In the Blink of an Eye

Chapter Five

As Nate walked back over, Lucas stood up and glanced back at his friends, wondering how she would act working one on one with him. He had no clue why she was being so stand-offish with him. Maybe she was embarrassed? Ashamed? Mainly, he just hoped that she didn't think that guy had actually assaulted her the night before. Letting out a breath, he walked over to where she was waiting, noticing that she was avoiding eye contact in a not so subtle way. Standing where the others had stood, he let out a breath and started going through the poses his friends had done, though it was hard to force a smile onto his face.

After she snapped a few pictures he watched as she lowered her camera and furrowed her brows at him, to which he immediately lowered his gaze so as to not make her uncomfortable like it would appear he had been doing the entire time. Seconds passed by before he saw her standing in front of him, like directly in front of him. Though, what really threw him was when she reached up and lightly tapped his chin with her fingers, making his heart involuntarily skip a beat. Bringing his gaze up to meet hers, he was again taken aback by just how close she actually was and the gentle look in those stunning eyes.

"The pictures won't work if you don't actually smile." She said quietly in a teasing tone. The corner of his lips curled up slightly, his eyes mimicking the gentle gaze of hers. "I'm sorry. I'll try to smile more." He said softly, his deep voice rumbling in his chest as he talked. "Good... because we can't have you looking like someone kicked your puppy." She quietly teased, earning a light laugh from Lucas along with a genuine smile. He had been so lost in her gaze that he hadn't noticed the others staring hard at them, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Zach, however, having no filter, decided to exclaim, "Oh, I get it! They're into each other!" Lucas's eyes went wide, and his head snapped towards his friends just in time to see Nate reach over and grab Zach in a head-lock, pulling his face into his side quickly.

"Sorry! He says random shit!" He called out as Luke looked back down at Pen, whose face looked a shade away from being a tomato. "Shall we uh...finish?" He questioned awkwardly, trying to recover from Zach's outburst. Watching as she simply nodded and went back to her spot, Luke shot daggers at his friends briefly before going back to doing the poses she needed him to do. Once he was done, the others came over, and they started tearing down the setup while Pen went over to her desk. Tare down took much less time than the setup, and in minutes, her studio was back to normal. Ben walked over to Penelope, giving her a polite smile stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Thank you so much. I'll be sure to stop at the front desk and pay on the way out." Lucas watched from the door as Penelope looked up at Ben with a friendly smile, "I had a lot of fun, I hope we will get to do more in the future. Come by again next Friday so we can go over the pictures and you can pick the ones you want." Ben nodded and waved before heading over to where Lucas stood.

On the way out, Ben made sure to pay for the shoot along with a sizeable tip before he and Lucas headed out to the Impala. "Well...that could have been much worse, I suppose." Ben chuckled out as Luke drove. Shaking his head, Lucas sighed lightly, trying to figure out why he had been so affected by her. "It was awkward, that's for sure." He stated quietly, turning the corner to the tattoo studio. As he parked, Lucas looked over at Ben and smirked, "Got your concept? Noah us going to want that so he can price it right." He stated, lightly teasing his friend. Ben narrowed his eyes at his friend and held up his fully tattoed arm. "I think I know how this works, Luke." He chuckled out and got out of the car.

Lucas followed suit, and the two walked inside, smiling at the receptionist as they headed back towards Noah's room. "Hey man, I gotta pee, so I'll be back in a few." Ben stated with an awkward smile before heading off to the restroom. Shaking his head, Lucas walked into his friends studio, smiling as he saw Noah printing off the stencil for his tattoo. "Sup, bro?" Lucas questioned as he leaned against the door frame. Noah jumped slightly and turned to look at Luke with wide eyes. "Jesus Christ. For a big dude you're quiet as fuck." He chuckled out and shook his head. Laughing, Lucas walked over to him and sat on the edge of his tattoo chair. "I see you got the stencil ready." Lucas stated as he leaned over to look at it.

"Yeah! Love the whole moon idea! Been looking forward to this all day!" Noah cheerily stated as he showed Lucas what he had come up with. Leaning back, Lucas looked towards Noah's desk when a framed picture caught his eye. Perking a brow, he slightly motioned to it and asked, "You know her?" On his desk sat of picture of him and Penelope, arms drapped over each other's shoulders and smiling wide. Looking back to see what he was referring to Noah laughed lightly and nodded. "Yeah. That's my twin sister. Why? Do you know her?" He questioned, eyeing Luke closely. "Uh...kinda? It's a bit of a situation, actually. She got herself into some trouble last night at the club that I helped her get out of... then turns out she did our photo shoot today."

Noah raised his brows and let out a "huh" as he eyed his friend. "That's... yeah, that's a situation." He stated and started lining up the stencil on Luke's wrist. "Noah! You ready for lunch?! You won't believe the day I've had!" Lucas heard a familiar voice coming from the hall, a split second later he watched as Penelope walked into the room, freezing when she saw Lucas sitting in Noah's tattoo chair. "Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me!" She exclaimed, looking pissed. Noah tilted his head at his sister and glanced at Luke. "Hey sis. Luke here was just telling me how he helped you out last night. Care to tell me about it?" Noah questioned to which Pen immediately exclaimed, "Helped me?! He DRUGGED me and did God knows what to me at his house!"

Lucas went wide-eyed and exclaimed, "What?!" As he tried to stand, but before he could process what was happening, Noah had hold of his shirt, throwing a full force punch to his face.