Cindy looked in the box at the bottles. None of them had normal, probably-pretty advertisement names, she soon found out.
She glanced quickly at them before, but now, sitting on a mall bench, she lifts one vial from the case to inspect more closely.
The little label on the side had the word "Height" with a plus sign next to it.
She pulls a receipt from the bag and lightly spritzes it, then lifts the paper to her nose.
It smells like rum and gardenia flowers, an odd combination, but not totally unpleasant.
"Cindy?" a female voice calls out for her.
Cindy drops the receipt into the bag, and looks up.
Another model from the modeling agency, Kathleen, is approaching.
"Hey Kathleen. How'd you do?" she asks, smiling politely.
Kathleen plops next to her, briefly choking on her milkshake. She closes her eyes, nodding and swallowing.
"Mmf. I," she wipes her mouth, "I got one of the jobs. There's six spots open. You?"
Cindy's face drops.
Kathleen takes another sip of her milkshake, awaiting an answer.
"Nope. Turned down again."
"Sorry."
Cindy's face takes on an annoyed half-smile.
"Know why this time, Kathleen? I'm underweight. See what I get for dieting? I need to gain some weight back, apparently."
"Milkshake?" Kathleen jokingly offers the cup to Cindy, getting a half-smile out of her.
"Guess I better, if my work depends on it..." Cindy takes the cup.
"I can't believe that Cindy, after your hard work. Fifteen pounds, right?"
Cindy nods, drinking the milkshake.
There is silence between the two for a moment. Cindy hands the milkshake back. Kathleen takes it.
"Sorry if I was bragging about getting the job, I didn't mean it that way, I..."
"No. It's all right. I've been in your position before, too, remember? It's okay."
Kathleen grins again. "Job'll probably stink anyway. I mean that."
"Uh, girlfriend, shouldn't talk like that until after you get the check."
Kathleen's smile grows. "No, I mean stink, like REALLY stink... smell. It's a perfume ad spread."
Cindy grins at Kathleen's pun. "I get it," she smiles.
Then it dawns on her...
"Hey, what perfume is it?" Cindy reaches into her bag. "What's the name?"
"It's just somebody's name, with a number after it."
Cindy hands her the Height (+) bottle.
"Like this?" she asks Kathleen.
"Heig-it, T?" she replies, "No, but something like it. Mind if I?!?" She uncaps it.
"No, try it. It's not bad, just... different."
Kathleen sprays her left wrist twice, and sniffs it. She closes her eyes.
"Alcohol-based, I can tell ya..." she begins.
"Yeah, I know." Cindy says.
Kathleen sprays both sides of her own neck, recaps it and hands it back to Cindy.
Cindy sets it back in the box. "You like it enough to wear it today?"
Kathleen sniffs her wrist again.
"Yeah, I think so. I..." Kathleen stops.
"You..." Cindy leans towards her, trying to help the sentence out.
"I..." Kathleen looks down at her capri pants and thong sandals, confused. She shakes her head. "Vertigo all of a sudden, Cindy."
Cindy looks at the side of Kathleen's face. Something was different.
Another moment of silence.
"Wanna grab lunch, Kathleen?"
Kathleen lifts her milkshake up for Cindy. "This was it for me, but I could grab something else maybe."
Cindy smiles. "We should then, since I need to gain some weight."
Kathleen laughs lightly, and they stand up.
Kathleen stands WAY up.
Cindy stretches, and reaches down for her bag. She turns to Kathleen, and says "You wanna eat at..." then stops, no longer face to face with Kathleen but eye level with her breasts. She steps back, jaw slowly dropping.
She looks up at Kathleen, jaw also dropped part-way.
It now dawns on Cindy that the "Height (+)" tag was explicit and honest, not a romanticized product name.