The Broken Road - A Zac Efron Novel (18+)

Chapter 31 - I Get Him

Jess returned downstairs from her shower wearing the same Christmas pajamas I had on with her blonde hair straight.

"Aww look at you two!" Dylan teased and we both rolled our eyes at him. "Alright, my turn," he said as he put his coffee mug in the sink.

"So, what's next?" I asked as she slid the cinnamon rolls in the oven.

"We just have to make the icing," she said as she moved her way around the kitchen like she had been there all her life.

"Thank you for doing this," I said as my lips connected with hers again.

"Of course," she replied as she turned off the mixer. I reached my hand out, gently stroking her cheek as we stared into each other's eyes. I broke our gaze, only to pull her into a warm, tight hug. It was a comforting hug, one that anchored her to me, grounding us both. She tucked her head under my chin and let me rest my hand on the back of her head.

We stood there, lost in each other's embrace until the oven timer went off. She pulled the cinnamon rolls out of the oven and began spreading the icing over them. I leaned against the counter, watching her as she worked and I sipped coffee.

"Well something smells amazing down here," mom said as she walked into the kitchen.

"It was all her," I said.

Dad laughed, "Of that, we have no doubts," he joked before giving each of us a hug.

"Why don't you all have a seat and I'll get you set up," Jess said.

She served everyone breakfast as we discussed our plans to get back to New York that night. Dylan emerged from upstairs carrying his portfolio and set it on the kitchen counter before joining us at the table.

When breakfast was done, and the dishes were cleared, we made our way into the living room. My dad and I went to retrieve boxes of Christmas ornaments from the garage, while Jess and Dylan looked through his portfolio.

"What sort of lighting are you using? Natural?"

"Yes, natural light when I can, and then diffused light when I can't."

"Right. I know that everyone will always tell you natural light is best, but not for these types of photos. I would use a lightbox. You need bright white light on a crisp background. Using the box will limit the number of shadows you get.  And the ones you do get will be easier to edit out."

"I'll have to try that out," he responded as she continued flipping through his portfolio. She came across a series of black and white pictures of me, hiking in the mountains around our parent's house. Her finger instinctively touched the picture.

"These are really good Dylan," she laughed. "I don't just say that because of the subject matter. Look at your composition here in this one. You'd think upon first glance Zac was supposed to be the focus, but it's here, this line of fog over the mountain ridge."

"That's exactly what I was going for," Dylan replied as we returned with ornament boxes.

We gathered around as we unwrapped ornaments one at a time and hung them on the tree. So many of them held special significance and every so often we would share the meaning behind one as we hung them on the tree. When the tree was done, Dylan got out his camera and began taking pictures of everyone, capturing one of me and Jess next to the tree in our matching pajamas.

He showed it to both of us – it was a perfect candid shot, and our first picture together that wasn't taken by the paparazzi.

"Will you send it to me?" Jess asked.