Mirror Images Ch. 03

Author's Note: This is Chapter 3 in a series. Full context can be gained by first reading chapters one and two and, as the author, I of course encourage you to do so. However, I've tried to reference enough backstory in Chapter 3 in hopes of making this instalment at least marginally readable on its own. As always, happy to receive constructive criticism, both positive and negative, and to hear ideas for future stories.

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"Dr. Forqurean, your 3 PM mastopexy follow up with Kelly Pemberton is in exam room 1."

Summer Forqurean looked up from behind her teak desk. "Thanks Jenny, I was just finishing reviewing my notes on her. I'll see her in just a minute."

Summer surveyed the New York City skyline as she looked out the window of her fifty second floor office. In contrast to the state-of-the-art clinical facilities and exam rooms down the hall, her office was finished in dark wood, opulent furnishings, and the walls were decorated with interesting and eclectic original artwork and tapestries.

Summer once again reflected on the fact that her successful practice was so very much at odds with the type of doctor she had once aspired to be.

Summer had grown up in a medium size midwestern college town. Her parents were both on the faculty at the university. They instilled in her a strong sense of social justice and responsibility to give back to society. As a teenager, and until her junior year of college, she had planned to work in family practice, to serve those in need in a community health service, or perhaps an ER. She wanted to spend part of each year in a third world country serving with Doctors Without Borders. For Summer, money had been far from the primary goal.

But those earlier goals had been decimated when her friends had betrayed and humiliated her in the worst possible way. Her dreams and goals had been transformed -- she understood that money would be required if she were to be successful in achieving her new ambitions.

As Summer entered exam room 1 she greeted her patient, "Hi Kelly. How have you been? Everything feeling okay? Any lingering pain or numbness?"

"Hi Summer. Great! The mastopexy! Honestly, you are wizard! No wonder you're getting so much work. My friends in the TriBeCa Women's Club have all been raving about the touch and artistry of your work. I'm hoping you'll be able to do my gluteal augmentation next. You're certainly worth the extra money!"

Summer smiled brightly and her green eyes twinkled, gratified by her patient's praise and enthusiasm. "Let's have a look. It's been twelve weeks so the healing should be sufficient to see whether we achieved the overall look and aesthetics we were after."

As Kelly lowered the medical gown to her waist, Summer immediately began to examine her breasts with a critical eye. "The incisions have healed nicely -- there won't be any scarring. And most importantly, I think we were able to get the tighter shape and subtle uplift you wanted. "

"Yes. I'm so excited. They look the same as when I was twenty! After two kids I didn't think that would be possible. They look..perky, I guess is the word. They look perky again but still large enough."

"Well, it was easy. You're still young. You're only thirty-eight."

"I can't say enough about you and your work. And your bedside manner. So wonderful. It's nice to have work done by a woman plastic surgeon. And you're so professional but also so approachable. The other doctors I've tried have been so formal. It's refreshing to have someone that really understands us."

Summer indeed prided herself on listening carefully to her clients so that she could do her best to match each patient's vision. She had rapidly acquired an expanding loyal and devoted following of clients in her NYC office and was starting to similarly gain clients in her newer clinic in Los Angeles. If anything, she had to limit the number of women she worked on, which enabled her to charge a premium for her services. Her clientele was composed exclusively of wealthy women who were able and anxious to pay for her services out of pocket.

"The breast lift looks excellent, Kelly. Let's schedule another checkup appointment for six months, but if you have any concerns in the meantime, give our clinic a call. Also, since it's been about three months since the mastopexy, we can schedule the gluteal augmentation for anytime that works with your schedule. You're still looking to enhance both roundness and firmness -- is that correct?"

"Thanks Summer. Yes, that will be perfect. I'm excited. I'll talk to Jenny about scheduling. It's so nice to be able to call my doctor by her first name. It makes you seem like a friend. Well, I do consider you to be a friend. I hope you consider my offer to have me sponsor you for our women's club."

---

Camden Tallis sat at the window of the restaurant looking out at the Central Park. She was used to large cities now, after going to college in Boston, and now working in the city. She still often missed Virginia where she grew up, and the easy access to nature. "The park is nice," she thought. "But it's still crowded."

