//*&&the quiet

She slowed down slightly as her phone buzzed in her hand and she heard a ding come from it. She looked at the screen and saw she had gotten a snapchat from her cousin, Kaiden. She lifted her sunglasses so she could see the message and saw that it was a picture of him making a pouty face with the caption, “Gram and I want to know if you’re gonna be done soon. We wanna go into town.” Noelle had almost forgotten that her grandmother and cousin had tagged along with her to New York this time, and they had been left in the hotel room all day waiting for Noelle to come back from work. Part of her felt bad for forgetting about them and she almost turned to Jonah and asked if maybe they could do this another time, but she didn’t know how much longer he would be here, and maybe there wouldn’t be enough time for another time. She decided to stay with Jonah, she could always go into town with them later today or tomorrow since they weren’t leaving for another two days. She opened the front camera and held her phone out so it could capture both her and Jonah, “Take a selfie with me for my cousin,” she giggled as she added the dog filter before taking the picture and adding the caption “Go on without me, going to lunch with my new hubby :)” After she sent the message she put her phone back in her pocket and began looking around as they walked, “Where’s this cafe you speak of, sir? I’m starving!” She asked, noticing the growling of her stomach.

He laughed at her request to take a selfie. If there was anything he legitimately loved, it was Snapchat. His story was public and he knew that tons of people watched it. Jonah’s biggest achievements were the Buzzfeed articles written about some of his stories, “New hubby, huh? Already husband status after the first shoot.” He joked, nudging her a bit, “It’s called Ruby’s Cafe. I swear, they have the best salads on planet Earth, and this is coming from a burger man.” He explained excitedly as they continued to walk. Only a few minutes later, they arrived. After getting a patio seat for two, he sat across from her, placing his phone on the table, “Starve no more, young one.” Jonah expressed jokingly, picking up his menu to go over it.

Noelle’s brow furrowed when she turned back to Jonah and noticed him staring intently at his hands. She looked down at his hands and noticed nothing wrong with them so she wondered why he was looking at them. “… You alright?” she asked him, somewhat concerned, but before she could get a full answer they were being called over to get started.

Noelle nodded nervously at his suggestion, she should’ve known this was going to be required of her at some point, and she probably wouldn’t be ready for it if it happened today or ten years from now, so she might as well get it over with now and get used to it. It didn’t end up being as bad as she thought it was going to be, and after it was over with Noelle thought it was actually kinda nice. After they were finished Noelle was immediately ambushed by people trying to retrieve the accessories she was wearing, why they couldn’t wait until she got to the dressing room she didn’t know. She smiled when she saw Jonah approaching her and blushed at his comment. She raised her eyebrows at his offer. Lunch? He was asking her to lunch? No one she’s worked with had asked her to lunch before, so she was a bit taken aback. Wait- was he asking her out on a date? No, surely he couldn’t have been. He was just being nice she didn’t want to assume things, but lunch did sound nice so she smiled and nodded, “I’d love that. Meet you back here in twenty or so?” she agreed as she was whisked off to the dressing room. Noelle wished that she had worn something a little bit dressier than her skinny jeans and a plain black long-sleeved shirt, but she wasn’t expecting to go anywhere but back to her hotel after the shoot, so how was she supposed to know? After she had been dismissed by the wardrobe crew she grabbed her small backpack and slung it over her shoulder and headed back out to the main studio to meet Jonah. “Ready to go?” She asked with a smile on her face.

After getting out of his wardrobe back into his casual clothing, he was more than ready to go. Jonah thanked those that had helped him get ready that day, then left to go back into the main studio to wait for Noelle. After answering a few messages on Twitter, he decided to update his story, but he was interrupted by Noelle’s voice closing in. He stood up and grinned, “I’m ready if you are.” He said with a laugh, then headed towards the door. Jonah opened it and held it for Noelle, blinking a few times as his eyes adjusted to the sunlight, “God, I feel like we’ve been trapped in a dungeon all day.” He said as they began to walk down the sidewalk, “Do you think today went well?”

She noticed Jonah staring at her once she walked in and she couldn’t help but blush. She smiled slightly, “I think that’s the whole point,” she chuckled, before realizing how condescending that could have sounded. “I’m sorry, that came out ruder than I had intended it to,” she immediately apologized, hoping he wouldn’t get the impression that she was a rude person, because she really didn’t want him thinking she was a bitch if they were going to be working together for the day. Before she could say anything more they both were being called over to beginning the shoot.

The entire photoshoot lasted about eight hours, with many different props, sets, and outfit changes. Noelle thought they were about ready to be wrapped up and soon she could head out and go grab some lunch, but before they were dismissed the photographer gave one last direction. “I want to get some shots of you two kissing before we wrap up.” The photographer ordered. FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK. That was the only thing that was running through Noelle’s head when she heard that. She hadn’t kissed a boy since high school. Probably sophomore year of high school. And even then that was with a boy she had known for like three or so years. Now she was supposed to kiss this guy she had met just eight hours ago. She tried to hide her terror but it was quite evident to everyone that the direction at least surprised her, “Is there a problem?” The photographer asked. Noelle swallowed hard as she shook her head, “N-No. I’m fine.” She insisted.

