Call it Fate, Call it Karma

Photoshoot

The next few days were pretty eventful. To sum them up, The Strokes played another gig, I jammed some more with Kimya and Adam, and I scored the job at the record store which I was super happy about. Julian also put in his 2 weeks notice at work, meaning he was almost free to fully dedicate his time to music, and the guys did their over-the-phone interviews to some super nosy British journalist.

"You shoulda been there, man!" I said to Adam as I finished organising some vinyl records. "Nick crowdsurfed! I thought for sure people were gonna drop him when he jumped, but he got passed all around the dancefloor!"

Adam chuckled heartily, tapping a pen to his chin. "That sounds fucking sick. I wanted to come, but the bossman needed help closing up last night and I'm pretty much on my last strike, so I had to help out." He checked some things off on a clipboard while watching me put records in assigned crates.

"Okay, that's the last few done. We free to go?"

"Should be." Adam nodded. "Where to, afterwards?"

"I'm not sure..." I said. "The guys are doing their photoshoot right now. We could crash it?"

"Hell fucking yeah!" Adam cheered. "Lead the way!"

"This might be a little awkward because the photographer is my old boss." I explained with a sigh. "He seemed to understand why I quit, but I still feel bad."

"Just don't worry about it."Adam left the clipboard on the front desk and jogged back over to walk out with me.

"Fantastic advice, man." I chuckled.

He held the door open for me and bowed his head with a smirk.

After grabbing some coffee and something to eat, Adam and I made it to the street where the photoshoot was happening.

I could see Colin perched high up on a balcony, camera pointing down as he tried to snap a picture of the guys, who were stood in an awkward circle, looking up at him.

"Did Julian get his fucking hair cut for this?" asked Adam, stifling a laugh as we approached.

I nodded. "It was getting a little crazy." I looked over at Julian and sighed, regretting cutting and styling his hair, as I did it at 2 in the morning after a couple drinks so it was quite weird looking.

"Nikolai doesn't know what to do with himself." Adam cackled, wiping a laughter tear. "Julian looks like his dog just died or something. Smile!"

I elbowed his ribs. "Cut it out, jerk! They've never done anything like this before." I looked over at Nick, who looked just as awkward as Nikolai and I couldn't help but laugh. I expected him to love being in front the camera, but he looked quite nervous with his shoulders hunched over. "Okay, you're right. This is kinda funny."

"We can hear you guys!" Fab called out, pointing a finger. "Get the fuck over here now!"

Adam and I raised our hands in defeat, giggling as we jogged over to the circle of awkwardness.

Before Adam could start poking fun to their faces, some guy came storming over and began yelling up at Colin. "Get the hell down from there! That is private property! I'll call the cops!" 

Colin gabbed his camera bag, jumped over the railing onto a dumpster and began legging it. "Run for your lives!"

We all stampeded down the street, squealing and laughing like a bunch of kids until we dipped into an alleyway to gain composure.

"What were you doing up there, Colin?" I asked once I caught my breath.

He shrugged, tucking his camera into it's bag. "I'll do anything for a good shot."

"What are you two doing here?" Nick asked, sparking up a cigarette.

"Nothing else to do." Adam replied.

"Let's go grab some lunch before we head off to the next place." Colin informed us. "I want some shots of you guys with the Empire State Building in the background, because people in Europe will probably dig that. They'd wanna make it obvious you're from New York City."

"Ooh, I can see the headline now!" I said in a mocking tone. "The Strokes; New York City heartthrobs!"

Adam laughed. "Heartthrobs."

"Shut up." Nick elbowed him. "Let's go eat."