"Hi Cam. Sorry I'm late. I got a bit behind at the clinic."

"That's okay Sum, I know how busy you are," Camden Tallis smiled at Summer. "It gave me a chance to relax and enjoy looking at all the people across the way in the park. I was able to get this nice window seat for lunch. I already ordered for you. I know what you usually order."

Sunlight fell obliquely across the table, partially illuminating the dark wood floor and exposed brick wall of the restaurant.

"Anyhow, Brennan is even later than you. She just texted to let me know she'll be here in fifteen minutes. And Courtney can't make it today. Something came up with the startup she's trying to fund."

"Well, that's typical," replied Summer. "It's hard for the NYC contingent of the Zeta crew to make it to our weekly lunch. We're all so overcommitted."

Since moving to the city together following college, Summer, Camden, Brennan Bjorklund, and Courtney Rothschild, all alumna of Zeta Mu Xi sorority had started a weekly lunch get together. They all did their best to attend.

"Hey, speaking of the Zeta crew, I just spoke with Aubrey today," Camden said.

"Is she still enjoying China? I still wish she would have opted for the position here in the city instead. The entire Zeta crew could have moved together to the same place.

"She likes it there. She says her Mandarin has improved so much that it's almost passable. She'll be coming back later this year for my wedding. I'm excited to see her."

"So how are you and Marc doing?"

"We're good -- well, better than good," Camden beamed. He's still climbing the ladder at the law firm. I can't believe we're going to get married in a few months. It's really happening this time. We were on and off for so long but the last couple of years have been amazing."

Summer looked deeply into Cam's large brown, innocent looking eyes, her face attractively framed by her straight blond hair.

"Yes, I remember helping you get through some difficult times with Marc back in college. We both had guy problems at the same time. We helped each other through."

Camden looked away from Summer and down at the table. She still questioned why she had done what she did back then. She hadn't intended to ruin things between Summer and her boyfriend. Courtney and Brennan had been responsible for that. But Camden knew she played a part in what happened. She still felt guilty about it. She was nonetheless glad that Summer had never found out about her role.

"Yes, those were challenging times. I'm still sorry it didn't work out with Ethan."

"Well, that's ancient history now." Though she did her best to suppress it, a frown fleeted across Summer's face as she thought about her attempt to reconnect and reforge her relationship with Ethan when they were in college. What the two of them had was, at first, so pure and simple. That had all ended when her intimate selfies had surfaced -- when she had made the incorrect assumption that Ethan was to blame -- when his emotions (and hers) were sullied by his involvement with Courtney. They had both been rendered jaded and cynical by the experience. Their innocence had been hijacked and there had been no going back.

"Do you think you'll ever get married Sum?"

"I'm not sure but it's not my highest priority now. My work keeps me busy. And I have other goals."

"Yeah, you and your work," said Brennan Bjorklund walking up behind Summer's chair. Brennan leaned down and gave Summer a quick hug around her shoulders from behind, then went to the other side of the table. Camden rose and the two friends hugged each other.

"Sorry I'm late. The director wanted to go through the opening scene one more time -- she's such a stickler for details."

"That's okay. I was late, too," said Summer. "But Cam knew what we wanted and ordered for both of us -- we must be getting too predictable. And Courtney can't make it today."

"So I didn't' mean to interrupt, Sum. You were talking about your work, right? How's the plastic surgery business?"

"I have more business than I can handle, and the new clinic in LA has a good start as well."

"It still seems so bizarre to me that you're a plastic surgeon," said Camden. "I wouldn't have predicted it. And specializing in cosmetic surgery. You have all these wealthy women. It's just so..."

"You think I've lost my way?"

"No, not exactly."

"You're surprised because I'm making so much money and I'm not helping underprivileged people?"

Camden looked at Summer questioningly, her silence an obvious affirmative.

"You're right Cam. I found that my priorities changed. Not everything revolves around my work. But I realized that I would need money, as well as perseverance, for projects outside my work that are very important to me. So I've made my decisions accordingly."

"Really? Outside projects? That's interesting," replied Brennan, her blue eyes curious. "What sort of projects?"

