Two Worlds - Part 2

Part 1

They had met several months earlier.

"You're going to have to try harder, Janet."

She was already trying very hard. Her beads of perspiration showed that.

"Do you think you're beautiful?"

She shook her head.

"Alright, take five, I need a break too. Kim!" Jason turned around. "I need her make-up touched up, and please, blot the sweat off, she's sweating more than I am!" He sounded irritated.

"It's not sweat, it's perspiration..." Kim retorted, and got in return an icy cold look that got her scrambling. She was used to him, but his stare was still deadly.

Jason lit a cigarette, placed his camera on his bag, tripped over one of the rocks that formed the break water, swore, and walked towards the clear water.

"He must be having a bad day..." Janet commented as Kim blotted her forehead.

"Oh not really, he's just being normal today."

"This is normal? He seems so fierce..."

"Why do you say that? What did he say to you?"

"Well, nothing much, he did ask me if I thought I was beautiful, then stared me down, kinda frightened me." Janet glanced towards Jason in the distance, thinking how he could be polluting the beautiful area with his smoke, before realising he was looking at her. Or at least in her direction.

"Really? He said that? That's strange, he's never asked that to the models he's shot before."

"Anyway, I just wanna get this shoot over with."

"Yeah, my sentiments exactly, girl. I gotta rush off later for another make-up assignment for a show in town. Looks like no time for dinner!"

As expected, Jason tossed his cigarette butt into the sea and came back, this time making sure he didn't trip over any rocks, or the like.

"Ok girls, how's it going? Can we continue making beautiful images of someone who thinks she is otherwise?" His smirk seemed to boderline between sarcasm and charm.

"Yeah she's good to go." said Kim.

Janet looked up at Jason. He looked different with the yellow hue of the setting sun behind him forming a glow. He was still smiling, and his demeanor was just so different from moments ago. Perhaps it was the nicotine, Janet thought to herself.

"You don't talk much huh?" Jason offered his hand to pull her up, but she decided to get up herself. "Not to me anyway..."

"I do, but I guess, not today?"

"Well, so after the touch up, do you think you're beautiful?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes it does. Answer me."

"No I don't."

"Well, we seem to disagree on that. Alright, let's carry on, can I get you to sit on this rock over here, with your body about 45 degrees from the sun, I wanna get a slightly silhouetted shot of you in this lovely yellow light. Since you don't think you're beautiful, I'll try to get more of you in shadows, how's that?"

Janet couldn't tell if it was sarcasm, but followed his instructions. After a few poses, he seemed to be more inspired, and Janet knew it wasn't due to the cigarette. Every so often he would put his camera down, and look at her purposefully. At first she was really conscious, as it is she wasn't wearing much, but his eyes never seemed to roam around her bikini clad body, and were fixated on her face, each time she noticed him looking, that is. She would then look away, wondering if she might perhaps be more comfortable if he stared at her body instead, which was what most photographers did anyway. His eyes were piercing, but it wasn't a sharp pierce. Soft? Was there such a thing as a soft pierce?

"Janet!"

She was startled.

"There you are, I lost you for a moment. What were you looking at? Fish in the water?"

"Er... no, nothing. Sorry, yeah I was day-dreaming for a while."

"It's ok, while you were away, I caught this shot." Jason showed her the LCD screen on his camera.

It was amazing. Her face was infused with warm light, with subtle hazy, even smokey patterns on her skin, with a lingering expression that complemented the light. Her eyes shone from the reflection of the sun while the side of her face in shadows was contrasted with a background of pink and orange hues from the sunset. The rest of her body was rendered out of focus, but still in the warm tones of the setting sun. She remembered how he only studied her face, and it seemed apt that the rest of her was literally, not in focus.

"Wow..." She was so happy. She looked great! "Why is it that my skin looks like it's got a smokey-like effect?"

"That's the ripples in the water reflecting light from the sun."

"Can we shoot more? I love that shot!"

"Nope, this one is perfect. When you get one that's perfect, you don't need to hunt for another." He smilied. She had to agree with him in principle, but all she wanted was a few more shots!

"So now do you think you are beautiful?"

She smiled and walked away, not doing a good job of hiding it from him.

"Dammit, that was the smile I was looking for all day!" Jason thought to himself and started packing up his equipment. "There'll be a next time..."