Yes

I wasn’t really as nervous as I’d thought I would be when I entered IntelligentBikeWheels.

Nor when I sat in makeup or as I pressed my body down that tight leather dress, I was going to wear for my photo shoot. I was smiling happily to the whole staff as I waited for the bike to be ready. They were polishing it… again! I don’t think I’ve never seen one looking shinier.

It looked rad; huge, shining black and silver and with small details engraved with grey running down along its sides. I was going to be on the cover of their magazine that was going to come out in two weeks. That also meant that I was going to attend some kind of convention they were going to hold a week after they were to publish the magazine with my face on it.

But even though I knew what was lying ahead of me, how important it was for me to look good in these photos, I was calmer than I’d ever been.

Maybe it was because of the fact that they’d explicitly asked for me to be their model? But every time I came to wonder over the reason for my wide smile, Norman’s face was always the one thing that came to my mind.

He’d asked me to come and live with him. And I had told him yes.

I couldn’t believe I was actually moving in with him and Mingus; when I thought back to the first time I’d been with Norm and how awkward and foolish I’d felt around him, it seemed almost impossible to think that we would end up having a serious relationship. But here I was, my heart pumping happily every time his gorgeous face crossed my mind.

“Are you ready, miss?”

I shook my head to get back to reality. The manager named Dean smiled at me with questioning eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” I stumbled out as I got up from the comfortable couch I’d patiently been sitting on.

Off to the photo shoot!

................................................................................

Okay, so that manager guy was really too much!

I mean, he was sweet and all, but he was really starting to get on my nerves. I knew the photos had to be approved by him, but did he have to be up in our asses all the time?

Every time the photographer would tell me to do some pose, lean over the steer or sit down on the floor to have my legs on both sides of the wheel, he would tell us what he thought about it; how he’d thought it was supposed to look like. And yes, he was kind and what not, but maybe a little too kind. His eyes were like glued to my body; his compliments dripped down my spine like bitter and cold liquids and he wouldn’t stop offering me to take breaks all the time.

“Is there something you need? Cigarette, drinks, anything I can get ‘cha?”

You’re probably thinking: ‘What are you talking about? He sounds so nice!’ But I just couldn’t shake off the feeling he had some ulterior motives with what he was doing; like he actually was flirting with me. And that made me sick.

I know that when you act like a model, everyone’s eyes will be on you the whole time. I’d just thought that it would feel more… I don’t know, professional?

But I tried to keep myself focused on the photographer, who was an Italian guy named Lui and knew very little English. His facial expressions would reveal every time I did something he liked, and that really helped me a lot.

After the shoot I hurriedly ran back to the room where I was to change. I’d sighed out happily when I’d closed the door, feeling relief over having escaped Dean. But I hadn’t as much as just jumped into my own jeans before I heard a tap on my door.

I wonder who that might be?!

I plastered on the fakest smile I could before opening the door; I needed to stay friends with this guy until after the convention. And surely enough; when I opened the door, Dean was leaning against my door frame, his big and white toothy smile reminding me of the Cheshire cat.

I couldn’t help but to shrug. He was creeping me out.

“Thanks for doing this, you were really perfect! Bikes just fit your looks so well! Good work!” he smiled before entering my room.

Here we go, I thought as I closed the door shut again.

I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

“Thanks, Dean,” I smiled sweetly.

I felt a strong need to put a finger in my mouth, to pretend to gag, but I held myself together. That could wait.

“Thanks for giving me the opportunity!”

Could I sound phonier?

Dean didn’t seem to catch up on it though; he just went along with it.

“We’re the ones who are thanking you, babe,” he said.

I stopped right in the spot; my body froze as his words reached my ear.

Babe?

Babe?!

I let my arms fall lazily down my sides and breathed out heavily. I needed to keep my head cool.

“So, Dean,” I started as I turned around to face him, the fake smile still plastered on my face, “You told me to show up at the convention on a bike, right?”

He nodded at me and crossed his arms over his chest with a popped eyebrow: “You don’t have a bike, do you?”

