Time After Time

Chapter 11: Sweet Emotion

The arithmetic beat of the bass filled and echoed throughout the busy studio, bringing a little warmth to Lauren's soul, slowly bopping her head along to the beat of Def Leppard's 'Pour Some Sugar on Me'.
The office was a drag on a Friday morning. All work, finishing the last shots for the last client of the day.

The past week was nothing but a complete distraction, oblivious to a lot of her surroundings and conversations that happened around her. Lauren became more focused on John, her necklace, the meaning of it all behind it, and more importantly, how close they were becoming. She couldn't hide it any longer from him, though she tried. It was something she couldn't wrap around her head - someone she spent a month with now grew so close to her, especially in her heart. Never would she have imagined getting to know the real John - the obnoxious, silly, annoying, stubborn, short-tempered, caring, loving man that was sitting back in her apartment, waiting for her to come home.

It was an incredibly busy day at work, quite possibly one of the longest days she spent away from John since he arrived on her doorstep. Things at work were beginning to get very dynamic, particularly as the closer summer approached. With John in her life now, she hated arriving to work and spending so much time away from him, even if it was for a couple of hours. Inside, she started to get greedy with their time together, especially since they were trying to figure out just how this pendant sent him here - more importantly, how to send him back.

These thoughts angered her as she skimmed through the viewfinder, deleting some pictures off of her camera, not paying attention to the sound of the producer, Melissa, calling her name from the computer next to her.

She felt a strong nudge to her elbow, bringing her out of her frustrated trance, glaring up at Melissa, "What?"

Her expression softened once she admitted how arrogant she might have come across just now, slowly lowering the camera from her focus, "I'm sorry, did you need something?"

Melissa raised an eyebrow, a side smile curling at the corner of her lips, "You mind taking a peek at some of the final photos?"

Lauren sat in the empty chair next to Melissa, quickly turning her camera off, "Are these going to be used for the cover or article?"

"Haven't you been paying attention to anything I've said the past five minutes?" Melissa tapped on her notes that were pinned to the navy blue clipboard adjacent to her.

Lauren felt embarrassed that Melissa called her out, especially with some of the other crew standing by listening in, "Sorry, it's just I was distracted by how late it was."

"Tell me about it," Melissa huffed, "It's my anniversary dinner with my husband and if we don't decide on these photos, I'll be late for it," she held her left wrist out, scanning her eyes at the time on her Apple watch, noticing it was almost six o'clock.

Lauren examined the two flat-screen monitors in front of her, panning between the four different photos. At this point, she didn't care and just thought about picking one, getting it out of the way. The other part knew she was slacking in her work lately and realized it would only create consequences for her in the end. She pointed at one of the photos, "Switch this one here for the cover. This one brings out her eyes, captivating and pursuing the readers' interest."

Melissa smiled widely, jotting down the number of the photo on her notes, "Yeah, I see it!" She beamed, meeting Lauren's eyes, "Wow, I'll tell you what, Lauren. It seems you have an eye for things lately."

A familiar voice spoke up from behind her, "Probably the handsome new inspiration in her life."

Lauren quickly turned around, eyes widened to find Brandon standing behind her, holding a small cloth in one hand and a wet makeup brush in his other with a devious smirk on his face.