Kaycee raced around her kitchen, her phone resting in the crook of her neck as she listened to the boy on the other end.
"So you have another shoot today?" Jack asked hesitantly, his voice raspy.
Kaycee sighed, packing the sandwich she'd just made into a small backpack cooler. "Mhm, with Sean. Just so you know."
Jack chuckled, "I know. You told me yesterday, and the day before that."
"And you're okay with that?" Kaycee asked incredulously.
"As long as you're not lying to me, I'm happy for you."
And as long as you don't act like a jealous prick, I'm happy she thought. She didn't dare say that, though. Things between the two had been oddly nice the past couple of days. Jack reached out to her more and their conversations felt normal, not forced.
And then he dropped the bomb. "Will you come over tomorrow? Or, you know, I could come see you if that works better." He asked confidently.
Kaycee stopped what she was doing to grab the phone with her hand, the conversation suddenly taking a more serious turn. "I'm not sure, Jack-"
"Kayc, it's been weeks. We can't avoid each other forever. Things have been better lately." He pleaded on the other end of the line.
She took a deep breath, weighing her options carefully. Unfortunately for her, her phone beeped, indicating that someone else was trying to call her at that moment. Assuming it was Sean letting her know he was almost to her place to pick her up, she knew she had to give Jack an answer now.
She bit the bullet, "Yeah, come over tomorrow afternoon. I have to go, I'll see you." She pressed the 'end and accept' button and placed the phone back up to her ear.
"What do you want, Shamu?" She joked, racing to the fridge and pulling out two waters.
"Oh how I've missed you, too." He laughed on the other end, "I almost thought you weren't going to pick up."
Kaycee snorted, "You interrupted another phone call, you're lucky I chose you instead."
"I'm honored." He said, sarcasm lacing his voice. "But anyway, my mom is about to pull into your driveway, just to warn you."
Kaycee glanced at the clock on the wall, her face morphing into a frown. "You're ten minutes early! I don't even know if my mom is ready yet."
"We're in your driveway, if you're not out here in two minutes I'm coming in there and dragging you out." He mumbled, hanging up immediately after.
Kaycee groaned, Sean always tried to be early, she knew that, but it still bothered her. She was the kind of person to be right on time, but Sean hated feeling rushed, so she'd have to make sacrifices for him not to complain.
Laura raced down the stairs moments later, her purse and phone in hand and a smile on her face. "I heard they're early?"
Kaycee laughed, pulling the small cooler from the counter and slipping on her shoes. "He probably told Miya they had to be here half an hour ago so they'd get here on time." She joked, pushing the front door open and holding it for her mom.
Laura followed her outside, laughing along with her daughter. Sean saw them exit the house and jumped out of the passenger seat and sat himself in the back. Laura graciously took the seat beside Miya and Kaycee slid her way into the seat beside Sean.
"How'd you get her to be early?" Kaycee teased, nodding her head toward Miya as she buckled herself in.
Sean shrugged, "She thinks we're late. I told her we were supposed to be here five minutes ago."
"Damn," Kaycee muttered, "you only had to trick her fifteen minutes this time, I'm impressed."
"I'm impressed I didn't have to drag you out of the house by your hair." Sean mocked, reaching over and tugging at a small strand of her hair.
She swatted his hand away, leaning further away from him. "We barely made it out of my driveway and you're already bullying me."
"Quit your whining." Sean scolded, rolling his eyes.
Kaycee shook her head, moving herself back toward the middle of her own seat, lying her head back on the headrest. She closed her eyes, humming to the music and listening to the faint sounds of the tires on asphalt as they drove into Downtown Los Angeles.
****
"I'm sweating and we haven't even done anything yet." Kaycee whined, pulling at the sleeves of the green jacket she was wearing.
"Shhh," Sean whispered, putting his index finger up to his lip. "It can't be that bad, Kayc. You're being overdramatic."
"This sweater is itchy and I'm wearing layers of long-sleeves in Los Angeles." Kaycee muttered, sticking her bottom lip out in a pout.
