The Curves of Love, page 1
The Curves of Love
Stefania Gil
Translated by Frank F. Loomis III, J.D.
“The Curves of Love”
Written By Stefania Gil
Copyright © 2017 Stefania Gil
All rights reserved
Distributed by Babelcube, Inc.
www.babelcube.com
Translated by Frank F. Loomis III, J.D.
Cover Design © 2017 La Taguara Design
“Babelcube Books” and “Babelcube” are trademarks of Babelcube Inc.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
The Curves of Love
Prologue
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Epilogue
Twitter: @gilstefania | Email: stefaniagiln@gmail.com
Stefania Gil
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
“True love is no more than the inevitable desire to help each other be who each really is.”
-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry-
Prologue
At 34, Keith Grant was an outright success. And you could say that at his young age, he had accomplished everything he had dreamed about since he was a child.
As to his childhood, he had grown up in south Texas in a family in which everyone was a devout, rabid sport fan. His younger brother, Charlie, was considered one of the 10 best golfers in the world.
And Keith, but for an injury, probably would have played professional football at its highest level, the NFL. But unfortunately, his chance to play in the pros, ended when he was seriously hurt in the last game of the season of his senor year in college.
Doctors then told him, he should never play football again or engage in any kind of rugged sport that could put him at risk. And they set up a program of rehabilitation for him that mainly consisted of weight lifting to strengthen his muscles. So, he spent the major part of many, many days thereafter in a gym, religiously following the program.
It was then, during these onerous days that it dawned on Keith that despite the drudgery of workouts, he really enjoyed doing them. And the field of physical training, helping people exercise properly and adequately to achieve certain goals, would be a great career for him.
So, when he finished his rehabilitation and felt like his old self again, he devoted himself to designing a training program. It would consist of a series of short workouts, brief, so as to not be onerous or take too much time. And importantly, they would have low impact on body parts. Yet, these workouts would be most effective in achieving goals.
And seemingly in no time at all, in the Los Angeles area, where he now lived, Keith set up a business of personal training based on his new program. And it quickly became a resounding success. He soon was regarded as one of the best personal trainers in the county.
Among his many clients was Bill Newman, a prominent morning TV newscaster. Under Keith´s program, Bill had lost a lot of weight.
And word of this spread quickly. It contributed greatly to Keith´s reputation and persistent dominance in personal training.
So, seemingly overnight, Keith had gone from being an obscure young man from south Texas, to being the highly successful personal trainer of many Los Angeles celebrities.
And Keith knew exactly why he was so successful. It was because he loved what he was doing, and put his heart and soul into it.
But sometimes, he´d reflect on what his world would be like if he had been able to go the NFL. Sure, because of a big contract, maybe in the millions, financially in the short term, he´d be better off. But what good is money, he thought, if he were to get hurt like so many NFL players do, in a way that he would suffer the rest of his life?
Yet no matter what, he concluded, no way, would he be as content, happy as he now is working for himself and helping people feel good about their appearances, and at the same time take better care of themselves.
As to how Keith got his clients, his method was sure fire. And it worked despite his penchant for keeping a low profile, shunning media attention even though he was the remarkable sculptor of many famous persons’ bodies. He depended strictly on his business cards and word of mouth advertising. That this was enough was shown by his solidly booked schedule for a year in advance.
And speaking of years, his most recent two had been just fantastic, crazy-like. For one thing, a TV producer kept bugging, pleading with Keith to appear in a reality show-pilot program, Healthy Bodies. He was so persistent that finally, in exhaustion, Keith gave in.
He played the role of a personal trainer in an entertaining yet quite informative story about a group of people with just about every kind of eating disorder and weight problem imaginable. They got together and focused on ways to learn how to eat more healthily, lose or gain weight, (depending on their individual situations), and feel better about themselves.
Appearing in this TV program took Keith to another level in recognition. Now the general public knew about him, but not as a movie or TV star. Nor was he viewed as just a personal trainer of celebrities.
Rather, he was considered a public figure, so much so that people would ask for his autograph. Or they´d seek advice from him on eating problems.
And he´d be invited to participate in health seminars and in radio talk shows. Moreover, he had his own YouTube channel with millions of followers. Add to that, he was talking with producers about recording a program on exercises and eating disorders to sell on his internet-webpage.
But now this day, though he was up to his neck in work, Keith found himself in New York. Why so? Well, Eve Collins, head of public relations for Fashion View magazine had called him a week before and asked him to come. The magazine wanted to present and propose to him a special new project.
Though his gut told him to follow his mother´s advice and not take on too much work, his curiosity had gotten the better of him. He just had to find out the details of this top fashion magazine´s special project that needed his particular talents and expertise.
