AN: This one is in two parts. Part one was inspired by the song Mean by Taylor Swift
Beauty Behind the Lens
Part 1 Old Friends and New
I was exhausted when I stepped through my door Saturday night. I had been on my feet since early this morning photographing for the Amundsen wedding. I had been close friends with Emily for a few years so when she asked me to I had a hard time saying no. I sat my camera bag down and picked up my mail. I lounged on my daybed flipping through the pile of envelops and ads. I had the usual bills and junk.
Then I saw something that made my stomach drop. It was an invitation to Bon Temps High School class of 2006's ten year reunion. I had no fond memories of high school. I had been ridiculed and bullied almost every day. I went home crying more days than not. I was I suppose, an easy target because I was overweight, acne covered and extremely shy. It did not help either that my older brother Jason was popular. He never stood up for me for fear of being scorned himself. I have forgiven him since but we are still not very close. The last time I saw him was Gran's funeral two years ago. He had gotten married and they were expecting at the time. I think my niece's name is Kennedy or something like that. I have only seen a picture of her once and not a very good one at that.
Granted it's not his fault that I've not been back. I was mine. I travel most of the time for shoots. I don't even consider Louisiana my home anymore. I spend my down time in my New York apartment. I looked down at my invitation again there really were only two people that I would want to see from high school. My only friends at the time Jessica Hamby and Lafayette Reynolds, like me they had been outcasts but for different reasons. Jessica came from an ultra-religious and conservative house hold. She wore modest clothes that were far from fashionable along with a cross necklace. She was shy like me and rarely spoke up in class. Lafayette on the other hand was gay and flamboyant. He never tried to hide who he was but that gave the others of our high school reason to mock him.
All three of us were regular targets for the popular crowd. I still remember all of their names Pam Ravenscroft, Eric Northman, Bill Compton, Debbie and Sandra Pelt, Arlene Fowler, and Calvin Norris. Every one of them enjoyed making our lives suck. I remember one time in particular, where the girls cornered me in the locker room after gym. We were swimming that week and I hated it. They made fun of just about every aspect of my physical appearance that they could. Pam in particular was rather cruel she told me that I should just go kill myself now because I would never be pretty and no one would ever like me. They made me cry so hard that day, that I spent most of the next class in Coach Black's office. She had tried to get me to tell her what was wrong, but I knew better. Any time that I had told a teacher I was being bullied and by whom they did not believe me. It was always their word against mine. To make matters worse I had a huge crush on Eric, like most girls in our school. He was never as mean as the others, but he also never stopped them. They all knew that I liked him, which just gave them something else to taunt me about.
I shook myself from those thoughts. I was no longer that insecure, fat girl. I was in the best shape of my life and I was beautiful. I worked long and hard to get the body I have now. I was not freakishly skinny but I was thin with nice curves. My acne had long cleared up and I was more confident in myself. The more I thought about just how different I was the more I wanted to show those asses how much I had changed. I decided that I would go just to spite them. The reunion was to be held in Shreveport at the Hilton at the end of the month. The RSVP card had an email address and requested a yes or no reply with number of guests. I wanted to go but I also wanted to have support there just in case. I took out my phone and called my friend Preston. He was an editor for Sports Illustrated. I meet him when I was on the short list of photographers for the swimsuit issue a year ago. On top of being successful, funny and nice, he was gorgeous. He had dark chocolate hair and bright green eyes. He was a good foot taller than me and an amazing physique. We had dated off and on but weren't really ready for a commitment. At the moment we were friends who just happened to kiss and sometime sleep together. He picked up after two rings.
"Hey Sookie what can I do for you?" He asked.
"Well I was wondering what you are doing on the 30th." I said nervously.
"Nothing that I know of, why?" He responded.
"How would you feel about going to Shreveport Louisiana?" I questioned.
"Depends what would we be doing?" He countered.
