Ten things to do before I die

Walking around London was confusing. I was looking for a coffee shop where I was supposed to be meeting a photographer. I tried asking a few people, but when they realized I was American they brushed me off. Rude, right?

Finally after losing all of my patience I walked into a small shop. There was a guy standing behind the counter, looking down at his phone.

“Excuse me,” I said, making him look up at me. “I’m looking for this coffee shop, I’m a little lost.” I handed him the address

He stifled a small laugh. “How did you end up here?”

“A taxi driver, who seems to know London as well as I do.”

He laughed again. “Yeah, this is about a twenty minute drive from here, love.”

I let out a sigh and took the paper back from him. “Great, now I’m going to miss her all together.”

“Meeting a friend?”

I shook my head. “A photographer. She’s supposed to do head shots for me for a modeling agency.”

“Really? Well it’s your lucky day. I’m a photographer.”

“Is that so?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I do all the shots for this company.” He pointed to a monitor in the corner. “Did all those.”

“So what are you saying? You’ll do my head shots?”

“That is exactly what I’m saying. And I won’t charge you a ridiculous amount of money either.”

“Okay, so what un-ridiculous amount of money are you going to charge me?”

He pulled out his phone. “Let me do the math. Taking the short notice, the film, the studio, the time…” he typed in a few more numbers. “It will cost you nothing.”

I gave him a skeptical look. “Nothing? Seems shady.”

“Shady? Not at all. I think that’s a great deal. And I can do it here.”

“Your boss won’t mind if you have a photoshoot during business hours?”

He shrugged. “Considering my boss is my brother, I don’t think he would mind.”

“And what about your brothers boss?”

“He is the boss. This is his clothing line. But, if it makes you feel better I’ll call him and make sure he doesn’t mind.”

I laughed. “Okay.”

He dialed his brothers number and waited for him to pick up. “Hey, yeah, I have a girl here who needs head shots done, and she’s worried you’ll get mad if I do it at the shop.” He listened to his brother for a minute. “No, we’re not busy at all. No one is in here.” The boy laughed at something his brother said. “She’s extremely fit.” He laughed again. “Okay, I’ll see you soon then.”

After hanging up he smiled at me. “It’s fine. He said he’s coming down to the shop.”

I rolled my eyes. “Did he need to know how ‘fit’ I am.” I said using air quotes.

He simply shrugged. “He asked.”

“This should be interesting.” I mumbled.

“It’ll be fun.” He said as he moved out from behind the counter towards the door. He flipped the open sign to closed and locked the door.

“Isn’t your brother coming?”

“He is. He’ll come in through the back door.”

“Ah, he’s too good for the front door?”

The guy laughed. “I guess so. Come on, we’ll wait for Oli in the back. If anyone sees I’m in here and the closed sign is up they’ll have a fit.”

We started walking towards the back of the shop when he suddenly stopped. “What’s your name?”

“Emma.”

“Can’t believe I didn’t ask you that yet. I’m Tom.”

“Nice to meet you, Tom.”

He flashed his perfect smile at me. “You too.”

“Oi, Tom, where are ya!” Someone yelled from the back room.

“I’m coming!” He yelled back. “The boss is here.”

We walked into the back room where a tall guy covered in tattoos was waiting for us.

“Hello, I’m Oliver. Are you the bird who needs the head shots?”

I nodded sheepishly. “Yes. I’m Emma.”

“Right, well, who do you need head shots for?”

“My agent. She’s trying to get me a contract so I can get a steady job.”

“I can give you a job right now.” Oli said with a smirk. Tom shot him a confused look.

“You can?”

Oliver nodded at his brother. “Yeah, we need new models for the summer line. And she is propa fit.”

I sighed. “Can you quit saying that?”

Oliver and Tom both laughed. “It’s a compliment, love.”

“No, I know, but it’s weird.”

Tom gave me a confused look. “Why? You’re beautiful. I’m sure you’ve heard it before. You are a model afterall.”

I simply shrugged. “Yeah.”

“Well let’s get started, yeah?” Oli said with a grin.

After about an hour of Tom taking pictures of me, some even in some of the new Drop Dead line that Oli wanted to use on their site, we were done.

Oli left after we finished, leaving Tom and I alone to look at the pictures.

“They look awesome.”

“Well it’s easy to take good pictures of such a beautiful girl.”

I looked down trying to hide the blush in my cheeks. Tom chuckeld at my reaction and pushed my chin up softy.

“Not good at taking compliments are you?”

I shrugged, not knowing what to say. “I guess not.”

“How long are you in town for?” Tom asked out of the blue.

“I love here. Obviously I haven’t lived here that long.”

Tom looked down at his computer for a second before speaking again. “How about I take you out tonight? We can get some dinner, maybe show you around a bit?”

I thought about it for a second, even though I already knew my answer. I couldn’t seem too eager now could I? “I’d like that.”

“Good. I can pick you up at eight?”

“Sounds good.”

Before leaving the shop I gave Tom my address, and he hailed me a cab. Tom kissed my cheek softly before I got into my cab. Needles to say I had a huge smile on my face the whole way home.

When I got home I took a quick nap before getting ready for my date with Tom. I went through just about everything in my closet three times before finally choosing a casual dress and a pair of ballet flats.

I decided on curling my hair. I hadn’t done much with it lately, and I missed having my hair done. After being bald from chemo for months, it was nice having a full head of hear again. After I was content with my hair I did my make up. Just as I put on my lip-gloss my doorbell rang, making butterflies erupt in my stomach.

“Hello beautiful.” Tom said with a smile when I opened the door.