French Vanilla

A gentle breeze graced my cheek causing me to shiver. I yawned and stretched my hands above my head, finally opening my eyes when I heard a light chuckle.

"Mornin' Skylah."

I grinned cheekily at him and rubbed my eyes. "Morning Tom-Tom. Why are you up so early?"

He shrugged and started clicking away on his laptop. "I woke up to Olleh yellin' so I decided to edit some of the pictahs from yestahday."

"Can I see?" He nodded and I wrapped his blanket from the bed around my body and went and plopped down to Tom's make-shift futon bed. I leaned on his shoulder and looked at the screen.

"Some of yeh pictahs are bettah than the ones I took. I was propa impressed when I was goin' through them earlier."

I smiled and yawned again, closing my eyes. "Why is it so freaking cold in your room?"

"Because yeh in England and wintah is approaching. It's goin' teh be realleh cold soon." I nodded and snuggled into his arm. He put his laptop down on the floor and lifted his blanket so I could cuddle underneath it. I closed my eyes again and took a deep breath.

"God damn! I can't believe yeh would do this teh me!" Oli yelled in the hallway. I cringed and Tom looked over to the shut door. "Yeh fuckin' mental! Yeh realleh screwed me on this one!" I looked up from leaning on Tom and looked at the door too, almost expecting to see Oli through it. "Well I can't do that now fanks teh yeh! Do yeh even know how much I'm goin' teh lose on this? Yea, fuck yeh too!" The hallway grew silent for a moment before Oli yelled 'fuck!'

I got up and wrapped one of the blankets tightly around my shoulders. I followed Tom out of his door and into the empty hallway. Tom walked over to Oli's door and creaked it open. "Everyfing alrigh'?"

"No!" I heard Oli groan. I peaked my way into the door, gently pushing it open more.

"What's wrong?"

He sighed and flopped onto the bed. I leaned against the doorframe with Tom waiting for an answer. "Fucking Amanda."

"What'd she do this time?" Tom asked.

"She bloodeh called this mornin', two hours befo' the photo shoot sayin' she was done wiff meh and Drop Dead and cancelled everyfing! This shoot is so important. I already 'ad to drop a shi' load of moneh on the photographer along wiff all the bloodeh assistants and all the extra people she always insists on 'aving around and renting off the location for the day. We're goin' teh 'ave teh reschedule everyfing."

Tom sighed next to me. "Bloodeh bitch juss cost yeh tons, didn't she?"

Oli only nodded and rubbed his face. A beeping sound came from his dresser. Oli looked at the screen and groaned again. "'Ello? No this isn't bloodeh my fault! Amanda did all of this! No- don't go blaming this-" He sighed and rubbed his face again. "Alrigh'- yea. Talk to yeh again Mike. Bye." He hung up and flopped back down onto the bed.

"Wha' 'appened?"

"The photographer called and said tha' 'e couldn't do it anymore. Amanda called and bitched teh 'im and 'e took 'er side."

"Yeh 'aving a real brill day, aren't yeh?"

"Sod off Tommeh," he mumbled.

"Hey, I have an idea," I chimed in, causing both brothers to look in my direction. I clutched the blanket tighter around my body. "Well, why don't I fill in for Amanda and Tom shoots?"

Tom's eyebrows furrowed and Oli's eyebrows raised. "Yeh not even experienced in that type of shoot."

"Well I can try right? What's the worst that can happen? You're losing money anyway. We can try."

Oli sat up and glanced at Tom's before looking back to me. "Yeh'd be shootin' topless wiff me."

I bit my lower lip, a light pink covering my cheeks. I certainly didn't want Oli to lose the money, and this was my job now. I had an obligation to offer, right? I'd be half naked though, and that couldn't embarrass me more. I looked back up to Oli and smiled lightly. "Well it's my job, right? I didn't just come to England to gallivant with English boys."

Oli grinned and jumped off of his bed. "Fanks so much Skylah!" He grabbed me into a bear hug, causing the blanket to fall to my feet.