But he knew that while talking to these people, he would have to watch his tongue. This is because of his firm belief that the fashion industry, of which this magazine was part, was totally responsible for the low self-esteem that many young women had.
Keith would be happy to know of any inclinations or tendencies of fashion gurus to try to change this. He had hope, however, because more and more on billboards, he was seeing young ladies with a little more fullness to their bodies than those of the 1990s.
In that decade, models were really skinny, almost skin and bones. And now decades later, even with some changes for the better, to Keith and many men, even famous models were still not all that sensually attractive because of their gaunt appearances.
Perhaps, that´s because they continued to be dominated by an angst, a nagging, persistent fear they won´t have slimly “perfect” bodies to display; the kind that models for jeans ads have, as well as the famous “Angels” models for a renown cosmetic firm.
But as Keith saw it, a woman should be a dignified carrier of her body´s attributes, particularly her curves. That is, she should display a sensual elegance that will be attractive to the opposite sex. And she can achieve this, when she feels good about herself and stops trying to fulfill demanding, unreasonable social norms and standards of beauty.
Such things were some of the first precepts he´d teach a young female client. And also, that she should know her body and understand that it is unique. No one exists who has one exactly like hers.
Such were Keith´s reflections, which he abruptly ended, when he arrived at the pretentious offices of Fashion View magazine. He was right on time.
“Mr. Grant?” asked a receptionist along with a pleasant, friendly smile.
“Yes, Ma´am,” he replied.
“This way, please,” she said, indicating that he should follow her.
With a hand, Keith smoothed down the front of his grey suit and followed the young lady.
She reminded him of his surfboard. Although, looking at her from the side, he was convinced that his board was really thicker than she was. She was that slim or skinny, a toothpick some would say.
She took Keith to an elegant, spacious, luxuriously furnished office. It had floor-to-ceiling windows that not only flooded the room with abundant natural light, but also afforded a magnificent panorama of New York City.
There, seated on a plush, leather sofa were two immaculately attired women. They looked so much alike, that Keith quickly assumed they were mother and daughter.
They both arose to greet him. Then, they extended their hands to formally introduce themselves.
The elder woman spoke out:
“Welcome, Mr. Grant. I´m Agnes Collins. And this is my daughter, Eve Collins. She´s the one who called you last week.”
Keith firmly shook each one´s hand, and while doing so, he smiled pleasantly and in gimlet-eyed fashion looked each in the eye.
And as Eve said that, and still stood in front of him, Keith could not help but give her a quick once over without being too obvious about it. She had a nice rear end and firm legs, although he could only see them from the knees on down, because that´s all her skirt would permit. And aha! Yes, indeed! Her breasts were a decent size.
Then as Agnes was reseating herself on the sofa, she said:
“Mr. Grant, I imagine you must be wondering. Why would a fashion magazine be interested in your services?”
At that point, Eve put a cup of coffee for Keith on the cocktail table that was in front of them.
“Thank you so much,” Keith said, as he smiled at Eve in a way that was more than routine or casual, despite that her mother was sitting right there. And he fleetingly thought, “Gosh, this gal´s dark, almost black eyes are really expressive. They speak. I think she sort of likes me.”
Then he got hold of himself and quickly responded to her mother: “Yes, the truth is, I am wondering, Mrs. Collins. I´m curious to know in what way I could be useful to you nice people.”
“Well, first off, call me Agnes. I hate being called, ‘Mrs. Collins.’ It reminds me of my mother-in-law. She and I didn´t get along too well.”
That drew a light smile from Keith´s lips.
Agnes went on: “We want to consult, use you, because . . . “ She paused. Then she continued, “May we call you, Keith?”
“Please do,” he instantly replied.
“Keith, have you ever read our magazine, at least an article or two from it?”
To that, Keith sort of panicked and said to himself, “Man, that´s a bomb.” He felt so embarrassed, because he´d never had read a single word in that magazine. “Why in the hell would any red blooded man read a woman´s fashion magazine?,” he said to himself.
And Agnes, seeing the embarrassed look on Keith´s now pinkish face didn´t wait for his answer. She said:
“So, you haven´t. No big deal. And I don´t blame you, because we always write about the same old things. And we photograph the same. . .”
Eve then interrupted her mother:
“Keith, for one thing, we´re now trying to give the magazine a new, refreshed look.”
And then turning to her mother, she said, “And besides, Mother, though Fashion View covers many topics, our readers are women. I just don´t see Keith reading last year´s Christmas issue, where we gave women ideas on how to achieve more intense orgasms consecutively, all in one night.”
Hearing these rather bold words from Eve, Keith found himself admiring her. Without blinking an eye or even blushing, she could talk about sexual things in front of her own mother. And he loved the way she´d throw him flirtatious looks, that from his masculine perspective and ample experience, he knew exactly what they meant. Then there was the way she had delicately tucked a tuff of hair behind an ear.
