DANNY Chapter 56 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. And today is the first day of Danny and Robin as Blumenfeld House’s newest models. 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-Six: Tooling Around Town

 
***** (Danny) *****

It’s my first day as a Blumenfeld model, and because of the details of my contract (actually, my two contracts – both as Robin and as Dannie), I can only do work… or maybe “we” can do work only on weekends because of school. So, Ed Blumenfeld and Sarah Rhodes did a lot of pre-work, and used as much of the production material from the previous shoots. This meant that the only remaining stuff were Robin’s and Dannie’s parts. They had to do that to max our shots.

It’s early Saturday morning. Sally was with me as she was part of my photoshoot, and Kelly was there as my bodyguard. And Joanne was with us as well, as my makeup artist and dresser. Originally, Joanne was supposed to be Dannie’s makeup person but after talking about it some more, Robin needed more assistance than Dannie – Dannie could actually be more her natural self – no colored hair - so, after some additional negotiations, Joanne was now Robin’s makeup artist and dresser, while Nikki was now Dannie’s dresser (leaving Blumenfeld’s makeup people to take care of Dannie).

PiperCorp lent one of its HondaJets to Blumenfeld, and Blumenfeld basically just pays for the fuel. Sure, that was the only cost that Blumenfeld paid for, but it was Mrs. P’s way to make it appear in her books that they were charging for the use of the jet and not just letting them use it for free. Besides, as Tracey explained to her mom, with the additional income for the station that exposure will bring, it’s more than an equitable exchange.

Admittedly, there’s lots more things that go into the operation of a plane than just expensive than the cost of fuel of a commercial jets. Tracey gave me some numbers: a 747 consumes about 3,600 gallons per hour, but then commercial jets have between 200 and 850 passengers. For the PiperCorp jet, it consumes about 90 gallons of A-1 jet fuel per hour, and a maximum passenger capacity of seven. So if a commercial jet maxes its passenger capacity at 850, the HondaJet has the same fuel consumption per commercial jet passenger, but it was over four times as much.

So, after a short talk, Sarah (through her assistant Mindy), agreed to the cost of fuel times four, which wasn’t much at all. They rounded up to $4,500.00 per flight to and from Minneapolis-St. Paul. Still more expensive than a regular plane ticket (even divided with seven passengers), but Mindy said that means they weren’t hamstrung by flight schedules and airport restrictions.

Anyway… after that boring detail…

Joanne, Sally, Kelly and I were in Mrs. P’s jet. It was Saturday, 4AM and we were on our way to Minneapolis. It had to be that early because the call time was 8AM.

No flight attendants, of course, but there was a fully-stocked cooler and three cargo containers with a dozen pre-packed meals each.

I tried to ignore the food and waited for the others, but Kelly was smiling at me with a knowing look. I gave her a questioning look, trying to ignore her. She went to the cargo box, brought out four meals and handed one to each of us.

“Thanks,” I said.

I opened the box and it had a croissant-wich with bacon, a fried egg and hollandaise sauce. There was also a little Ziploc with apple slices. Nice.

I ate it like a sandwich while the rest used knives and forks. Everyone looked at me with amused expressions, and I smiled embarrassedly.

Kelly went to the rear of the cabin and got a big thermos of coffee and several ginormous paper cups.

I got one and filled it up while the others just filled them halfway. Apparently, that's what you do on a plane. Sally drank hers black, though, while we had cream and sugar.

We were all excited about the trip, although Joanne and I were half-worried as well.

All of us were in on the secret, except for Sally, so all three of us made an effort not to let the cat out of the bad.

Sally was new to Joanne and Kelly, but Kelly was a little stand-offish, as befitted my bodyguard, so Sally didn't push too much to chat her up. Joanne, of course was another thing, and volunteered a lot of stuff about the gang with Dannie and Sally. One thing you have to give to Joanne - she still kept everything straight, including THE secret.

Sally was curious about the whole Robin-Dannie “feud” but Joanne was completely neutral.

“I’m friends with both Robin and Dannie," Joanne said, "and Dannie won’t mind me working for Robin. Or vice versa.”

“Wonder how Sarah feels about it,” Sally said.

“according to Dannie, and Robin," Joanne nodded to me, "Ms Rhodes was fine with it. She also had Mindy, her assistant, check the contracts and made the changes needed.”

“Fast work.”

I stood up to get another boxed meal, but this time from the other containers. Wonder what else there was.

“So, what’re you doing, Boss?” Kelly grinned.

I gave her a razzberry. “Shut up, Kelly.”

 
***** (Mindy) *****

I was worried. As usual. I was at the airport at at six thirty – that wasn’t usual. A cellphone call from the PiperCorp pilot said that they were ahead of time, and should be arriving before seven.

