"So you and Scott had a fight, but you're not fighting anymore?" Jasper wonders on Monday morning as we're walking to class as I try to explain to him the whole situation that had happened with Scott.
I nod with a small shrug. "Kind of. It wasn't that much of a fight, he was just in a bad mood and unintentionally took it out on me so then he came back to apologize and boy, did he apologize."
"Gross," He jokes.
I hold up the golden band with the star and moon on it that's still dangling on my wrist. "I'm talking about my bracelet, your mind is in the gutter."
Jasper scoffs and wraps an arm around my shoulders. "Like you didn't mess around too."
"We didn't have sex if that's what you're insinuating," I inform him as we get into the classroom for our Observational Drawing class. Jasper still hates that class although I try to help him through it as much as I can without actually doing the work for him. He's not that bad of a drawer, he just refuses to believe that he can draw and I don't know why.
"That is what I was insinuating. Why didn't you though?"
I shrug. "We did other things. But long story short is that we're fine now. And I need to find a film major to help me put this video together."
"I don't think that I personally know any film majors. Do you?" He asks me.
I shake my head. "There's one in my public speaking class but he's kind of a dick. I also want it to be a girl for multiple reasons, so I'll figure it out. I have a plan."
"Should I be scared?"
"No, stupid. It's a brilliant plan," I roll my eyes at him and then class begins so we have to stop talking so that we can pay attention to the lecture. After our class together, I tell Jasper that I must go into action with my plan and he doesn't want to get involved so I bid him a goodbye and head to the third floor of the building where I just so happen to know that there's a third level film course starting at nine o'clock this morning and it's almost nine now. Third level is juniors so they're pretty talented with film by now, obviously, and the junior level film students have a film festival coming up soon. Yeah, I really did my research.
I wait outside of the classroom sitting on a bench until it's almost nine. Luckily, the professor isn't in the room yet, so when I walk into the room, it's a full room of students, but I'll have uninterrupted attention for what I have to say.
"Excuse me," I interrupt everybody's pre-class conversations and they all look up at me expectantly. I offer them a broad smile in return. "Hi there. My name is Jo and I need some help. Who wants to use the power of film to destroy somebody's career?"
It's kind of sad that almost over half of the students in the room raised their hands. A heartless bunch I have here. Perfect.
Grinning, I continue. "Awesome. So here's the criteria: Must be female. Must be good with film, that's a given. I'm too broke to pay you with money but you can use this project in the film festival if you really want to. You will also be rewarded with free food and the satisfaction of taking down a horrible person from a position of power. Anybody?"
About half of the people were weeded out just by the gender requirement, a few of them quit when they heard that I wouldn't pay them, but still after everything I just said, there were five girls with their hands up.
"May I ask who you're trying to take out?" One of the girls asks me.
"Sebastian King," I tell them, my voice quiet. "I trust you all to keep the secret, that'd be much appreciated."
"I want to do it," A girl in the back said and everybody turned to look at her. "My sister worked for him a few years ago. I know why you're trying to take him out and I want to help."
"Okay," I confirm and then I hand the girl a piece of paper with my number on it and we spend a few moments scheduling to meet for lunch later today so that we can talk about the film thing and then I disappear right as the professor walks in.
The film student, who I learned is named Abby, meets me at the deli across the street at 12:30 which is when we agreed to meet, and we get a seat in the small deli with our sandwiches to converse.
"So you know what he does?" I ask her, remembering what she said back in the classroom.
She nods. "I do. My sister told me everything after the fact. How he used her for sex just so that she could get ahead in the class. My parents are really uppity and they pressure us a lot about our art and she did it just to please our parents so she wasn't all that great at it but she still wanted to please them so she thought that she didn't have a choice."
"What's your sister's name?" I ask her, pulling out the file from my bag that holds the list of the names from Sebastian's computer.
"Lissa," She tells me and I nod, seeing her name on the list with a Y next to her name. "How'd you find out about this anyway? Is he doing this to you?"
"He tried to," I explain. "But I declined the offer and I don't want him to be able to do this to anybody else ever."
"Good. I hope that we really nail this guy, he absolutely ruined my sister. I mean, she was highly accredited when she was here but when she graduated, not only did she absolutely hate herself for what she did with Sebastian but her work wasn't as good as people had expected it to be without Sebastian's good word or strong helping hand, so she failed in her career too, so it was all for no reason."
"We will take him down," I assure her and then I explain to her the plan that I have for the film and how I plan to use it. The interviews that I'm going to do and all of that stuff.
"I think it's brilliant," Abby grins at me. "Just let me know what you need and I'm there."
"Do you have access to a studio?" I wonder curiously.
