Alright, here he was. In front of the studio where he could show off his skills and his passion for photography. He looked one last time at the piece of paper he had in his hand, checking it was the right address Jude had given him the previous evening. Nick thought he was going to get lost at a point, but he had finally made it to the place. The building seemed to be one of those where there are several different departments depending on the floor. He took a deep breath, and pushed the door, entering the tall building. He went at the reception, on his right as soon as he entered, and smiled at the receptionist.

She glanced back at him, waiting for him to tell her why he was here.

“Good morning, I’m looking for a work experience in the field of photography, and a friend of mine told me I could maybe find one here?” he said in one go, nervous and squeezing his camera hanging from his neck tightly in his hands.

The lady smiled too and then looked at her computer screen. “Give me a moment please,” she said while typing on her keyboard with her long pink fake nails., making an incredibly annoying noise. While Nick waited for her to give him a bit of attention regarding his request, he scratched his dark brown hair, matching the colour of his tanned skin. He stared at the receptionist with his dark blue eyes, and she finally lifted her head, causing the loose bangs of her bun to wave around her cheeks. She looked at him through her black glasses. “I’m so sorry,” she said, “but we don’t appear to be taking students for work experiences…”

Nick sighed and frowned. “Maybe you could call someone for me? Leo Anninger, a friend of mine knows him and-”

“Oh, I’m afraid he hasn’t arrived yet.” she cut him, obviously wanting him to leave the company as soon as possible.

She did not stop looking at him right in the eyes, but Nick didn’t give up. He was determined to stay until he talked to Leo. A few minutes passed when neither of them flinched or looked away, and then they heard a voice.

“May I know what you’re doing, Caroline?” The lady and Nick turned to the newly arrived man. Leo. “You’re supposed to do your job, which is certainly not to excessively look at this young lad.”

“Yes, I am very sorry Mr. Anninger. But you see, this person here is-”

“I know who he is.” he abruptly said, cutting her in her attempt of an explanation as an excuse. “I was informed he would be here today.” Leo looked at him from head to toes and back. “Though I didn’t expect him to come so early.”

Caroline looked down, seeming shameful, and stared at her computer screen, finding it really interesting all of a sudden. Nick tried not to smirk as Leo asked her to give him a visitor’s pass, being different from the employees’ by it’s red lanyard. The older man gestured at Nick to follow him, leading him inside the building. “Your name?” he asked when they stopped in front of a closed door.

“Nick Satchwell, sir.” the photographer said.

Leo hummed and opened the door, visibly leading to a break room, where some employees were chatting vividly with mugs of tea and coffee in their hands. The producer looked around for someone, but apparently didn’t see them as he asked to whoever would listen and reply. “Is Mister E here?”

Some of them didn’t even bother turning to him, others simply shook their heads. A ginger woman however raised her head from what appeared to be the script she was reading and smiled at the two men. “He’s already up.” she told them before focusing on the text in front of her again, pencil in hand and ready to correct anything, her coffee on the table, next to her eraser.

Leo closed the door and walked a bit further, Nick walking right behind him. They reached a staircase and started climbing the floors. After a few dozens of stairs, Nick risked speaking. “Is there not a lift here?” he asked. Silence. “It would be more practical with all the stuff carried needed for a photoshoot or filming…”

The older man sighed but kept going up. “The lift has been broken for a few weeks. Since, we all need to climb the stairs. Even with heavy equipment.” He smirked. “There is only one who isn’t bothered by this at all since he was always climbing up to the very top every single day.”

Nick was impressed. Who was crazy enough to climb this much stairs? Every day? He had already lost track of how many stairs there was, but surely there were over a hundred. He’d never felt this tired by just climbing stairs before! They finally reached the top floor after a few more minutes, and Nick resisted the will to sit down and rest. Instead, he just followed Leo through the corridors and into a dark room, where he was immediately blinded by the flashes of the cameras. Leo headed towards a tall blonde man, but Nick was more captivated by the person who was under the spotlight.

He was a boy about his age, maybe a bit younger, and he absolutely rocked in front of the camera, changing his angle of position when told to. He had blonde locks, short behind, but had a long fringe which framed his face and didn’t cover his amber eyes. When Nick looked closely, he even seemed a bit taller than him, not that it would be of any problem. The tanned boy held his own camera in front of his face, trying to capture this image and keep it forever. He zoomed on his face, and his left index pressed the button when the other boy looked at him right in the eyes, and Nick’s heartbeat accelerated.

He looked at the photo he had just taken and smiled contentedly. It was beautiful. The caption showed the blonde boy looking at his camera, a faint smile on his red lips. His hair seemed to be floating around him as he was moving his head when Nick and taken the photo. The photographer shouted to the rest of the crew that they were going to take a short break before continuing their work. Leo came to Nick alongside the blonde man he saw earlier and Nick quickly turned off his camera, hiding his precious photo. “Nick,” the man said, “My name is Edward, but you can call me Ed if you want, though everyone here calls me Mister E.”

“Pleased to meet you!” Nick replied, shaking the infamous Mister E’s hand.

“Well then, I’ll leave him in your care. I’m off.” With that said, Leo headed towards the exit and left the room. Nick and Ed exchanged a few other polite words, and then the latter started explaining to him what he was going to do during his work experience.

“First of all, I’d like to know what kind of photos you are already used to take.” he asked.

