Snowflake

Chapter 7

"So he go down aisle 5, and it ain't no potatoes," Tyler clutches his chest, bent over the table. I laugh softly, looking away as the joke really wasn't funny at all.

"What? Shit's funny as fuck," Tyler adjusted his shirt. "If you say so..."I trail off, walking to the library in the corner.He follows me, and as I grab a book, he sniffs. "That's my favorite. It's a 'zine about all these random people kissing." Flipping through the magazine, I can feel Tyler's eyes boring through me.

"What do you think?" he says. 

"It's cool, yeah." He looks down for a second and then focuses on my eyes. 

"You're not a dickrider and I like that. Usually when people meet me they're like Oh Tyler, I love everything you do and I wanna suck your dick and I love all your songs,  But you're not afraid to say when you don't like something. That's real and you're fucking cool in my book."

My face began to burn. Tyler gave ME a compliment?  "Thank you," is all I can manage to get out before I feel like throwing up and passing out. He opens his mouth to say something else when my phone rings.

"Sorry, I have to take this," Turning away to walk out of the store, I pick up the phone. "Hey, Mr. Weeks."

"Just checking in to make sure you've landed and you're all ready for the shoot tomorrow?"he says. Fuck, I completely forgot! "Of course! I got a hotel and I was just resting. Everything's set with the model and I'll be there to set up around 8am." "Good. Send the shots to my email as soon as you can!" he says, hanging up before I can even pretend to agree. I turn back and Tyler's got his face pressed up to the window, then turns away as I look. Walking back into the store, Tyler pretends to surf through his phone before looking up.

"Hey, I'm gonna get dinner soon. Do you like sushi?" he says. "Of course! I'm down to try whatever." "Cool," he sends a text and puts his phone in his pocket.

"Do you mind if some of my friends come? There's this new spot that I've been wanting to go to. It's cool if you say no, I know you want me all to yourself and want to fuck on the table at the restaurant." 

"HUH? Um, I'm ok with your friends coming." My eyes widen and my heart drops to the floor. "Relax, we can do that next time. But I think you'll like my friends, they're super fucking chill and fun." I nod and look at my phone to hide my embarrassment. 

Did Tyler just say he wanted to fuck me?  

Leaving the store, Tyler takes me to the back parking lot and opens the door to a little vintage coupe. Motioning for me to get in the car, he grabs my hand to help lower me into the seat, then runs over to the driver's seat and plops himself in.

"Do you mind if we go on a little drive before dinner? I like to watch the sun set and listen to shit." I quickly agree, and he pulls off. The car itself is cute, it's a Rolls Royce with a cream interior. He inserts a CD and the music sounds rich and the bass is deep. "I upgraded the sound system so the bass is all over the car but not like loud and shitty." I look at him, and he's focused on the road, but he's relaxed as he merges through traffic. He looks handsome in his sweater and his eyes reflect the sunset, making them a pretty shade of orange-brown.

"I know I look good and shit but you can stop staring," he says, pretending to tuck a strand of hair behind his ear. I laugh and turn my eyes back onto the road. The sunset is pretty, but I can't help but think of Tyler and work. How am I gonna balance the two? What if my idea really turns to shit?

He parks the car and we get out. He walks me into the restaurant and we are lead through a hallway before entering a room with a bunch of people. They greet Tyler and look at me curiously.

"Are you Tyler's new girlfriend?" a pretty girl asks. He quickly interjects with a 'no' and I feel my face drop. Damn, did he have to deny it so fast? "She's the fucking, the ice cream girl," he says, taking a sip of his water.

"This nigga has been talking about this ice cream flavor for days. Mint chocolate, fucking nastiest flavor," a guy says.

"Fuck you, it's the best ever and I'm gonna shove a pint up your ass," he says. The table laughs and I feel my face burn again. What am I gonna say? What if I embarrass myself in front of his friends? The girl turns to me again. "What's your name?" "Salem," I say, touching my silverware and readjusting it.

"That name is fucking sick. What do you do?" she asks. "I do photography. I work for this company that does commercial shoots for magazines and things like that."

"That's so cool? Do you like it?" She and I chat on and I can feel Tyler's eyes on me throughout dinner. In the back of my head, I wonder if I said anything that might make him upset.

"Salem, we're gonna go out tomorrow. Would you wanna go?" someone, I think his name was Jasper, asks.

"I'd love to, but I have to work tomorrow. I've got a contract at the same time as this." Tyler immediately turns to Jasper and smacks the back of his head.

"Dumbass," he says. At the end of the dinner, I hold my hand over my wallet, praying mine won't be too expensive. They set the check down in front of Tyler and before I can think of pulling my card out, he's paid for the meal. Everyone keeps talking, but I feel bad. How much was all of this?

"You know, I thought Christina was super nice. She's so pretty too!" I say as we walk back to the car. "I'm glad y'all talked. Sometimes she can be a super bitch, like Tyler don't say you're gonna kill my boyfriend and shit when she knows we're just joking, but she's cool." "Yeah, thanks for dinner by the way. I liked that eel roll." "That shit was nasty as fuck, but I'm glad your weird ass liked it." Tyler turns to look at me as the traffic light turns red.

"Are you sure you can't hang tomorrow? Maybe I could pick you up and take you around and we could talk about the ice cream stuff." I'd gladly skip work to hang with Tyler, but booking this shoot was super hard as a newbie. I'd have to be crazy to give up on it.

"I really can't, I'm sorry. It's really important, but maybe I could see you afterwards?" His face perks up a bit.

"I'll give you my number and you can text me when you're done. I know photoshoots can take long when you gotta take pics of ugly bitches. Maybe that's why my photoshoots are so quick," he jokes. HE JUST SAID HE WOULD GIVE ME HIS NUMBER ??? I shake my head quickly and he passes me his phone, letting me put my number in. We reach the front of the hotel and he runs to open the door, reaching his hand out for me to grab.

"See you, Salem." I grab it.

"See you, Tyler."

A/N: HEY GUYS!!! I am so so so sorry about the 3 year gap in my posting, a lot has been going on. When I started this book I was a senior in HS and now I'm in college. I've been busy and honestly I didn't know how I wanted to continue the story, but I've been thinking and I want to finish it!! I'm gonna go back to posting regularly (that's a promise!! I forgot how much fun writing is!) and I've got a lot of plans for how I want this story to go. Thank you guys for your patience !!!