Who Am I (A Jai Courtney Fanfic) Book 2

Chapter 88-Meg

Meg

I wake in the morning and pray, thanking God for my blessings. I ask his help to be a positive influence in all I do and that things go well today. I'm hoping the vision of whoever is in charge for this photo shoot will align with mine.
I get ready for the day and Jai comes over earlier than I expected. I'm dressed, just combing my hair, though. I open the door for him and he steps in with a bag in hand.
"Good morning," I say to him.
"I brought you some brekky, love," he tells me. He sets a piece of luggage used for carrying dress clothes down on my bed and puts a bag of food on the coffee table. He takes a seat on the sofa.
"I thought you weren't much of a cook?" I tease stepping into the bathroom and setting my comb down. I squeeze out my hair with a towel. "You've been cooking more than me lately."
"I never said I didn't cook. I'm just not the best. Everything is kind of plain and simple," he shrugs from where he's sitting.
"You make it sound like Abnegation food," I jest coming over and sitting beside him. "Of which, it's definitely not."
"Plain oatmeal," he jokes nudging me with his nose as he wraps his arms around me and holds me in his embrace.
I open the bag to see another one of his homemade breakfast sandwiches. "Thank you for breakfast," I say softly.
"No worries, love," he replies.
I eat the sandwich appreciatively and finish getting ready for the day.  I grab several outfits—some casual, some dressy—packing them in the hanging bag.  I put on the bracelet Jai gave me since it matches my green shirt that I'm wearing and use the purse he bought me in Jamaica as well.  I see him grinning—he remembers that they're gifts from him.  He carries the luggage out for me and I hold his other hand as we walk through the hotel and out the main lobby door. Jai opens the car door for me and hangs the bag in the backseat before joining me on the driver's side. He drives us through LA to the photography studio.
Simon sent me—along with another number I'm unfamiliar with—a text message earlier explaining the choice of locale. He said the studio has everything I'll need.  It even has options for makeup, clothing, and various stages—one of which has an indoor rain system. That actually sounds incredible and would go well with one of the songs we're going to record about rain.
We arrive and park at the lot down the street and walk out—Jai wearing his sunglasses. I grin at him.
"Don't laugh. Pretty soon you'll be flocked with your fans, too," he teases.
I laugh disbelievingly but I stop when I realize that he may be right.
We walk into the studio and we're greeted right away.  A man takes the clothing from Jai and we're led into some sort of a conference room.  Simon and two other women are already present.  I recognize one from the offices at Capitol Records.  She's a thin, petite brunette maybe in her forties wearing a fashionable short-sleeved ivory top with sheer trim and black dress pants. I think she's in the marketing department.  The other woman has darker skin with red rimmed glasses. She has short, curly black hair and a gorgeous smile with dark red lipstick on. She's wearing a short-sleeved navy dress shirt and beige pinstriped dress pants.
I smile at Simon and hug him. He laughs in surprise.
"Megan, do you remember Missy Davis?" he asks me.
"From marketing, right?" I ask shaking her hand once more. "It's good to see you again."
"That's right," she smiles. "And it's nice to see you as well."
"And this is Marlene Otis. She's the art director we've hired for your session," Simon introduces the other woman.
"It's nice to meet you," I say shaking her hand. She replies the same.
Jai greets them all as well.
We sit down and discuss the music and my desires for the photo shoot. They agree to do conservative clothing, nothing too wild. The makeup will be light and appropriate for what I'm comfortable with. We discuss what the content of the pictures will be. We talk about the rain room and decide to do that last since it can be messy. I—along with the other two from my company—sign the paperwork. It's just giving us the ability to use the images for sale but grants the photographer and studio the rights to use them in their portfolio and advertising.
Afterward, they show me around the photography studio. We choose several different rooms and some locations outside. I explain what I'd prefer and Marlene actually likes my suggestions. She takes me to a dressing room and has me look the clothing options over. One rack has my clothes hung up, another with various options but some are rather flashy. She gives me clothing recommendations for each room and pose. I mostly use mine but I do take a few of her suggestions. She—along with her assistant, Francess—help me arrange the outfits in the dressing room.
I put the first set of clothes on—an all black outfit consisting of a plain shirt of mine, my black pants, and a black jacket from the other rack.  I let them come in to do my makeup.  Jai takes a seat on a sofa in the room and watches them do their work.  I'm not used to anyone doing things like this for me.  They take much longer than I do myself but it actually looks good—much better than what I'm capable of.  The makeup artist puts a product in my hair but leaves it down. 