In any case, another call said that they had landed and was taxiing to hangar L-25, where Blumenfeld House had rented a slot for the weekend.

I had our limo driver proceed to the hangar, with the SUV trailing us, and we arrived just in time to see the girls debarking from their plane.

I stepped out, waved and ran towards them. I guess I was excited to see Robin. I hugged Robin, and welcomed them back to Minneapolis. I got Robin’s bags and lead them back to the limo. It wasn’t a stretch limo, but a standard limo can accommodate six to eight passengers. What we got was a Lincoln, which could accommodate six.

Our drivers got everyone’s luggage and put them into the SUV, and everyone got into the limo. I was pleased Robin was wearing Blumenfeld fashions. And she wore them well. Very well, indeed. Sally was also pretty elegant in her own outfit, but I did notice it wasn’t Blumenfeld. That has to be fixed. Joanne was also pretty good-looking, but she was not in Sally’s league, much less Robin’s. Kelly was okay, but she was deliberately dressed down in casual clothes, with a jacket, jeans and boots. In her line of work, I suppose part of the job was not to attract attention. She took the front passenger seat so I got to sit with the others.

We went to Blumenfeld House and started going through the plans for the day with Sarah and Mr. Blumenfeld. I’m surprised at how Sarah and Mr. Blumenfeld greeted Robin – I mean, I haven’t seen how excited those two were about a model.

Robin and Sally stayed with us to go over the plans for today. Joanne went with the director and the wardrobe & makeup people to discuss their side of things.

In less than an hour, we went to the little college we picked in the original shoot.

I had Sally change first, though, and we picked some of the clothes we had in the studio: can't have our models wear the competition's fashions, after all. Also, Sarah had Robin and Sally in a snazzy sports car. Sarah rented a shiny gunmetal gray 2009 Lexus LFA, so when the paparazzi and Robin's fans see her and take the inevitable pictures, they'd be in the sports car. Sarah explained that they wanted her in a newer and better sports car, but none could be rented on such short notice. Robin said a Lexus was pretty okay already.

 
***** (Robin) *****

I drove as fast as traffic laws allowed (under instructions from Sarah), and the full-throated V8 engine roared. Despite that, I drove carefully, with nary a close call. We arrived at the campus, but I didn’t know where the shoot was, so I headed for where I saw trucks and other stuff were being set up.

We roared onto the set (I was told later to refer to the location as the “set”), and Sally and I stepped out. There was a loud cheer and scattered applause from the people at the edge of the set, held back by tape and several security guards. I wore Blumenfeld boots two sizes larger that my size, which allowed me to put in some lifts. I was now several inches taller than Dannie. Sally and I weren’t the same height, but closer now.

Kelly came up, this time sporting a severe black suit, with a black tie and dark wayfarer sunglasses. She looked like someone from MIB, but stylish. She was the stereotypical secret service-type security, but was looking super-badass. She stayed behind and to the side of us.

Stopping a few feet from the line, Sally and I waved, which got the people going crazy.

“Good morning, everyone!” I said. “My name is Robin, and this is Sally. We’re from KRPQ radio.” Everyone applauded.

“We’re here to help with this year’s Blumenfeld Fashions’ new catalog. We appreciate your support. So we thank you, and Blumenfeld thanks you. Hope you enjoy the day, as we’re sure we will, too.”

Sally and I then approached the crowd and shook hands. We also signed pictures and other things that they wanted me to sign - no one asked for Sally’s signature so I asked her to sign the pictures with me. And when I did, everyone asked for her signature as well. Some asked about Sally, and I told them she was KRPQ’s main news reporter in charge of entertainment and fashion news, and other things.

We walked away and waved. As we went to the area where all the action was, Sally hugged her.

I hugged her back. “Hey. What was that about?”

“Thanks for that, Robin.”

“What?”

“You got them to ask for my signature, too.”

“I did no such thing!”

“Sure, sure.” She pulled me in closer and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

 
***** (Mindy) *****

It was a long day today, but everyone worked hard, especially Robin – Robin was a trouper. For the shoot at the campus’ main library, the Liberal Arts building, and one of the main lecture halls, Robin changed up to a dozen times, and her girl, Joanne, was right there to keep her looking fresh and well turned out despite the multiple changes. The other girls changed a lot as well but not as many changes.

Sarah also took pains to pick the same models in the original shoots, as well as the same makeup, hairstyle, and outfits, so the shots from the original could be incorporated seamlessly with the new ones today.

There were a dozen or so shots that were special for us: these were the ones where Dannie would be digitally pasted with the shots with Robin. So Robin was shot in such a way that Dannie could be combined into the same picture without trouble.

