After The Storm

Noah had been in Pittsburgh for a whole week and so far, everything was running smoothly. She had started her job as a photographer at an established studio, Maxine had finally transferred from New York University to University of Pittsburgh to continue working on her psychology degree and Dakota was attending the Art Institute of Pittsburgh for graphic design. Maxine and Dakota also snagged jobs working at a sports bar a couple of blocks away from their apartment. Everything was going pretty well for three of them.

Noah walked around this kitchen making a quick breakfast when Maxine walked in and joined her.

“Morning Max.” She said, pouring tea into a mug.

“Morning. How are you?” Maxine asked sitting down at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

“I should be asking you that. You’re the one that came home at almost three in the morning.” Noah said sitting across from he best friend with her breakfast.

“I love working at Donnie’s. I really do, but these late hours are going to be the death of me.”

“You love it.” Noah said smirking.

Maxine chuckled and stood up, “I do.” She walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out some orange juice. “So what are your plans for the day?”

“There is some big photo shoot at the studio today and Jimmy wants me to help him with it. That’s pretty much it though.” Noah said sipping on her tea.

“You have the coolest and hottest boss ever. How do you get anything done with him in your face all the time?” Maxine said grabbing an apple and returning to her seat across from Noah.

“I think about his beauty of a wife. She’s so nice that I can’t even think of Jimmy any other way than an awesome boss.”

“That’s true. His wife is too sweet. I mean, she invited us over for dinner the first time she met you, took me to the firm across town when you worked late and helped Dakota and I get that job all in one week. Marie is a saint.” Maxine said seriously as Noah chuckled.

Noah then stood up walked over to the counter and put her dishes in the sink. She grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and turned to Maxine.

“Well, I should get going. I’m going to walk to work so you can have my car today.”

“Alright, let me know if you can meet up for lunch. We still need to check out that Mexican place by my campus.” Maxine said watching Noah walk out of the kitchen.

“Will do. Talk to you later.” Noah said over shoulder as she walked out of the apartment. She walked down the long hallway to the elevator. The doors opened immediately after she pressed button and she stepped on pressing the lobby button.

“Hold the door!”

Noah jumped forward swinging her purse in between the closing doors and looked up into a pair of brown eyes.

“Thanks.” The guy said stepping inside the elevator as the door closed.

“No problem.” Noah replied with a friendly smile.

Noah subtly checked out the guy beside her and came to the conclusion that he looked to be around her age. He was tall, seemed pretty fit and she noticed a tattoo peeking out from under his t-shirt. She looked back down at the ground as she heard him speak.

“Did you just move into apartment 918?” he asked with a strong southern accent.

“Yeah, I did.” Noah answered looking up at the guy.

“I’ve noticed all of the moving guys over the past week. I never saw you though. I wanted to come over and introduce myself but I never had time.” He said turning to face her and sticking out his hand. “I’m Ryan. I live in 917.”

“Across the hall.” Noah said shaking his hand and smiling. “I’m Noah, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.” Ryan said.

They both looked forward when the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Ryan motioned for Noah to walk out first so she did and he followed behind her. They were both walking towards the entrance of the building when he spoke out again.

“So are you from the area?” He said walking up beside her.

“No, actually, I’m from New York City. I moved here with my best friend and brother.”

“Why?” he asked curiously.

Noah sighed and shrugged, “I just needed a change in scenery.”

“I totally understand. That’s why I moved here.” Ryan said.

“Where are you from? I hear a little bit of a southern accent.”

“You mean a lot of a southern accent?” he said making Noah laugh. “That’s the first thing people notice about me. I guess I look like I can fit in here until I open my mouth. I’m from Texas.”

“Texas huh? The change in weather must have been rough for you.” Noah said chuckling.

“Yeah, the first winter was awful but I dealt.” He said as they walked outside.

The two of them stopped as they stepped out into the nice Pittsburgh weather. Ryan looked down at Noah and spoke, “Which way are you headed?”

“This way.” She said pointing to the right of them.

“Me too. Want some company?” He asked.

“Sure.”

Noah and Ryan began walking down the sidewalk, falling into a steady pace among the other people in the busy Pittsburgh streets.

“So what’s got you out and about this fine morning?” Ryan asked.

“Work. I’m a photographer.”

“Very cool. That seems like a fun job.” He said, adjusting his backpack on his shoulders.

“It is fun. I like it.” Noah said happily. “What about you? What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a tattoo artist.”

“Seriously? That’s rad!” Noah said, “And you said my job was cool.”

“It is cool.” He said laughing.

“Yeah, well, your job is way cooler. Tattoos are awesome.” Noah added.

“Do you have any?” Ryan asked.

“Yes, I have three.” Noah said looking over Ryan and noticing his expression that asked for her to explain.

“I have a bow and two crossing arrows on my wrist.” She said holding up her right arm for Ryan to see. “I have a dream catcher on my left side and my last name in Cherokee Indian lettering on my lower back.”

“Story behind those?”

“I really love my Native American heritage. My dad is half Italian and half Cherokee Indian and my mom is Cherokee Indian and so it’s just really important to me. That’s all.” Noah explained.

“Well, that my friend, is pretty damn awesome.” Ryan said with a smirk. “If you ever want another you know who to come to.”

Noah chuckled and nodded at him, “That I do.”

