Let Me Show You

6. Alone

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        "Great shot!" Valorie says excitedly in the highest pitch I have ever heard.

        "Oh, um thanks! I was actually just..."

        "Shhhh. I don't need to know anything about the process, just the final product." She smiles first at me and then turns towards the boys. "Be nice" she instructs sternly. "This is Dakota! She is your new photographer."

        "I know what you can take photos of first..." The one who I assume is Harry mumbles to the other boys as they practically fall over laughing. Great, this is going to be SO much fun, I think to myself sarcastically. Valorie lets out a loud moan and pushes the boys aside to enter the house. I quickly try and follow her through the opening but I'm cut off by the one I believe to be Zayn. His voice is deep, yet high at the same time.

        "I'm Zayn," he confirms my thoughts. "I look forward to working with you. That really is a great shot you got there" he says leaning over my hands to get a better view of the picture. I can feel his warm breathe against my skin and I'm sure if I was wearing glasses they would be completely fogged up by now. I nod as I feel my cheeks turn a nice, bright shade of red. After Zayn and the other boys head farther into the house I finally take a look at the picture myself. 

        The boys are all huddled together, smiling perfectly, looking right into the camera. If you were to see this picture and know nothing about the boys, you would think they were just five normal guys posing for a picture. But you can't judge a book by it's pretty cover photo. No matter how pretty.

        I take a step inside and my nose is drowned with amazing smells. I close my eyes and take it all in. 

        "What are you doing?" I hear someone say with an Irish accent. I'm willing to bet a million dollars it's Niall Horan.

        "Taking it all in" I say keeping my eyes closed and a tight grip on the camera. 

        "Taking what in?" He says.

        "Everything, my new life" I say as I slowly open my eyes to see Niall standing closer than I thought he was. I jump back and quickly walk farther into the house to find Valorie. I turn around and see Niall standing in the exact same spot watching me walk away completely silent. Well that was weird...

        After the longest time of searching only the first floor for any sign of life, I walk up the stairs to continue my search for Valorie. When I reach the top, I look left and right down mile-long hallways scattered with closed doors. I decide to go right thinking you can't go wrong with the RIGHT choice. I laugh to myself only to be startled by someone opening a door behind me. I turn around to find Harry looking at me. 

        He is shirtless and his sweatpants are hanging low around his waist. Fuck. 

        "Can I help you?" He asks after an awkward silence.

        "Yeah, could you help me find Valorie, or my room? One or the other..." I ask trying to control my fan girl impulses to throw my body at his amazing one. 

        "Valorie's room is the fifth door to the left and yours is the last one to the right. Pick your poison" he says before closing his door, leaving me alone once again.

        I decide to go see my own room so I continue to walk down the right side. I finally reach the end only to find my door is locked. Great. Having lost all hope, I pull out the iPhone Valorie gave me to see what time it is.

        ---- Five Missed Calls from: Valorie Gates ----

        Shit! I swipe the phone open to call her back.

        "Hello?" Thank god she answers.

        "Hi, where are you?" I ask hoping she is still in the building.

        "I'm in my room, where are you?"

        "I'm outside my room, but it's locked. Why is it locked? And how am I supposed to get in?"

        "First off, it's locked so no sneaky boys do anything bad inside. And second of all, have you even looked through your phone? It has everything you need on it, like I said before." With that, she hangs up and I'm yet again, left alone.

        I lean against my door and slowly slide down until I'm sitting on the floor. Looking through the phone, I find that I actually have a schedule to follow today. It reads:

1. Arrive at flat

2. Find room and use the key hidden on the top ledge of the door frame to unlock it

3. Unpack and practice using main camera

4. Get dressed in weather appropriate clothing

5. Meet downstairs at the door you came in at 7:00pm sharp

6. Once all of the boys have arrived downstairs (hopefully on time) take them outside

7. Execute a practice shoot and take note of the boys personalities, figures, highlights, good sides, bad sides, etc...

8. Come back inside no later than 9:00pm to have a quick dinner

9. Get to bed because there is a long day of planning tomorrow

        I look at the time in the top right corner of the screen. It's 6:50pm. I grab the key which is exactly where the phone said it would be and I quickly unlock the door to run inside and change. But as soon as I step inside the room, I'm blown away by it's beauty and size so I completely forget I have a schedule to follow. I take my time walking around looking at every edge of the suite. When I look at the cool modern clock hanging on the wall it says its 7:00pm. I think, the numbers are all scattered around so it's hard to tell.

        I run into the bedroom, throw my dirty clothes onto the floor and slip into some tight black leggings since it will be grossly 'buggy' outside and a loose long sleeve t-shirt. I grab my camera and phone and sprint downstairs.

        There's no one there. This might be the fourth time today where I am alone in this house. But even so, I'm still not as lonely as I was back  in California.