How Not To Be A Groupie

Chapter Ten: Stelle

I woke up with drool in my hair.

Fucking gorgeous. 

I sat up in bed with my hair a wild mess. I had taken my scrunchies out to wash it and kept them around my wrist the entire night. There was no one in bed with me; Malcolm must have slept on the couch. Gathering enough strength for the day and stretching about a mile and a half, I crawled out of bed and left the room.

"I can't see your face if you're all covered up like that," a woman said.

"Sorry," Malcolm said staring straight into the camera and making a face.

"Oh, that's attractive," the woman mumbled sarcastically but snapped a photo anyway. Her eyes widened as she saw me come out of his room. "Oh...I didn't realize you had company."

"Oh, that's our new journalist," Malcolm said plucking his guitar. He was in the exact same spot I left him in last night, wearing the exact same clothes. I wondered if he had even slept at all. "She's been writin' about us an' she needed a place to sleep."

I stood there and waved like an idiot. This woman wore high heels and a lovely skirt with a button up blouse. Her brown hair was feathered and she had a large camera strapped around her neck. She waved back at me, probably hoping I'd be a bit more friendlier than that.

"This is Stelle, she's a photographer," Malcolm said nodding his head toward the woman. "She's been sent up here to take private photos of me."

"I'm taking candid photos of everyone, Mal, not just you," she said trying to snap another photo but Malcolm had dropped his head and his hair covered his face again. She set the camera down and sighed. "And you're being incredibly frustrating."

"You gettin' paid for every photo you take?" Malcolm asked.

"No, I'm actually paid by the hour to even be here," Stelle explained. "But every photo adds a bonus." She finally snapped a shot of Malcolm's profile. 

"Hannah here's on freelance duty," Malcolm said.

"Is that so?" Stelle eyed me up and down, probably wondering why I was dressed like a lady of the evening. "Get paid by the word?"

I bit my lip. "Kind of," I lied. Bullshit, Wattpad only pays for smutty romance stories. Fanfiction is free for all! Stelle snapped a few more photos of Malcolm while Malcolm kept at his guitar. He started playing a riff I could have sworn I recognized.

That's...no, it couldn't be...

It sounded an awful lot like Hell's Bells...

"Your brother took much better photos this morning," Stelle said standing up from her chair. Malcolm rolled his eyes.

"He's a camera man," Malcolm said. "Somethin' about 'em takes away his shyness. He'd probably strip for ya' if ya' asked him." Stelle put the lens cap back on the camera. 

"He offered," she said. "I told him to act natural and he asked "how natural" while taking his shirt off."  Malcolm snickered.

"Yeah, that's Ang..."

"Well, I'm on break. I wanna get something to eat before I'm back at it again. Supposed to be hot today." She looked back at me. "You on break too?" she asked me.

"Uh...I guess so," I shrugged. Malcolm looked pretty occupied at the moment and I didn't feel like bothering him with questions. Malcolm nodded toward the door.

"You should go with her," Malcolm said. "Stelle can take ya' out an' you can come back an' start workin' again." Stelle crossed her arms. 

"Trying to get rid of us?" she asked.