𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑⁰¹ʰᵉᵐᵐⁱⁿᵍˢ✓

⁰²99% glitter

clementine

"Gentlemen, this is Clementine Ivers. She specialises in the style of realism and impressionism and can create a very beautiful mix of both." Helene's smile is wide and I hoped mine is just the same. "She will be handling the album cover,"

One of the band members, the one sitting, stands up and holds out a hand for me. His dirty, blond hair falls over his fine-featured face and I notice his eyes are an ice-cold shade of blue. Nervously, I shake his hand. "I'm Luke. Please, sit," He gestures to the now empty seat with a slight denture of his ass.

As of instinct, I wanted to joke about it, but it really wasn't the time for that.

Standing at a mere 5'4, the four of them standing by me felt as though they were some skyscrapers towering over. They were surely tall but they weren't lanky, thankfully, so they didn't seem any taller than how they actually were.

I notice Blue Eyes curiously peer down at his palm, the palm I'd shaken, brows furrowed over the grey, powdery thing suddenly on his hand.

Eyes widening at what I'd done, I avert my attention to the rest of the band members, this time holding my non-graphite-stained hand out for them to shake.

Suddenly it all seemed so real. The four men that were just images in my phone last night suddenly had names and voices and smiles and... accents?

"Hey, I'm Ashton - drummer," One introduced, his hand warm against mine, then I notice the tattoos on his arms. He had clicked back jet-black hair, and by the looks of it, it wasn't his natural hair colour.

I listened carefully at how he pronounced his words and got the feeling they were British.

Darker skinned and a little taller than Ashton, he donned a buzzcut style. "Hi, I'm Calum. I play the bass," He introduced, his accent more apparent.

Drums and bass? A rock band, maybe? A British rock band?

The member furthest from me only waves his hand and gives a shy smile. "Michael," He had platinum blond hair swept to the side of his face with a hat over it. He definitely seemed the most... rockish out of them all.

I take the seat Blue Eyes offered and gave a smile to the man sitting across me. "Hi, I'm Noah Greson, I'm their manager. It's a pleasure to be meeting you," He curtly nods at me. "We've seen some of your sample art on the studio's website and they are absolutely beautiful,"

I bite my lip down at the compliment, holding back a giggle as I never knew how to take compliments. Thankfully, Helene continues for me.

"The boys here took a look at the sample arts of our website - when was it - last month?"

"Last month, yes," Noah nods. "We were aiming for a more expressionistic take on a photo that was taken of them, to sort of catch the viewers attention, but when we saw your original samples - that meld between the two styles was so beautiful that we just knew we needed that to be the cover."

My stomach does somersaults inside me, completely bubbling with excitement over my new clients and our project. I pressed my lips into a thin line, pushing back a toothy grin. "I am so glad you like my work,"

"Your work is beautiful. When do you plan on starting?" Ashton jumps in - and I notice that his accent had melded into something more American.

"Um, I checked my schedule and I think I should be able to start three weeks from now, around Wednesday? I have a few paintings to finish, and a few more for packing and shipping. So around then, I'll start on the painting. Though, earlier, I was already starting up with some grid lines."

They all nod, followed by Helene's chair squeaking as she pushed it back and stood up. "Alright," She breathed out, looking between Noah and I. "Clem, why don't you lead the boys to your studio to show them the canvas, Noah and I need to discuss the fun part: paperwork!" She says the last part sarcastic tone and the four boys chuckle at her.

I nod, standing and following the four outside before closing the door behind me. "Okay... so um," I look up at the four of them, suddenly so aware that it was up to me to be interesting, not just someone else making me look good. "My studio is this way," I make my way around them and follow the familiar hallways to my studio space. "Now, a little warning, it's not gonna be clean-I mean, not exactly unclean, just... not... clean..." I start to ramble as I take a turn and open the sliding doors, revealing my walls with paintings hung onto them, three easels set up on three corners of the room, paint, brushes, canvases, and unfinished paintings everywhere.

I nervously step in, aware that they were probably inspecting the environment of which their new album cover would be made in.

"Whoa, this is a lot of paint," Blue Eyes points out, looking with an interested eye at the blue rag with mounds of paint on it.

I chuckle, knowing it must've looked weird. "Oh, that's my painting rag. When I'm painting, I sometimes wipe off some extra paint from the brush or the knife, and so I wipe it off on the rag," I explain, seeing him nod and eye the other two rags hanging by the window sill.

"Wait, you have knives?" Michael asks from across the room, his voice indicating a sudden great interest at the subject.

"Yes, I do have knives. More accurately, palette knives,"

"Oh, are they those you use to sort of mix the paint or use them to make, like, texturey looking things?" Calum points out, Ashton chuckling at his use of "texturey".

Nodding, I grab a few palette knives from my desk, displaying them on my hand the way makeup artists do. "Yeah, they are!"

Calum closes up on me, taking one of the knives and looking over it like it's some foreign object. "Wow, that's neat. I want one of those,"

"You don't even paint," Blue Eyes comments.

"Shut up, I can paint," Calum replies.

I chuckle at their banter, returning the knives and taking a look at the canvas on my easel. I notice that all the grids were fully drawn and I smile, knowing that it was Marisse's work. "Hey guys, so these are the grids of where your album cover will be made on,"

I feel them make their way behind me and for a few seconds, we take in the grided canvas.

"This is a three by three feet canvas, I'll basically be using this for your painting. And don't worry about the lines, I'll paint over them,"

"Wait, is that what's on my hand?" I hear Blue Eyes say and we all turn to him.

"What?" Ashton says.

Blue Eyes points at the canvas for a second, then to me. "The pencil, you had its powdery thing on your hand. So you shook my hand earlier, I now have some on me. That's what it was?"

I make an o-shaped form on my mouth, realising what he was talking about. "Yeah! Graphite, that's what it was. Sorry about that, I forgot I was working with it."

I bend down to grab my bag that was sitting on the floor, taking out a pack of wet tissues, pulling one out, and handing it to him. "Here, some of that should do," I rummage further into my bag and find a pink hand sanitiser with little shiny balls inside. "You want some?" I offer him a drop.

He looks at me with a playful smile. "Is that glitter?" He rubs his hand with the wet tissue before throwing it in the bin under my desk.

I shrug. "Yeah, it's sanitiser. Smells nice too,"

"But there's glitter,"

"Yes, but it smells nice," I take his hand and put two drops on his palm, his skin warm and soft against mine.

He huffs out a breath, a smile lingering on his lips as he spread the sanitiser about his hand. He forms a cup with both and puts his nose between, taking in a whiff and letting out a huge sigh. "It's probably ninety-nine percent glitter but now I smell wonderful,"