"I do at school but we have to log our hours and what project we're working on. If one of the film professors notices that we're investigating Dr. King, they could tip him off. So it's not best for the secrecy thing," She explains. "I have the equipment to create a studio, I just would need the space."
"We can use my apartment then," I decide. "I'm not sure when we'll do it, though, but just give me your number and I'll keep you posted. And if you have any ideas that you want to give, I'd be welcome to suggestions."
"Got it, I'll try to think of stuff," She pipes. "And I think that Lissa will be so happy to hear that somebody is finally standing up to the guy. I think that all of the girls that he's done this to will feel grateful."
"I hope so," I sigh. "I just don't want him to get away with it any longer. Anyway, I'm going to start calling people tomorrow to set up an interview time so now that I'm thinking about it this might be better, let's agree on a date now. Are you free next weekend?"
Abby pulls out her phone and checks her calendar, I assume, before nodding. "Sure, next weekend works."
We talk about some more stuff and I try to explain to her as much as I can and then while eating, we build a schedule for how the weekend will go.
I met with Riley yesterday and she also agreed to come back for an interview a long as she's censored. Almost all of the people that I called agreed to meet for an interview, actually, which is really good but that also means that it'll take a long time to get through all of the interviews so we'll have to plan it out really well so that we can get all of them done during one weekend.
After everything is planned out between Abby and I, we finish eating and then say our goodbyes before I make my way back to the apartment.
"Jo, I need your help with this," Jasper tells me when I get into the living room with his sketch pad on his lap.
"You haven't finished that drawing project yet?" I wonder with raised eyebrows. "Jas, that's due on Wednesday."
"I'm aware. That's why I'm asking for your help," He explains, rolling his eyes at me. I toss my bag down and make my way over to him to look down at his sketch pad.
"That's a good start," I assure him. "Just keep going."
"That's the best advice that you can give me?" He wonders exasperatedly.
"You're too hard on yourself," I say with a small laugh. "Jasper, just keep going. Really, it looks good."
"Fine. Be that way," He jokingly shoves me before he goes back to his sketch book. "Oh, and I'm staying with Conner tonight if you want to bring Scott over."
"Still not your boyfriend?" I ask him as I grab a snack from the kitchen and then head upstairs.
"Still not my boyfriend," He confirms with a long sigh.
"Ever going to be your boyfriend or are you two still allergic to labels?" I wonder down to him from my room as I text Scott and tell him that he can spend the night tonight or at least stay late and we'll have some privacy. He was going to come over anyway but now that we'll have the apartment to ourselves, that puts a change in the plans, I think.
"I'm not sure anymore."
"Trouble in paradise?" I ask curiously, changing out of my clothes from school and into pajama shorts and a tank top.
"Not really," Jasper assures me but he doesn't seem too convinced. "I just don't think that Conner and I are going to last very much longer."
"Continue."
"He just doesn't want to get tied down is all," He explains. "And I don't want to share."
"Well, maybe it'll be good for you, you know. To like, play the field a little bit before you're fully committed all the way through the college experience," I say to him, opening up my laptop and texting back and forth with Scott who tells me that he'll be here soon.
"That's so hypocritical of you, Jo," Jasper says with a small laugh.
"I know that," I agree. "But it's just something to think about. I don't know, just do whatever makes you happy."
"Sure. Well, I guess we'll see," He mumbles and then I hear him closing his sketch book. "Fuck it, I'll finish it tomorrow."
"Don't give up on your sketch, Jas, just get it over with now," I tell him with a small laugh.
"Nope. I've already closed the sketchbook. I'm just going to head over to Conner's, he'll be out of class soon," Jasper decides, sounding very grumpy now.
"Have fun," I sing as I hear him shuffling around downstairs before he bids me a goodbye and then he's leaving the apartment to go spend the night with his not-boyfriend. I hope that they work everything out, I really like Conner and I really like Jasper being happy.
I have the slight suspicion that tonight is the night that Scott and I have sex. I mean, we did it in the tree house when we first got together but that doesn't count because it was a pent up emotion type of thing, not really an 'I love you' type of thing. But it was still really amazing that night in the tree house, which makes me incredibly excited for tonight because I'm sure that tonight, it'll be even better.
And so I start cleaning up my room, I make my bed and I put all of my dirty clothes in the hamper and I organize the top of my dresser so that it looks neat. When there's a knock on the door, my room looks almost as clean as it did the first week that we moved here.
I welcome Scott into the apartment with a grin.
"Hey," I greet him with a soft kiss on his lips. "How was your day?"
"It's only halfway over," He chuckles, walking into the living room with me. "But it's been alright, considering it's a Monday. What about yours?"
"Alright," I sigh. "I met with a junior film student today and we have a plan for the film. And I've started brainstorming a collection that I'll submit for the winter expo."