"Cold! Cold! Cold!" I yelled. Oli laughed and picked up the blanket, wrapping it around my body again.

"Alrigh', go get readeh. We leave in ten minutes."

Tom and I left the room and went back into his. "Tommy, can I have a sweater?" He nodded and tossed one to me before going to rummage through his closet for clothes to wear. "Thank you." He only nodded, pulling clothes off of the hangers. My eyebrows furrowed. "Are you mad at me?"

He briskly turned around with a sympathetic look on his face. "Why would I be mad at yeh?"

"Cause we were supposed to... ya know... hang out today." I spoke, avoiding the word 'date' at all costs. The idea still sent shivers up my spine and a light pink blush to cover my cheeks.

He shrugged and went back to picking up his clothes. "It's not yeh fault Amanda is a spiteful bitch. We'll go tomorrah." I nodded and slipped the sweater over my head. I grabbed my beaten up Chuck Taylors and threw them on.

Tom looked at me, a small smile tugging on his lips. "Yeh look propa brill in my clothes."

A smile grew on my face and I bit my lip, looking down.

He chuckled, "I can't believe I said that. I sound like a propa softy."

When I looked up, Tom's cheeks were a light pink too. "You are a softy," I spoke, taking a few steps towards him.

"I know. Onleh fo' yeh though."

I closed the distance between us even more, leaving only a foot of space between our bodies. "Why is that?" I whispered breathlessly, being taken in by his eyes.

"I don't know," he mumbled, staring into mine. His hand made its way up and moved a few purple strands away from my face. He placed his hand on my cheek and stroked it gently.

"Why is your hand shaking?" I murmured.

"Yeh juss do tha' teh me." We both started leaning in, our eyes closing, the foot between us growing smaller...

"Are yeh two readeh?" Oli asked, standing in the doorway. We opened our eyes. His face was beat red and I could feel my own flesh flush with embarrassment.

"Uh... yea." He nodded to his brother and followed him out of his room.

Breath. Just fucking breath, I kept reminding myself, following them out to Oli's car.

The ride to the location took around forty minutes, and I ended up sleeping most of the way. We were at beach with various cliffs and mountains in the surrounding area. It was utterly breathtaking.

"'Ere yeh go Mistah Sykes and Mistah Sykes!" Janette handed Oli and Tom their coffees. "Whatcha doin' 'ere love?"

"She's fillin' in fo' Amanda today." Oli spoke, sipping his coffee.

"Sorreh love. If I knew that, I would of gotten yeh a coffeh too."

"It's alright."

"Come on, love. We 'ave teh get yeh dressed and readeh fo' Mistah Sykes." She spoke, heading towards a van where I assumed wardrobe and makeup was being done.

Tom grabbed my hand and I looked up at him. "Take my coffeh. I don't need it right yet. Yeh need it more than I do." He slipped the cup into my hand and waved me off.

"Thank you Tommy!" I yelled back to him.

Stepping into the van, I took a sip of the French Vanilla. It certainly calmed my nerves. This only my second shoot, and I was posing half naked with Oli. Not only did this weird me out, but I was embarrassed to no end.

I sat on a chair and the makeup artist began to cover my face in products.

"Not too much, Stacey. She's got teh look natural." I looked over to the doorway to see Oli. He went to the back of the van. Oli came out just as my makeup was done. He sat down to get his hair straightened and I went in the back to get dressed, sort of.

They handed me a pair of pants with purple stitching and a towel. I slid the jeans on and used to towel to cover up the upper half of the body. I maneuvered my way around all the people in the van and stepped outside.

Tom was facing away from me focusing on Oli who was posing shirtless on a set of huge boulders with the ocean as a backdrop. It was breathtaking to say the least. His eyes met mine and a grin hit his face. Tom turned around and looked at me as well causing me to become even more self conscious than before. I tugged closer at the towel that was hanging over my shoulders and stepped towards the Sykes brothers.

