Suffocate Me

"This is just impossible," I whispered.

I ran the numbers through my head and this was a lot of money. This band was willing to make me a thousandaire for a three-day photo shoot! They must be insane!

"Nina, is this normal?" I asked my best friend and boss.

Nina had phoned me ten minutes ago, ranting about how much overspill work she had to arrange. Jokingly, I had offered to “whisk away” some of it, but she hadn't sensed my sarcasm at all. Now I was standing at her desk, looking over the terms and conditions for a job in L.A.

"That client is a regular and they just want a private photographer for three days," Nina chirped, still busy with paperwork,"regardless, they have some really specific requests so it shouldn't be too hard."

"Nina... is it really okay for me to take this?" I asked, brushing back my light brown hair.

"Of course! You taking that would be a big help!" she insisted,"That job has medium pay and is just time consuming."

"Medium pay?!"

"Yes," Nina huffed,”Olive, are you going to take it or what?”

“I…” I looked down at the little box at the bottom of the application and stared at the empty line. All I had to do was say yes and sign and my rent was paid for the next three months. Not to mention what I could do with the leftovers. “I’ll take it if you’ll allow me.” I finally answered.
Nina smiled and clapped her hands.

“Ai! Thank you, chica! That saves me from sending Tina!” she exclaimed, letting her latina side come out a bit. “She’s almost on maternal leave and I’d feel so bad.”

“Well, then, I guess I’m going to L.A.”

Nina was always excited when she got her way. Always. Today was no exception. The minute I signed the job form, she shooed me out of her office.

“Thanks, Nina!” I called over my shoulder.

Nina waved a manicured hand and nodded for me to get going. I guess she still has a lot to do, I thought, but that’s Nina I suppose. The two of us had been friends since I started working for her. Strange thing was, I didn’t know she was my boss until after we had arranged for a girl’s night and junk food binge. Nina had this way with her employees, but even her husband agreed that I was on Nina’s list of “special people.” It made me happy having a black-haired, cheetos-loving busy body like her as a friend, but right now, I was more eccentric about the job.

If all goes well, I’m going to be a thousandaire, I mentally cheered myself on, I can totally do this!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“They're just people,” I whisper to myself as I get out of my truck. Yeah, people that may or may not be paying you a large sum of money.

I took a deep breath and threw my bag over my shoulder. I grabbed my professional camera and sunglasses. I was all set for my three-day-non-stop-photo-taking-adventure, but I was more nervous than I had ever been. Coming a day early to settle my nerves wasn’t working so far, but I still had time since it was only midday.

“Are you Ms. Olive Hershey?”

I jumped. Suddenly, there was a rather tall female in heels in front of me. She had her brown hair messily braided to the right and her hazel eyes were intense. It was like she was scanning me over and planning our friendship as we spoke.

“Yes’m, I am,” I said, my voice a little shaky,”nice to meet you, miss.”

“Juliet, and don’t worry, babe,” she reassured me, handing me a nametag with a tour pass,”I don’t bite newbies. I’m just here to guide you to the band you’ll be photographing.”

“Oh,” I said, relaxing a bit,”Thank you!”

Juliet turned out to be super nice. I could still sense something fishy about her, like there was something she wasn’t telling me, but she was a good person. Kinda like how dogs can tell a good person from a bad person. I knew there was something missing, but I didn’t push it; I was getting an awesome tour of the area.

“And that,” Juliet said, pointing,”is the stage. The boys are still performing, but you can’t really see or hear them over the crowd.”

We were standing off to the side, far enough so my ears weren’t ringing from the screaming and it wasn’t to crowded. Like Juliet said, I couldn’t really see the band, but I swear I could smell their sweat from here. I could stand it, but the first whiff was anything but bearable. Still, at one point I think I caught the scent of something different.

Something sweet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“...fall down to my knees, I’ll never say a prayer I don’t believe!” I sang, loving the energy today.

Just as the chorus was ending, I got a quick sip of water and took a deep breath. I stopped. I took another breath when I could and it took every inch of my being to keep singing. The others noticed my hesitance. Ash bumped into me and gave me a questioning look. I shrugged, but aw man….

Andy, she’s here somewhere.

And it wasn’t just a smell, not like with Juliet, it was a feeling. Now that I had that smell in my brain, I could feel it, sense it. I was so close to her. I had to claim her. She was mine.

No, Andy, I reminded myself, sing first.

I cursed under my breath, away from the mic.

This is going to be a long performance.

Notes

I'll be reuploading this real quickly.