If you haven't read any of the Ted's Dolls stories before, you should read Ted's Dolls 1: Jane before reading this one. This story follows Jane and her mysterious Renter, Cooper. This story continues from Ted's Dolls 4: Emily 2 and Ted's Dolls 7: Jane and Emily.

It was quarter to six o'clock when Emily returned to her dorm room. She slowly opened the door and dropped her book bag not far from the door.

Jane was reading a book on the sofa and said, “Still bummed.”

“Yeah, Ted said Earl and Rhana weren't renting a doll last night and I didn't go over to Ted's like I usually do on Thursdays.”

“And you're still bummed? Do we need to start a geeky RPG to cheer you up?”

Emily pouted. “It's not geeky. They really connect with that game and it certainly spiced up their love life.”

“And you miss it.”

“Yeah, I miss it. I really didn't expect to find being a spectator of such a game to be so compelling,” Emily said. She sat down and noticed what Jane was wearing. “That dress. You're going to Cooper's again.”

“Yeah, I did my mannequin gig last week. But I can't deny that the money isn't a lure to do whatever it is Cooper's doing with doll me.”

“So it's not longer creepy.”

“C'mon, it's creepy as fuck. But I still haven't figured out how it might be harming me.”

“As long as you're safe, it should be alright.”

Jane's phone beeped.

“It's Ted. He's downstairs.”

“Go down there and do nothing. Own it.”

“Ha ha.”

Ted's car was idling by the front of the dorm. Jane got in and he drove away.

“I was surprised when you called me to tell Cooper you would be available tonight,” Ted said.

“Only half as surprised as I was.”

“You don't have to do this.”

“As I was telling Emily, what's the harm?”

“None that I see, though you do miss out on being a mannequin that you love.”

“True. But this pays better,” she said. After a pause, she said, “If there's nothing else to talk about, you may as well hit me now.”

“Okay. 3... 2... 1...”

* * *

The car parked in the driveway attached to Renter's house. Owner got the doll out of the car and stood the doll up before carrying it to the porch. He rang the doorbell. Shortly, Renter opened the door.

“Ted, could you stop back early tomorrow? Say, around five o'clock?”

“I should be able to. I'll call if I can't.”

“That would be great. Take care.”

Owner walked away. Renter picked up the doll and carried it inside. “You didn't have to wear that dress,” he said. “It was yours to keep. Still is. Let me just sit you down here on the sofa. Did you have fun at your mannequin job last week? I wasn't able to go see you there.”

Renter left the room for a while before returning with a bowl of popcorn. “Tonight is the sequel, Mannequin 2: On The Move. It's not nearly as good as the first one. But still fun.” The doll had almost forgotten about the movie two Fridays ago, so focused it had been on the photography session that Saturday.

When the movie was over, Renter said, “Sometimes I forget how bad that movie is. But the idea of a necklace like that is intriguing. Sure would save Ted some trouble if you had one.” As he spoke, he brought a laptop over to the sofa. “Here are the photos from last time,” he said. The doll watched as a slide show played on the laptop. The doll was surprised how life-like it looked in the photos. If it had not known it had been a doll when the photos were taken it would have sworn that Jane had posed for the photos. The other thing the doll noticed was how good the photos looked. They were very professional looking. Some looked like they could be found on any fashion website for the sale of the outfit. And some looked like they could be hung in an art gallery.

Renter commented on only a few of the photos, remaining silent and letting most of them speak for themselves. When the slide show was done, and as there had been well over one hundred photos, it did take a while, he said, “Well, it's my bedtime. I'm going to bring you upstairs and tuck you in.”

He straightened the doll up into a standing position before going upstairs. In the bedroom, he removed the dress the doll was wearing and hung it up on a rack that contained clothes the doll recognized from the slide show it had just viewed. He lay the doll on the bed and turned out the lights. “Good night.”

Once again the doll was reminded at how slowly time passed when you were not distracted by something. Morning could not arrive soon enough.

Before dawn, once again, they were on the road. This time they drove to a different bluff and waited for golden hour to begin. The day was similar to the last Saturday the doll had spent with Renter. They traveled to several locations where they took photos of the doll wearing over a dozen different outfits. One location was beside a pool and the doll was glad that it was not alive standing next to a pool in several bikinis for over an hour in late October.

Soon Renter packed up the car and returned to his home. He brought doll to his second bedroom where there were several racks of clothes. He left the doll standing nearby as he started putting the clothes into a garment bag. As he did so he spoke to the doll or asked the doll questions as if he knew how she would respond. “Did you like this one?” “I don't think this one flattered very much.” “This is just the wrong color for your complexion.” “You rocked this one.” When he made a negative comment, he did not put the garment in the bag, setting them aside on another rack.

The doorbell rang and he took out his phone and looked at it. Presumably he had one of those doorbell cameras. He tapped the phone and said, “Mark, can you wait a minute? I'm upstairs. Be down in two shakes.”

A man's voice from outside responded, “Sure, take your time.”

Renter closed the bag and carried it out of the room. He returned and carried the doll downstairs. He set it down in the center of the living room before opening the door.

“Cooper, great to see you again,” said Mark as they shook hands and then embraced. He was a decade or more older than Cooper. “Is that her?”

“Yes.”

