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Chapter 2.
Her grandma gave her the album as a present before she left home that morning.
“Don’t put too much importance on what your parents say now. Young people have to find their own path in life, and as long as you don’t hurt others you’ll be doing well, my child.”
Joy didn’t want to leave her grandma, either, but the old lady told her she’d be alright. “I’m very healthy, what do you take me for? I just have a bit of trouble moving, but that’s normal for people of my age.”
The previous night she couldn’t sleep, so she spent her hours packing her things in a big travel backpack, that she’d have to drag with her to work. Emilia, an old friend from high school, told her she could stay at her apartment for a few days until she found something for herself.
Joy hated coffee, it was too bitter for her taste, but that morning she still forced herself to drink a bit before arriving at the office.
Adrien was already there, apparently discussing with the other photographer, Luca, but both of them stopped to stare at her and her backpack once she crossed the door.
“What’s that?” Her boss asked “We have a photo session at the natural reserve, is that why you thought about camping?”
She shook her head, her eyes looking down due to the embarrassment.
“It’s not that. I’m moving later, and I had no choice but to bring this with me meanwhile. I’m sorry.”
“Ok. Come here and learn this lesson too.” He turned his back to Luca again. “I told you more than once that we only have space for three photos in that article, and yet look at this. Why does the model have exactly the same expression in all of them? Don’t you know how to instruct her at all?”
“Boss, I think you are exaggerating. She looks just fine.”
“It’s the same thing in all of them.” Adrien frowned at the guy, then looked at Joy. “I have work to do, I cannot go with you to all the sessions as if you were babies. That’s why we meet before to talk about the concept for the photos and the articles that go with it.”
“Yes, I know.” She said, biting her lips. She hadn’t even done anything wrong yet, but still gained a reprimand just because of her colleague.
“Don’t think I don’t know why you’re like this. Lust after the woman all that you want, as long as you do your job properly.” He was talking to Luca again, but Joy found his words too crude.
“Ok Adrien. Should I arrange another session then?”
“There’s not enough time. I’ll see what I can do. Just remember it for the next time.”
He picked her jacket and a black leather backpack and signaled Joy with a hand. It was time for them to go. Although he’d just reminded them this part of the job was exclusively their responsibility, Joy was still under ‘training’ for a couple of weeks, so he’d be going with her in the first two assignments.
She dropped her travel backpack next to her desk and only took her equipment with her to follow him. From the office to the parking lot she almost had to run to keep up with his pace.
There was something curious about his character that she just noticed, not that she would dare to ask. Adrien seemed a nice man who turned dead serious when it came to work, especially with his demands to the photographers. There was a rumour the last one resigned because he couldn’t stand the pressure of working with him. It was clear he was passionate about it, but why did he give up artistic photography to work at Zoom, then?
“So what’s the story behind you bringing your closet along with you?” He asked once they reached his car.
“Hmm, just… I’m leaving my parents’ house.”
This was the problem about her persona, and probably the reason why she didn’t have many friends. She’d usually be quiet and collected, but once she started talking it was impossible to stop, untilt the point it became annoying, or so her last boyfriend had told her.
“I was supposed to get into Law School, you know? I prepared for it since I was still in high school, my parents always dreamed of having a lawyer and a doctor in the family. My younger brother of course is still set to get into the Medicine School one day, but I’m the family’s biggest disappointment since I gave up.”
She took a moment to breathe.
“We fight all the time, because this isn’t a real occupation in their book, but yesterday they finally decided that it’s not worth having me under their roof and kicked me out.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Do parents still raise their kids like that? I thought we were over it in this modern time.”
“Parents pay for our education, isn’t it an investment that should be returned?”
“Hmm.” Apparently he wanted to say something more, but decided to just shrug it off. “Anyway, you’re already a grown-up.”
“Well, yes, that’s the good point. I’ll finally get more independence. Right?”
He didn’t say anything else and kept his eyes on the road. Looking for something to do, Joy grabbed a copy from Zoom’s past edition, one she hadn’t read yet.
“Give a call to the models to make sure they’re there on time.”
“Okay.”
