The Ghost of You [COMPLETED]

Emotional

You were good at your job. You knew what you were doing. It's just another client that you barely knew.

You kept chanting those three sentences in your head as you finished your set up, trying to force your eyes to keep away from the other side of the room. After you ordered the rest of the team in, you could only hear your colleague's voices. The guys were being uncharacteristically quiet. When you knew them, they were always bouncing off the walls. Maybe they were still like that. But not today.

Because you were trying to focus so hard on not looking over at them, you finished your set up early. You saw the makeup team was still working on Connor and James, while the stylist, Rohan, was handing out selections to Brad and Tris.

You walked over to Connor and James.

"Hey." You said softly as you approached them. James instantly gave you a guilty puppy dog look. "Stop looking at me like that."

"I'm really sorry." He said.

You caught eyes with the makeup lady working on him, Ruby, who gave you a knowing look. All the people in this room knew the situation. They'd practically ran to the office this morning, eager to see the chaos that would unfold. They were pretty upset to learn that you weren't going to call them into the room until you'd spoken to the band first, but they knew that there would still be some drama over the day.

"Really, I am." James continued. "Everytime I went to tell him I just imagined him shouting and..."

"I get it. I should have done it myself." You admitted. "Worst is over now right? The shock of it was probably the thing that tipped him over." You glanced over at the rails to see him and Tris checking out each other's new apparel. "Just hope it's smooth sailing from now."

"I don't get why you asked this idiot over me." Connor laughed. "He's a people pleaser, not someone you need to tell you serious shit."

"Hey!" James gasped.

"Yeah, definitely an error on my part." You smiled back. "Well hey, the next time I have to photograph my ex, I'll hit you up Connor."

Leaving the two of them grinning at you, you headed over to the clothing rails, evening out your breaths as you walked. If you breathed as though you were relaxed, it might trick your brain into thinking you were relaxed. Right?

"Hey, Rohan, got them ready yet?" You asked as casually as you could, decided to stand slightly closer to the stylist than Brad or Tris. You noticed Brad avoided your eye contact.

"A few good choices. This one is trouble though!" Rohan commented cheekily as he pointed to Tris. "No pastels, no this, no that!" He mocked, making Tris laugh. "Honestly. If he wasn't this pretty I'd have shown him the door already."

"I get that a lot." Tris grinned. "Are you all ready?" He asked you.

"Yeah, this place actually has decent lighting sets that work so it was relatively easy compared to my last place. Felt more like an engineer there than a photographer." You slid your hands in your back pockets as you smiled, trying to force your body to project confidence. "No rush though, we've got all day. You guys looking awesome does half my job for me."

Brad was still silent, as though he was listening to the exchange, but it was very obvious that he wasn't going to contribute. You left the guys to it, heading back over to your station, turning on your camera and starting to organise your lenses. Your assistant was still adjusting the heights of the reflectors, so you decided to help her out a bit. Anything to keep your hands busy.

By the time the whole band was ready, and Rohan had a good selection for each of them, it was go time.

The first 5 minutes was a bit stilted. You could tell that Tris, James and Connor were trying to ease the tension in the air, pulling silly faces, pushing each other out of frame, posing awkwardly. It made you feel better, just like you were all 18 year olds again just hanging out after their band practice, but every time you looked at Brad, it got awkward again.