Standing there in his stiff suit, he was taken back a bit by her comment. He shrugged it off with a laugh and gave her a smile, “Don’t worry about it, just relax. This photographer is great, but he’s demanding. Watch out, alright?” He whispered, looking directly at her with raised eyebrows. Jonah then caught himself being completely fixated on his hands. Ever since the accident, at times, he felt himself drifting off, paying attention to the minor movements of his body. Although most of the time his hand movements were fine, no matter how much he wanted to or how he thought about it, getting his hands to grip just would not happen. The directors voice woke him from his trance and they were to begin the shoot.

Jonah thought that all was going well. The shoot had gone into mid-afternoon, so he knew that it had to be over soon. His stomach grumbled quietly while on set, and he hoped that soon would come now rather than later. When the director instructed them to kiss, Jonah turned to oblige. He caught the look of terror in her eyes and simply took a step further, “Just go for my bottom lip and I’ll go for your upper. Looks great on camera, plus it’s not actually kissing.” He said through his teeth, preparing himself for it. After the director had all the shots he wanted, interns began filling the room, taking down props while Jonah was waiting to go back to his dressing room. He made his way to Noelle, giving her a bright smile, “Those are gonna turn out great, I just know it. You wanna grab some lunch after you get undressed? There’s this cafe down the street that has a great gluten-free menu. What do you say?”

Noelle thought for a moment when he brought up the doughnuts. She had already seen them when she first came in and debated taking one, but then remembered that sweets were not to be included in her strict diet. Her agent had already been pressuring her to lose some weight for a few months now, considering the fact that she was a bit fuller than most other models. So her recent diet included hardly much more than salads, fruits, oatmeal, smoothies, and protein bars. She smiled gently at his offer before shaking her head, “No thank you, I’ve already eaten…” a truth, she had a couple protein bars before heading to the studio, “… and I can’t have gluten…” a lie. She was perfectly able to eat gluten, but she figured that would be a better excuse for him to not get her one than just the fact that she had already eaten.

“Miss Mayor? We’re ready for you in wardrobe.” An assistant informed Noelle. She nodded to them before turning back to Jonah. “I’ll be back, I guess,” she said quietly before leaving her chair and following the assistant to wardrobe. It took over 20 minutes to get the whole outfit on, but soon wardrobe was finished and Noelle saw herself as a beautiful bride. She cracked a smile at herself, “Well this is the closest I’m probably going to get to a wedding for another twenty years or so.” She laughed at herself and everyone else in the room laughed with her. She could tell that some of the laughs were fake, but at least others were genuine. She stepped out of the dressing room and awaited further instructions in the main studio.

Of course. More denial. Jonah followed a diet to maintain his body, but never denied himself of sweets. He’d just make up for it later at the gym. He was constantly surrounded by female models that would not eat a piece of toast without tracking the calories first. “Gluten, huh?” He responded as he stood up, “That’s rough, definitely. Sorry to hear it.” He gave her a small smile as he was taken to wardrobe to prepare for the photo shoot.

With a sharp looking bow tie and suit, he stood in the main studio waiting for Noelle to come to start. As soon as she entered the room, his jaw may as well have hit the floor. She was something out of this world. Her curves in all the right places combined the feeling that came into whatever room she walked in, it was chilling. Jonah’s eyes widened as she came over, “You actually look like a real bride.” He joked, a soft laugh following his words as directions came from the photographers mouth.

She tried to hide her nerves by playing Candy Crush on her phone as her hair was being done, trying to keep herself busy and not talking to anyone extensively. She wasn’t trying to be rude, she was just always a naturally shy person and didn’t want to say something wrong. It wasn’t until the supervisor of the photoshoot startled her by putting her hand on her shoulder that she actually looked up from her phone. It had been ten years but people touching her suddenly still startled her. “Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you,” the woman laughed at Noelle’s reaction. Noelle forced herself to laugh along. “Anyway, Noelle, this is Jonah Benson, he’s going to be your hubby for the day.” the supervisor joked as she stepped aside and Noelle noticed the guy behind her. A boy. Oh god it’s a boy. Noelle thought to herself. Have I not worked with a boy before? I must have… Nope have not had a job with a boy before okay well fuck. She looked at him wide-eyed before forcing herself to say something, “H-Hi, I’m Noelle.” She held her hand out to him for a handshake, the hair stylist behind her slightly grumbling and yanking her back as she leaned too far forward to reach him. This wasn’t going well already.

Once it was time to meet who he would be working with, Jonah made sure to radiate confidence. Though he was normally on the quiet side, with models who were newer in the industry, it was good to be more assertive. However, once he was brought into the room, as soon as he laid eyes on the beautiful girl in the chair, he felt the air get choked up in his throat. A small smile formed at his lips and the exquisite woman in front of his introduced herself, “I’m Jonah, it’s nice to meet you.” He said with an extended hand, shaking hers gently. He took the seat next to her and swallowed hard, as words seemed impossible at this point. He looked at her with lidded eyes and smirked, “You’re nervous. It’s so obvious in your eyes. Don’t worry, they’re not as scary as they look. And there are these doughnuts in the backroom that have extra creme filling. If we get a break, I’ll go back and steal you one.”