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Jay sighed as he left his apartment, sticking his key in the lock. They wanted him to come in for more test shoots with a different batch of second-rate models. Honestly Jay didn't see the point, none of the models were ever going to be flawless, and who really cared. It was a fashion shoot for clothes that would appear in a catalogue next to cereal. Did it really need to be perfect? Jay didn't think so, he just wanted to get it over with, get paid, and get the hell out of the city. Oh, and if they didn't have to put his name on this train wreck of an advertisement, that would be preferable.

Heading down the hallway, Jay looked up to see a blonde struggling with a large stack of boxes. He muttered some form of annoyance under his breath and he tried to duck away from her, though it only resulted in him getting stuck in the crossfire. "Oh shoot! I'm so sorry, sir," She said smiling.

"I'm not a sir." Jay mumbled, he hated being called sir or gentleman, or anything formal. It all sounded so fake and such a waste of time. Jay tried to find his way away from her and towards the elevator. Though this proved to be a difficult task, as he had to avoid standing on any of her stuff that was now scattered across the hallway. Sure there was no way he was going to help her clean up her shit, but he wasn't so rude, as to walk all over her shit.

"I.. uh.. I couldn't see, and I probably should have thought that through a little more." She explained trying to pick up her stuff and Jay's feet. "Moving sure takes a lot of common sense.. which I don't seem to have.."

"Probably." Jay responded bluntly, not seeing the joke in it that she did, though that probably had to do with the fact he was already in a bad mood.. He looked at the time on his phone, he hated feeling like his time was being wasted. Which is how he felt now as he watched her try and scramble up her stuff. "Here." He bent done and started picking up her stuff and shoving it back in the box, he was quick and efficient, though his method was kind of rough. "Too easy," He said dismissively as he shoved the box back her way.

"I'm Emily, by the way." She said introducing herself right as he was about to sneak away.

"Right. Jay." He said, using the least words possible. He was kind of an expert at getting right to the point. Before he pointed to the door next to his, the apartment he knew Emily was moving into. He knew she was moving there because Jay had been here two weeks and the guy, Hamish, who used to live in that apartment just left. "In the kitchen, the cupboard under the sink. Might want to get rid of the mould." Jay wasn't a particularly friendly guy but he had gotten on with Hamish all right, and he had been shown what Hamish had titled the 'Mould Cupboard.' It was disgusting and Jay felt this girl needed some warning. The only reason Hamish hadn't dealt with it was because he knew he'd be leaving soon.

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The girl sighed loudly. Just what Jay had expected from her. "Are you kidding? Great, a renovation before I can even move in." She said rolling her eyes. Jay just nodded.

"Welcome to the fucking city." He said under his breathe, and than shoving his hands into his pants' pockets he headed toward the elevator. Jay felt it was his job to share around a little bit of the warmth and joy he felt being in the city.

"Excuse me sir," an older worn out voice called from behind Jay. Jay twisted his head slightly and saw the man he recognised as the building supervisor. Turning back forward he fastened his pace toward the elevator, he was only a few steps away from any forced socialisation. "Ah, excuse me, just a moment of your time." The man said again calling out to Jay. Jay sighed, he'd been caught. So he reluctantly stopped and turned around.

"Yeah?" Jay asked bluntly raising an unimpressed eyebrow at the old man wearing a bizarre hat indoors. Jay looked down at the flier the man was holding out to him. "No thanks, not my thing." He said easily turning to leave. Jay was not interested in getting to know his neighbours. He had enough friends. Besides who wanted to live in the same buildings as friends? How were you supposed to get away from them?

Keep the flier son, maybe you'll change your mind, the old man said smiling, completely undeterred by Jay's brush off. He just shoved the flier at Jay again. When Jay reluctantly, he just gave him a knowing smiling before knocking on the next door down the hallway.

"Not likely," Jay said to himself Jay just as he shoved the flier into his back pocket, walking out of the building with no intentions of attending this Small Gathering.