"Now don't laugh, going to my ten year high school reunion. I don't want to go alone." I said.
"If you want me to, I will go with you." He replied.
"Oh thank you Preston. I will make arrangements and let you know flight times and everything. I will call you tomorrow, when I have everything figured out." I thanked him.
"All right good night Sookie."
"Night Preston and thank you." I hung up my phone with a smile on my face. I fired off an email saying that I would be going and had a guest. I then looked up hotel rooms and flights for that weekend. I booked us in a suite and first class seats for the flights down and back. I had the money to spend and I did not want to spend any amount of time cramped in coach. I went to bed that night feeling great. I called Preston the next day to give him all the details. The rest of the month went by quickly. It was Friday morning and we would be leaving in two hours to get to Shreveport. I had packed my suit case and carry on last night. Preston was sitting holing my hand as we waited to board our flight.
"I am so glad you are coming with me." I leaned over putting my head down on his shoulder.
"It is no problem. I think it will be interesting to meet the people you went to high school with. I mean, if they were actually nice to you, I don't think I ever would have met you." I had told him what high school had been like for me and was surprised to find out he had had a similar experience. Preston was not fat or ugly he was just a huge nerd. We chatted mindlessly during our wait and on our flight. When we landed we retrieved our bags and made our way to the rental car station. I had booked us a Dodge Charger. I knew that we probably would not need the car but I wanted it just in case. We had a short drive to the hotel. Still holding my hand we walked up to the front desk.
"Welcome to the Shreveport Hilton how can I help you?" The lady behind the desk asked.
"Checking in, it is under Stackhouse."
"Here we are." She said handing me a pair of keys. "Are you part of the reunion?"
"Yes." I confirmed.
"In that case, you need to go check in at the ballroom once you get settled. They are having a welcome lunch at noon. Have a good stay." She said handing me direction to the ballroom and other amenities. I looked at my watch and saw that we had about an hour till noon.
"Let's go put our bags away. I want to take a shower and change before we go down." I walked over to the elevators. We were on the tenth floor in an executive suite. Honestly I didn't think that we really needed that much room but it would be nice to have somewhere to escape to if needed.
"Is there room in the shower for me too?" He asked with a smirk.
"We will just have to see." I replied. When the elevator doors opened we got on and he pulled me into his arms.
"What can I do to make sure?" He peppered my neck with kisses. I giggled and let him continue. When we got to our floor we broke apart and carted our luggage to the door. Once inside he locked the door and pulled me to the bathroom. We spent a good half hour, in the shower getting "clean". I blew out my hair and curled it at the ends. I donned a smidge of lip gloss and some mascara. When packing for the weekend I had several things to choose from. I wanted to have a variety. I picked out one of my favorite sun dresses. It was a white halter with small red flowers all over it. I paired it with a white cardigan and my red pumps.
"You look spectacular." Preston said coming up behind me.
"Thank you, let's go down. I am kind of anxious to see who recognizes me." I turned to face him.
"Just to clarify what do you want to call me while we are here?" He asked tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.
"Boyfriend or friend whatever you are comfortable with." I smile up at him.
"I think I could handle being your boyfriend." He smiled back. We grabbed the keys and headed down to the ballroom. There was a table by the door that was manned by two of the people that I really did not want to see. Pam and Eric they were both smiling and looked just as good as they once had.
"Hello you two. Which one of you is our 2006 graduate?" Pam asked looking between us.
"I am."
"Really because I think I would remember someone as lovely as you in our class." Eric leered. "What is your name?" Preston put his arm around me and pulled me into his chest.
"Yes I just look a bit different and it is Sookie Stackhouse." I answered watching their faces.
"I am sorry I just don't remember you but your last name is familiar." Then his face palled a little. "You're not Jason's sister are you?" I nodded. They both looked amazed.
"You really do look different." Pam interjected. "Um here is your name tag and one for your …"
"This is my boyfriend Preston Pardloe." I filled in taking the name tags.