She looked and noticed the studio coming up.

“Well, this is my stop.” Noah said stopping in front of the building. She watched Ryan’s eyes get wide.

“You work for Jimmy?”

“Yeah…do you know him?” Noah asked.

“Yeah. He shoots some of the events my shop has, different concerts and sporting events. The guy is great at his job.” Ryan explained. “Obviously, you must be great too.”

Noah shrugged and answered lightly, “I’m okay, I guess.”

Ryan raised an eyebrow at her, which made her laugh.

“Anyway, again, it was nice meeting you. You should come by later tonight to meet my friend and my brother. Around eight p.m.” Noah suggested.

“That’d be cool.” He said nodding. “I’ll see you then.”

“Later.” Noah replied throwing Ryan a smile before walking in the building.

“Hey Noah. How are you this morning?” The receptionist, Sarah, said with a bright smile.

“Good. How about you?”

“I’m great. It’s a good thing you came early though. The clients are already here. Jimmy probably needs your help right now.” Sarah said.

“Oh, okay then. Thanks Sarah.” Noah said before walking into the main studio.

As soon as Noah walked through the door, she stopped and looked at the amount of people in the room. She saw equipment crewmembers, make-up artists, fashion stylists, and other people she didn’t recognize. She jumped as a hand rested on her shoulder.

“Jumpy, are we?”

She chuckled to herself as she recognized and turned to face her boss.

“You just caught me off guard.” Noah said. “So what’s going on?”

“We’re shooting promo for a hockey team this morning. We have them split up into groups right now. I want you,” Jimmy said lightly grabbing her by the shoulders and moving her to face the right side of the room. “to take care of that group over there.”

Noah studied the group of men. It was six of them and they were standing in a circle. She noticed they were slightly different sizes so she began to think about how she would line them up. She walked over to the tripod and sat her bag down on the ground, pulling out her camera.

“Hey Noah.”

She looked up and saw her co-worker Jaci looking down at her.

“Hey. Has it been this crazy all morning?” She asked connecting her lens to the camera.

“Nope. The craziness started when this team showed up. Some of the employees that are sports fans started freaking out.”

“Why?” Noah asked her new friend curiously.

“Because it’s the Pittsburgh Penguins.” Jaci said.

Noah watched Jaci walk towards the group before looking back down at her camera. Then the statement finally clicked in her head. Her head shot up and she looked towards Jaci to see her walking back with the six men.

“Alright, we have Marc-Andre Fleury, Kris Letang, Jordan Staal, Brooks Orpik, Evgeni Malkin, and Sidney Crosby here. Guys, this is Noah. She’ll be making you all look pretty.” Jaci said with a smirk.

“Pretty?” A voice with a very heavy Russian accent said.

“She means handsome.” Noah said looking at the group. “Because, obviously, you guys are the manliest of men and men are not pretty.”

Noah watched the group of men laugh as Jaci walked up beside her.

“Alright, so how do you want to do this?” The girl asked.

Noah looked at the guys again before speaking.

“Okay, 87 and 71,” Noah said pointing at Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, “since you two are donning the ‘C’ and ‘A’ on your jerseys I’m going to put you in the middle. Can you stand right behind that line on the floor for me, please?”

The two men nodded and walked over to the line, turning to face her.

“Crosby, can I get you on the other side of Malkin?”

He quickly moved to the other side as Noah walked closer to the remaining men. She lightly put her hands on the shoulders of Marc-Andre Fleury and Kris Letang.

“So,” she said looking at Fleury, “who would you rather stand beside?”

Fleury looked over at his two teammates and pulled a thoughtful expression.

“Choose wisely though, you do have to play with them. We don’t need any hurt feelings.” Noah said.

Marc-Andre laughed out loud and looked at Noah. “I like you.”

Noah smiled and spoke, “So who’s it going to be?”

“I’ll pick Crosby.” He said in his French accent. Fleury began walking over to Crosby as Noah turned to the other man at her side.

“Alright, 58 can you handle the big Russian over there?” Noah said nudging Kris Letang.

He laughed lightly and nodded. “I can.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

Jaci motioned for the last two players to come over and they stood in front of them.

“As much as I wish I could put you in front of every one, American boy,” Noah started looking at Brooks Orpik, “I’m sure neither my boss or yours would like that.”

The man laughed loudly and nodded at Jordan. “You here that, Staal? She thinks Americans are better.”

“Oh no, I don’t think, I know Americans are better. You know it too.”

“Damn right!” Brooks said with pride.

“Okay 44, I want you beside 58. 11 you’ll be beside 29.”

Brooks Orpik began to walk away but Jordan Staal walked towards Noah and Jaci.

“You know, you may have a lot of American pride but I think your friend loves Canadians.” He said before laughing loudly at Noah’s dropped jaw. “Oh yeah, I remember.”

Noah shook her head at the familiar smirk on Jordan Staal’s face. He walked away proudly and took his place beside Marc-Andre Fleury. Jaci slowly moved in front of Noah and looked at her.

“So, what was that about?” she asked.

“Nothing.” Jaci stared blankly at Noah, who grabbed her camera in her hands.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s definitely something.” Jaci mumbled walking away to fix the lighting.

Noah looked over at Jordan Staal, who was still smirking at her. She shook her head again and snickered.

I can’t wait to tell Max this.