Even Angels Die (One Direction)

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Janine’s Point of View

I hovered the cursor over the delete button, indecisively chewing on my bottom lip. This was undoubtedly the best photo of the two of us, and despite the fact I had instantly removed the photo from my laptop background it didn’t feel enough.

With a sigh I clicked the x button and returned to editing the photos of the various different celebrities which I’d been photographing today. In a matter of minutes, I could make a perfectly ordinary women look like a flawless model so it was a job which didn’t require much thought – and my mind lingered on times I would rather forget.

I was trying to be understanding towards Ryan, I really was. I could guess how difficult it must be to discover your sexuality wasn’t what you thought it was – but I couldn’t supress the feelings of disappointment. I had wasted months of my life on a relationship that didn’t really exist. I suppose I was grateful that Ryan had come to terms with his sexuality before we did something stupid, like get married or have a kid.

It was surprising how helpful Liam was being. After walking out of the restaurant fighting back the tears, something inside of me had decided that calling Liam would be the right thing to do. Being the sweet person he is, he’d told me to wait in my car and he’d come and meet me to drive me home.

“I don’t want you driving in this state, Janine. It’s not safe.” He’d told me firmly and I did what I was told. I was also glad that he didn’t decide to come in my house after driving me home – I was unsure that my emotions could have handled the strain.  Since then, I’d received countless texts and calls from him, checking how I was. It was heart-warming to know how much he cared about me, especially as it had really only been a number of days since we’d become closer friends again.

I glanced down at the magazine in front of me and scanned through several pages. There was a huge collection of papers and magazines in my photography room, which my boss insisted on keeping there. It was supposed to ‘inspire me’ to make more creative photoshoots with new props although it was difficult to do anything like that when I had the smallest budget possible to add to the abundant collection of items we already had.

I wasn’t really complaining though, I am living my dream job. To be able to be a professional photographer was my main aim in life, and being able to photograph some of the most famous and relevant artists in the world is just crazy. With my mind drifting around in hundreds of directions, my eyes flickered through the magazine photos – an article or two catching my attention for a second longer than the others.

I stopped however, on a double page spread which contained numerous photos of two familiar people. Niall Horan, and the young lady I had seen with him the last time I photographed the band had been captured in at least six different photos, some of which had been very crudely edited. I raised my eyebrows at the captions, the majority of them which were clearly faked.

“Janine?” my boss called from the corridor.

“In here!” I replied, stuffing the magazine in with the others and clicking away on my work laptop again.

“You have a visitor.” He told me, peering round the door and raising an eyebrow at me.

“Really?” I asked, just as surprised as he looked. Occasionally a work experience student would be working with me, but I never just had ‘visitors’ and I doubted my boss would let me have any, unless they were important. I glanced up from my laptop screen and couldn’t hide my surprise as Liam walked in, casually running his hand through his hair.

“Hey Janine,” he smiled awkwardly at me, his eyes dodging between me and my boss who cleared his throat to get my attention again.

“Janine, you can take the rest of the day of if you want. There are no more photo-shoots scheduled.” He told me and I couldn’t stop myself from raising a curious eyebrow. It was clear that he wanted to make himself look good in front of Liam – who he would see as a possible ‘client’.

“Thanks,” I replied with a smirk and he rolled his eyes at me.

“So…” I started off slowly as my boss stepped out of the room. “This is a nice surprise!” I smiled at Liam before closing down photoshop and turning off my laptop.

“Ah, I was just wondering what you were doing for lunch? It’s just that I know this really nice café around the corner…” he shrugged and smiled slightly at me.

“Oh I don’t have any plans, I’d like that.” I couldn’t control the warm fuzzy feeling which bubbled up inside my stomach. “Thanks for getting me the afternoon off work, too.” I slide my laptop back into its case as I spoke and walked across the room to lock it away in the safe we had there. With such up-to-date software and expensive laptops, the radio station couldn’t risk the chance of items being damaged or stolen.

“No problem, I hoped that I wasn’t interrupting anything important.” He replied, awkwardly standing by the door as I continued tidying up the printed photos and posters that I had made to test the colour quality of my edits.

“No, you weren’t. It’s a nice distraction actually.” I replied before I could help myself and I saw Liam’s face fall into a small sympathetic smile.

“How are you?” he asked me meaningfully, and I knew he wasn’t just enquiring about my health.

“It’s been tough. Tougher than other break ups.” I replied honestly, fumbling with the padlock to the safe so I had a chance to fight back the tears that threatened to overflow before turning to face him. “I suppose it’s because I thought this was more serious.” I sighed and walked over to where Liam was waiting for me to finish.

“Yeah, it must be so strange for you.” Liam nodded, “because it wasn’t a ‘normal’ breakup at all.”

“Mhm,” I murmured absentmindedly, just being in the same room as Liam was a complete distraction from unwanted thoughts in itself. The memories which we’d spent together at school come flooding back all at once, the laughter and jokes we’d shared made a smile spread across my lips. It was a shame that we’d drifted apart towards our last years at school, especially as the band were touring across the world. There was no way to bring our friendship back together. I was glad that at least now, we could perhaps try to rekindle some of the old affection we’d had for each other. I certain saw Liam as the same caring, kind guy that I’d been friends with years ago.

“So, where’s this café then?” I asked him as we walked together down the corridor towards the lift.

“You’ve probably been in it before, it’s quite near here to be honest. I have my car though so I can drive us?” he looked at me sideways as thought asking permission.

“That will be lovely.” I smiled at him as the familiar ‘ping’ of the lift sounded and the doors opened. I pressed the ‘Ground Floor’ and the doors closed instantly. The comforting hum of the lift sounded as it, at a snail-like pace, descended.

The noise, and the motion came to an abrupt stop and I raised a confused eyebrow. I know we hadn’t travelled for long enough to reach the ground floor but Liam hesitantly pressed the open doors button. I groaned as absolutely nothing happened. Panic consumed me and I quickly reached over to punch as many buttons as I could. Nothing.

“Oh my god, we’re stuck.” I whispered.

Liam glanced up at the ceiling of the lift, and then back to the doors with a frown on his face. He reached across me to press the emergency button. There was a sickening screech and the light flicked off.

“Liam!” I yelled out, throwing my arms out in panic. It was completely pitch black – no light was coming through the crack in the doors or the small window above them. “Liam!” I squealed again but before I could make any attempt to move strong, familiar arms were around me and I sighed wit relief as the panic drained away.

“It’s okay, Janine, I’m here.” He told me, and his supporting arms were a huge comfort around me. “Hang on a second, I’ll just try and find my mobile.”

One of his arms disappeared and I heard the jingle of spare change and keys as he searched for his phone. Light suddenly emerged from his pocket as he pulled out his mobile and switched on the flashlight mode.

“Are you okay?” he asked me, the mild light threw strange shadows onto his face – but it was enough for me to make out his features.

“Yeah,” I breathed a sigh of relief but gripped his and tightly with my own. “How do we get out?”

“That’s a very good question.”