“She's really a doll? How is that?” Mark stepped closer to her, walking around her to see her from all sides. He looked like he wanted to touch her but was refraining from doing so.

“I have no idea. You'll have to ask Ted when he gets here.”

“And she can hear us?”

“And see us.”

“She's wearing the white shift dress. Very nice. It looks great on her. All the clothes do.”

“She's a natural.”

“I can see what you mean. The camera must love her.”

“See for yourself,” Cooper said getting out his laptop and showing Mark the pics.

Mark picked from a tiled view of the images. As he moved from pic to pic he nodded or said something like “Nice,” or “great shot.” A few of them he said something like, “You should include this in your next show.”

As they talked about the photos. The doorbell rang again. Cooper opened the door.

“You said to come by around five,” Ted said.

“I did. Come in. Ted, this is Mark. He's a talent scout for Visual Talent Associates. They're an agency for fashion models.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Pleasure's mine. We want to represent your model.”

“You want to what?”

Mark looked at Cooper in confusion.

“I didn't tell Ted you would be here and he hasn't seen the photos.”

“Well, show them to him,” Mark said. “As I understand it, this life-sized doll is actually a real person. Well, I think she could be a top fashion model if she wanted.”

“Yes, the doll is real but I don't have its permission to restore it in front of either of you. So if you wanted to speak to it, you would need to set up a time when the doll is human.”

“I am only in town today. I was hoping to give her some papers now and hopefully she signs them and mails them back to my Monday.”

Ted was shown the tile view of the pictures. Mark and Cooper selected a few of the pictures to show to Ted.”

“I'm no expert. But those photos do look amazing,” Ted said. “I'll take the doll to my car and restore it. If Jane wants to talk to you, Jane can come back into Cooper's home.”

“That works for me.”

“I'll carry the bag out to your car.”

“What's in the bag?”

“The clothes from her photo shoots,” Cooper said. “I have no further use for them.”

Ted carried the doll to the car and bent it into a seated position so it could sit in the passenger seat. He started the restoration as soon as the doll was seated. Cooper carried the bag out and set it down next to the car door. He returned to the apartment.

Ted carried the bag around to the driver's side and handed it to Emily hiding in the back seat.

“What took so long?” She said.

“There's an agent from a modeling agency in there. He's interested in representing Jane as a fashion model.”

“Get out.”

“It's true. Cooper is such a great photographer you can't tell she was a doll in the photos he took.”

“I still don't believe it.”

“Well, we'll see what Jane says when she's herself again.”

Momentarily, Jane said, “What do I do?”

“Talk to them,” Emily said.

“Exactly, it can't hurt to hear what they have to say.”

“Oh, Hi, Em. I don't know. I'm not pretty enough to be a model.”

“Seriously?” Emily said. “You are painfully beautiful sometimes. Right, Ted?”

“Objectively, yes.”

“What should I do?”

“Go back in there. Sign nothing. Listen to what they say. Sign nothing,” Ted said.

“Do you want me to go in with you?” Emily said.

“Would you?”

“C'mon.” Emily opened the side door and got out.

Jane followed her and they walked to the door.

Cooper opened the door as they approached. “Hi, I'm Cooper. I don't think we've been properly introduced. Who's your friend?”

“Hi, I'm Emily.” She shook his hand.

“You know who I am,” Jane said nervously. She also shook his hand.

Inside, Cooper said, “This is Mark. He works for Visual Talent Associates.”

“Jane, It's wonderful to meet you,” he said said offering his hand. “And I think I heard you're name is Emily.”

“Hi.”

“Jane, I want to get to the point. I know you know what I'm about to say since you heard Cooper and I talking. But I feel I should still tell you and I can get your friend up to speed.

“VTA, Visual Talent Associates, is a talent agency for models. We book gigs for our clients, provide promotional materials for our clients, and seek out endorsement deals for our clients. We can be as hands on or hands off as you like. Cooper has scouted several of clients and brought them to our attention. The photographs he's taken show that the camera loves you. We'd like you to consider being represented by us for any modeling you might do.”

“But I'm not a model.”

“You are a model. Cooper paid you for your two days of modeling as I understand it.”

“He did do that,” Emily said.

“You don't have to agree to anything today. I have here our standard contract. Be sure to read it yourself. I also have here a check for five hundred dollars with no strings attached. You can use it to hire a lawyer to advise you about the contract. Be sure that the lawyer has experience in contracts at a minimum. Lawyers specializing in entertainment contracts cost more but are probably a good investment. Remember everything is negotiable.”

“What about school?”

“What about it? You can work as a model part-time, full-time, seasonally. It's up to you. We get paid as a percentage of the work we send your way. So if you aren't working, it costs nothing for us to be your agent.”

“I think this is a lot to think about,” Emily said. “We should go and get in touch with you after Jane has had the time to digest this all.”

“Of course. This isn't a high pressure sell. If you decide not to sign in the next few days, you are free to call me next month or a year from now and I'm sure I'd be happy to send you a new contract packet for you to sign or not sign.”

“Okay. Let's go,” Jane said.

“It was a pleasure meeting you,” Mark said and shook her hand.

“I hope you enjoyed our time together,” Cooper said.

“I did. Thanks for scouting me, I guess.”

“No problem.”