"So you've decided that you're going to try for the winter expo?" He wonders.
I nod in confirmation and I lead Scott up to my room. "Yeah, I think so. I haven't decided yet but either way, I want to have a collection planned. The deadline is next month so I've got to get a move on if I do decide to submit something though."
"I think you should do it. You had such a great time at the fall one," He reminds me. "And your room looks really clean."
"Yeah, I cleaned it. But even if I submit something, I probably won't get in with Sebastian still on the board with a credible opinion. Since I turned him down, he'll probably put in a terrible recommendation," I mumble.
"Which is why you need to take him down as well," He says with a grin. "And if anybody can do it, it's definitely you."
"Thank you," I giggle, pressing his lips to his only momentarily. "But I don't want to think about the Sebastian stuff. I put it all off until tomorrow so that we can spend today completely Sebastian-free. But, I do need to use you for a photography project."
"What's the project?" He wonders suspiciously.
I grin at him. "Nothing bad. Just portraits. Really simple stuff."
"Why me though?" Scott asks me as I grab my camera from beside my dresser.
"Because I already have shots of Jasper and Haven and you're here and I need a model and you're the most beautiful model that I have so it's gotta be you," I pipe. "You just have to sit down, smile and look pretty."
"Look pretty. Got it."
Grinning at him, I point to the chair in the corner of my room and use my red curtains as the backdrop. "I could add some makeup to make your eyes pop."
"Or, you can just use your fancy Photoshop because I love you to death but I'm not putting on makeup," He tells me, sitting down in the chair as I adjust my camera's f-stop and aperture for the room's lighting. I use one of my big flashes that connect to the top of the camera and then stand in front of him and look through the window of my DSLR camera to zoom in on Scott's beautiful face and shoulders.
"You're no fun," I accuse him, snapping the first picture as a test shot without warning him.
"If you can make skin crackle, I think that you can manage to make somebody's eyes pop a bit," He chuckles. "And at least warn me."
"Absolutely no fun at all," I giggle, adjusting the f-stop some more on my camera. "Okay, are you ready this time?"
"Yes, I'm ready now," He confirms with a nod.
I count down from three and he smiles at the camera as I push the shutter and it snaps a picture before it shows up on the screen of my camera. "There you go," I chirp teasingly. "Smile again."
And when I tell him to smile, that, of course, makes him not smile. He scrunches his face up like an angry little kid as I take the picture and I laugh again.
"That works too, if you're trying to look like an adorably angry kitten," I tell him, holding the camera up again. "Just look normal, Scotty."
"I thought that was normal," He jokes. "That's how I smile."
And then he gives me another smile and I snap another picture. "Well, it's gorgeous. Just a few more."
I snap another picture and he changes his facial expression again.
"Work it!" I joke with a laugh, taking a few more shots of my gorgeous boyfriend.
After a few more pictures, I put the camera down on the corner of my bed. "Are you done?" He wonders.
I shake my head and walk toward him. "No, but you gotta stand up now."
"Okay then..." He trails off, obviously confused but he still stands up. I move the chair away from the curtain backdrop before walking back to Scott. I grin at him as I tug upward on the hem of his shirt and he raises his arms to lift his shirt over his head and let it fall to the ground. "You did this with Jasper and Haven too?"
"No," I offer him an innocent smile and then I kiss his lips as my hands travel down the toned muscles in his chest and then when my fingertips reach the top of his jeans, I flick the button and undo the zipper just a little bit undone but I don't actually take his pants off or anything. "This one is for my personal collection."
"I want one," He decides as I step back and grab my camera from the bed.
"That's a little conceited but I'll send you a copy," I giggle even though I know that's not what he meant by that, holding the camera up to my eye so that I can make sure that I can get Scott' full beautiful frame in the shot. "Look sexy."
"I don't know how to do that," He says with a chuckle.
"Oh, sweetie," I sigh teasingly. "Okay, first of all, I know that you know how to look sexy. Second of all, I'll humor you anyway. Hook your thumbs in your belt loops, straighten your elbows, bite your lip. Look adorable and mess up your hair a little bit."
He does all of these things and my heart starts to palpitate and my face reddens. I take a few pictures before I put it down and walk back to Scott and tug his pants down just a little bit to show the first inch or so of his boxer-briefs.
"Hanes," I read the logo on the band. "It's no Calvin Klein but it'll do."
"It's also ten times cheaper, don't make fun of me," Scott defends and I can't help but laugh a little bit. He's so adorable.
I turn back around and take a few more pictures before my ovaries explode and then I finally put my camera down for the last time and put my camera down on my dresser by the camera bag.
"So we're done now?" He wonders with a handsome laugh as he fixes his pants and I walk back over to him.