---

The test shoot wasn't too bad, and didn't end up putting Jay in a bad mood, which was something. The new models had been worse than the first. All three of them had been temperamental and fussy, though their limited modelling experience and talent gave them no reason to be. Though they had only been around for the first part. After they had left, Jay was free work on his own. Doing test shots for the lighting, backdrops and so forth. That was his favourite kind of work, being alone with him and a camera. He could call all the shots and didn't have to work with other people. Jay was famously bad at working on teams.

Arriving back at his apartment, Jay shrugged off his heavy scarf that had been shielding him from the snow all day. He had gotten a little caught up in his work and had completely forgotten about food so now he was starving. He headed into his apartment's tiny kitchen looking for food. That was another things about the city, everything was so small and cramped Jay felt like a dog longing for open pastures. Rummaging through the different cupboards, Jay found nothing edible. Literally not even an edible scrap of something.

Jay sighed at the thought of heading back out into the cold and noise to buy some food. That when he shoved his hand into his pocket and found the scrunched up flier the man had handed him earlier that day. He didn't quite smile at the prospect of free food inside the building, after all this would mean he would probably have to socialise a little. It definitely beat heading outside to buy some cheap crap to reheat in his microwave.

So that's how he ended up in the lobby, leaning against a wall in a far corner, waiting for the food to be put out. Though then the girl he had met earlier came up to him. "Well, howdy neighbour," She said with a smug grin. Jay just stared at her, trying to remember her name. It was one of those E-M names. Jay sighed deciding it was probably emma.

"Hey Emma," he said not in a mean, leave me alone way, but he didn't exactly smile. "Enjoying all this," he said motioning to the gathering of people around them. They were all chatting quietly, making polite introductions, making small talk about their jobs and the weather. To Jay it all felt so pointless.

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"Emma.. that's new. Definitely haven't heard my students call me that," She replied raising her eyebrows slightly.

Jay winced ever so slightly before giving her a sheepish grin and running his hand through his hair. "Sorry, it's Emily isn't it." Emily was his second guess. He wasn't too sorry about forgetting her name, but her face just looked so sweet. It kind of sucked to let her down. Though Jay was pretty much world renowned at forgetting names. Names and faces, he never remembered either.

Then Emily trailed off in thought. "Sorry.. I kinda miss my kids. I was a band director before I moved," She said smiling happily, obviously remembering happier thoughts. Jay gave her a pretty genuine smile, band director seemed like a pretty cool job, it would be good to have another muso in the building. Though before he could get onto music, one of his favoured topics, she spoke up again. "So, why are you in the city?" Jay shrugged a little. It wasn't that it was some secret, it just wasn't that exciting of a story. "I guess I can tell you mine. Make it fair." Jay eyed off what looked like a platter of food moving it way through the lobby on the back of an older woman with strips of grey through her hair. "I um.. I moved to travel, and I'm kinda regretting leaving all my students. They're high schoolers, but, I guess you get attached whether you want to or not."

Jay's attention immediately snapped back to Emily. She had just said to things he completely disagreed with. The first one about being attached to her high schoolers. "Not me," he said bluntly, though after seeing her reaction he realised he better explain himself a little. "I'm really not an attached guy. Kind of the opposite actually. I go where work and my whims take me, if I stay in the same place for too long I get pretty anxious for change," he explained with a few small hand movements. "My Aunt calls me a wanderer." He really should call his Aunt, since he lived only an hour away now, dropping in a for a visit might be nice.

He sighed leaning back against the wall and he looked Emily over, sizing her up a little. "And, why on earth would a girl like you want to travel here." He gave a motion that kind of encompassed the whole lobby, though he was inferring the city. "I have to say, it's not a number one tourist destination. Wouldn't you rather go someone outdoors-y, or beach-y, or even just somewhere a little more empty?"

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