I climb out of the chair when she finishes and Jai is watching me. I walk up to him and it's as if he's in a trance. "Are you okay?" I ask him.
He shakes out of it. "Who is this beautiful woman?" he teases. "She looks very Dauntless."
I snort and the makeup artist chuckles.
"See, a fan," I motion to her. "Tell me? Did you read the books?" I ask her as we walk to the first room with the black background.
"Yeah, but I hated the last one. I mean, who wants the main character to die?" she says.
"I told you so," I nudge Jai. "I don't know a single person who thinks the book ended well," I comment.
"Shailene Woodley said she liked the character's death in an interview," she points out.
"True, but what kind of person is going to take an acting job and then criticize the author?" I say.
"Right?" she nods laughing.
We enter the studio with the black background.
"You look incredible," Marlene comments.
"She's an easy canvas," the makeup artist shrugs.
"Thank you," I say softly unsure of how to respond.
I meet the photographer—Nigel. He's kind of average in height for a man but he's rather thin and wiry with a square jaw. He has dark hair that's tall and kind of wild on top with a short, well-groomed beard. He has a British accent—I think—and has a slight lisp.  He has me step into the area prepped and I'm honestly kind of nervous. 
"You need to relax," he smiles. 
I attempt to smile but I'm honestly not accustomed to having so many people around—an audience for a photo shoot.  It's usually more private. 
"We could play some music for her," Marlene suggests. 
Jai comes over to me and holds me.  "It's alright, love," he tells me. 
"Francess, get him a stool, would you?" Nigel requests. 
The makeup artist grabs a posing stool and sets it down.  Nigel adjusts it and has Jai sit with his back to him.  He has me stand up while Jai is seated slightly below me.  I wrap my arms around him and he gives me support.  My head and arms are just over his shoulder.  I realize he's wearing a black t-shirt and he may not show up in the frame.  Nigel takes a few shots of me holding onto Jai—some with my eyes closed and some looking into the lens.  He lets me see them and they're good. I don't know why I was so tense before.
I change and put on a light, t-shirt-like tan sundress. It's modest, though, with a shrug covering my shoulders. We go outside and I sit in the grass. Nigel has me pose several different ways. He asks me to lay down in the grass in a somewhat indecent position and I tell him that I'm not comfortable with that. So we move on.
I change clothes and Francess does my hair in a different style with a change in my makeup as well. I'm wearing a more formal grey dress that I made—a copy of the one I gave Jai's sister. We go to the somewhat industrial area of the studio and he takes several shots of me there—some are posed in front of an antique framed glass window with several panes. 
Next, is another change in more casual fashion with a fishtail braid on the side of my hair.  Francess changes my makeup slightly and Nigel poses me around a brick wall, then some aged white columns and hallways.
I change back into the outfit I wore here and we go to the rain room. I'm wearing my green shirt and the bracelet Jai gave me. Now that I recall, I think I wore this the first time he took me out. I smile at him and he has a nostalgic expression on his face as well. I'm given an umbrella that matches my fuchsia shoes and I stand in the room with the umbrella open. They start the rain and I can't help but laugh at the release of the downpour—the sound hammering my umbrella and the ground around me. I get slightly damp by the mist but it's not bad. I smile for the camera and pose with the umbrella. After Nigel says he's got some good shots, I lose the umbrella and stand there in the rain getting wet from the downpour.  I raise my hands up. Nigel actually laughs but he keeps taking more. We wrap it up when I start to shiver and I'm given a towel when they turn the water off. Jai comes up to me grinning. 
"Those look good," he tells me still smiling. 
I grin in reply. 
I go back to the dressing room and change into another casual outfit—the kind of cotton shirt-style sundress I made and the shrug.  I use the makeup wipes on the dressing table and squeeze my hair out a bit more with the towel.  Jai knocks on the door and he enters helping me pack up my clothes from this room. 
"Thanks," I tell him. 
"No worries," he laughs lightly. 
We both go back to the conference room with our things and look over all of the images.  They did come out really well—better than I expected.  I honestly can't believe that's me... I mean, it does look like me but like the best pictures I've ever taken.  I've always only liked pictures I've taken of myself—thinking that I wasn't very photogenic but I guess that's not the case.  I observe that I posed well, remembering how to move myself for more flattering images. It was something I actually had to think about since I'm usually the one giving instruction. We select several pictures—for the album cover and promotional material.  We thank everyone here and shake their hands.  Missy seems pleased with the photos and thanks us for coming out on such short notice.  I smile and tell her it was no problem.  Simon says he'll see me on Monday. 
We wave goodbye to everyone and walk out—Jai carrying the majority of everything, me carrying a bag with my wet clothes.