~Chapter 4~

Maddie had decided to take the rest of the week off so I'd had a different photographer working with me on Winter's shoot. The days had been going smoothly, as usual, and today was the final day before the photos were sent for editing. Winter had been overly secretive about today's events so to say I was suspicious was an understatement.

I walked to set, enjoying the summer weather, concealing my face with a rather large sunhat so I wasn't stopped by anyone and made late for work. The building seemed busier than usual so I knew Winter was up to something but I ignored it for now, instead focusing on getting ready and into my first outfit.

By the time my hair and makeup were done, Winter bursted into my dressing room. Her hair was messy, too many strands sticking out of her usually pristine bun; her eyes looked sunken and tired; and the clipboard in her hands was shaking along with her trembling fingers. Let's just say the stress of wanting this week to go perfectly had gotten to her.

"Harper there you are," she sighed, blowing a piece of platinum blonde hair from her eyes. "Come on, we've got to get you on set now or we'll run behind schedule."

I nodded, smiling at my hair and makeup artists before slipping out of my chair and following after Winter. After a few moments of tense silence, I sighed heavily before stopping in my tracks. "Win, calm down. Your stress levels are through the roof. Breathe," I said softly, latching my hand around her arm to spin her around and stop her from pacing like a maniac.

Her icy blue eyes assessed me as she processed my words, looking wide and wild. "Breathe," I said again, this time more forcefully, grabbing onto her other arm with my free hand.

After a few more seconds she finally listened to my words and breathed out heavily to calm herself down, resting her head in the crook of my neck. "Sorry, Harper. This week has been so stressful and I think it's starting to get the best of me."

"It's alright," I said soothingly, rubbing circles on her back with my palm.

"I had a surprise planned for today," she confessed, bringing her eyes to meet mine, a small frown on her lips. "But it kinda got ruined. You know how I design strictly female clothing?"

I nodded, picking up on where she's going with this.

She straightened up, composing herself but still looking vaguely disappointed. "Well I decided to try my hand at some men's wear as well this time and I'm actually pretty happy with what I've done."

"That's great. Why do you seem upset?"

"Well, it's a joint shoot today, guys and girls. I was super happy with all the models I'd picked out but one of the guys called in sick this morning and I don't know what to do. This is my men's wear debut; I can't screw it up, Harps," she told me, looking like she was on the brink of tears.

"Winter," I said, but she lowered her head, refusing to meet my eyes in case the tears escaped. "Hey, look at me. It's not the end of the world. Just ask Liam to help out."

She shook her head, still looking at the laminated wood flooring. "He's already part of the shoot. I mean, I designed most of the clothes with him in mind so it'd have been stupid if he wasn't a part of it all."

"Alright. Well how about Axel? I'm sure he'd be willing to help."

She slowly lifted her head, her eyes wide and sparkling. "Harper. That is literally the best idea. You're a genius!" Winter squealed, pulling me in for a tight hug. "I'll ask him now. Come on."

She forcefully dragged me by the arm, looking like a woman on a mission and the laugh that escaped my lips at her sudden attitude change was impossible to hide.

Winter slipped away from me the moment we entered the room so she could find Liam. Thankfully, one of her assistants spotted me and told me what I was supposed to be doing.

I was walking over to where I'd be for my first photos when I noticed the person I'd been paired with and the grin that appeared on my face was obvious. I engulfed him in a hug the second I was close enough. "Harper," he greeted, chuckling as he returned my hug.

"It's great to see you, Chris," I beamed. Chris Cortez was the first guy I ever modelled with once I left home and he made me feel at home right away. He was slightly older, bordering on twenty-eight, but that didn't take away from his undeniable charm in the slightest.

"How's Lara and the new baby?"

He groaned, rubbing his face with his palm. "I don't think I've slept at all in the last two months but... I wouldn't trade it for the world," he told me, looking fondly into the distance, making me smile at his obvious limitless love and adoration for his family.

We carried on conversing, catching up on the few months it had been since we last spoke.

"So," Chris said, perking up excitedly. "I heard about you and Axel."

"What?"

He raised an interrogating eyebrow. "Yeah, it was all over social media this morning. There were some photos of you guys hanging out a few nights back and you looked very close if you ask me."

I shook my head, processing his words. I couldn't believe the paparazzi saw us. Scratch that, of course I could; they were everywhere. "Nah, we're just friends. I only met him around a week ago 'cause he's friends with Liam."

He shrugged his shoulders but eyed me suspiciously. "If you say so, Harper."

I didn't get a chance to defend myself because our photographer cleared their throat, reminding us of where we were. We both sheepishly snapped to attention, pretending that we didn't just forget that we were supposed to be working and not chatting.

~*~*~

Chugging down my bottle of water, I let my eyes scan the room, enjoying the bustling atmosphere.

"Harper!" Winter chirped loudly, making me choke on my drink and cough like a maniac as a bit spilt from my mouth. I turned to glare at her as I regained my breath, hoping my blue eyes came across even a quarter as icy and intimidating as hers could.

Either my glare was utterly ineffective or she just ignored it, carrying on talking. "Axel just finished getting ready and you're modelling with him. Now go, we're already behind schedule," she demanded lightly, pushing me in his direction before I even got the chance to speak. So much for my five minute break.

Axel looked ridiculously handsome — as always — as I stumbled over to where he was standing, chatting animatedly to Liam who must have been on his break otherwise I doubted Winter would've been fine with his slacking, even if he was her boyfriend. "Hey, Harper," he grinned when I reached them, tucking his hands into his trouser pockets.

