Camera Shy

C-14 She blinds him with a fake reflection.

We all head to the photoshoot and David chats to the photographer to work out the timeline for the shots. Then he drags the guys over and they do their routine nods and smiles. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but they don't seem as enthused as they did before.

Amy and I relax on the beach, soaking up the sun and watching as the guys repeat a series of boring facial expressions and poses.

David wanders over, looking a little stressed.

"I need your honest opinions, how dull are these pictures?" He asks.

"Oh, David they aren't dull, they are just..." I say crunching up my nose.

"She is trying to tell you that they massively suck!" Amy lets out a long breath and smiles.

"Honesty always feels so much better then holding it in, don't you think?"

"Amy!" I slap her arm.

"No, no, Amy is right. We have done so many of these shoots before, why is this one not working? Should I try and change the photographer or the setting?" David mutters, flustered.

David rushes over to the photographer and the guys walk over to where we're lounging and fall to the sand.

"This is embarrassing!" Stu grumbles.

I quietly say to myself, "Not as much as your first two albums, surely."

"What are you mumbling over there?" TJ asks.

"What? Nothing...." I grin.

"OK, lads let's try it again!" David yells over with a smile that can only be described as fake and a little scary, almost like Jack in the Shining movie.

The guys all groan.

I stand up and head over to David and the photographer.

"Can I suggest something? We are here at the beach, why aren't we using it to capture the best shots possible?"

"It's more for scenery," David says.

"Well, the key word for this comeback is unity, right? So, lets show that, despite their troubles, they are as strong as before. Hell, stronger. They can mess about on the beach and later in the water?"

"Ok, lets give it a try.... Guys set up for...." David starts talking.

"Beach sports?" I suggest.

"Yes, beach sports"

The guys seem to approve of this new idea and jump up, grabbing a football.

The mood lightens up and the guys seem to forget about the cameras. So much so, they even drag Amy, David, and me into the game. I wasn't worried picture wise as David gets first approval on all shots released.

Once the photographer calls a break, TJ and Nick start bantering, which leads to play fighting. Amy declines on swimming, much to the distress of Stu, who sits with her and helps her with applying sun lotion. Then there is Reece and me, he challenges me to a race to the water, which I accept and before I know it, we are both smiling and running fast into the water. Reece is much faster than me, but TJ assisted with that when he kicked his leg out and tripped Reece, allowing me to enter the water first, but with him close behind. Once he was in the water, he dived straight for my legs and we both went under, laughing as we returned for air. Reece wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me deeper into the water.

"Do you guys use this beach a lot?" I ask, curious why it's empty on such a beautiful day.

"It's one of the actual perks of being a celebrity that I like. It's a privately owned beach so, before, we used it far bit. It's owned by a much older actress who was rather big in her time and suffered a lot from the papers, so she bought this land for her time free..."