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Adrian wasn’t sure what to do with himself. He looked down at his hands, then out the windshield, then back at his hands. “So you’re a friend of Jayden’s?” he asked, fiddling with the strap of his camera.
“Yeah,” shrugged Tamonte, who was driving. "Technically, she’s friends with my brother, but De gets weird about it and accuses me of stealing his friends.”
“So you’re friends but not allowed to say it?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“That’s…” cool? Weird? Adrian struggled for the right words, “Something, it’s something.”
Tamonte laughed, “Yeah it is.” A week ago Adrian had asked Jayden to model for a photography assignment; Jayden tragically had to work but offered to find a new model. Three days later a random number had texted him asking his name and after some back and forth a date was chosen. It wasn’t until the car was parked outside that he was hit with the full anxiety of meeting a new person. The two hadn’t talked much but Tamonte seemed nice enough, he even brought Adrian a smoothie. Adrian had been sipping on it nervously the whole drive finishing three-fourths of it by the time they reached their destination; the park. He sucked down the rest as Tamonte pulled into a parking space and turned off the car.
“Alright, you ready to do this?” Tamonte asked, unbuckling his seatbelt.
“Um yes, I think so, hold on.” Adrian checked his camera battery to confirm it was charged, his bag for his wallet and house keys, and his shoes to be sure the laces were tied; sue him he’d tripped more times than he liked to admit. “Okay yes, I’m ready.” They climbed out of the car and stretched.
“So, where to first mister photographer?”
Adrian surveyed the scene. “Let’s go to the gazebo first; the shadows over there are nice. Then we’ll head over to the walking paths right before golden hour.”
“Sounds good to me, lead the way.” Lead the way Adrian did, taking them first to the gazebo where he instructed Tamonte to make a series of poses and motions.
“Are you wearing shorts under your skirt?” he asked at one point.
Tamonte smirked, “Woah, I’m flattered but take me out to dinner first.”
Adrian stared before his eyebrows shot up, “No no I meant, I didn’t mean, I just, I wanted to see a motion-”
“Oh shit your face, oh I’m sorry,” Tamonte laughed over his stammering, “I know what you meant I just,” he trailed off into giggles.
“Oh,” said Adrian as he realized the joke, “heh sorry,” he cracked a weak smile.
“It’s fine, I shouldn’t have teased you,” Tamonte composed himself, “but to answer your question, no, I’m not wearing shorts.”
“Right okay, then could you do a twirl from one side over? Just don’t do it full send.”
“Alright, but I’m no dancer so don’t hold that against me.” Tamonte twirled and spun until he got dizzy and they had to take a break. While they rested Adrian pulled himself up on the railing and went through the pictures he’d already taken. He deleted a few with obvious imperfections and clicked through the others.
“You make a good model.”
“Thanks, you’re a good director.”
“Thank you. Are you ready to head for the trails?”
“Yeah totally.” Adrian slid off the rail but paused as the motion jolted his bladder. He bit his tongue, he knew this would happen, he’d always had a small bladder. Normally he’d leave in search of a public bathroom but since Tamonte was there he swallowed his urge and moved on. Walking helped as did the conversation that Tamonte struck up.
“Liking Indie music doesn’t make you pretentious, pretentious people give Indie music a bad rep.”
“Pretentious people give tons of things a bad rep but some things are inherently pretentious, like drinking out of mason jars.”
“No stop no shut up, Mason jars are not pretentious, they’re unfortunate victims of gentrification. If I’m offered the choice between a regular cup and a mason jar I’m gonna take the fucking mason jar, it's the objectively better choice.”
“No, it’s not, your love of fun cups is speaking right now.”
“Of course it is, fun cup culture needs to be embraced. It deserves the same fucking respect that other collection culture receives”
“You are right but you can’t let that cloud your judgement on pretentiousness. Oh, hop up on this stump for a second.” Tamonte climbed up onto the stump. “Great, now raise your right arm, switch your weight onto your back leg, oh no don’t do that. Follow the path of your arm to your fingertips with your eyes, try to move your head as little as possible.”
“Like this?” Tamonte followed the direction, glancing at Adrian for confirmation.
“Perfect, now don’t move.” Adrian circled him, snapping pictures the whole time. He got down on his knees and looked up, the light silhouetted Tamonte perfectly, creating a halo effect. The ethereal moment was shattered by a sudden leak that dampened his underwear. He squeaked and scrambled up from the ground. Looking up he caught Tamonte’s eye and quickly looked away.
“Uh yeah, that’s uh, that’s good. Uh, we should get out of here before it gets dark and stuff.”
Tamonte raised an eyebrow, “Okay if you’re sure,” he stepped down from the stump, “I think we’ve got a little while though.”
“Yeah maybe but it’s better to be prepared,” Adrian realized he’d started to squirm and forced himself to stop which caused him to leak again.
“Hey, are you good? You seem more nervous than before.”
“I’m fine, let’s just go,” he turned around and started walking, sneaking a hand down to hold himself. Adrian followed a few steps behind.
“Hey do you have to pee?” he asked, stopping Adrian in his tracks, “It’s fine, you can just pee out here.’
Adrian whirled around, “No I can’t,” he remembered the hand still between his legs and snatched it away, “I mean I don’t have to pee.”
“Body language says otherwise. What do you mean you can’t go here? There’s no one around.”
“Yeah I know but,” he shuffled his feet, “I don’t know how.”
“How to what? Pee outside? It’s not that different from an actual bathroom, give me your bag and camera I’ll teach you.” Adrian passed over his bag and camera and followed Tamonte to a nearby tree. He got himself out just as another leak squirted from him, pattering lightly onto the leaves below.
“Okay,” Tamonte said from somewhere else, “the only things you need to remember are be brave, don’t pee into the wind, and pee downhill if you can help it.”
“Bravery?” Adrian asked.
“Yeah, it’s like left turns, you have to be brave or else the universe will know and make this whole process unpleasant. Just relax and you’ll be fine, I won’t look.”
Adrian risked a glance over his shoulder to see that Tamonte’s back was to him. He turned back to the tree and took a deep breath, he could do this. Nothing happened for a long moment and he panicked briefly in fear nothing would happen at all when suddenly whatever internal hang-ups that were stopping him were released. His bladder relaxed and pee spewed forward, arching slightly before hitting the tree trunk and running down in rivulets. His shoulders slumped and he smirked at the way the light caught his stream. When he finished, he shook himself dry and tucked himself back in.
“I’m done,” he said before cringing, “Pass me my bag, I have hand sanitizer in there.” Tamonte turned and held out the bag which Adrian dug through briefly and then slipped onto his shoulder when he found the small bottle of sanitizer.
“Everything good?” Tamonte asked.
“Yes, everything’s fine.”
“Cool, you still wanna get outta here or what?”
“We can stay, we’ve still got some daylight, there’s a log I want you to sit on.”
“Awesome, lead the way, mister photographer,” Tamonte said, handing back the camera.