I awoke slowly seeing her sleeping body next to mine. How’d we get to this point? Honestly I can’t remember it’s been months of torture for me. Seeing her everyday not being able to just tell her how I felt. Getting knocked squarely in the “friend zone”. But now that’s different. Last night changed everything…
True I’d wanted this since hell, since I saw her again after so long but I chickened out and got shoved into the friend zone against my will. Normally I’m great with women, not to boast here or anything but normally I have no problem talking, flirting, and getting a number or a date. But she was different…something about her, nothing extremely special; then again maybe it was her normalcy that attracted me so much.
The main problem…well it’s hard to explain unless you‘ve seen the whole picture. So, I guess the best place to start is from when I met up with her again.
*********************************************************
“Nick? Nick Carter?” A familiar brunette asked me with a surprised look on her face. Something about her was so …I really couldn’t say but… “My God you grew up! Look at you the boy who broke my older sister’s heart!”
I knew that I recognized her, “She broke up with me, Danica!” I retorted back.
She grinned and my stomach knotted, shit that’s something I haven’t felt in a while. “Yeah I know I had to make sure it was really you. Wow, look at you, you look amazing.”
I grinned impishly as the other three gave me sly smiles. As inconspicuously as possible I rolled my eyes at their looks. “Dani and I go way back, I dated her sister for like a month in like the 9th grade.”
“Yeah and she broke up with him because he was ‘never around’ and didn’t go to school because he was with you guys.” She explained with a pleasant grin.
I shifted my weight a little from one leg to the other feeling a little uneasy, was it wrong to be attracted to a girl when I had dated her sister in what seems like a lifetime ago? Hell I didn’t even get to second base with her sister Abby. “So how is Abby?”
I watched her face go dark for a moment watching all the happiness drain from her face.
“Abby died in 2004…” She said lowly. I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach, died? At 24?
“Why? What from?” I found myself asking.
“After high school, she got pregnant and had a kid, my niece, Raelynn, and to make ends meet she joined the Army. In 2003 she was called away from Fort Bragg and sent into combat in Iraq. She was killed by an RPG attack on her squad’s Hum-vee and she died in July of 2004.”
My jaw went loose and I couldn’t believe it, Abby, one of the nicest girls I’d ever known died in a war. Hearing all the other words of condolences from the others I snapped out of it and offered mine, “My god I’m so sorry.”
Dani held up her hand and shook her head, “Don’t please it’s bad enough with my parents.”
I nodded but didn’t really understand it, “So where’s Raelynn’s father?”
“Ha, good question he took off when he knocked Abby up.”
That statement alone made my heart twinge in pain a little. Why on earth am I even really caring about this? I mean call me an asshole but besides empathizing with Dani why do I feel connected to her somehow?
“Anyways Andre said he informed you guys about the tour right?” Dani asked trying to change the subject and get right down to business. I really couldn’t blame her, being through all of that and she was all of 25 years old? Granted people go through worse but to lose a sister, hell I’d die if I lost one of mine as much as they infuriate me sometimes.
Howie spoke up just then, “Yeah he explained that you’re his protégé and he’s having you be our official photographer…for a while.”
She grinned slightly, “Yep, it’ll be fun and relatively painless I’m pretty easy to work with photography wise. Mainly this is to help me build up my portfolio and hell traveling around the world with a band for 4 months at a time ain’t too shabby.” She remarked casting a little brighter grin in my direction.
Now I’m not the best at reading signals but was that meant for me to see? Maybe I’m just being stupid…then again…I watch her walk over to her equipment and crouch down to look in one of the large cases and damn…that ass…call me a misogynist or whatever but you can’t help but look when it’s put THAT blatantly in front of you.
I divert my attention as she stands back up slinging a rather impressive camera over her shoulder.
“Is that the Mark II?” AJ asked seeing his eyes light up like a little kid in a candy store.
“Yep, It’s really only good when you’re shooting large format stuff that’s going to go on little teenies walls and be drooled over and worshipped counts right?” She joked chuckling at her own joke.
I couldn’t help but snicker at it, “So we’re doing some shots today?”
“Yep, and I’m actually going to have you guys change into regular clothes that are comfy instead of dressy outfits. That and I get to know my subjects easier by taking their photographs when they’re comfortable. So what we’ll do is just have you guys go and sit on the couches once you’ve changed and just sit and talk.” She explained as she heard the phone ring. She rolled her eyes and sighed, “Go ahead and change and I’ll be right back.”
Silently I watched her walk out of the room answering her cell phone getting a concerned look on her face.
“So…do you know like every chick in the Continental US?” AJ asked with a smirk.
Ladies and Gentlemen I present the stupendous comedy of the one and only Alexander James…
“No, just I grew up with Abby, in Tampa and her sister was well a dork but wow did she grow up.”
“So you like her?” Brian asked with a cheeky grin on his face as we changed.
I rolled my eyes at him, always trying to get me into a relationship, hoping and praying that it would be my last. Maybe it was because he wanted me to be happy like he is with Leighanne, or maybe he didn’t want me to be the last one standing. Whatever it is, it fucking gets on my nerves. “I haven’t even thought about that.”
“Well she is going to be around us 24/7 now… With promotion, release of the album, then the tour after the holidays? Maybe it’s not a good thing to think about.” Howie reasoned. “You know with your track record…”
I snorted, “Funny, but no I don’t know she’s cute... That’s about all I can say.”
**********************************************************
Okay she’s more than cute; she’s an amazing photographer. A really hot photographer at that. She sat on the floor between the couches and just let us talk, rip on each other, just pretty much hang out which doesn’t happen all that much. And she got some amazing photos from it.
We’d all been sitting around her computer screen as she did a quick crop and light adjustment on all the photos. But over time our numbers dwindled leaving just her and I there mulling over each one.
“I love this one.” She spoke excitedly as she pulled up a picture of Brian and myself. We were laughing quite hard at a joke Howie had told. But now with the joke forgotten it turned into an awesome picture.
“It’s not really that hard. I set up the situation of you guys just sitting on your asses and talking to each other. You four made these pictures I just happened to be quick enough to capture them.” She said sliding her chair over a little as her knee unconsciously brushed mine. She didn’t pull back right away which gave me a pretty good idea that she may very well be flirting with me.
“So…” I began moving in closer looking her over as she still maintained her focus on the screen. “I was thinking maybe we should you know, go out sometime.”
Dani turned and looked at me with a question in her brown eyes. “I’m free for lunch tomorrow.”
I grinned happy to get a response from her, true it wasn’t a conventional “date” but it still applied, I asked and she accepted right? “Great like a day date or something.” I knew from experience day dates were a one-way trip to the friend’s zone but maybe this time it would be different?
Author's Chapter Notes:
OKAY I know I should NOT be starting a new story but this idea has been in my head for AGES and I had to get it out and well it came out pretty well so I figured I'd post it and see what ya'll thought. Anyways as always R&R!
