I Know Places

Click, Click, Click

"You know you're gonna totally slay this, right?" you tell her. You know it's lame, but you have no clue how else to start. She looks at you,the uncertainty in her eyes now stronger than ever. That is so not gonna benefit the shoot. At all.

"Hey, hey. You can do this." You grab both her hands without thinking, which surprises both of you. You don't drop them though, but instead you hold on tighter. Her hands are cold, but also soft and nice, and in another time you could probably appreciate them properly, but comforting Jade is your number one priority right now. "You'll be okay. The magazine chose you for a reason, okay? The editors chose you because they think you can represent the magazine well. They trust you. I trust you. And I know you trust yourself. We'll be here. I'll be here."

"I'm sorry. I'm just really overwhelmed." She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. You loosen your hold on her hand, but she's the one to tighten her hold this time. "No, no. I need a few seconds. Is this okay?"

"Of course," you tell her. You don't know where to look. You can't look at the crowd and you refuse to look up. So you look at her instead. With her eyes closed, she looks like a sleeping angel- perfect lips,perfect nose, a small, faded barely-noticeable scar on the right side of her forehead, her eyebrows slightly scrunched. For a brief millisecond, you think about waking up everyday next to that, a thought that you quickly stomp out: "No need to be creepy, Althea."

You can feel your hands getting sweaty - from the heat, or your nerves, you're not sure. But she doesn't seem to mind. For a few seconds, it feels like it's just the two of you. No pressure from the photoshoot, no staff probably gawking at you. Just you and Jade. And the beach. You cancel out the crowd's noise and focus instead on the sound of the waves crashing, one of your favorite sounds in the world, and feel your heartbeat steadying. Maybe it wasn't just Jade who needed to relax.

This goes on for what seems like an eternity but what is most probably just a few seconds. Finally, she opens her eyes and gives you this little smile. Your hands are still clasped together. "Thank you. I'm still nervous," she tells you."But you're right, I trust myself. And I trust you. We can do this together, right?"

You refuse to admit that your heart melted a little with her words. "Of course. Together."

"Girls, are you ready? Is everything okay?" Jeremy interrupts the moment. You finally (regretfully) drop Jade's hands and face Jeremy. "We need to start."

"We're good. I was just a little bit nervous," Jade answers him. "Rookie nerves and all that. I'm okay now, though. I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine. I understand,"Jeremy says. "Thank you for calming her down, Althea. Let's go?"

You start the shoot off with some test shots. Jade looks amazing, which is expected, but some of her nerves return when you start the actual photoshoot. She keeps looking at the crew gathered behind you. You honestly don't mind them – you've handled countless photoshoots in your career and you've already mastered the art of ignoring curious, boisterous crowds.They don't really bother you anymore. But they obviously bother Jade and make her more nervous than she already is.