Sean shrugged, "At least your shoes look cool." He said, pointing to the white patterned heels on her feet. "And besides, he said there's like, what? Three different outfits or something? You won't be in that for too long."
"More than three, definitely more than three." Kaycee mumbled, walking over to where Romy was setting up.
Sean followed, resisting the urge to push the hair out of his eyes that had just been styled. He stood beside Kaycee, who was listening to Romy's directions carefully. He had the two of them in a secluded alley in Downtown LA, which seemed like an odd choice at first, but the two trusted his vision.
"I want the two of you over here, both of you stand on this wood plank." Romy said, pointing toward the wood slats he had just set up. "I want Kaycee on the more elevated side with one foot up on that- yep, just like that-and I want your arm over Sean's shoulder-"
Sean stayed still while Romy poked and prodded Kaycee, getting her to move around just where he wanted her. When Romy made his way over to Sean, his instructions were a lot less complex.
"Just turn your body away from her- yes exactly- and have your arm out straight- perfect! Don't move!" He barked, running backward to get the shot.
This went on for several more photos until he decided that it was time to change up the wardrobe a little bit. Kaycee was relieved, the sweater was starting to become itchy and the heels were giving her blisters.
When she appeared several minutes later, she had a blue collared dress on under a blue kimono and tall suede brown boots. Sean was her polar opposite; red shirt with a grey jacket and black sweatpants, something he typically wore anyway.
"Don't you own half of those clothes already?" Kaycee sassed, placing her hands on her hips.
Sean looked her up and down, a devilish grin appearing on his face. "Is that supposed to be a dress? It looks more like an oversized shirt to me."
"Says the boy who wears dresses for shirts all the time." Kaycee rebutted, "Maybe try buying some clothes that fit for once."
Sean winced, clutching his chest. "I've been shot!" He mock-yelled, dramatically kneeling to the ground.
Kaycee reached down and grabbed his arm with two hands, pulling him up to a standing position. "Let's go, drama queen. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can go to dinner."
Sean complied, letting her drag him toward Romy's new setup. He stood in front of a graffitied concrete wall, staring at it as though it held the secrets to the universe. The two stood side by side waiting for instructions, Kaycee tugging at the buttons on her dress.
"Alright." Romy spoke quietly, pointing his index finger at Kaycee. "I want you leaning on the wall right here-"
He turned and waved for Sean to join him. "And I want you facing her. This is a little different-" He paused, pointing the strings that hung down from Sean's sweatpants. "Put the two ends in your mouth."
Sean couldn't help himself, he cocked his head and knitted his brows together. "What?"
"I told you it's different. Just do it." Romy answered, urging him with his hand to continue, which Sean did. "Now give her this string."
Kaycee, who had been laughing at the spectacle in front of her stopped and mirrored Sean's face, her brows furrowed. "Me?" She asked quietly, pointing to herself.
"Who else would I be talking about?" Romy asked incredulously, pulling the string in Kaycee's direction until she took it. "And Sean, you pull this string backward toward your shoulder- like that yes. And put your foot up on the wall right beside her head with your knee bent."
It took Sean several futile attempts to kick his leg up to the wall without falling over and taking Kaycee with him. Once he finally did, Romy adjusted the two of them quickly and stepped back to take the shot.
"Why ith der a tring in my mouf?" Sean whispered to Kaycee as Romy moved to various places for different angles.
Kaycee snorted, trying to keep her composure. "Shut up, we're almost done. Don't ruin the shot or else we'll have to do it again." She muttered through gritted teeth.
"That looks great, come here!" Romy exclaimed from his squatted position on the ground.
Kaycee let go of the string and watch in amusement as Sean wriggled his foot down from the wall, trying not to fall over in the process. Once he made it down safely and unscathed, much to Kaycee's dismay, they trotted over to the photographer, leaning over his shoulder to take a look at what he captured.
"That actually looks a lot better than it felt." Sean admitted, squatting down further to get a better look.
Kaycee nodded, "I like that a lot." She took in all of the details carefully, admiring the work. She giggled and pointed to Sean's supporting foot in the photo, which was completely off the ground, his weight only on the tops of his toes. "And that's why I call you golden toes, by the way."
