“Jensen being gone will not be that bad, really. At least not here at school where I think he’s more of a distraction than anything.”
“Maybe.” I wasn’t sure I agreed with her and chose to focus on the time between now and when pictures were scheduled to be taken. “So, what else are we going to do downtown?” I glanced at my watch. “We have three hours or so before senior pictures. Can’t do anything that will mess up my hair too much.”
“No, Mia, nothing that will mess up your hair.” Alicia rolled her eyes and jabbed me with her arm.
Nate and Aria had already arrived at Heritage by the time we had gotten there. As we opened the door to enter the café, I saw them seated near the front window sharing a chocolate chip scone with two mochas in front of them. Alicia and I followed suit and ordered the same before going over and sitting down with them.
“I feel so left out,” Aria frowned and said. “You guys are going to do the senior picture thing and I’m not.” She looked up at Nate and stuck her pouty lip out, at which point he took her face in his hands and kissed her until she smiled. This was Aria’s way of getting attention, and she had learned to do it quite well to her advantage.
“So,” Aria embarrassingly asked when Nate let her go, “when does James leave?” She took a sip of mocha.
“Next week,” Alicia replied in a soft voice.
“And your fiancé leaves on Friday?” Aria asked, with a little too much emphasis on fiancé.
“Yes, Jensen leaves on Friday. It feels weird to refer to him as my fiancé.”
“Well, you two are engaged, aren’t you? That’s what you should call each other.” Hmmm … Aria’s still upset about the news, I guess.
“I’m sure the word boyfriend or girlfriend is just fine,” Nate countered. Aria gave him a pointed look and he shrugged and then focused on his mocha.
“What classes are you taking, Aria?” Alicia tried moving the conversation away from the current topic, which apparently worked because Aria chattered on about which subjects she had chosen, including a run-down of the teachers she hoped she ended up with.
After a semi-awkward time at Heritage, we all walked along Front Street and window-shopped at some of the stores. Thankfully, Aria was only able to stay for a half-hour before Nate took her home. We bid them goodbye and made our way over to where cruise ships docked twice a month and let passengers off to overrun shops and restaurants in the area. There we found a vacant bench, choosing to sit and bask in the remaining summer sun.
“What’s the deal with you and Aria?” Alicia asked. “You two haven’t been very close for a while.”
“Yeah, it dates back to freshmen year with Jack’s expulsion when he punched Kyle.” That was a name I tried to forget.
“She still blames you for that?”
“I guess.” I closed my eyes and leaned my head back.
“I think there’s more,” Alicia stated.
I opened my eyes and looked at her, waiting for an explanation. When it was obvious she wasn’t going to be forthcoming, I probed further and asked what she meant.
“Well, I would never tell Jensen this, but it seems like Nate still likes you. I think Aria knows it and she’s jealous. You didn’t see it because you were looking at me when they kissed at Heritage, but he did a quick sideways glance at you. Almost like he wanted to make sure you saw it. The whole thing was a little strange.”
“Shit. Thanks for not telling Jensen. He’s jealous enough as it is, even though I think he has an idea Nate still has feelings. If I had known then what I know now, I would have called bullshit on Jensen when he said he wasn't a jealous guy.”
“Well, he certainly has reason to be, doesn't he? It’s probably a good that you and Nate aren’t sharing a locker. That would likely create more drama than you need.”
“Yeah, you’re right about that," I agreed. Abandoning the topic, I continued, "Do you think you’ll get senioritis like so many seniors do? I’m freaked I’ll start slacking off and get it.”
“Nah, no one in my family seemed to get it. I’m not worried and you shouldn’t be, either. If you feel it coming on, let me know. I’ll kick your butt so you don’t mess up your grades.”
“You sure do take care of me, don’t you?” I said with a laugh.
Smiling, I sat upon the wooden bench and leaned my head back, feeling the sun on my face and thinking how nice it would be to stay there all afternoon. But then again, the sooner pictures were over with the sooner I’d get home and change to have movie night with my guy … and his friends. I tried not to think of his friends. Maybe Jensen would figure he’d spent enough time with them today and want only me tonight. I could only hope.
When it was time to go, we sprinted back to Alicia’s Prelude and buzzed back over to the school in quick time. Since registration was over, more parking was available and we were able to secure a space right across the street from the school. As we walked up to the front doors, Nate caught our attention by yelling at us to wait up. We stopped and turned to see him running bowlegged toward us. I hadn’t ever really seen Nate run and it was almost comical. I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
“Alright, let’s do this thing,” Nate said, assuming his normal pose with his arms around Alicia’s and my shoulders. This time we let him get away with it instead of squirming away. We were both much too excited to care.
Inside the makeshift dressing room, I looked in the mirror in front of me and adjusted the black smock, which was off-shoulder and sloped into a slight v-shape. Not sure if I wanted to show any cleavage or not, I probably spent more time than anyone else adjusting the smock every which way in order to see exactly how it would look in the yearbook. The amount of material didn’t really allow for much, so I finally gave up and pushed my bra straps down to make sure they didn’t show. A hair clip securely held my long bangs up and out of my face, and a few lazy curls fanned out across my chest. As ready as I’d ever be, I emerged to where the photographer stood and waited for him to tell me what to do.
“Any particular color you like?” he asked, taking my order sheet and looking briefly at it while his assistant pulled down a few backgrounds and did some test shots. I shrugged and told the photographer to use whatever he thought looked best.
The assistant led me over to a stool where I sat down. The young woman looked like she could be the photographer’s girlfriend. “May I?” she asked, regarding the smock.
“Sure,” I said, not hesitating.
She took the smock at the shoulders and lifted it slightly up. I must have had it too low. She then pulled back some of the hair I had carefully placed across my chest. “A little too much hair in front,” she said before winking at me and moving out of the frame.
The photographer stood to the side of the camera, lifted his
