The writer of my star

The Assistant Photographer

The next day Tomas woke up with a terrible hangover. He was in his boxers and he didn't remember getting into bed.

He squinted and adjusted his eyes to the day light coming through the rhythmically flowing white curtains. He wanted to close the curtains completely and go back to sleep, but he couldn't stay in the bed for long, his day is filled with work.

"Shit, it's already 9 AM. My manager will be here in 30 minutes".

He scrambled to gather his composure and rushed to his washroom. Inside he had a quick shower and while brushing his teeth, he hurt his lips.

Holding it, he saw two tiny drops of vermillion oozing out. Pouting, he suddenly thought of the writer's lips.

He just got annoyed at himself for thinking about this and it was a strange feeling he is having. He had never thought of a man's lips before. He had been having couple of affairs with girls here and there, but none of them really stuck. He was either too busy to be invested in them or he just didn't find them interesting.

The thoughts were driven away by his mobile ringing. It's his manager, she must be calling to remind him of the shoot and to get ready.

He hurried to his huge dressing room. He will meet his stylist at the shoot, so he didn't have to think much about the clothes to wear. However, there might be some paparazzis or fans waiting to see his OOTD, so he must be a little careful.

He ran his hands through his clothes and chose a dark green hoody and creme chinos.

"Safe! Not too flashy and not too shabby".

He knew his agent will be waiting in the parking with his car and a coffee. The nitro ice from Starbucks, his regular.

He rushed through the stairs of his penthouse apartment and reached for the elevator. Looking at the mirror and his swollen lips, he knew it would be a feast day for the fans. All the speculations about who bit his lips.

There will be more gossip about Angel and him, the director and producer will be happy. He also felt calm thinking this movie might do well in the box office. He didn't have much to worry about, his past three movies did well in the box office and his agents were busy booking dates for him. The success of this movie will mean more work and he had already been booked for the next two years.

He let out a deep sigh, even though his success made him happy, he felt something was amiss, something he couldn't pin down to.

When the elevator opened, the manager was waiting for him just outside. With a nitro brews, as he had hoped.

"What happened to your lips?"

She was too quick to notice.

"Just a small brushing incident".

"You must be careful. Or may be this is good in a way, no need of extra publicity".

She said while winking and smiling at him and he smiled back.

The driver had already started the car, as soon as he got in, the car started moving and he just looked outside.

His driver usually had the habit of updating about the latest news. He was a young boy in his twenties, Don. Punctual and kindhearted. Even though they were the same age, Tomas always felt he sounded much older. They were close but they were not friends. He felt Don always tried to keep the distance as professional between them. It's not something Tomas minded. He somehow was happy about their relationship.

But today, the driver was awfully quiet. Tomas wondered why. Something must have happened in his family, even though he didn't know much about them, he knew Don was the sole breadwinner of their household and he is a diligent man. He is doing his graduation through night classes whenever he can. Tomas's schedule made it a bit difficult, so, somedays his agent used to drive him around and Tomas wasn't the kind to have a problem with it. If anything, he was understanding.

The photographers and the set were busy preparing for the shoot when he reached. He rushed to the green room and his stylist were already there with a choice of clothes.

He usually have a few suggestions when choosing clothes, today, he decided to trust his stylist completely.

She is a beautiful chirpy woman in her 30's. There was a ring on her fingers sometime in the past, and now all remained was the white crease it left. Still, she always remained chirpy and joyful. He liked to be around her as she spread warmth.

She picked a black shirt with zirconia studded silver pin in the collars and black tailored pants. To oomph up the look, she paired it with a rather extravagant light grey jacket.

After putting on everything, he looked at himself in the mirror, and felt the look was quiet amusing. Before he even finished looking, his hair stylist and makeup woman was ready. He just sat down on the make up chair, put his iPods in, laid his head and closed his eyes.

Within 30 minutes, the make up and hair was done and he looked ravishing.

He walked to the set and there he was, again! The writer.

He didn't expect to see him there. But quickly he gathered, he wasn't here as a writer now, rather as a photographer's assistant.

It must be hard to live off an assistant writer's salary, Tomas imagined him having a couple of part time jobs.

He looked at him in the eye, but the writer didn't show even a tiny recollection of yesterday. He suddenly felt angry. An unexplainable anger.

"Wow! That's a nice expression, it goes really well with your outfit".

The photographer explained. He sat on a chair and started posing for the pictures.

For the next shoot, he and Angel were supposed to do couple photo shoot. He had forgotten that the shoot was with Angel and he went back to the dressing room. Both Angel and his stylist were discussing about the couple outfits and Angel was there in the make up chair getting ready for her single photo shoot.

She smiled seeing him and gently held his hands.

When she left, the stylists had already came to a conclusion about the clothes and he was already getting in one of them.

When Angel and him entered together, the photographer smiled.

"Wow! You guys look so well together. Let's start".

He didn't know from where, he had a sudden urge to hold Angel close. He wanted the writer to see him holding Angel. He wanted the writer to know that he wasn't thinking of him or his lips or last night.

Angel was sitting on his lap and they both were looking at the camera. When Tomas looked up, he saw the writer looking back at him. Like always, he found it difficult to read his face. He wished he could find a glimmer of sadness in his eyes. But all he could see was nothingness, but those eyes were drawing him in, to the depths he was not aware of.