The future

“Ashlyn, wakeup!” yelled Tara from the kitchen. Ashlyn rolled her head to the other side and started to open her eyes and look out the window. “I guess it was just a dream and I’m still here” she thought to herself. She started to sit up and she could still hear Tara yelling for her. “Ash, wake up! I need your help”. Ashlyn started to walk over to the kitchen from the living room, “what do you need my help with? “Tara turned around and looked her up and down; “you know for a fashion blogger; your lounging apparel isn’t that great”. She kept walking towards the kitchen, trying to ignore the unhelpful comment being thrown her way. “I need you to come with me and take some pictures for me, I have to put together looks for my article and I am on a deadline” Tara explained. Tara was a tall, beautiful woman who looked impeccable all of the time and when she walked it was like she was floating. Ashlyn, while she was a fashion blogger and could pull herself together when she needed too, knew she could never look as effortless as Tara did. “What is your article about?” she asked. Tara put two wine glasses in front of her and began to pour. “Pandemic street styles; are people still putting in an effort now that we are coming out of the pandemic or are we still embracing the quote unquote comfy look” she explained as she slid a glass over to Ashlyn. “Where do you want to go to take these pictures? How many subjects do you need?” she asked. Tara took a sip of the wine,” I want to go downtown, I think. I feel like there is a good amount of people who are different enough that I can get a smorgasbord of looks. Hopefully” Ashlyn took a swig of the wine and looked at the open laptop on the counter, that had Tara’s article open on it. “I can help you out with that, I have hit a wall for my blog writing anyways. Maybe I will see someone or something that will light my mind on fire, and I can write again” “Great, maybe put some different clothes on and let’s go get it done, I have until Thursday morning”. “Tara, it’s Tuesday night, why did you put it off so long?” Ashlyn asked. “Shh, no questions. Go get changed” Tara said as she wrapped her arms around her and led her to the stairs so she can go get changed.

In her room, Ashlyn looked blankly in her closet. Why was it so hard for her to decide what to wear, it’s not like they were going anywhere fancy. Literally just walking down the street and taking pictures of other people’s outfits. She grabbed a pair of jeans, her red sweater and a leather jacket. She headed downstairs to put on her shoes. Tara was waiting at the door, “well don’t we look human again” she giggled. Ashlyn sheepishly smiled and slipped on her boots. Together they walked out the door and were off on their assignment. Sorry, Tara’s assignment, Ashlyn was being dragged reluctantly into this. As they walked down the street towards downtown, Ashlyn could see the wheels in Tara’s head as she looked out for the type of people she was looking for. “There!” Tara said as she pointed and started walking quickly in the direction of a group of young girls who clearly were on different ends of the spectrum when it came to fashion. “Hi ladies! My name is Tara and I work for “Fashion now “magazine and I would love to take some pictures of you for my pandemic street styles article. Is that, ok?” she asked. The girls looked at her and they all collectively said “sure!”. Ashlyn started to get her camera out and getting setup to take some shots. The girls all got together and shared their thoughts on their looks and Ashlyn started shooting. “ Thanks, so much girls! You all look adorable. Make sure to get the next issue to see if your beautiful faces are in there!” Tara told them. As she was looking through the pictures she had just taken, Tara started to walk over to her. “So how did we do?” she asked. “I shot them off guard, so they weren’t so posed, but I was still able to get their outfits in detail” she explained to Tara as she showed her the pictures. They kept walking looking for more people to shoot. “Ash, are you ok lately? You said that you hit a wall with writing, and you’ve been sleeping a lot.” Tara said to her as they crossed the road. “Honestly, I’m burnt out and it is not doing what it use to do for me anymore. I need a change, but I don’t know what kind of change” she replied back. As Tara scouted people out and started to walk towards a couple of older ladies dressed in classic track suits, she said “nursing home chic and I am here for it”. They both laughed and started talking to the women as Ashlyn shot them. “Those ladies are our future and I love it. But in order for us to figure out, we need to get you back to feeling like yourself again” Tara said as they sat on a bench. Ashlyn looked at the people walking by and knew they had to have this conversation, but it was still uncomfortable to have. “T, I just don’t know what it is I want to do. I need something that is going to satisfy me creatively but also pays the bills”. Tara looking through the pictures asked her; “if you have had all the money in the world what would you do with your life?” Ashlyn thought about it, really thought about it. “Honestly, I think I would do something in a social media marketer field” “Ok, so how do we get there?” Tara asked her. “I think I would probably have to go back to school for marketing and the business end of it, but I’m scared “she replied. As Tara stood up she put her hand out for Ashlyn’s, “can’t sit on the bench forever babe, and I think this flyer on the bench here is your golden ticket” The flyer read: “Go back to school and start doing what you really want and not worry about the money”. Ashlyn folded the flyer up and put it in her pocket and they continued walking along, shooting more people on their way home.

A couple of days later, Ashlyn was sitting at the island in the kitchen working on her laptop when Tara walked in. “Hey T, did your article go over ok?” Tara put her bag on the counter and reached up for a tea mug. “Yes! My editor loved my writing and loved your pictures” she said smiling at Ashlyn. “What are you working on” Tara asked. Ashlyn turned her computer to show that she was applying to school. “I followed up on that flyer and it actually is going to work out. So, I am applying to a few different marketing programs, because I can’t sit on the bench forever babe” she replied back with a smile. Tara sat down beside her and smiled and for the first time in a long time, you could feel in the air, that they both are optimistic for their futures.