My Boyfriend's Sister (PART TWO)

2

Leah's POV

"Heller & Gatton Film and Photo, this is Leah speaking." I answer the phone and talk to a woman for several minutes about getting a few photographers and videographers for an upcoming event at one of the local museums.

It's being rented out for a night by someone for a company party and they want this thing to be documented. After discussing it with her, we reach a price that we can both agree on, and she leaves the rest of the project up to me. That's my favorite type of person... the kind that leave the creative things up to me.

I round up some things and make sure that everything and everyone will be available for the event and send out an email to a few of my coworkers. It sounds like a good event. Rich people like to be photographed a lot for some reason. Maybe it's to flaunt their fortunes... beats me. All I know is I get paid to make them look good on a screen.

In the middle of my work my personal phone rings.

"Hello?"

"Leah, are you working?" My friend (with occasional benefits), Daria, asks me.

"I am... do you need something?" I ask her and lean back in my chair, having a hunch about why she called.

"Nothing important, I was going to see if you'd go have a drink with me for lunch?" She says.

"I can manage that. I'll meet you, send the address." I say with a small smile.

"Perfect. See you soon." She says with her incredibly sexy accent. That's one of the major perks of London... the accents. Lord...

I walk in and find my friend sitting at a table already. I kiss her cheek and sit across from her and we begin talking like we usually do. Before we know it, thirty minutes have gone by and I'll be forced to get back to work soon.

"You just wanted drinks?" I ask and look up at her with my eyebrows raised. I know her too well.

"I wasn't quite sure how calling you and asking you for sex would sound, so I figured drinks would break the ice a bit." She smirks at me.

I grin at her and put money on the table and we leave and go to my condo. Once we get there things heat up quickly and we take care of each other. We always do.

As I'm pulling my jeans back on Daria tells me something I'm very surprised to hear.

"I um- I have a girlfriend." She blurts.

I freeze and shift my eyes up to her, "what?"

"It's new... I was scared and that is why I did this. I'm sorry to put you in this position, Leah. I really am." She blabbers.

"I jus- maybe it's time for you to go?" I mutter, buttoning my jeans and forcing my hand through my hair.

"Maybe so. I'll call you another time." She sighs as she leaves.

I sigh hard and fall back into my couch. The complicated shit always happens to me for some reason... never to anyone else. After thinking about it I decide to complete my work for the day at home. This is where having a home set-up comes in handy.

I spend the next few hours in front of the four screens mounted on my wall, editing photos and videos for clients and upcoming magazine articles. Once I'm done with that, I check my email and the woman I spoke with earlier sent me a guest list with photos of each guest attached to the name. She marked all of the the 'must photograph' people with small stars. I scroll down through the list out of curiosity and then I see a name and photo that stops me in my tracks.

"Jennifer Perez"

I read her name over and over again and check the photo twelve times to make sure it's her.

She's coming here? And to make it that much worse, she's marked with a small star as well. I then find Aaron listed below her... also marked with a star.

I sigh and shake my head as I keep looking at her picture. I can't believe she's going to be in London and in the same building as me. I wasn't expecting this to ever happen, and now that it is I don't know what to think. Sure, the list has over a hundred people on it, but she stands out from every last one of them. Maybe it is because I know her the way I do, and I was in love with her three years ago, but maybe it's because she really does stand out in a crowd. She's that amazing.

I drag my finger over the mouse and pull up some old files from before I moved. I go to the folder with her name on it and open it, slowly scrolling through the photos I took of her on that day in the city. She was beautiful... she still is. I continue scrolling until I hit a video. It's the one she demanded that I delete so that no one would ever see it...the one of her going down on me. I play the video and bite my lip, remembering exactly what her touch felt like. It's crazy how much detail the human brain can recall about certain things.

I leave her folder and return to the list of names and keep scrolling. I divide the list into four sections and assign a different photographer to each section.

I'm careful to place Jennifer and Aaron with Sean rather than myself. I don't know if I could photograph her all night without making a fool of myself.

Somehow I hope we don't cross paths at the party, but I would give anything to see her again and say hello. This is where professionalism is going to come in, I guess. I can't be rude to her or ignore her if she speaks to me... she'll be a client. I won't risk my job just to save myself from potential embarrassment in front of my ex lover.