Adrien started a rant about how it would be easier without those people. “Actually, I had another idea for the pictures that should go with Tobias’ article this time, but you’ll get to know the chief editor: she wants some well-known faces every week.”
She thought he didn’t hold a high regard for the models who worked with them, as he had also criticised one in Luca’s work, but once they arrived at the park and started the session, he was all smiles.
Joy heard him laugh about some silly thing with the female model during a pause while she was checking the pictures. It wasn’t strange that an attractive man like him flirted with an equally attractive woman, but she just found curious the contradiction…
After the task was done, he called a cab for her to go back to the office before, and Joy found herself musing about this person. Then, was her idol really a manwho- ehm, a sexually promiscuous man just like Beth had warned her the day before?
Not that it really mattered, of course. She just hoped to get along well with him and get to learn something working together.
***
“Then, how was your first day at work?” Emilia asked with genuine interest in the evening after she got to her apartment, and Joy wished her parents had shown the same support.
At the same time, she was glad that although her real friends could be counted with one hand, they were really the best of the world.
“It was nice. I think I’m going to like that place.”
She’d still have some time for some freelance work, too.
“That’s great. I know you’re a fan of that guy. Tell me, is he as good looking as the pictures on the internet.”
“Even more.”
They giggled.
“How are you and Louis doing?”
“We’re fine. You’ll see him later, he’ll come after work.” Emilia said. “Actually, we are living together now.”
“Really? When did that happen?”
“A couple of months ago. We really haven’t been talking in a while, have we? I’m sorry, Joy. That’s why I cannot tell you to stay here with me.”
“It’s fine. I’m so grateful you let me stay here today. I promise I’ll get something by the end of the week.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll help you as much as we can. Now, go and take a shower, you must be tired. Later we can prepare dinner.”
“Okay.”
She was feeling tired, that much was true. After all, she hadn’t got any sleep the night before. After a hot shower, however, she felt more relaxed.
Grabbing a shirt, she found the album her grandma had gifted her that morning, and it brought a smile on her face. Luca had also given her a printed copy of the group selfie, she quickly looked for it in her bag, and put it in the very first page of the album.
It might be a bittersweet beginning, but it was a beginning she’d been hoping for anyway.
Chapter 3.
One should never choose a song one liked for a phone alarm clock, or so Adrien was reminded every morning after he had to press the stop button for his ‘Wake Up’ tune.
His eyes slowly adjusted to the light, and Adrien noticed he was alone in the bed. The woman he’d slept with, Tasha, had left at some point before sunrise.
Ah, another day of work ahead.
After a shower, he made himself a sandwich and opened his laptop to start checking the material Luca and Joy had sent to him. The girl was good at her job, much better than the idiot that came before her. Maybe because she was short, maybe because she was that kind of person who still lived with her parents, but Adrien could only think of her as ‘the girl’. Still, he reckoned she was diligent, talented and enthusiastic.
He was also enthusiastic about his job when he was that age.
Thinking about youth made him subconsciously think about the ‘growing up’ part, too, as his eyes went for a second to the wedding portrait hanging in the living room. Most of the time he didn’t even notice its existence, and even forgot it was there.
Of course, Adrien wasn’t a mad man still crying over the disastrous end of his marriage. He was just the kind of person who decided to take advantage when possible, and learn something when it could be learned.
For example, when trying to keep things casual with the women he met. Most of the time they would be honest and agree to clarify he didn’t do relationships, or leave right before it started. However, there had been some that said one-time sex was okay, only to try for a relationship later. To avoid that, what would be better than having his wedding portrait right in the living room for all of them to see?
It could be taken as a preventive measure. No one wanted to have something with a crazy man who wasn’t over his ex.
Adrien laughed at his own joke and went back to look at the photos.
“This one. This one will do for our cover.”
Luca had screwed it up, but this time the newbie’s work would save the day. Otherwise Adrien would have resorted to his plan for the next month's issue and called an illustrator. He was satisfied that she understood pretty well what he had in mind before. Now he just had to check the layout once more before handing things to the chief editor.
