother, who was also her “manager.”

The idea was, Dannie would model as a singer, but given the short time to prepare, they had to keep it simple. So, provided they could find a nice venue, Dannie would pose as a singer – one of a pop kind of singer, complete with a guitar, and then as some kind of torch singer in some glamorous dress. Nikki did make some restrictions so that the shoot can’t be too risqué.

“Of course, Nikki. No worries on that, and I’m going to talk to Daniel and get his approval for things.”

We wrapped up our meeting, and since Sarah had to work on the extra shoot, I had to be the supervisor for the morning shoot. I think we were doing okay – we were only thirty minutes behind schedule. Haha…

 
***** (Mindy) *****

Unlike yesterday with Robin, we didn’t have a car for Dannie to use. Instead, we had an open-top convertible sports car, and with yet another brainstorm from Sarah, we asked Tyler to be Dannie’s chauffeur (with the addition of a chauffeur’s hat, it converted Tyler’s MIB-style uniform to be a chauffeur's).

This allowed Dannie to be visible and allow fans and bystanders to take pictures. Again, it wasn’t like we prearranged people to be at the venues, but we were hoping it would be like yesterday. I think we underestimated things because the locations were packed with Dannie’s fans. I wondered again, how Dannie’s fans found out about the shoot, but as the senior Blumenfeld said once, fans can do anything.

Just like Robin, Dannie gamely signed autographs and posed for pictures. And for those bystanders who didn’t know who she was, because of what seemed to be Blumenfeld’s new gorgeous model, they took pictures as well and asked for autographs.

Just like Robin, she was very friendly to her fans and handled them professionally but she was more approachable than our other Models. Nikki was a great help, allowing Dannie to switch outfits – she had maybe twice as many changes of clothes as Robin had. As for Dannie’s makeup, our people took care of that, although I heard from our lead makeup artist, Dannie didn’t need much help there, except for her hair – they had to match her coiffure to her outfit.

And, just like Robin, Dannie was having fun, and if just for that, it made the work easy for everyone. In fact, Dannie seemed to have won over the other models.

Dannie did her best to increase Sally’s role in the shoots, and Sarah said she didn’t mind so long as her star was kept happy. So Sally was with Dannie on some of the shoots that was supposed to be just her.

At around eight, We finished most of the shoots. Just like yesterday, the park shoot was done at twilight, and then the restaurant shoot immediately after. Just after, I had everyone go to the fancy restaurant we booked yesterday, which was just walking distance to the hotel. As for Dannie, Nikki and Sally, and the crew, we instead moved to one of the function rooms of the hotel. The stage was dressed to look like a concert stage, and Dannie and Sally, with Nikki’s help, changed into their outfits.

Dannie was dressed just like a redhead Dua Lipa and made poses with an electric guitar Sarah had borrowed from the hotel house band. Sally, however, was dressed like a reporter, and with a microphone, posed as if she was covering Dannie for their radio station.

Dannie switched to at least four super-sexy outfits, but the floor director and lead photographer were able to block the shoots to make them look unique.

Afterward, they lowered the room lights and redressed it a bit to make it look like a stage in a cocktail lounge. This time, Dannie wore a spectacular formal dress in green, and posed like she was again singing, and Sally again like she was covering the event. Dannie then changed into a super-sexy, formal LBD, and my jaw fell open with an almost audible snap. She was so gorgeous.

There was silence in the entire room, but in moments, they realized what they were doing, and they resumed the shoot.

The rest of the shoot went too fast, but we had to finish as fast as possible since there was the dinner to go to, still. Dannie and Sally didn’t bother to change anymore so that we wouldn’t be late.

At the dinner, Dannie had the same effect, but Dannie was preoccupied with Nikki. It was obvious that the girls were a couple, even though they tried to water it down. Everyone sent Nikki with some evil looks.

Drinks were freely flowing, just like last night, but Dannie and Nikki were very careful about sticking to soft drinks (I know because Tyler and I were keeping track).

Sally prevailed on Dannie to sing some songs and Dannie was an excellent mimic, duplicating the sound of the original singers of the songs that she picked. I need to listen to some songs from their band.

At midnight, with a signal from Tyler, I announced that Dannie and Nikki had to leave. There were protests all around, but Sarah took the mic and said it was part of her contract, and she was sure no one wanted her to get in trouble.

I surveyed the people but the protests weren’t too bad. And then I noticed someone I didn’t recognize. She saw me looking at her, and she rushed towards the exit. Gate-crashers weren’t unusual in photo events, so I didn’t make a big deal of it.

“What’s wrong, Mindy?”

“Oh, it was nothing. Just a gate-crasher. She ran out before I could start after her."

Dannie and Nikki looked at each other.

“What did she look like?” Nikki asked, and I described the blonde.

Dannie and Nikki looked at each other again. “Janet…” Nikki whispered.

to be continued...

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