Kiss Me

I breathed in a shaky breath. "Calm down, Toppin." My friend Chester, said quietly, patting my back, "I'm sure you'll do fine."

Yes, I named my dog after my best friend....it was a joke and by the time I promised Chester I'd change the dog's name, his name already stuck, so Chester it was.

"Chester...." I breathed out quietly, "I don't really want to do this." I told him. After my mother and I finished eating dinner, I called up Chester and told him the news. He lived the exact opposite side of the school from where I lived, across the city, but somehow we became great friends even though he was a senior when I met him, and now he had a job, he was always there for me.

"Yes you do." He said, "Remember, you brought me along so I could make you do it because you said you knew you'd chicken out."

I took in a deep breath as the door to the studio opened. A young girl only maybe a year older than me stepped out of the building, a cigarette in hand.

Once she saw me, she froze. "Toppin?" She asked.

Hesitantly I nodded, not knowing who this woman was.

"It's me, Mellie." She said, and I let out a sigh of relief.

I looked over at Chester for a second, but he was just staring at Mellie like nothing else existed in the world. "Uh...Chester?" I asked slowly, but he made no move.

Mellie was now blushing, and the boy had still not stopped staring. "Chester!" I said, and pushed him.

He stumbled over, then looked up at Mellie as if he'd seen her again for the first time. "I'm Chester." He said, holding out his hand to the girl.

"I know," She said, giggling softly, and I chuckled at the two of them.

"Let's go inside." I said, the hilarity of Chester easing my nerves.

Once I was inside, my eyes widened at the movement. Everyone was going somewhere, doing something.

"Uh....." I said, and Millie laughed.

She grabbed Chester's hand and my own and pulled us through the busy building to a huge room that reminded me of a paint studio. There was a white screen that rolled to the floor, and an adorable boy there, smirking at the camera and holding a paint-splattered umbrella while the rest of his clothing and makeup were all black; he looked like a black and white photo with his pale skin, black hair and dark eyes.

He was so pretty, and it made me self conscious. I tugged at my jacket sleeve quietly, about to turn to ask Millie if this wasn't really some kind of joke, when the boy stopped smirking at the camera to smile as he looked over at me. "You're Toppin, right?" He asked, not moving, but twirling the umbrella he slung over his shoulder.

The camera person kept taking pictures, and the model spoke for him, "He'll be with you in a moment. He doesn't stop a shoot for anything." The boy giggled out, and looked towards the camera, smiling with his eyes squeezed shut before laughing, bending half over.

Then, the camera person stood up and damn, I had to do a double take. I always thought camera men were old men, but this boy was young, very young, maybe Chester's age.

"Hello Toppin." He said, smiling, "Thanks for showing him in Mellie." The girl nodded, and tugged Chester's arm.

"We'll be waiting outside in the hall or lobby." She said, smiling at me, and I nodded.

"Hello." I said quietly to the gorgeousman once they were gone.

"Oh, how rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself, I am known as Griffin, and this is my other model, Necalli." He said, gesturing to the boy, and I nodded, saying hello to them both.

"If you're wondering," Griffin said, "I don't have assistants running through the place like most photographers do because I do my makeup and will be dressing you myself. Too many people gets mixed up messages about what color eye shadow and then it just goes downhill from there, so I fired all my assistants save for Mellie, because I need someone to help me." He said smiling.

Necalli came over and put his arms around my waist. I gulped and he giggled. "He's so shy, I just want to fuck him." The slightly taller boy said to me, causing me to blush.

Griffin chuckled and snapped a picture, startling me. "You'll get used to him." He said, smiling at me.

I nodded, and he looked to the opposite side of the room from where the white screen was, to where there were dressing tables and clothes racks.

Griffin clapped his hands together. "Let's get to work." He said, "I have an idea already."

He walked towards the back, and Necalli looked over at Griffin, "Should I take this makeup off?" He asked, looking at the boy who was flipping through the racks of clothing.

"No...leave it. Toppin, come here." He said, and turned looking me up and down. "Yes, this should work." He continued, and started flinging clothes and accessories at me so fast I couldn't hardly catch them all.

"Once he gets an idea into his head, there's no stopping him," Necalli said, crossing his arms over his chest and looking on with interest to see what Griffin thought up.

"Start putting things on." Griffin told me, going to pick out some makeup as I quickly stripped my clothes off, Necalli helping me slip on a pair of white skinny jeans and a white shirt as well as some white bracelets and a metal studded on white belt.

"Necalli, take off that white shirt and put on this black one." He said, and tossed him a black t-shirt.

Only now did I realize that we were wearing the same exact thing in two different colors. Griffin came towards me with makeup and hairspray, trying to make my hair look perfect. He finished and stepped back, looking at me. "Now we paint him." Griffin said smiling at Necalli who smiled as well.

"What do you mean paint me?" I asked, confused.

Necalli just pointed to the umbrella as the two of them pulled me to a third wall, and I understood where they must have done that painting. They both started spraying colors at me, and laughing, and I started laughing as well.

I spun in circles and jumped up and down, and in a few moments, it was only Necalli spraying me, Griffin grabbing his camera and taking pictures from our epic one-sided battle.

I smiled at the two of them. I could get used to work like this.