If there was something he’d never imagined himself doing, it was working at something like this and for so long. Until now, his friends were still bewildered and blamed Allison.
There was some truth on it. At first he felt responsible for the way his marriage sank down so soon. ‘If I just didn’t go away all the time’ or ‘I made her feel alone’, such thoughts did exist. It was too late to fix things, but it still made him want to stay in one place for once.
He also lacked any inspiration or motivation to start another artistic project.
Then Nora presented him the small magazine she was about to launch, and he just went along with it for a lack of a better thing to do. Thanks to his friend’s vision, it did not take long before Zoom gained recognition.
Overall, he was pretty comfortable with his life as it was. Why would he change anything?
“Boss, I bought coffee for you.” He looked down to see the girl who greeted him like this as soon as he got to the office.
He took the cup in his hand, it was still hot. Did she just know the exact time he’d be arriving?
She really put attention to details.
“Thank you.” He smiled. Clearly she had gone exclusively to get coffee for him, because she didn’t drink any. Adrien also paid attention to these things, and in the three days she had been here, Joy was the only person who didn’t walk once to the coffee machine.
The girl was too nice for her own good. He wondered how many times people had walked all over her.
However, contrary to his expectations, the nice gesture came along with a request.
“Boss, I was wondering… when you are not so busy… could you give a look to some of my work?”
“Uh? Didn’t I already do that?”
He sat at his desk and grabbed the copies of the drafts Nora had left for him. It was already that time of the month?
“I mean, my portfolio.”
“I also took a look at that before we called you for the job interview.”
She sighed.
“I know. But there’s something you look at when you think about a magazine photographer, and something else when it comes to fine-art photography, right? I’d like to know your honest opinion about it.”
These words made him raise his eyebrows. His honest opinion? Was she for real? Yes, he thought she had talent, but he wasn’t known as the most sensitive person when giving input to others.
“The last time I gave my honest opinion to one of the photographers here, he resigned and cried crocodile tears all the way to the parking lot.”
The girl was still holding his gaze, unfazed.
“But that’s what I need if I want to improve. Besides, boss, I’m a big fan of your old days. Even if you criticize me harshly, it’s my good luck to hear it from you.”
He coughed, taken aback for a moment.
Then he reminded the kind of person she was, who just until the beginning of the week lived with the parents who hated her career.
“Don’t you have an appointment today?”
“Only in the afternoon. I’ll go with Beth to her interview.”
“Okay. Let me finish reading these and I’ll have some time for you.”
“Thanks, boss.”
She was about to walk out when he called her back.
“Hey, Joy.”
“Yes?”
“Have you resolved your living arrangement problem?”
Her smile faded for a second, that was enough for an answer.
“No yet. I’m staying with some friends for now. So if by chance you know about a cheap place that I could pay with my salary, please let me know.”
“I see. Good luck with the apartment hunting.”
Not having a place to live was a big problem, but she still kept smiling all day. Adrien found out that he envied her a little, which was ridiculous.
Or perhaps it wasn’t.
He usually didn’t think much about his co-workers lives, but it was also true that he didn’t ask and therefore they didn’t speak to him about these matters. Joy, however, had practically spouted all out the first day, understandable due to the stress she was feeling at that moment.
As a consequence, he knew a little about her conflict with her parents, just enough to dwell on parent-child relationships in a way he didn’t do in a long time. It was bad that someone had to live according to her parents wishes in the 21st century, but at the same time, didn’t it mean they cared?
Adrien tried to remember the last time he spoke to his father over the phone, but he couldn’t.
Was it one or two years ago?
It wasn’t that he felt any desire to talk to the old man, but he envied those who had so much attention from a set of parents.
After decades of estrangement, the only thing with some real worth his father had ever given him was the apartment in which he lived now.
When he came back from work in the afternoon and opened the door, Adrien had a sense of deja-voo to the first time he came to live here.
‘I’m pretty comfortable with my life as it is.’
Even if he’d let her have the beach house and came back to this place. Even if it was too big for one person, in a way that made him feel pathetic.
He sat on the couch and poured himself some whiskey, and when he looked up his eyes stopped on the portrait again.