Nick told him he was used to take moving objects. He spoke about the band he usually took pictures of when they rehearsed. He also mentioned that he loved taking photos of landscapes. When he was a kid, he would always climb a hill near his grandmother’s house to capture the sunrise. He also liked snowy landscapes, because he could play with the intensity of light. Nick didn’t mention that he had already taken a photo of the young model.

“And that’s pretty much it.” he said after telling the other man about his hobby.

“It’s nice to see such a passion and devotion with people this young!” Ed said. “If you’re not bothered by it, could I have a look at some of your work?” he asked Nick. The student shook his head and handed his camera to Ed after turning it on and opening a file he didn’t mind sharing with a stranger. “Is that your own camera?” Nick nodded and smiled. “Not bad. This kind of brand is good for still images such as landscapes, which you mentioned, but can be hard to handle with moving objects.” He seemed to think for a moment while looking through the photos. “This however is some really great work. Well done.”

Nick felt praised and blushed slightly. “Thank you sir.”

Edward patted his back as pals would, gave him back his camera, and lead him towards a group of people talking about things and others. He cleared his throat and everyone turned to him.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Nick Satchwell. He will be staying with us for a while and will see how we work here. Please be nice to him and teach him well.”

The people there smiled at him, introduced themselves and told him he could come see them if he ever needed anything. Politely, he thanked them all and forced a smile. They were all nice and all, but he didn’t really like relying on others. Ed then took him apart and showed him into the room. There was a corner at the far back of the room where they stocked all the equipment needed for photo shoots, there were also big windows that let the sunlight in and which could be covered by thick, black curtains if light wasn’t needed, which was the case that day.

Ed then showed him the equipment they were using just before when he had arrived. There were all different kinds of cameras on smaller or taller tripods, depending on the angle they wanted the photo to be. There was one in the middle to take photos from the front, and two on either sides, positioned upwards and downwards. Nick was fascinated by what he had in front of him and couldn’t help but smile brightly. He felt like he was an excited kid on Christmas day, ready to open the presents he had received overnight.

He heard someone clear their throat on his back, and he turned to face the model. He had changed his clothes since the previous photoshoot: now he was wearing a swimsuit, and had a white towel around his shoulders, hence Nick could see the shape of his biceps and abdominals, and he bit his bottom lip slightly. The other boy was also wearing a pair of red sunglasses on top of his head and was chewing on some gum.

“Hi!” he said enthusiastically. “I’m Kyle.”

The boy stuck out his hand, and Nick took it, shaking it firmly. It was softer than he would have thought. “Nick.” he replied.

“It’s nice meeting you! I hope we can work well together! Are you new here? Is it your first day today?” Kyle asked.

Nick shook his head. “Not exactly. I’m a photography student at university and I’m just here for a work experience. I’ll just stay for about two weeks and then go back to my routine. I do hope to enjoy it and be of some help though!” he said.

The two smiled at each other, already feeling some sort of connection. Ed joined them and informed tham that the photoshoot would restart soon. Kyle went in front of the cameras, practising different postures as a photographs made some trials with different shutter speeds and focuses. After some time, the session started, and the ambiance became totally different. Everyone was focused on what they had to do: posing, taking the photos, fixing the lights, shouting directions, changing positions again. Nick was truly amazed by these people.

He never would have thought to enjoy taking part in a modeling photo shoot so much. He usually thought models were a bit airheaded as they’re known for posing in front a camera and nothing else. They aren’t usually studying, but this Kyle seemed smart, and Nick surprised himself when he thought how much he wanted to get to know him.

Suddenly, bits of his conversation with Jude the previous night came back to him. Not only did he find this Kyle attractive, but he also wanted to know what kind of guy he was. He had malice in his eyes, and even right now, the blonde boy was looking at him playfully. Again, he took his camera and captured this image of Kyle that no one else could see.

The photoshoot continued as Nick tried to remember what had happened after Jude left the ‘Destiny Bar’ the night previous. Dan and him had been dancing with other guys and had fun. He couldn’t quite trust his memories as he had woken up with a terrible hangover and the images were blurry, but he knew for sure that at least, Dan enjoyed himself more than he’d probably expected him to.

He had seen his long platinum hair detached in waves on his shoulders with a hand -that wasn’t his- through it. He now also remembered him on somebody else’s knees, probably kissing. Nick had always thought Dan was in love with Ash… The same way himself had always had a little crush on Dan. It was by the way the reason why he started taking photos of their gigs and rehearsals. However Nick had always seen Dan’s back as the latter only looked at Ash.

He thought he would get over it quickly, realize finally that his feelings would never be returned… But he never could. He loved too much how the blonde curls swung around the boy’s face as he was focused on playing the guitar. He loved too much seeing the blue-grey eyes sparkle whenever someone talked to him about a subject he really liked. He simply loved every part of the other guy, except maybe the fact that he would never be his.

Ed calling him over to the main camera brought him out of his sad memories. Nick went to him, shaking his head to forget about Dan’s attracting body. Mister E put his hand on his back and gently pushed him next to him. The tanned boy looked at the older man, confused. What should he do? Ed smiled at him and designated Kyle with his hand. Now it was clear what he had to to. The photographer at the centre let him take hold of the camera to shoot Kyle.

Positioning himself so that he was comfortable, he then took a few shots to familiarize himself with the machine. He got a grab of it rather quickly and starting shooting with more confidence as Kyle constantly changed his poses. The model even dropped the towel, revealing a nicely shaped body to the camera and the snaps taken by Nick.

To be Continued....