"Heya. How's the shoot been for you guys?"

Axel shrugged, saying that he only just got out of wardrobe but Liam visibly shuddered. "Let's just say this is a lot more intense than I'm used to," he said and I quirked an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to explain. He sighed, running a hand over his hair. "Win is just really stressed and paranoid and I'm worried about her. I know she just wants it to go well but she's acting even bossier than normal and her sour mood is getting me down."

"She's just stressed, L. I know it's a lot to deal with but I'm sure she'll be fine after the shoot is over."

He shook his head, frowning slightly. "It's not just today though. She's been acting strange for the past two weeks. I'm not sure what's up with her."

"You've got to talk to her, mate. Communication is key," Axel told him with a pat on the back just as Winter walked over to us, looking too exhausted for words.

"Now that you've all gotten acquainted," she started dryly. "Can you get back to work? And, Liam, come with me. You're supposed to be over there." Not giving us a chance to say anything, Winter shook her head, grabbing Liam's wrist and dragging him in the direction she was pointing to and I could hear Axel chuckle from beside me.

"We should probably get to work before Winter comes back to unleash her fury on us," I joked as we turned to our photographer who was too busy chatting with an assistant to pay attention to us.

At least we weren't the only ones slacking.

~*~*~

The sound of my phone ringing pulled me out of my wonderful sleep and I groggily felt around on my nightstand trying to grab it but refusing to open my eyes. Still heavily overcome with sleep, I fumbled with the device attempting to accept the call. "Hello?"

"Morning sis! How's it going?" The all too familiar voice of my older brother, Zack, chirped at me.

I groaned loudly into the phone, tempted to end the call and go back to sleep. Choosing to be a good person, I didn't, instead glancing at the time as I put my phone on speaker so I could stretch. "Zack, why the hell are you calling me at quarter past six in the morning?"

"Oh shit yeah. I forgot how big the time difference is. Sorry sis," he said, not sounding sympathetic in the slightest. "Firstly you didn't answer my question. How are you?"

"Well I'm super grumpy because someone woke me up at 6:15."

He snorted but tried to muffle it. "Other than that."

"Why'd you want to know?" I asked, purposefully pushing his buttons.

He sighed exasperatedly. "Come on, Harps. Can't a big brother worry about his baby sister. You're on another continent for God's sake."

"I'm hardly your baby sister. We're not even a year apart."

"Well it's not my fault you decided to pop out over two months early. We both know you did that so you could stay close and cling to me at school," he said cockily and I scoffed.

"As if. I wouldn't be caught dead within ten feet of you. You're arrogance makes me want to vomit," I teased with a big smile on my face. I didn't realise how much I missed him.

He laughed into the phone, the sound deafeningly loud. "Whatever you say sis. Anyway, I called 'cause some mates and I are coming down to NYC in a couple months to celebrate my twenty second so would you be down to spend some time with your favourite person?"

"Oh, Carter's coming with you? Isn't it a bit irresponsible to drag our nine year old brother on a lads holiday?"

He scoffed. "Please, we know I'm your favourite sibling."

"Sure," I said disbelievingly, getting up to make my bed.

"Speaking of irresponsible, why is my baby sister linking with one of my best mates?"

I stilled in the middle of smoothening out my covers. "What are you talking about?"

"You know Axel. Axel Knight. Black hair, brown eyes, tattoos, been my friend for years."

That's why he looked familiar. I must've seen him in pictures with Zack on Instagram or something.

"He never mentioned you guys were friends," I mused, fluffing out my pillows.

I could imagine the confused frown on Zack's face. "Wonder why..." he trailed off. "Anyway, how long have you been chirpsing for?"

The idea of my brother desperately wanting to hear the gossip on his little sister's love life made me chuckle. I could just imagine the curious and eager look on his face. "God it's been so long since I've heard people use British slang. I kinda miss it... but we're not doing anything like that, Zack. We're just friends."

"Mhhhh. I don't believe you for a second sis but at least you picked a decent guy this time. Your track record with lads has never been great. What with River and all."

I grimaced at the name but obviously Zack couldn't see that. "Axel's a good guy but I can't believe you'd go after one of my mates. This is like school all over again," he whined, alluding to when we were in the same year at school and a lot of his friends would flirt with me.

I laughed lightly. "It's not my fault all your friends thought with their dicks. What ever happened to guy code?" I mused. "But this isn't like school because Axel and I are just friends," I said, stressing each word for emphasis.

"For now," he said slyly and I wanted to smack off the smirk I knew was on his face. "At least that means you won't hit on any of my friends when we visit."

"They were always the ones who flirted with me! I had a boyfriend for quite a while you know," I said without thinking and then winced as the memories flooded my mind.

"Yeah but you're such a flirt, Harps. Don't deny it."

He wasn't wrong. It was usually never intentional but everyone had always told me I was a massive flirt. It was just part of my charm. "Whatever, Zack, we both know you're exactly the same."

"Now that I can't argue with," he told me smugly just as I heard a crash followed by some muffled yells. "Shit Harps I gotta go. Nathan isn't here so Noah and Carter have decided to terrorise me for a change and I think they just smashed my trophy shelf. See ya!"

Before he hung up, I heard another crash and Zack mumbled colourful words under he's breath. "You little sh—" he started yelling before the call cut off and I laughed as I grabbed my towel.

I really did miss my family sometimes.

~*~*~

Ah I love Zack so much.

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Until next time, bye xx