Spaces in Between

Chapter Six: James

I stared at my reflection on the mirror, wondering how today would end. Somehow my days with Adrianna always ended on a good note, and I hoped that when we get married, it’d be the same. I like how she’s grown comfortable to me, how she can lightly tease me back but still blush at my compliments or sweet gestures at her.

I pulled out my phone and looked at the picture I had of her. She was still slightly pissed that I took a candid photo of her, claiming that she looked ugly on it. I didn’t see which part was ugly. In the picture, she was laughing at what Ethan said and her eyes crinkled at the sides and although her mouth was slightly open from laughing, I can’t see why she hated the picture. She looked more beautiful in it than the other pictures I’ve seen her in on magazines.

“Well, what do we have here?” Ethan said, slapping my back lightly and when I turned to him, he had a sly grin on his face, “Is someone developing some feelings for Miss Adrianna?”

I rolled my eyes, “And is someone still on Miss Lily’s bad side?”

Ethan grumbled and plopped on the sofa, “Can I come with you?”

Switching my shirt since the other one didn’t look as good as I wanted, I turned to him, “Lily won’t be there.”

He shook his head, “I know that. I just wanted to talk to Adrianna.”

“About?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. I knew my best friend, and I knew that girls who looked like Adrianna were his type.

He rolled his eyes, “She’s your fiancé. I won’t do anything that would ruin that although I don’t have anything to ruin since there is no relationship between you two.”

Chucking a dirty sock at him, I said, “I know you, Ethan. There might be anything real going on between Ria and I but she’s already broken as it is. I don’t want you adding up to it.”

“I’m just gonna ask her about Lily!” he finally stated, “So please let me come with you today.”

“Just promise you won’t make fun at me during the shoot,” I muttered, “Come on. Let’s go. We’re doing it at Ria’s studio first and then at the location.”

Before heading to the studio, I stopped to buy her flowers first. I didn’t know why I did that, it was just I liked how her face lit up each time I arrive with them in my arms. What made me wonder is how it made her happy when I didn’t even buy her favorite. I constantly bought a bouquet of pink tulips for her because somehow, the flowers reminded me of her. I don’t know why but they just do.

“Hi,” she greeted once I arrived at her office and then she looked at the flowers in my hand, “My office is starting to look like a flower shop with all the flowers you bring every day.”

She pulled out another vase and I couldn’t help but chuckle, realizing that she had already grown accustomed to this. Pulling out a water bottle and filling half of the vase, I then handed her the flower and she placed it inside. She then moved to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek which surprised me.

“Thanks for the flowers,” she said softly and then grabbed my hand, “Marcus is already waiting for us at the studio. Let’s go.”

I glanced at our hands that were interlaced and actually liked the feeling of it intertwined. I held onto her tighter and I saw her glance at it for a moment before dragging me to the studio, “You know I’m still confused why this is an agency s***h a studio.”

We stood in the middle of the room while everyone seemed to be busy. There were a few who were adjusting the lights, some yelling for more clothes, and then we were just there, in the midst of it all, with our hands still intertwined and Adrianna was looking at me with a smile, and I swear I felt something with that smile of hers.

“I told you, this is Logan and mine’s business. He’s been in love with photography and I pulled some strings with my modeling career and then bam, we had this.”

Marcus sauntered over to us and wrapped his big arms around us both, “Let’s get this show on the road! And I’m so excited to see the chemistry between you two captured in a photograph. Aide, your clothes are with Freesia. And James, follow me with yours.”

I changed into my outfit for the shoot and when I got out, I saw Adrianna already there. I honestly thought that she’d take longer but then I realized that they didn’t even give her that much makeup or did her hair. She looked simple, dressed in a purple tube dress with her hair in a messy updo and the lightest tinge of makeup.

“I’m pretty sure it’s a crime for a girl to get ready that fast,” I said once I was by her side, “And it’s more than a felony to still look that gorgeous.”

