When Kaya Perry graduates college, the last place she wants to go back is Layton, the town that she left behind. She left that place with bad memories and no friends, so there is no way she's looking to go back. So it's really a bummer when the job...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
No matter how big the news about Ty's feelings were—or even the truth of them—Kaya didn't have time to actually think about it over the next few weeks. Being temporarily jobless seemed good for her.
For one, her little short videos were starting to gain steam on online video platforms. People seemed to love how she viewed the world and her stylistic choices in angles, shots, and colors. People were starting to commission her for filming things for them: fashion videos, music videos, even some wedding videography. A couple of large makeup companies—ones like Ansen Enterprises, one of the biggest fashion and makeup companies—had contacted her about filming some shots for upcoming makeup releases, and her acceptance had her traveling to New York and L.A. in the span of a month.
Not only did Kaya start to gain clients because of her short films, but because of what she was starting to experience she started to re-learn all of what she'd missed since she changed her major. The internet was vast and teeming with new instructional videos on various aspects of the filming business and she found that she enjoyed working with people and being behind the camera.
Still, in the back of her mind, she was always thinking about Olivia's revelation and the fact that Ty offered her a job with him. For the latter, Kaya had thought about it countless times during her travels to shoots, and realized that she really would like to work with Ty, especially if she wanted to gain a more rounded experience. Ty and his photography business were entirely a one-man job, and helping him set up shoots, learn editing shortcuts, and handle the business side of things would surely help her a lot. When she had brought it up to him, he was practically jumping out of his seat.
He probably would have, if he weren't driving.
"This will be a great experience for you, babe," he said, a megawatt smile on his face. "And—not to sound pretentious—but working with me can give you all sorts of contacts in random places. And the more experience you gain, the higher your commission prices could be. Soon enough, you won't even need me."
"Wouldn't higher prices drive away potential customers?" she asked.
"Not customers who are well aware of your worth," he replied. "Trust me. When I started, I was charging way too little for what I did. When I finally did research and talked to other photographers and people that did commissions, they showed me why I hadn't been making a profit, even though I was charging what I thought was a good deal. And, think about it: when you charge higher prices, not only will you be able to make a living, but you would also be able to invest in better equipment and possible help."
Kaya was quiet, mulling over what Ty had told her. He was right, on all fronts. She wanted the experience, wanted to work behind the camera, and she was happy that Ty had offered her a position. When she looked over at him, he still had a smile on his face and his eyes were still crinkled at the edges from excitement. He was absentmindedly tapping along with a song on the radio, and there was still a slight sheen of sweat covering him from when they had been at the gym.
And when she looked at him, deep down, she knew that she was slowly falling in love with him and his passion for his art, and that she'd take the job that he offered her.
As Kaya's clientele grew and her business picked up, she soon grew confident enough to ignore the looks of the people in Layton—Alison and her dirty looks included—as she seemed to remain jobless although she was making large amounts of money as a freelancer. She remembered hearing from her distant grandmother that she'd never make it was an art major—and film was an art. Look where she was. She soon became confident in general, enough that Olivia, Lauren, Ty, and Julian all noticed. With the way things had been going for her, the way that everything that she now wanted was right at her fingertips, all she had needed to do was to nurture and grow the confidence she needed to take it.
"You seem happy," Julian said, raising a beer up to Kaya. "Tell us the good news."
Kaya smiled down at her plate of pasta. It had been a week since she and Ty had talked about her experience level and three days since she had told Ty that she wanted the job offered to her and started her paperwork to get things going. The group of five had gone to a new Italian place in Gainey and so far the dinner had been full of laughter and stories. Ty had expanded his business to not just photography but videos, and Lauren and Olivia had both accepted jobs in New York City, so they were spending their last week in Layton hanging out with their friends. She'd been quiet the entire time, ignoring Ty's ever-present gaze, but of course Julian had to give her some attention.
"Well," she said, "I did get some good news recently."
Everyone at the table seemed to lean forward except for Ty, who had leaned against his chair with a smug look on his face.
"I just accepted the position of videographer at Ty's business," Kaya said.
"You're looking at my new assistant," Ty said once everyone was done congratulating Kaya. "I've been trying to expand my range from just photography, and with Kaya getting all of this filming done I decided to take her on."
"Yep," Kaya said, "you guys know that I've been traveling a lot recently, and there's a bunch that I haven't told any of you. I got back into filming a while ago and posted some of my videos online. They got a bunch of attention, and so I've actually been working with makeup companies and helping film music videos. But I know that I need more experience, which is where Ty comes in."
Olivia made another toast to Kaya, knowing that her friend needed it. Julian, on the other hand, seemed a bit miffed that Kaya wasn't ruffled by the amount of attention that she was getting. She ignored him. Ever since Kaya had gotten fired from her job, Julian seemed to always try to get her down, make snide comments that hinted at deep-seated jealousy that she'd never seen from him.
He was jealous of her success and the fact that, while she had been fired from her job, Kaya turned around and found something better. And she wasn't bothered in the least by people—like him—trying to knock her off of her high horse. If Julian wanted to be successful, then he'd have to work for it instead of being angry that all of his friends were doing something with their lives and he was content with being a mechanic in his father's shop. Maybe she was being a little petty, but she still hadn't gotten over the fact that Alison had fired her because of him. It was dumb and beyond childish and Julian didn't even see that he was the reason behind her firing.
The rest of the night went by in a blur, and she was wine-drunk enough that she didn't remember how she got home the next day until she saw Ty passed out on her couch. She didn't disturb him—but she still admired the strip of skin that showed beneath his shirt—and went to make herself a hangover breakfast.