"Come on over to me, love. We 'ave teh make use of this light. Tommeh says it's perfect right now." I nodded and headed over to Oli while clutching on the towel. He wrapped one arm around my waist and spoke gently to me. "Don't worry. I'll be coverin' yeh from the camera. Juss trust me, yea?"

"I trust you." He nodded and laid his other arm protectively across my chest. I dropped the towel to the ground and Janette came and retrieved it before scurrying behind Tom. I took a deep breath causing Oli's arm to raise and fall.

"Relax, it's juss Tommeh." He whispered. That was the problem. It was Tom. I looked over to Tom and he smiled, bringing the Camera up to his eyes.

I tried my best to blank everything out, but of course that didn't entirely work. Oli leaned his body into mine and maneuvered around myself. I followed his movements making sure I was covered from Tom at least.

Oli stepped closer to me again, pulling me into his chest, his lips near my ear. This is for a photo shoot kept repeating in my head, although it didn't calm me down as much as I would have liked.

Tom pulled his camera from his face and looked at it, examining a few of the pictures. When his eyes looked up again, his face looked hurt, like he was in pain.

"Oli," I whispered. "Tom looks upset."

His eyes squinted over to his brother. Their eyes connected and after a few moments, Oli sighed. I guess they had another conversation I didn't get. It must be a sibling thing. "Aye Tommeh! Did yeh get the pictah yeh wanted yet?" Oli yelled over.

Tom looked down at his camera once more and nodded. "Yeh I fink so."

"Janette, can yeh get the towel?" Oli called over to her, his arms still tight across my chest. She came running over with it and laid it across my shoulders. "Fanks doll." His arm dropped and he headed over to the van.

"Hey Tommy," I smiled shyly. "How did the pics come out?"

"Good," he muttered, staring into his camera.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine," he mumbled.

My brows furrows and I walked passed him to the van. Oli came out just as I was going through the door fully dressed. "Good job today," he smiled.

"Thanks Oli-bear."

He chuckled and walked over to his brother. I went and quickly changed into my regular clothes, finally feeling secure in a shirt again.

"Yeh fuckin' mental!" I heard coming from the outside of the bus.

"What is going on?" I mumbled, peaking out the window. The two brothers looked as though they were about to murder each other. "Hey! Hey! Break it up!" I yelled, running over to them.

"I didn't do nuffin!" Oli yelled at the younger Sykes, getting into his face.

"Stop it!" I yelled, squeezing myself in between them, trying to push them apart.

"Yea? Do nuffin? That's not what it looked like!" Tom yelled back.

"Yeh fuckin' mental!" Oli repeated, pushing into me to get to his brother.

"Yeh were about to fuckin'-"

"No I wasn't! It was for the-"

"Yeh took it too far!"

"Yeh juss jealous that I cou-"

"Shut up!" I yelled, pushing them both as hard as I could. "I don't know what the fuck you two are fighting over, but I don't want to hear it! I just stood half naked in the middle of the freaking cold wind having someone feel me up!" The two brothers stared at me wide eyed as I continued. "Now all I want is some fucking coffee and to spend my night with Tom trying to forget that I was touched by his brother. No offense Oliver."

Oli smiled, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's alrigh' love. Yeh did good modelin' today. No offense taken. Fanks so much for 'elping me out."

"No problem, Oli. Now," I looked over at Tom, "are your big boy pants on and you're over whatever it was that you two are fighting about? I just want to go hide under the warmth of your blankets before I lose feeling in the rest of my fingers and toes."

Surprisingly, Tom stepped forward and pulled me into a hug. "I'm sorreh fo' fightin' in front of yeh today. Mean it. Didn't want yeh to see that. Let's get yeh all warmed up, yea?"

I nodded into his chest, taking in all of his warmth. "My nose is going to fall off."

He chuckled, "we don't want that teh 'appen." He shrugged off the coat he was wearing and wrapped it around my body, pulling me into another hug. "Let's go back to my house. Get you all warmed up."

I nodded into his chest again before letting him grab my hand and pull me towards the cars.