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She instantly lit up, meeting my gaze with a nod and a full-blown smile. “Let’s do it.”
Those last shots were all a breeze. It was easy to get great photos when the subject was having a good time. Before we knew it, the time slot was over and she headed out, leaving me to prepare for the next one.
They were loud.
Cackling and arguing as soon as they hit the door, early actually, while I was still putting things back in order. Usually no big deal, but instead of waiting at the front, I heard their voices getting louder and louder until they were at the door to the studio, watching me.
“I’ll be just a few more minutes. I’ll meet you up front,” I said, offering a polite smile with my attempt to corral them back where they should be.
“Why aren’t you ready?” the older of the pair—presumably the mother, but she didn’t appear much older than me—snapped, propping a hand on her hip. “We have an appointment.”
I kept the smile on my face as I glanced at my watch, just making sure I hadn’t gotten off track. “Yes, definitely. And we’ll start on time, in about ten minutes, per your appointment.”
“We have other things to do this evening,” she pressed. “And we’re ready to start the first shots.”
I nodded. “Excellent, so no barriers to starting right on time. And I will do my absolute best to make sure we get everything within your time slot, no overages.”
The younger of the duo, the subject, sucked her teeth. “Where is Jules? She wouldn’t be doing this,” she claimed and I knew right then she was talking out her ass.
Jules never let clients run over her and one of the last things she’d reminded me on her way out earlier was tonotlet these folks runmecrazy either.
“Jules had a scheduling conflict, as we notified everyone earlier in the afternoon,” I reminded, keeping my tone light. “I understand there are lots of nerves around this, you want everything to be perfect, tensions are high. We’re going to have a great session though. No worries. I’ll see you two up front.”
“Make sure that BSU shit is put away,” the mother huffed, turning to leave the doorway.
I… couldn’t front.
Everything else I could be calm about, but what thefuckwas her problem with my alma mater?!
I quickly realized she just had a problem with everything.
And she’d passed that trait down to her daughter as well, which was disappointing.
Every pose was wrong, every angle was wrong, the backdrop was wrong, the lighting was wrong, the outfits were wrong, the hair was wrong, the makeup was wrong.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
So much time was spent nitpicking that getting everything on my shot list meant eating through the thirty minutes of buffer between appointments. And they would’ve encroached even further into the next time slot—after acting as if theirs was sacred—if I hadn’t insisted otherwise.
Well… by that point I wasn’t arguing anymore.
I simply put the camera down and walked out, knowing I needed to show my face to the next set of people waiting for me.
“This place istrash,” the mother insisted from behind me, following me up front. “I’m going to write the council about it, you can’t treat people like—”
“Kyir?”
He looked up from his conversation with the young girl beside him to give me a diamond-adorned grin that hit me squarely between the legs.
It wasnotright for him to look this damn good, especially in sweats and a tee shirt. But he just… had this presence about him that elevated everything, so I shouldn’t have been surprised.
“Kyir?!”
“Ouch!” I hissed, grabbing my shoulder as Dumb and Dumber shoved past me, rushing at Kyir. Sick satisfaction quickly replaced my annoyance when Shawn, Kyir’s security, stepped out of nowhere, stiff-arming both of them to keep them back.
“Myanna, it’s Kami! We go to school together,” the younger of the two said, speaking to the young girl Kyir had been talking to. “I just want to talk to my friend,” she pleaded with Shawn, who glanced back for an answer.
The girl, Myanna, shook her head. “Kami is a bully,notmy damn friend,” she quipped, crossing her arms.