Aside from the shots on campus, Robin had shots out on location in (1) one of the city’s main highways, (2) walking among regular people on the sidewalks of downtown Minneapolis, (3) at the airport, with a backdrop of a commercial jet taking off (that required some precise timing), (4) at the park with the giant cherry and bent spoon, and (5) in one of the fancy restaurants downtown.

Despite the many locales, we didn’t shuttle Robin to them. Instead, we had Robin, with Sally as her passenger, drove herself using the fancy sports car we gave her. It was one of Sarah’s brainstorms, and allowed anyone who knew her to see her and possibly take photographs. It wasn’t like they had prearranged for people to be at the venues, but Sarah was hoping.

In any case, there were a few fans. I don’t really know what Sarah was thinking. Robin was just a DJ from a small little radio station in some small nowhere town so how could she have fans out here? But, even so, there were a few. How they found out, I didn’t know, but Ed’s dad said once, fans can do anything.

In any case, Robin, and Sally, gamely signed autographs and posed for pictures. And some curious bystanders who were there noted the beautiful girl in her Blumenfeld outfit, took pictures as well, and a few asked for autographs as well. Maybe that’s all Sarah wanted to happen.

I saw how Robin conducted herself, and she was far friendlier and more professional than our other girls. And with Joanne’s help, Robin was able to keep up with the grueling pace. I’m wondering how Dannie will handle the same pace tomorrow. I don’t know how her assistant, Nikki will do. But then she was just her dresser – we were going to take care of Dannie’s makeup. Ed actually preferred that Dannie had a dresser. That way, allegations of any kind of harassment would be less likely, especially since Dannie was still a minor.

As for Robin, she was having a blast, and was enjoying herself immensely.

As for the other models, after an initial frostiness, they had quickly warmed up to Robin. In the modelling world, jealousy and catfights were a common thing. And the rumors in Blumenfeld that Robin (and Dannie) were going to be the new image models for the house’s Young Adult and Young Professional lines. As far as Sarah and Ed were concerned, Robin’s beauty and elegance were, and her moves and poses were just what Blumenfeld needed. It remains to be seen if Dannie will do as well tomorrow.

We finished the day at around nine PM, doing the park shoot at twilight, and then the restaurant shoot in the evening. The last thing we had was a short dinner at a big fancy restaurant which was within walking distance to the hotel where we had billeted our models, plus Kelly. Joanne was sharing Robin’s room, though. Sarah offered to book Joanne in her own room next shoot, but the girls said that they preferred to share a room.

At the dinner, the girls were rowdy, as usual, but the restaurant was used to that, so they had us in a large function room separate from the other patrons. Like most models, they were a boozy bunch. But Joanne and Robin didn’t drink much except for a couple of token drinks. I had to give Robin credit, though, because she had a way of nursing her drink such that she appeared to be drinking and keeping up with the others. As for Joanne, she just had a token drink or two, owing to her underage status. Kelly, of course, didn’t drink – she was a more-than-competent bodyguard. Ed asked what agency she came from, because he was thinking that hiring from them might be something to consider.

The girls were singing to something from Dua Lipa, and Robin proved to be a good singer, as well as dancer, and everyone was following her lead.

Before things really got out of hand, at around eleven or so, Sarah called for attention and broke up the party. There was another shoot tomorrow, after all. After some groans and protests, the party broke up at around 11:30.

Sarah and Ed made it a point to talk with all the models, and they had a long talk with Robin and Joanne. They were all praises and said that the day went very well, indeed. They predicted that the catalog would be very successful. The two said good night, and I accompanied Robin, Joanne, and Sally to their rooms.

Sally went in her room and crashed on her bed (I reminded her about 8AM call time at the lobby). Kelly also said goodnight and went to her room as well.

At Robin’s and Joanne’s door, I briefed them.

“Hey,” I said. “Thank you so much for today. You two did great work. I guess I’ll say my goodbyes here. As you know, Dannie’s coming over tomorrow. She’s flying over in the same jet you’ll be flying out. You’ll be riding in the same limo to the airport that she’ll be using coming back here. Hope that’s okay?”

Robin shrugged. “Sure.”

“All the clothes you wore will be cleaned and packed, and our guys will take care of stowing them in the plane. Your producer, Tracey, said she’ll take care of taking care of getting them from the airport to KRPQ or wherever. But I have to stay here and arrange things.

“I have to stay here tomorrow and take care of things, so I don’t think we’ll see each other tomorrow. But here’s the cell of your limo driver,” I handed her a slip of paper, “and he’ll take care of things. Be sure to be outside the hotel by six-thirty, so you’ll be at the airport as the plane lands.

