to be so lonely • hs

twenty eight

Madison and I flipped through the upcoming selection on her desktop screen, the two of us taking quick notes on each submission and attempting to navigate between the ones we would be advocating for during our next meeting.

The theme this time was simply outdoors, and our company was responsible for curating 10 of the 30 images that would be featured. The pictures so far were really gorgeous, and with the theme being so open, we had a large variety of options— I wasn't sure how we'd all agree upon just 10.

After we both raved over a double exposure image of the stars reflecting against a mountain with shades of dark blues and red, a knock on our office door resulted in us both spinning around to attend to it.

"Good afternoon, ladies." Dennis smiled, a glass of water in hand.

"Good afternoon, Dennis." The two of us repeated, smiling at our boss.

"Narrowing down your top picks?" He asked, we nodded. "Wonderful. Make sure they're submitted before tomorrow night." He reminded, then tilted his head and turned to face me directly. "Can I speak with you for a minute, Liana?"

I furrowed my eyebrows, then nodded and stood from my chair. "Of course. Here, or...?"

"My office would be great." He shook his head, then leaned off the wall, already stepping out and back into the hall. I turned back to Madison as she gave me a questioning look. Shrugging, I followed after him. Should I have been worried?

"How are you?" He asked, turning back as I caught up.

"I'm fine, how are you, Dennis?" I reciprocated, though at the moment I was quite nervous, for quite a multitude of reasons.

"Fine as well. We just received a shipment of new texture fabrics for the studio this morning, which should be fun to work with— go up and take a look when you get the chance." He informed, which was actually quite exciting. All we had currently were rolls of colored paper and one or two fabrics, ones we'd all over-used when we first started at the company.

"That sounds perfect, I will." I smiled, nodding along as we finally entered into his office. He allowed me in first and shut the door after us, the two of us taking our seats.

He typed something up on his screen and took another sip of his water, before glancing up at me and laughing a little. "You can relax, darling, you aren't in any trouble." He pointed at my tensed up shoulders, and I adjusted then with an exhale and softened my expression.

"I'm just a bit curious why you haven't invited the office to your gallery yet." He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, and for a moment, I was ready with my answer, but soon realized that I hadn't even told him about it.

"Sorry— you know about that?" I shook my head, laughing a little as he nodded. "How'd you find out?"

"Well, I was scouting locations for a client for this Saturday, and the Little Yellow House was a perfect fit, except it had already been reserved by—" he motioned to me, "One of our very own."

"I meant to tell you all at the meeting." I hurried, because I really had.

"When Millie told me a Liana Belmonte had reserved the spot, I couldn't believe it, except it all made perfect sense. I'm really glad you went for it, and if you'll have the office, we'd love to show our support on Saturday." He smiled, proudly.

"God, of course, I'd love nothing more." I agreed excitedly. I was really glad i'd gone for it as well, and wasn't sure I would have had the confidence if it hadn't been for his words.

"Lovely." He turned back to his screen, scrolling a bit onto something I couldn't see. "I booked the catering team we had at the last gallery, would that be alright?"