But Agnes, as an embarrassed mother, rolled her eyes and turned to her daughter and rebuked her:
“My God, Eve, are you ever going to learn to think before you speak?”
Then to Keith, she said: “Please excuse my daughter´s bluntness.”
Keith smiled and reflected on how much fun it would be to dine at the Collins home if other members were like Eve Collins. That is, at any given moment, with no hesitation, they´d say whatever they think.
And he really liked this about Eve Collins.
“Okay, let´s move on here,” Agnes said, as she took a sip of coffee. Then she followed with, “With change for the better in mind for the magazine, we have worked and consulted with our partners to try to create a new image of fashion. And as to our motivation, many of us believe that standards for bodies of models must change, because so many feel pressured to look well . . .”
“I could not agree more,” Keith interrupted. “But please forgive me for interrupting.”
To that both women smiled broadly, almost gleefully, clearly showing they had liked what he had said.
Agnes continued, “So, we decided to start a campaign involving models with somewhat larger sizes compared to those of today´s top models. But their sizes would be no larger than those of comparable, normal women. However, whatever we do, we have to be careful we don´t foment obesity, given that this is such a problem in this country . . .” She paused.
She resumed, “Also, we´d like to set new standards not just for the top level of modeling, but for all levels and types. So, that would include quite tall models, short ones, those with large breasts, those with small breasts, even some with physical defects, or scars. And in those latter cases, we won´t photo-shop the images, touch them up. Furthermore, in our reformation of standards, we´ll include models of all ethnic backgrounds.”
Agnes then concluded, “Keith, the bottom line here is that we want to break with boilerplate standards that the fashion industry itself has set for acceptable modeling sizes. And we want to establish new reasonable ones that eliminate the present pressure for models.”
“I understand, completely,” Keith instantly replied.
But as far as saying anything more at this point, Keith preferred to first hear more about the magazine´s plan for his participation. Yet, so far, he liked what he was hearing. Finally, someone in the fashion world was getting the message about a problem he had long ago recognized.
Continuing, Agnes said, “By the way, Keith, for that first campaign category of models, that is, those who would be top models but for their luscious curves, and larger sizes, which, in truth are perfectly normal in the real world,. . .well, for this category, we have an absolutely stunning candidate lined up. . .”
“No, we don´t, Mother,” Eve interjected. And then turning to Keith, she explained, “Yes, we do have a real beauty in mind, but she doesn´t know a damn thing about all this. We´ve never talked to her about the project.”
Because of this seeming touchiness as to this particular young lady, Keith´s gut told him that they really want her, but for some reason, getting her would be no piece of cake.
Eve then asked, “Keith, does the name Cameron Collins ring a bell with you?”
“Not really, Eve. But by the last name, I assume this person is a member of your family.”
“You´re right, she is. She´s my younger sister. And she is well known in New York by tattoo aficionados. She has her own studio. And she has become nationally renown for this.”
Eve continued, “But it´s always been Cam´s dream to be a model, and ten years or so ago, the fashion industry rejected her because of her curves. It did, despite that back then, she kept herself in great shape physically and maintained her weight well with sound eating habits.”
“Anyway,” Eve went on, “before you decide whether to accept my mother´s offer, you should read this report and data we have prepared for you. It contains detailed information on Cam.” And she handed him a huge flat envelope containing many pages and photographs.
Agnes, took over again. “Cam has had some trying times since the fashion industry dashed her modeling dream, and at times her sensitivity makes her difficult. Anyway, just about everything about her is in that file,” she said, pointing to the big envelope now in Keith´s hands.
She continued, “But Keith, as we all know, time is money. And, for now, I think we´ve told you enough. Plus, you have that file. So, as a matter of good business, I´ll get right to the point.”
Keith liked that and nodded in agreement.
Agnes resumed. “Cam, is the youngest of my three treasures, three daughters, and a fine young woman. Yes, basically she´s really a good person. And I love her with all my heart. But I must admit at times she´s just plain difficult. And probably it all goes back to her having been rejected as a model. That still haunts her and negatively affects her self-esteem.”
“But in any case,” Agnes continued, “I think she would be a perfect model for our campaign. Yet as of now, she won´t pass muster. She´s overweight and hasn´t exercised regularly for a couple of years now. And our partners require that before young women enter the program, they will have already lost any excessive pounds. In other words, they must meet certain new reasonable standards as to sizes, with emphasis on the word, “reasonable.” Add to that, we want our young ladies to lead a healthy life, that is, eat properly and participate in sports. And Cam hasn´t been doing those things for years.”