I shook my head, a mischievous smile spreading across my lips: “No, obviously. But my boyfriend does.”

I could see his eyes narrow a bit but he tried to hide it with blinking a couple of times.

I continued, my smile almost having turned into a grin now: “I’m sure I could talk him into going. And it would be good publicity for you guys, with him being one of the most liked bikers in the States right now…”

Dean raised his eyebrows: “Yeah? Who’s that?”

“The guy playing Daryl Dixon,” I answered.

He looked stumbled.

“Daryl Dixon?”

I nodded.

“Yeah, you know; the guy with the crossbow and the bike. He’s real…”

He interrupted me with a high-pitched voice: “I know who he is!”

I turned around to grab my bag on the table behind me, feeling like bursting out in laughter.

He looked so torn; on one side he didn’t want me to bring any dude at all, especially not my boyfriend. But on the other, having the guy who played Daryl on the most famous show in the States at this moment would without doubt get them more attention.

I hoped Norm wasn’t going to say no. I just had to see Dean’s face when he meet him, to have Dean know so very well that he’d hit on Daryl Dixon’s girl.

“Um, that sounds fantastic,” Dean stumbled out with a low voice.

“Yeah? Great, well, gotta go. I’ll see you at the convention, Dean! Thanks again!”

When I left the building, I finally let the laughter escape my lungs with a roaring sound. His face had been so priceless!

I wish I’d taken a picture so when I got home, I could show Norm just how funny it had looked when I…

Hm.

I lit a cigarette as I crossed the busy street of Manhattan, and looked up to the grey painted sky that hung majestically above me.

Should I even tell Norm?

I whispered a silent ‘excuse me’ as I accidently bumped into a lady that had walked past me.

What if he was going to say no to going with me to the convention? What if he had plans?

A huge chunk of ice seemed to grow in my stomach as I roamed the streets of New York City.

I couldn’t tell him Dean had flirted with me, could I?

‘Hey baby, you wanna go to this thing where there’s this manager guy who totally hit on me while we were working together?’

Nope. He was never going to say yes to that.

So I had to seem cool about it; just pretend that the only reason I wanted him to go was because, well, he was my boyfriend and because I needed to get there on a bike. Nothing more.

So that was why, later that day when we were lying in bed, both of us exhausted and ready to go to sleep, I’d asked him.

He’d groaned and rolled over on his stomach, face buried in his pillow.

“What am I supposed to do there?” he muffled out.

I giggled at the cute sight before me; the only way you could tell there was a human lying there and not just pillows and sheets was the dark hair sticking out.

“Take me there on your big and nasty motorcycle, oh won’t you, sweetie?”

I could hear him chuckle and his eyes were now also popping out from beneath the soft cotton. I could see the amused light in them.

“I suppose that doesn’t sound that bad…”

I reached over to nuzzle his hair and giggled.

“So you’ll come with me? Pretty please?”

He sighed out happily and closed his eyes at the feel of my touch. I knew I shouldn’t push him but the bare thought of having to show up alone at that convention now that I’d told Dean I was to bring my boyfriend was just horrifying.

I could just imagine his face; ‘Oh, the guy playing Daryl Dixon, your boyfriend, couldn’t show up? How inconvenient…’ He would think that I’d lied.

“Sure, I’ll go with you,” Norm spoke in his tired-voice.

It was the sexiest thing ever; so raspy.

I sat up and danced a little happy-dance in the bed. Norm chuckled once more.

“But!” he sounded and I stopped moving as I felt his hand on my arm, “I’m getting you a helmet then and I’ll be choosing which one. You can’t decide anything about it, the color, the design, nothing, got it?”

I grinned down at him.

“I get my very own helmet?”

He grinned at my uplifted expression and nodded.

I wooed and continued my happy-dance, making the mattress move up and down. He chuckled.

“Go to sleep, crazy biker-girl,” he growled sweetly.

I giggled before laying myself down and scooted over to have him spoon me.

“Night, loved one.”

“Night, babe.”