“Feel free to call room service for breakfast – the kitchen closes at one, and then open at four. Order whatever, it’ll be charged to the room.

“Sarah asks that you wear this tomorrow.” I handed her a wardrobe bag and a pair of shoes, “and, Joanne, please get her, you know, ready.” I shrugged. “Sorry, sweetie – that’s the life of a model.”

“No problem, Mindy.”

“So! I guess that’s it. You guys get a good night’s rest, and I’ll see you soon.” I gave them hugs, and I snuck a little kiss on Robin.

“Oh! Before I forget, here are a couple of loot bags that I put together for you.” I handed Robin and Joanne a couple of cloth bags full of goodies.

“So, good night.” I gave Robin another kiss and left to go back down to the restaurant.

 
***** (Robin) *****

Joanne and I finally went into our room. It was actually the first time for us to see our room, but it was a pretty big one with two single beds.

“Mindy’s a pretty nice girl,” I said.

Joanne giggled. “I think she has a crush on you.”

“Nahh, she’s just being friendly.”

“Wonder what she gave us?” Joanne opened the bag and there were small Blumenfeld stuff, like little perfume atomizers, a small makeup kit, and things like that.

I opened up mine, and it had identical stuff, except for a small felt box. I hid it from Joanne since she didn’t have one, and pocketed it.

Joanne decided on a shower before we worked on my colored hair and bring it back to its normal color. Joanne. I ordered a burger, two plates of fries (one for Joanne since she said she didn’t want anything else), a can of Coke Zero and four bottles of water.

As I chomped on my burger, I opened the little felt box and I almost gasped. If it was real, this little bauble probably cost more money than many people make in a year.

I took a picture of it on my phone and had an app look for it. What it found was one of the necklaces from the Disney Belle Collection. The catalog said “Enchanted Disney Fine Jewelry 14K White Gold And Rose Gold with 1/2 CTTW Diamond Belle Necklace,” and it cost about $2,000.00. Ohmigod…

Sure, two thousand bucks isn’t too expensive for jewelry, but two thousand was a big deal, especially for someone like Mindy. And I didn’t think it was costume jewelry… Oh, no…

I knew I put on Dr. Roberts’ magic formula but maybe it needed to be updated. I think, when I get home, I’m gonna have to make up a new batch.

I hid the little box in my bag as Joanne finished her shower. I finished the last of my burger and fries, and we went to the bathroom to wash away the coloring in my hair.

Joanne put a chair against the sink and I sat in the chair and leaned back with my hair in the sink. Joanne then proceeded to wash away the coloring, using the neutralizing agent that came with the product. As usual, she did a fine job and washed away every bit of the coloring. We used the same stuff we used before. It was totally safe and neutral to my hair, and it was a good hair product but the color didn’t last for any more than a few days. Because of that, Joanne said it wouldn’t become as popular as other more conventional products.

Afterward, I had a shower but didn’t use any shampoo. I felt refreshed after my shower and toweled my hair and dried myself in front of the bathroom mirror. I looked very much like my sister Danielle, except for in between my legs. Also, I had a narrower waist now, and my boobies were now larger than hers – mine were full C-cups now. I was also a smidge taller but not enough. That’s why I wore lifts every time I could today.

I can’t say I liked how I looked. I looked like a girl, and it wasn’t like I wanted to. But at least I looked good, and Nikki, my girlfriend, liked how I looked. She swore to me that looking like a girl didn’t matter to her, but I didn’t care, really. So long as she loved me, and I could continue to love her.

I put on a terrycloth bathrobe and padded into the room. I found Joanne in bed and snoring, At least she had some water and finished her fries. For me, I finished off the rest of the water and dried my hair with the blow-dryer Joanne brought – it’s best not to go to bed with moist hair, otherwise – bed-head…

Afterward, I went to my own bed and fell asleep as well.

In what felt like moments, I found myself being shaken awake by Joanne.

Though I was bleary-eyed, Joanne went to work on me. She took my hair and put it in a bun, and put one of my brunette wigs on me. With lots of adjustments, my hair looked pretty natural. Joanne then had me put on the outfit that Mindy handed me the night before. It turned out to be a knit turtleneck sweater, a long suede jacket, a pair of leggings-like linen pants, and rider boots. It allowed me to slip in lifts.

We were running late, so we rushed to make sure we had all our stuff. I texted our limo driver and said we would be out in front in ten minutes.

In a while, we were in the hangar we arrived in, and I saw Danielle by the jet we arrived in. I jogged to her and hugged her. Because of the lifts, I had to stoop a bit to hug her. We then rushed up the jet’s steps and went inside, and after fifteen minutes, I stepped out of the plane in my Dannie persona, with Nikki beside me.

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

to be continued...

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