"Well, have fun this weekend here is the itinerary. Today we have the welcome lunch and dinner. Tomorrow there is a picnic and tomorrow night we are having a dance. Sunday is supposed to be family day but for everyone else it is just another day to catch up." Pam passed me another piece of paper. We walked in to the ballroom and found our seats. Preston went to get us some drinks while I sat there looking around the room.
"Holy shit hooker. Sookie it is so good to see you." I turned to see Lafayette in all his glory.
I stood quickly and gave him a hug. "Lafayette you have not changed at all."
"But you sure have. I wouldn't have known it was you without your name tag." He smiled taking a seat next to me followed by an exotic looking man.
"Hello I am Sookie, I was friends with Lafayette during school." I offered him my hand.
"Nice to meet you I am Jesus, this one's husband." He said shaking my hand. Preston came back then with some tea.
"Now who is this fine specimen?" Lafayette asked looking over at Preston.
"This is my boyfriend Preston Pardloe." I introduced them.
"You are not the Preston Pardloe the one with Sports Illustrated?" Asked Jesus impressed.
"One in the same." He answered. They launched into a discussion of baseball and other things while I caught up with Lafayette. They had been married for a few years and had adopted two little girls from China named Heaven and Jasmine. Lafayette was a stay at home dad and Jesus was a pediatrician. They were living up in Vermont about six hours away. We talked for a while longer when I heard a squeak behind me. I turned to see Jessica standing there looking very pregnant and glowing. Jessica we found out, had married Hoyt Fortenberry and they had one boy named Mark and were expecting a little girl any day now. Hoyt unfortunately could not make it this weekend because of work, so she was here on her own. Pam and Eric came in and welcomed us all to the reunion and encouraged everyone to mingle and find old friends. They also said that there would be an award ceremony of sorts the next night. We were to vote on things like who was the most changed or not. There was also a survey so they could find out more about everyone and what we all had been up to that would be collected at dinner tonight. The three of us stayed at our table through lunch gabbing promising to see each other for dinner. Preston and I were heading to the elevators to back up to our room. As we were getting on someone shouted to hold the door.
Mean by Taylor Swift
You, with your words like knives and swords and weapons that you use against me
You have knocked me off my feet again got me feeling like I'm nothing
You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard, calling me out when I'm wounded
You, pickin' on the weaker man
You can take me down
With just one single blow
But you don't know what you don't know
Someday I'll be living in a big old city
And all you're ever gonna be is mean
Someday I'll be big enough so you can't hit me
And all you're ever gonna be is mean
Why you gotta be so mean?
You, with your switching sides and your wildfire lies and your humiliation
You've pointed out my flaws again as if I don't already see them
I'll walk with my head down trying to block you out 'cause I'll never impress you
I just wanna feel okay again
I'll bet you got pushed around, somebody made you cold
But the cycle ends right now 'cause you can't lead me down that road
And you don't know what you don't know
Someday I'll be living in a big old city
And all you're ever gonna be is mean
Someday I'll be big enough so you can't hit me
And all you're ever gonna be is mean
Why you gotta be so mean?
And I can see you years from now in a bar, talking over a football game
With that same big loud opinion but nobody's listening
Washed up and ranting about the same old bitter things
Drunk and grumbling on about how I can't sing
But all you are is mean
All you are is mean and a liar and pathetic and alone in life
And mean, and mean, and mean, and mean
But someday I'll be living in a big old city
And all you're ever gonna be is mean, yeah
Someday, I'll be big enough so you can't hit me
And all you're ever gonna be is mean
Why you gotta be so mean?
Someday, I'll be, living in a big old city
(Why you gotta be so mean?)
And all you're ever gonna be is mean
(Why you gotta be so mean?)
Someday, I'll be big enough so you can't hit me
(Why you gotta be so mean?)
And all you're ever gonna be is mean
Why you gotta be so mean?