"Yeah, I got it the first hundred times you said it to me." Sean mumbled, pushing himself up off of his knees so he was standing again.
"There's harmony in tension." Romy stated mindlessly, standing himself up as well.
For some reason, that statement hit a little too close to home in Kaycee's mind. She glanced over to Sean to see him already looking at her, an unfamiliar glint in his eyes. She turned back around, waiting for instructions on what to do next.
Thankfully, Romy wanted some solo shots, and Kaycee would have a few minutes to calm her racing heart. She knew his comment was about the photo, but she couldn't ignore the tension between herself and Sean recently. It wasn't bad tension, but there was definitely something changing, something was bubbling up to the surface.
She allowed herself to overthink while Romy barked orders at her, telling her where to put her hands, her feet, where he wanted her to look. She complied robotically, allowing her body to do all the work while her brain was somewhere else.
"I think we're good with these clothes." Romy paused, inhaling deeply. "Yeah, go back to Erica and have her give you the next ones."
The two nodded and made their way over to Erica, who had been styling them all afternoon. Kaycee entered the small room they had been using for wardrobe changes and slid her new clothes on, along with a new pair of heels that she could tell would leave her with more blisters. She stepped outside and Sean stepped in after her, not even making a snarky comment about the clothes she was wearing, which so obviously didn't match that it was almost painful. She ambled over to where the photographer stood, right where they had taken the 'harmony in tension' photo, but this time, his camera was facing the door, not the concrete wall.
"There's one more wardrobe change after this one, and then you guys are done." He said, focusing on his camera, not making eye contact with Kaycee.
She only nodded, turning around when she heard footsteps behind her. Sean smiled lightly and stood beside her. He poked her side gently, earning a confused look from the girl.
"Why do we match?" Sean asked, pointing to both of their pink tops and green pants. "And more importantly, why these colors?"
I guess we're forgetting about the harmony in tension comment Kaycee thought. She turned to face him now, giving him a lazy shrug. "No clue. Romy said there was only one more wardrobe change after this and then we're done." She whispered.
The remainder of the shoot went smoothly, Romy even letting the two take charge of a few photos, which turned out much more silly than the rest. Kaycee waited in the car for Sean to change back into the clothes he came in. Romy had packed up his things and said his goodbyes several minutes ago.
A few minutes later, Sean emerged and climbed into the seat beside Kaycee, who was already on her phone, responding to Jack's texts from hours ago.
"How are things going with him, by the way?" Sean asked, leaning over to look at her phone screen.
Kaycee sighed. "I'm supposed to see him tomorrow. He's coming to my place."
"Oh," Sean spoke, pushing himself back up and buckling himself in. He waited another several seconds before speaking again. "That's a good sign, right?"
Kaycee paused, feeling a familiar pit forming in her stomach. She wasn't sure if it was good or not. She hadn't really thought about it yet, since she had barely even had time to answer his question earlier.
She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."
"Hey," He said, poking her arm harshly, "Look at me."
Kaycee tilted her head to meet Sean's eyes, which were wide with concern. She hummed a response, waiting for him to continue.
"Whatever happens, it'll be okay." He spoke quietly, almost so quietly that Kaycee couldn't hear him. "And I'm here for you, you know. Don't worry about it."
"Easier said than done." Kaycee replied with a smile, a genuine one. "But thank you. I know you'll always be here."
Sean returned her smile, ruffling her hair gently. He rested his hand on her head for a moment too long, staring into her hazel eyes. He quickly turned his face back toward the window, looking at the moon and the stars above.
As horrible as it was, he hoped Kaycee and Jack would end things tomorrow, but something in his gut told him he'd have to wait longer. And he was willing to wait, but he knew the longer he waited, the more his heart would break.
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Author's Note: Hello! I hope you like this chapterrrr,
I have a test tomorrow and a test friday. If I don't update after this just assume that I'm dead. No I'm just kidding, but I'm really nervous lol.