"Yes, we're done," I giggle, wrapping my arms around his bare waist and kissing his lips. "But you don't get your shirt back."
"Alright then, weirdo," Scott chuckles, wrapping his arm around my waist.
"I'm not weird," I deny. "You just have such a level of attractiveness that you just should never be allowed to wear a shirt in my presence. I think that it should be a law."
"Okay, but you're incredibly attractive too so does that mean that it should also be illegal for you to keep your shirt on?" He wonders with raised eyebrows.
"I guess that would make sense," I nod with a small grin. "But I'm not as easy to persuade as you are."
"I guess we'll see."
And then, naturally, that leads into an intense make out session on my bed. Of course, he wins the debate about my shirt and it joins his on the ground. I can feel our make out starting to turn into something more as it grows heated and Scott starts moving his hand toward the draw string in my shorts.
I don't have a problem with that at all until I remember something very important.
"Wait," I say quickly, pulling my lips away from his even though that's a very hard thing to do. "I almost forgot that I have something for you. I didn't plan on using it today but since Jasper isn't here, I say we go for it."
"What is it? Should I be scared?" Scott wonders jokingly as he sits up, rolling off of me and then I sit up too.
"Possibly," I say with a breathy laugh, standing up from the bed. "You have to go downstairs though, I'll let you know when it's ready."
He gives me a curious look and I just grin at him. Something tells me that he has a good idea as to what's going on but he just shrugs and then kisses my cheek before disappearing downstairs. Once I know that he's really gone, I go into my underwear drawer and pull out the brand new lingerie that I'd bought at the store yesterday when I was with Haven. It is a lot more risqué than anything I'd ever worn before so I'm a bit nervous about wearing it but I thought that it'd be nice to surprise him with it for our first (second) time.
I wore a dark red bra top with black lace covering the boobs and it left about a five inch gap between the bra and the girdle (weird word but it looks pretty nice), which was high waisted and the same red color as the top with triangles of black lace on the sides. The dark red and black lace pattern is continued in the front of the thong, which is visible under the girdle because it's so short, and the garters run down my leg until they clasp onto the top of the lacy band on top of my sheer black stockings.
To top it off, I slide on my highest black high heels so that I resemble a high end hooker and with the subtle makeup touches to be convincing. I hope that it isn't too much or maybe I look too much like a hooker and maybe that's a turn off or something for Scott. I don't know.
"Okay, I'm ready. Just close your eyes when you come up the stairs," I say, using a lighter to ignite the candle on my dresser that smells like cupcakes and I dim the lights just a little bit when I hear his footsteps.
"Alright, I'm coming up but I'm blaming you if I trip because I can't see," He jokes as he starts moving up the stairs and then when he steps into the room, I take his hand and lead him near the bed so that he doesn't fall off of the loft and then into Jasper's room because that'd put a damper on this whole 'setting the mood' thing.
"Okay," I breathe a little nervously. "Don't laugh."
"I won't," Scott assures me, squeezing my hand a little bit for some more reassurance. "Can I open my eyes yet?"
"No," I decide, placing his hand on my waist where there's a gap between the girdle and bra so his hand is on my bare skin. "I'm a little scared that you won't like it."
I'm watching his eyes like a hawk, making sure that he doesn't open them, and his hand moves from my waist, feeling the fabric that's barely covering my body and I watch as a smile starts to form on his lips. "I think that there's about a negative eight-thousand percent chance that I won't like it."
I step closer to him so that his arm snakes around my waist and I press my lips to his for a short kiss. "I love you. Madly," I whisper against his lips.
"I love you too, Joey," He assures me.
"You can open your eyes now," I mutter, my voice quiet and strangled as I grow a bit more nervous.
His eyes flicker open and they meet mine for a short moment before he steps back and spends a large amount of time looking below my eyes. I blush but I can't look away from him because with the way that he's looking at me, it's intoxicating. He's looking at me like I've been hand cut from diamond, made just for him.
"You like it?"
He nods a little bit but he doesn't make any verbal affirmation.
I walk over to my dresser where my camera is still sitting and I flick it on before stepping up to Scott and I put the camera in his hands. "You have to look through this glass window to get the shot and then push this button all the way down until you hear the click."
Scott gives me a confused look as I step away from him. "What?"
I offer him a wide grin and a light blush before saying, "For your personal collection."
"Oh. Shit, Joey."
He seems incredulous but he still lifts the camera to his face and starts snapping pictures. I giggle and pose, knowing that if I don't like the pictures, I can just delete them later instead of printing them out. "I thought it seemed fair," I say when he puts the camera down.
"Completely fair."
And then he kisses me like I have never been kissed before.
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Song: We'll Be A Dream by We The Kings (Feat. Demi Lovato)
Picture: Fan cover by SarcasticandStubborn