The Photographer - h.s

Neighbors

Vic

I kicked my door shut behind me and let my bags fall to the floor as I threw my keys to the side and headed straight for the couch and collapsed into the relieving feeling of finally being back home. I laid on the couch staring my ceiling taking in the familiar smell of my dusty apartment, I'm just grateful Sophia was able to keep my plants alive this time.

I took my phone out of my pocket and held it above my face and texted my group chat with Sarah and Mackenzie to let them know I made it home. They're currently packing up in Indianapolis to hit the road for Chicago, they have about 2 weeks left of tour before, and I could not be more excited to see my best friends again after 3 months of facetimes and group texts, Mackenzie got to visit her family when they stopped in Boston and even got her sister a front row view to the show and introduced her to Harry, she sent me the pictures and I was dying over how excited and cute her sister was, and it made me happy seeing how happy Mackenzie was to be with her favorite people.

After spending some time unpacking some things from my cases I decided I wanted to get down to the studio before it got too late so I could upload my files to my desktop and catch up with Sophia if she was still hanging around. While I was gone she quit her part time job at the cafe and went full time at the studio when she was offered the Projects Manager position, I was sad I missed her big move in to her own office, but she gave me a thorough tour over FaceTime while I was staying in London for a bit, and as it turns out, London is absolutely amazing and super fun when the guy you're in love with isn't sleeping with his ex.

I pushed the large metal doors open and walked into the studio, the space was barely occupied as most everyone left before 8 if they could help it. I immediately made my way to find my best friend's office and smile when I got to her door with her own name placard right in center. I knocked lightly and pushed the door open and she looked up and her eyes went big.

"Oh my god! You're back!" She said loudly and jumped up from her chair and ran over to me, crashing into me with a big hug while she squealed. "Hi! Oh my god tell me everything." She said as she let me go and ushered me to sit on the couch as she took a seat beside me.

Her office was a pale orange color with pictures decorating the wall, she even had some of my work hanging beside her desk. It was exactly how imagined it, with Knick knacks sitting on the edge of her desk, and pictures of her and her family front and center on her desk, with a picture of me and her leaning against her computer. It screamed 'Sophia'.

"I don't even know where to begin honestly-"

"Ooooo what about London? No no- Niall's shows! Or- okay what about when you went to Australia? I can't wait." She shot off excitedly and I giggled at her enthusiasm.

"Okay okay, I did 3 opening shows with Niall, he had the most friendly and welcoming team, and he was just so fun to talk to, he's a lot of fun at the pubs. The 15 year old me who was obsessed with him would've been on the floor. I did a small show with Ashe, she is absolutely flawless and so wildly talented, it's unbelievable. I went to Australia and did that album cover shoot for 5 Seconds of Summer for their new album 'Youngblood' and that was just... surreal. They're all super fun guys, honestly some of the nicest people I've met." I said with excitement and she had her mouth hanging open.

"Wow. Listen to you! My best friend is kind of a huge fucking deal now. That all sounds amazing, you have to show me all your pictures from your trip and your jobs." She said with a smile. She took a deep breath and tilted her head to the side with a sincere smile. "I am... so happy for you, Vic." I smiled widely and glanced down at my lap and back to her.

"We have to catch up later, I just have to back up my millions of files to the desktop." I told her and she rolled her eyes.

"You landed like... 5 hours ago, this couldn't wait until tomorrow?" She asked and I smiled and shook my head.

"Absolutely not, it would've driven me crazy all night thinking about it, you know this." She scoffed sarcastically and I waved to her as I left her office and swung the door shut behind me. I went back to my desk which still looked just as boring as I left it 2 months ago. I huffed and sat down and powered my computer up, waiting for it to get ready.

"Uh.... Howdy neighbor." I heard a man say and I looked up to see someone taking a seat at the desk across from me, where Sophia used to sit. He had dark brown hair that he had cut short, and light freckles dancing over his nose and cheeks, I couldn't figure it out but it felt like I had seen him before, I just couldn't place where.

"Oh uh... hi, sorry." I said and stood out of my chair and extended my hand to him. "Victoria." I told him. He smiled and and shook my hand with a firm grip.

"David." He said lightly before we both took our seats and I logged into my computer. I kept glancing up over my computer to steal small looks at my new neighbor, it was weird not seeing my best friend across from me.

I plugged my first thumb-drive in and started downloading the dozens of files I had saved. Only a handful were from the work I did with others, the rest were personal shots. I spent 2 months traveling to different countries and met a hugely diverse group of people, so while I was in each country I dove right into the tourist role, visiting landmarks and trying the best restaurants that locals recommended. I was able to travel back to New Hampshire on my way back to California and visit some old friends that I left behind and never looked back for... we went out to the bars and went to our favorite swimming spot at the lake we used to sneak off to to have fires and to drink when we were back in high school, the pictures I took of that night are some of my favorites.

"So, I didn't want to mention it but, youve stared at me about 4 separate times now, is there something on my face?" David asked and I shook my head and chuckled.

"Oh uh... no im sorry, you just look so familiar to me." I told him and he chuckled and nodded slowly.

"Didn't think you'd remember me," he said and leaned back in his seat "we met for like, 5 minutes a few months ago... you shot me down?" He said and I gasped and nodded.

"That's right! At beachwood!" I said and I smiled at him.

"Yeah, didn't see you over there since then so, I figured I had scared you off, trying to avoid the weird guy at the cafe." He said and laughed.

"Oh my god, no no." I said as I laughed. "Not at all, I actually left and did some traveling for a while. I know my dark, boring desk must've been fun to look at." I told him and he laughed and nodded.

"It was boring but it was good, I get distracted easily and I'm not sure how I would've been able to meet one of my biggest deadlines sitting across from someone... as stunning as yourself." He said smoothly and smirked as he looked back at the screen and clicked his mouse. I rolled my eyes and looked back at mine, importing the last file and removing my drive before putting the next one in.

We worked in silence for about 30 more minutes before I heard him sigh and close the laptop that sat beside him, and he turned his desktop monitor off.

"Well, I think I'm calling it a night.." he said as he slid his laptop into its bag and stood up, slinging it over his shoulder and smiling at me.

"See you around then." I said with a smile up to him and he nodded.

"I hope so. Don't work too hard." He said and winked before turning his desk light off and walking away, leaving me as 1 of 4 people still left behind in the studio.

"He's cute, right?" Sophia asked from behind me making me jump. I spun my chair around to face her and rolled my eyes.

"You did that on purpose." I said referring to David and she laughed.

"That? I couldn't have planned that even if I tried."