When she blushed, a part of me wanted to pull her to the corner and kiss her senseless. To be honest, when she’s around, my sole attention is on her. And I don’t even understand why. For three years, no matter how much I forced myself to notice other girls, I couldn’t and then she comes in my life and somehow, all I can see is her.

I don’t understand what kind of power she has over me, why there’s a part of me that always wants to make her blush and smile. I like seeing her smiling, her smile seems to brighten my day up, seems to light the room. But I also love it when she’s confused or pissed off. It makes her even more adorable. I don’t get how her feistiness added up to her adorableness. It doesn’t seem to add up, but with her, it does.

And I like what I’m feeling. I like making her happy. It makes me happy.

She snapped her fingers in front of me, “You were somewhere out at the galaxy for a moment there.”

I blinked and then flashed her a smile, “I was just scouring the galaxies if there’s one that could be compared to you. You’re in luck, you’re the rarest of your breed. And I’m lucky that I got you.”

She rolled her eyes at me, “Let’s just get this over with.”

Throughout the shoot, she led me. I wasn’t exactly comfortable with this kind of things, this wasn’t my scene but it was hers. She moved around the camera as if it had been on her ever since she was born which technically was since she’s been modeling at such a young age. And she helped me, she guided me through the poses.

“Look at me,” she commanded and I did. She placed her arms around my neck and then played with the hair on my nape which made me shiver and her to giggle.

“Stop it,” I complained.

She raised a brow, “Is someone ticklish?”

I shook my head but couldn’t help but squirm under her touch. A sly smile crept on her lips and she slowly caressed her fingers on my nape which made me shiver again, “Are you ticklish here?”

“N-no.”

“Or maybe here,” she murmured, moving her fingers to the back of my right ear. I closed my eyes, willing the tickling sensation to go away.

“Please stop,” I whispered, still squirming as she continued, “Ria.”

I was well aware that I was whining already and she was loving every moment of me squirming. And then she moved her hands lower and then to my side and when she started poking my sides, I couldn’t help it. A chuckle escaped my lips and when she continued poking me that was it, I burst out laughing.

I didn’t know how long she kept tickling me but it felt like more than just five minutes. When she stopped, I took revenge but realized she wasn’t even ticklish. She looked at me smugly, ready to tickle me again but I managed to grab her hands and prevent her from doing so but somewhere somehow, one of us fell and then I was on top of her.

She giggled and I grinned right back at her, “No more tickling.”

Adrianna smiled, the full set of perfect pearly whites beaming right at me. When she bit her lower lip, I couldn’t help myself. I took a glance at her lips and it took everything in me to stop myself from leaning in but I couldn’t. Slowly I did, and then when she realized what was going on, I expected her to slap me but when her eyes gradually fluttered close, mine did too, “And perfect!”

We both snapped from the trance we were in and our attention was then focused on Marcus who was grinning behind his camera, “I wish you two were models. Well, not you Aide since you already are. But this is the easiest couple shoot I’ve had!”

I glanced at Adrianna and she had a faint tinge of red on her cheeks. I stood up quickly, offering my hand to help her up. I turned back to Marcus, “So are we done?”

He was scanning the pictures he took and he spoke, “Well, we’re done but you have to work with Logan for the outside shot. The locations he chose are amazing by the way! You’re gonna love it, Aide.”

Glancing at her, she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, “Do you want to come to the location with me?”

When she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, I quickly shook my head and rephrased my statement, “I meant, ride with me to the location.”

She glanced at Ethan who actually seemed busy on his phone which totally surprised me since I thought he’d be busy with the models, “He’s riding with us too?”

“He’s tagging along because he wants to talk to you about Lily,” I explained, as we headed to his direction. Adrianna gave me a look and I shrugged, “Believe me when I say that he actually likes her because for once in his damn life, he finally realizes it’s about time he gets into a relationship.”

