Hope for Better Weather

“Ok guys, we’re done. Thanks,” I said as I looked through the viewfinder of my camera, satisfied with the shots I’d gotten over the course of the afternoon.

“Awesome. Thanks so much for doing this for us, Clark. We really appreciate it,” Sean smiled at me.

I’d spent most of the day having a photo shoot with the boys of This Century. They needed new pictures for a promotional thing they were doing and had to have them done on short notice. Thankfully, I was just working on finishing up the transition from Dirk moving out to California so I was able to drop everything and take pictures for the boys. Truthfully, even if I’d had a lot of things to do I would have dropped them for the boys of TC because they were some of my favorites to work with – they were always so sweet and thankful for everything I did for them.

“Of course. Although this is my job so I kind of have to do it,” I joked.

“Yeah, but we let you know on short notice,” Ryan piped up.

“Well you guys are some of my favorites so your wish is my command.”

“This is why we love you, Clark,” Alex said.

“I appreciate the flattery, boys, but there’s no need to compliment me since I already took the pictures for you.”

“Good point,” Ryan smirked. “Clark, we hate you and think you’re terrible at taking pictures.”

“Oh really?” I asked as I raised my eyebrows. “Well I guess I can just delete the pictures then.”

The four boys crowded around me to look at the picture displayed on the screen.

“Don’t listen to Ryan,” Joel quickly said.

“Yeah, I was wrong. These are great,” Ryan agreed.

“That’s what I thought,” I smirked.

The boys stayed around joking and laughing with me as I packed everything up. Once I was done Alex, Sean, and Ryan headed back to their cars but Joel stayed behind.

“So, how are you doing?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, feigning nonchalance.

Joel rolled his eyes. “Clark, I know Phoenix is a big city but nothing stays a secret at 8123. I heard about how John ended your fake relationship when he decided to get back with Laci. I also may have heard there we some feelings developed even though the relationship was fake.”

“Everyone has such big mouths around here,” I muttered.

“That’s true,” Joel smiled before becoming serious once again. “But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re hurting.”

“I’m fine Joel, I promise. I mean why would I expect John to choose me over some girl that he has history with?”

“Maybe because you’re not a bitch? I’ve never met Laci but I’ve heard enough stories about her to know that she’s not nice.”

I didn’t want to be rude but I was tired of the conversation – basically I was tired of everyone bringing up the subject of John and having to talk about him when the pain was still so fresh – so I changed the subject.

“I’m going to head back to the office and start editing some of these. If you guys want to grab some lunch or something and then swing by in about an hour or so I can show you some of the finished photos.”

Joel, being too nice to push me past my limits, accepted my subject change. “Sounds great. Do you want us to pick you anything up while we’re out?”

“I have lunch back at the office but thanks.”

I got in my car and headed back to the office. Taking pictures of This Century reminded me that eventually I’d have to take pictures of The Maine again. I had no clue how I’d handle that when the time came but there was no way I couldn’t do it. They’d been Dirk’s clients since the very beginning and I wasn’t going to ruin that because of my stupid emotions.

The ringtone of my phone jolted me out of my thoughts. I looked down and saw Henley’s name flash across the screen.

“Hey Hen. What’s up?”

“Where are you?” Henley asked immediately instead of saying hi.

“I just got done shooting This Century.”

“Ok well…wait. You shot them?! Clark, have you gone psycho?”

I laughed as I realized Henley misunderstood the meaning behind my words. “I didn’t shoot them with a gun, Henley. They needed some press pictures done so we had a photo shoot.”

“Oh my gosh, that’s a relief. I was trying to think of ways we could hide this from the police. There’s no way I could let my best friend go to jail even if she did shoot four boys from one of the biggest bands in Phoenix.”

“Way to be dramatic,” I chuckled as I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, what did you need?”

“I need to talk to you about something. Are you going to be back at your office soon?”

“Yep, I’m driving back now so I should be there in about 10 minutes.”

“Ok, great. I’m at Tim’s office but I’ll drive over and meet you. See you soon.”

I hung up and wondered what Henley needed to talk to me about. It sounded important which worried me.

I got back to the office and had barely sat down at my computer when Henley came running in.

“So, I did something bad. You have to promise not to get mad at me though when I tell you,” Henley quickly said.

“What did you do?” I nervously asked.

“You have to promise,” Henley started but I cut her off.

“Henley, just tell me.”

“Ok,” Henley sighed. “Please don’t hate me…John found out about the blowout you had with your mom and sister on Christmas.”

“What?! Why would you tell him?”

“I didn’t mean to. Actually, I didn’t. Tim did. I told Tim who let it slip to John.”

I groaned and put my head in my hands. “What did John say? No, never mind, I don’t want to know.”

“He was furious. He started ranting about how you didn’t deserve to be treated like that.”

“Funny how he’s now worried about how I’m treated,” I grumbled.

“I just figured I should tell you before you heard it from someone else. I really am sorry.”

“It’s fine. Just another thing I’ll try to forget.”

As if this day wasn’t going bad enough already, it got ten times worse when one of my Google calendar reminders popped up.

“What?” Henley asked as she glanced over my shoulder to read the reminder. “Oh no, your mother’s annual New Year’s Eve party.”

“Yep, half the people in Flagstaff are going to be there and last they knew I was engaged. What are they going to say when I show up alone?”

“You could ask someone else to go with you,” Henley suggested.

“Isn’t that what got me in trouble the first time?”

“I didn’t mean to make another fake fiancé. Just ask someone to go with you as a friend.”

“Who am I going to ask?”

Suddenly the boys from This Century walked in to look at their pictures and a brilliant idea popped into my head. I looked over at Henley and I knew she was thinking the same thing.

I showed the boys their pictures which received rave reviews for which I was glad. It was nice to know I could do at least one thing right with my life. The boys were headed towards the door when I called out to Joel and asked him to stay.

“I have a favor to ask,” I began.

“Sure, what’s up?” Joel smiled.

“My mom throws this huge New Year’s Eve party every year for her clients and other important people in Flagstaff. I really don’t want to go by myself so I was wondering if you’d go with me…just as friends of course,” I quickly added.

“Sure, that sounds like fun.”

“Great, thank you so much, Joel,” I smiled in relief.

“Any time, Clark.”

I watched Joel walk out of the studio and thought about how I wished it was a different lead singer that was going to the party with me but at least I’d have someone to keep me company.