returning home // simon minter

II

"Morning Kira" I say walking past my boss's office.

"Morning Kendall" She replies and I make my way towards my office. Walking through the door I go over to my desk and check my calendar. After reading it I check the time to see I have only a few minutes to get to where I need to be. Making my way out of the office I remember the way, that Kira showed me yesterday while doing the tour, to studio one.

Stepping out of the lift I walk down the hall a bit before finding the room labeled 'Studio One' and walk inside. "Hello Dan" I say greeting the camera man I'll be working with today.

"Hi Kendall. Today we'll be working with a group of seven boys. They're promoting their new merchandise. Try to keep it professional" He replies making me blush from embarrassment. "I know how 20 year-olds work. We've all been there" Dan laughs before turning back to the setup. Going around the room I make sure there is water and snacks for them during breaks. Seeing a box of clothes I make my way over there and pick up a shirt. Looking it over there's a red box with big white block writing in the middle reading 'SDMN'.

"Dan who's SDMN?" I ask walking back to the front of the setup. Noticing he's talking to someone I put my hand over my mouth knowing I messed up. Dan and the boy look over at me stopping mid-conversation. The boy smiles at me before answering.

"It stands for Sidemen. Me and six of my other friends are known as Sidemen on YouTube. I'm Tobi" He answers holding out his hand for me to shake.

"Kendall" I reply shaking his hand. I leave Dan and Tobi to talk while I walk back behind the setup. Opening each of the boxes I pull out different coloured sweatshirts, joggers, and shirts. Laying them out I hear the door open again meaning the rest of the boys are here. Leaving the boxes of clothes I make my way to the group of eight standing around talking.

"And this is Kendall. She'll be helping me out today" Dan says as I walk up next to him I scan the group of faces one in particular sticking out. Each of the boys introduce themselves and I try my best to pay attention not wanting them to question me. Looking towards the seventh boy he makes eye contact with me.

"Simon" He says quietly and I break eye contact before anyone notices. Remembering Dan's orders from earlier I remind myself over and over again not wanting to loose my job on the second day.

"Okay I'll start with JJ, Ethan, Josh and Vikk. Kendall I'll let you take over finishing Simon, Harry and Tobi. Then we'll do group pictures" Dan says scanning the room making sure everyone agrees. We all nod and the boys go behind the setup to decide who's wearing what. Watching Simon walk behind the setup I hear Dan cough making me look back at him. "Remember what I said."

"It's not that. I just know him from somewhere, but can't remember from where" I lie and Dan nods walking over to the camera. Sitting down in front of it he makes sure everything is working perfectly. The boys come back out and JJ stands in front of the white background waiting for further instructions.

Once JJ, Ethan, Josh and Vikk are finished Dan lets them take a ten minute break. Walking over to the table I grab seven waters and hand them out to each of them. "Don't mess up my pictures or you'll be in trouble" Tobi says as I hand him a water.

"Well my boss did say I was below average on taking them, but she felt bad for me so gave me the job anyways" I reply sarcastically making him laugh.

"I'll be the judge of that." Leaving to go help Dan I spot Simon staring at me with a hurt look on his face. Ignoring it I walk over to Dan seeing him look through the pictures he's taken so far. Joining him I look through many different pictures of the four boys noticing how attractive they all really are.

Once we finish looking through all the pictures Dan tells the boys we'll start back up with Simon. I take over Dan's seat and he leans against the chair like I did while he took pictures of the other boys. Simon comes out from behind the setup wearing a shirt like the red block one, but with green as the background. He stands in front of the camera and looks at Dan. "Blow a kiss at the camera!" JJ yells laughing soon after. Simon glares at him making him laugh even more.

"Come on make those Simon girls die from reading our book" Josh adds earning a chuckle from the other boys. After a few minutes of debate the six boys win causing Simon to groan. He does the pose and I snap the picture watching it come up on the screen.

"Oh that's cute" I say making the group of boys laugh. I continue on finishing the last of the three boys liking how they turned out. Once I finish up Tobi the group crowds around the computer to look through the individual pictures. After looking through them and the boys picking out their favourites we leave them to go change as I put their favourite ones into a new folder.

About ten minutes later the group of boys come walking back out front each wearing a different kind of sweatshirt. Dan leaves going to grab something the boys requested for the group pictures leaving me alone. "Kendall" I hear making me turn to be faced with Simon.

"Yeah Simon?"

"Um can we talk after you uh get off work?" Simon asks rubbing the back of his neck looking down at the ground. I think about it for a few minutes as the boy I left years ago stands in front of me more nervous than he was when he asked me to be his girlfriend.

"Um uh yeah I guess we could" I mock making him look up at me with a smile on his face. Dan comes back through the door carrying one end of a black leather couch. Standing up I watch him and my co-worker Conor set the couch down in front of the camera. "I thought you didn't work today" I say walking away from Simon's side up to him.

"I don't. Just came to deliver this" Conor replies pointing to the couch. "See you tomorrow" He says pulling me into a hug and waving towards Dan. I turn back around seeing Simon look at me with a hurt expression. Simon leaves walking over to the boys as they talk about how their going to do the group pictures.

Finishing up we do the last picture and I start to look through the group pictures letting the boys pick out their favourites once again. "Is Vikk holding his own hand?" Ethan laughs and I zoom in on the picture seeing he is.

"That's going on the front of the book" Harry says and the boys agree.

"What's the book about?" I ask adding their favourites to the already made folder.

"Our lives. How the seven of us became known as the Sidemen. Our YouTube channel. Pretty much everything about us" Vikk explains. Leaving the conversation at that I start to put all the equipment away while Dan works with the boys. Turning off the lights I go behind the setup and seeing the shirts they used laying on the ground. Shaking my head I bend down picking up each of the different pieces of clothing.

"You know we could've done this ourselves" Simon says as I fold up the clothes placing them back in the boxes.

"It will go faster if I do it. We all know that" I reply causing him to chuckle. "When did you start this whole YouTube thing?" I ask putting the last of the clothes in the box.

"A year after you left for California. How was it?"

"It was fun. I loved it there, but it wasn't as great as England. I do miss my best friend, Lydia, though" I reply.

"I'm glad you're back" Simon says as the boys come walking back into the room. "Same number, right?"

"Same number. Bye Simon" I say walking over bringing him into a hug. I feel him tense at first before wrapping his arms around me laying his head on my shoulder. "I have to go otherwise I loose my job."

"Let me know when you get done and I'll come pick you up" He replies as we let go from the hug. The boys come walking over to us and I quick hand Simon one of the boxes of clothes so they don't suspect anything.

"Thanks for making my first photo-shoot fun" I say once they're all standing there.

"No problem. Thanks for not fucking up my photos" Tobi replies making me chuckle at our conversation from earlier.

"Here" JJ says throwing me a sweatshirt. "To remember us by" He winks making me laugh.

"See you around?" Simon asks as the boys all begin to grab a box as well.

"See you around" I reply looking around to each of the boys.