“You two talking about me?” Ethan asked, looking up from his phone, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Adrianna crossed her arms, eyeing Ethan up and down, “Are you serious about my best friend?”

Ethan blinked and he unconsciously rubbed his right arm, a habit he did when he was starting to become nervous, “Why?”

Adrianna uncrossed her arms and pushed him lightly on the shoulder, “Don’t ask me why. I’m asking you. You’re the one who has feelings for her while mine is completely platonic and I bat for the right team.”

My best friend sighed, running a hand through his dark hair, “I like her, Adrianna. I’ve liked her for a very long time.”

“Then why did it take you this long?” Ria asked, shaking her head, “Do you have any idea how many horrible dates she had to go through?”

But she didn’t let Ethan respond. She slapped him. She actually slapped him and I stared at her amused while he stared at her in shock, “Look. I’ve seen her heartbroken once and though she partied really hard during that phase and I’m a much worse brokenhearted than her, I don’t want it to happen to her ever again.

“If you tell me that you like her true, then go get her, okay? Stop being such a baby because she might have a better job than you or earns more. Keep that mindset and she’s gonna be the one that got away in your life. Now, you don’t need a conversation with me okay? You’re James’ best friend and if I now deem him as a good guy, then I’m sure you are too. You might be a player but it’s not as if Lily is a saint when it comes to that field too.”

Adrianna inhaled and I looked at her in awe while Ethan just stared at her, dumbfounded, “Don’t make me slap you again to put some more senses into you. Now go and get her. And please do not by any means hurt her. I don’t want her to look at herself in the mirror and see that she’s not worth it because some guy made her feel that way. Don’t be that guy, Ethan.”

“Yes dude, stop being a pu-,”

“And you stop cussing in front of me or when I’m around. I hate it when guys do that,” Adrianna interjected and I bit my tongue from continuing the word. This time, Ethan looked amused.

He stood up and then pulled Adrianna into a hug, earning a protest from me. When he let her go, he turned to me with a grin, “Keep that one, bud. If my heart wasn’t set for Lily, I’d steal her from you.”

And then he addressed the both of us, “Don’t fall too fast, you two, you might crash and burn but please though, do fall. If there’s another loophole caused by this agreement, it’s that you found each other without much of a search albeit with wounded hearts.”

I blinked, trying to comprehend what he just said. Before I could ask him to explain, he was already off to pursue a girl he actually likes. I looked back at Adrianna who seemed as confused as I was. Somehow, Ethan seemed to know something that we don’t, or he sees something that we’re still blind about.

Shrugging his statement off, I flashed Adrianna a small smile, “Let’s go?”

Logan already texted her the location and thus far, there were only three. Battery Park, Brooklyn Bridge, and Central Park. I remembered that Marcus said that she was going to love the places and judging from the huge smile on her face upon reading to me the location we needed to go to, she did like it.

“So that pep talk with Ethan,” I said starting a conversation with her before we reached Battery Park and to entertain ourselves because we got stuck in traffic, “You seem to not want your best friend to suffer a broken heart.”

She continued to look at the window, “I know how much it hurts. But I’ve never seen Lily expose her casual self to a guy other than her brother and mine. Somehow, it’s obvious that this time around is different, that she sees Ethan in a different light.”

“And when you mentioned that you didn’t want her to look at the mirror and see herself worthless,” I said quietly, “Do you really look at yourself and think that you're worthless?”

When she didn’t respond, I took it as an opportunity to share one of the many pieces of advice the people close to me had given me, pieces of advice that I refused to follow but now realized that they were just right all along, “Because you’re not, okay? Just because someone didn’t see your worth doesn’t mean you’re worthless.”

Taking advantage of the unmoving traffic, I shifted to face her. She was looking down and I placed my thumb on her chin, tilting her head to look at me, “You are worth it, Adrianna. To me, you are. And I will go through lengths to let you see that.”