In This Life (Sequel to 'In Another Life')

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The scenery was too familiar. "But this is your neighborhood," I said, squinting as the sun hit me in the eyes. The glare made it almost impossible to see anything. "I know," he replied simply. He pulled into a driveway and killed the engine. "Colby this is your house. What's going on?" I was so fucking confused. Why did he bring me here?  He just laughed and opened his door to get out. I stepped out of the car, and looked up at the house. "Do you need to change or something?" I asked, still confused. There was some sort of feeling growing in my chest, but I couldn't place it. Anticipation with something else. He still didn't answer me, just took my hand and led me into the large house. I saw Jake and Corey sitting in the living room, laughing at something, but Colby pulled me on through to the back door. He pushed the sliding glass door back, and I stopped in my tracks when I realized what was in front of me. Professional tripods with cameras set up were set up in various places, probably going for different backgrounds. Colby led me to the group of people that were in the Tiki hut. Sam raised his head and grinned when he was us. "Brotheeeer, I was beginning to think we were going to have to reschedule. Why didn't you text me?" Colby grinned and shrugged. "Didn't want to give away the surprise, in case she was paying attention." I furrowed my brow and pursed my lips. "What's going on? Are we doing a shoot here? Of who?" Sam laughed, and met Colby's gaze. "She really is unobservant sometimes, huh?" Colby nodded and laughed. "She is, but I love her so it's okay." He wrapped his arms around my waist, then pressed his lips to mine for a moment. "You really don't know what's going on? I told you when we were in Georgia. Or I told your parents, I guess." I was silent for a moment, thinking, then it finally hit me. "I am so fucking dense! But I didn't think you were serious! Colby, you don't have to do this for me. I know that you and Sam are really particular about your merch and advertising shoots." I wasn't sure that I wanted to do it. Sam and Colby were a lot bigger than they used to me, so much more well known. This was a lot of pressure. When I landed the "job of my dreams" before the accident, I was beyond excited, but I knew that I would be starting from the bottom and working my way up. This was like being thrown straight to the top and praying you didn't fall off the ledge. He placed his hands above my elbows and stared down into my eyes. "T, just do this for us. If you don't want to work with me, or us, anymore, fine, I won't be mad. But I kind of need you to do this for me today. I'm not doing this for you." I just cocked my eyebrow and looked at him with a 'yeah, right' expression. He laughed and rubbed his hands up and down on my arms. "Okay, I'm not doing this entirely for you. I've seen your work. You're amazingly talented. I showed your work to Sam and to our business managers. They all agree that you do great work. So what do ya say?" I stayed quiet for so long, I could tell he was starting to get nervous that I was going to say no. To be honest, I may have made him wait a little bit longer, even after I made up my mind. "I think that..." I let my voice trail off, building the tension. "I think that you should've told me to wear comfortable fucking shoes, you ass." He laughed again, and leaned down to kiss me, relief evident in his body language. "Thank you," he said, hugging me. "And if you want, just go barefoot. You can change into some joggers too, but let's wait until we take your picture for the interview." I nodded, then his words caught up to my brain. "Wait, what? Picture? Of me? For what?" I felt a ball of nerves start to build in my stomach. Sam and Colby had a massive following and I didn't know if I was ready to be in that spotlight. I had turned around to kick my shoes off, so Colby started massaging my shoulders to try and relax me. "It's okay. Calm down and breathe. It's an interview for the Netflix series. We want to announce you as our temporary photographer...if that's okay," he added, when my mouth refused to form words. I kept my shoes on, my original attempt forgotten, as I walked to the fire pit. I turned and sat, almost not even realizing that Colby was sitting next to me just as quickly. "I'm fine," I said, more to myself, than to him. "I can do this. It's just another shoot. The fact that probably over 8 million fucking people will see it means nothing. It's nothing. Just another shoot." He put his arm around my shoulders, and started to laugh, but I shot a glare at him. His laugh caught in his throat, and he coughed to cover it. "You're going to be fine, but if you really don't think you can do it...well, I guess I'll reschedule. No big deal. I can probably get someone out here later today or tomorrow." I took a deep breath, and met his gaze. "I can do it. I'm going to do it. Just give me a minute to realize that my actual entire fucking career centers around the fact that I take amazing photos of my boyfriend and his best friend." He stood up and held his hand out to me. I placed my right hand in his outstretched one, and he helped me up, then dropped my hand. He reached for my left one, brought it up in front of both our faces so that the gorgeous ring was staring me in the face, as he laced his fingers through mine. "Fiance," he said, smiling at me softly. "Fiance," I breathed, repeating after him. Somehow, that calmed me.