Summer smiled. "Projects very close to my heart. I'm hoping to begin all three soon."

"Is it something we can help with, Sum?" asked Camden.

"I can imagine it becoming crucial to have your involvement eventually. Thanks for offering. I don't mean to be mysterious but, for now, my ambitions have to remain personal. But if I succeed you'll know."

"I have confidence in you Sum."

"Yes, me too," chimed in Brennan.

Summer smiled at them. "I'm so lucky the two of you are my friends. You're both so beautiful."

---

Summer stood in front of the bedroom mirror of her apartment studying her image. Her reflected bright green eyes stared back at her. Her expression was indecipherable.

"Yes, I've changed," she acknowledged to herself. "But I didn't have a choice."

In the immediate aftermath of the trauma that her friends had instigated when they were back at Zeta she hoped that, over time, it would be possible to recover and return to herself -- her old self.

"But the humiliation continued," she reminded herself. Although the frequency of reminders, from intrusive emails, or unsolicited crude face-to-face comments about her selfies from strangers had lessened over time, they had not stopped.

Just last week she had received a typical disturbing email from a stranger commenting on her..., "Christ, I might as well just say it, my tits, ass, and pussy," she thought, glaring at herself in the mirror, chastising herself yet again for her lapse in judgement.

"At least now I'm hardened and don't fall to pieces like I used to. But I'm still damaged."

"And on top of all that they sadistically destroyed what I had with Ethan -- they intentionally let me believe that Ethan was responsible for hurting me. And then Courtney put in the final sword." The idea of Courtney seducing her boyfriend and the vividness of her imagined image, of Ethan coupling with Courtney, elicited jealousy that was, at first, almost impossible to bear. It still deeply burned her when she thought about it.

"How could they ever have done all that to me? I had been so kind to them." she asked herself, the central, long-standing question rising in her mind yet again.

"I genuinely thought they were my friends. And after they thought they got away with it, they just went on as if nothing had happened, pretended to support me, as if they cared about me."

She conceded to herself that, at least superficially, they had acted as her friends and continued to do so even now.

"And I suppose I've also been able to keep up the ruse, pretending not to know what happened."

At first it had been difficult to even look at her friends, her amalgamation of anger and despair had been so acutely painful. But her friends had made the assumption that her withdrawn demeanor and reticence was not targeted at them but simply arose from the humiliation she had been made to endure -- that it was merely taking time for her to recover.

And it had become easier for Summer to keep up the deception over the course of a few years. She now even found herself often enjoying their company though she had made a vow to herself never to forget.

Summer thought about the schemes she had devised for Brennan, Courtney, and Camden. Plans that had taken time and creativity to formulate but, with the money and resources from her practice, plans that had finally become feasible and that had begun to coalesce.

As she thought about the specifics of what she would be attempting, a shadow of doubt crossed her mind.

She looked at her image in the mirror and asked herself, "Am I a sociopath?"

It troubled her to think the answer could be yes.

"Well, I wasn't always this way. If that's what I've become, then it's easy to see what caused it and who was responsible."

She hoped that her plans would bring resolution enabling her to regain herself. She had trouble remembering what it was to be the generous, luminous person she had been back at Zeta house before her friends' treachery, or what it had felt like to admire the inner and exterior beauty of her flawed friends.

---

Brennan Bjorklund hopped off the shallow studio stage at the gym in her full-length black tights and yellow bra top and made her way through the dispersing class to Summer and Courtney Rothschild. As she strode athletically toward the back of the room, her full-length tights accentuated her long, well-toned legs. She was accompanied by choruses of, "Thanks Brennan! Good class Bren! That was a tough one," from the class participants.

"How'd you like the class," she smiled expectantly at Summer and Courtney.

"That was excellent Bren. I got such a good work out. You're so energetic," said Summer.

"Yeah, I didn't think martial arts-based group exercise would do it for me, but I've changed my mind," Courtney added.

Brennan laughed and glanced at herself in the mirror, "Wow. I better cover up. I didn't realize you could see quite so much through my top."

"Yeah, right," thought Summer. "As if you hadn't had the chance to look at yourself while you were standing in the front of a completely mirrored studio for an entire hour."

The three friends sat down in the athletic club café and sipped smoothies, something that had become part of their post-workout routine.

"It's terrific that the two of you come to my classes. It's so much fun seeing friendly faces and having some extra time with you afterwards."

"Aren't you finding it tough to work the group exercise gig into your rehearsal schedule and theater performances?" asked Summer.

Brennan took her medium-length wavy blond hair out of her high ponytail, started to wrap it in a circular motion on top of her head as if she was going to pin it up, and then let it fall naturally over her shoulders. She looked at Summer seriously with her bright blue eyes.

"Well, it's important for me to do cardio and strength training. It helps me on stage. Also, I need the money. I'm still taking dance as well so that I can be versatile enough to perform in musicals. That part's not difficult for me since I've taken dance since I was little. But I still have to pay for it."

"What about your trust fund, or some kind of help from your family? I know your parents have a lot of money."

"I'm not lucky like Courtney. My parents are still against my decision to pursue an acting career, so they revised the conditions and delayed access to my trust fund. They don't understand how serious I am about the stage. It's true that I haven't had any lead parts yet. But I just know I'll get my break soon. They'll have to come around eventually after I make it big. They still think that I'm just going through a phase."

"You have what it takes Bren," Courtney said encouragingly.

"Yes, I really enjoyed your last performance in that off Broadway play. I thought you were one of the strongest members of the cast," said Summer.

"Thanks you guys. I appreciate it."

"And actually, I don't have access to my trust fund yet either Bren," said Courtney. But my dad has been fronting me money to help me get started as an Angel Investor for biotech startup companies. But he expects me to pay him back.

"Hey, isn't that the guy you've been seeing, Bren?" Courtney asked as she noticed a tall fit looking guy of about thirty quickly walk past. "Why didn't he stop to say 'hi'?"

"Yeah, that's Ben. He's a personal trainer here. But I broke it off with him a couple days ago. It was never very serious. Or he wanted to be serious, but I didn't. He has the looks and is athletic but doesn't have much to offer beyond that. Now he's pissed off at me for breaking up with him -- he'll recover."

"You've haven't had many boyfriends since I've known you, Bren" Summer remarked. "None of them ever seem to be very serious. Why is that? Are you looking for something particular in a guy?"

"That's right Sum, I've only had four. One in college, and three since. Really, I've never been serious about any of them. Guess I must be picky. Or let's call it discerning -- that sounds better," Brennan replied laughing. "Also, I've been so focused on my goal of being an actor. I haven't found anyone that really understands what that means to me."

"So what is it that you're really looking for in a guy?" Summer inquired. "I've noticed that all of your boyfriends are athletic -- is that what's most important to you?"

"No one has asked me that before, Sum," Brennan replied smiling. "But yes, I do have strong ideas about what it would take for me to really be serious about someone.

"Of course it's a given that he would have to understand how determined I am about being an actor and performer, accept me for who I am and not stand in my way.

"And I suppose you're right about the physical type I'm attracted to -- fitness and athleticism is important to me. I need someone that can keep up with the energy level and fitness that I've achieved from dance and group exercise.

"It would also be nice to be with someone who has a strong sense of adventure. I meet so many guys who just want a plain life -- that's so boring. I'm looking for someone who's not afraid to take a few chances. Someone who wants to push the boundaries and really experience what life has to offer.

"A last thing, and I know this sounds obnoxious, but I want someone who understands my background, someone who can identify with me."

Summer saw Courtney nodding in agreement. "What does that mean?" asked Summer.

"Well, I'm scraping by right now, but eventually that will change. I'll have access to my parent's money -- my trust fund. I grew up with so many advantages. It's important for me to be with someone who understands what that means. Someone of my background."

Summer wasn't entirely sure what Brennan meant, but she nodded in agreement anyway.

"Oh, and after all that, there's the intangible part," Brennan laughed. "Chemistry. And who knows what that will take. I'm pretty sure I've never really been in love. That's why I haven't been serious about anyone yet." she laughed. "I'm quite the demanding girl."