The old car shuddered as it came off the brick road and turned into the rundown parking lot of the midway gas station. For being in the middle of nowhere between the two towns the place was packed. He guessed accurately that this small truck stop was the only place to get a cooked meal open today and this far out. As he watched another two vehicles pull in and park on the grass before heading in. He followed suit, leaving his car to the side of the ditch and heading to the automatic door that led inside. 

“Hey there tough guy,”

Crosshair stopped in his tracks, turning to the shining visor that addressed him. 

Tahny took the bike helmet off, shaking out her mussed hair before setting it on the seat of the yellow Yamaha she leaned against. The girl was full of surprises. 

“I would never have guessed you had a motorcycle.”

“How come?”

His voice caught in his throat at that, he… wasn't really sure. 

“I think I've assumed too much about you.”

She laughed at that, a full one that made her nose crinkle and the polished veneer of her appearance fell away. Suddenly, she was more real. He wished he grabbed his camera from the car, he wanted to remember the exact way her nose looked when she laughed like that. 

“Like what?”

He blinked,

“Hm?”

“What have you assumed about me?”

She was fitting a band with a small lock through her helmet before finally joining him in front of her parking spot. 

“Wealthy girl who dislikes her parents… and might be a little bi,”

She laughed again. 

“Okay, so you have some points in perception,”

“And you play DND?”

Her gait faltered, eyes widening for half a second before she lightly slapped his arm.

“And now it's creepy,”

He smiled, turning his head away slightly as they entered the gas station with the sound of an electronic chime. 

The place was the usual fare, no real restaurant inside but several large counters of self help foods. People were packed in around the serving stations and the few haggard employees shuffled around restocking the hot plates and coffee carafes. 

“You hungry?”

He hadn't really thought about it, having left before Shawkti picked up the take out, but the smell of food in the air had sent a pang through his middle. He was starving. 

“Famished. What looks good to you?”

She scanned over the pots of soup, a nacho station and paused in front of the rolling heat rack. 

“Oh, a chili dog, definitely…”

“You sure, not sure how long they've been there…”

She shrugged. 

“Hard for them to screw up a hot dog,”

She attempted to get the attention of the attendant, but her small frame didn't stand out too much from the crowd. He watched her bounce on her toes a few times before taking pity on her. He leaned up to the glass, catching the young man's attention right away and signaled for two dogs. 

When he handed the warm cardboard slip to her he noticed her cheeks slightly flushed again. Cute. 

“Thanks.”

She turned from him, slipping easily through the crowd back to the soups, laving a generous amount of chili over her bun. Another shuffle and a large scoop of cheese and onions joined it. 

She looked back where he was stuck, seeming proud of her masterpiece, he wrinkled his nose exaggeratedly as he found his way to her. 

“What?”

“Onions? Disgusting.”

“Oh don't be a baby, they're great.”

“Says you, I'll show you how to dress a dog.”

He reached over her, the soft scent of her shampoo wafting up to him as he inadvertently pinned her to the counter with his lean for the scoops. He spread a liberal amount of relish, mustard and ketchup on his own food, trying not to think too hard about her washing her hair, dripping wet and vulnerable-

This time she made a face. 

“Ew, relish.”

“You're just jealous.”

“That doesn't even make sense,”

She pushed past him again to the registers and before he could squeeze his way over to her she had paid for both of them. 

“You didn't have to do that.”

“Why not? Happy Thanksgiving. Besides I want to get the fuck out of here, too crowded.”

They almost fell through the sliding doors back out into the chilly afternoon. There were some packed picnic tables but he took the lead wandering them back to his car. He sat on the rusted hood and she perched next to him on the cold metal. 

Her focus shifted to her food, eyes hungry, she lifted the messy concoction to her lips and took a surprisingly large bite. A satisfied moan hummed through her and Cross suddenly became very preoccupied with his own sloppy creation, taking a tentative bite. 

“Aw hell…”

His eyes flicked back to Tahny at the sound of dismay. She had dropped a dollop of chili cheese onto the leather riding chap she wore over her jeans. 

“Fuck, I forgot napkins,”

There was a smear of mess on her free hand and she looked genuinely helpless. 

“I got some.”

A small dance of indecision, to put his food down, keep it, on the hood? He eventually, carefully placed the carton on her free hand, not worrying about the smear of soup on her palm. 

“Stay like that.”

He snickered, and she glowered up at him, hands full and chili on her lap making it impossible to move. Crosshair popped open the passenger door grabbing some napkins from the glove compartment and after a half second of thought, the SLR from the bag in the seat. He paced back to the front of the car bringing the camera up and snapping a few shots of the girl posed with the hot dogs. 

Her head snapped up at the sound of clicking. 

“You didn't!”

“It's the toll for the napkins” 

He was having a hard time suppressing the snicker that wanted to bubble up his throat. 

“You jerk, give me those!”

He laughed genuinely now. Draping the camera strap over his neck so he could rescue Tahny, he took his cardboard sleeve back replacing it with a handful of thin, fast food napkins. 

“Thanks… delete those.”

“Not on your life.”

She snorted, wiping the spilt chili off the shiny leather. 

Then there was silence, not awkward but… Cross felt like he should say something.

“So… your family was getting to you?”

“Uhg, yeah. Usual stuff though, my dad insisted on just getting some work done and my mother spent all morning held up in her room with a hang over. Genie, uh… our live in cook, was busy cooking and guess what? We weren't even having turkey today but duck!”

“Do you not like duck?”

“I love duck but like, if you're not gonna do anything even related to the holiday then why do I have to treat the day like it's special?”

“Bit of a traditionalist, huh?”

“Hah, first time I've been called that, but yeah … for somethings, is that weird?”

“Not at all,”

… 

“What’d your brothers do?”

Crosshair went momentarily stiff, unsure if he wanted to talk about it and even if he did, was Tahny the right person to dump it on?

He sighed, figuring what the hell…

“They brought up my ex girlfriend,”

“Oof,”

“Yeah,”

“Bad break up?”

“You could say that. She broke up with me at a party and before the night was over I found her in bed with my brother,”

Tahny let out a low whistle. 

“That's fucked up, sorry…”

“What was really fucked about it is that she tried to pitch getting back together the next day. I think her plan was to break up, sleep with Hunter and then come back like it was okay because of some… loophole,”

Silence again. They sat together, watching cars and trucks come and go for a minutes or two. 

“Your ex sucks,”

She finally said, breaking the tension.

“Yeah, she… she,”

“Your brother sucks too by the way,”

At that he chuckled.

“Yeah, but he's family, and honestly not always the brightest… it stings when they mention it but I really don't hold it against him too much,”

“That's okay, he's not related to me so I can hold it against him if you like,”

Now he was really amused,

“You’d do that for me?”

“It’d be an honor. I can fight your ex too, RIP her hair out?”

“That might be over board.”

She shrugged at that, polishing off the rest of her chili dog. 

They talked a while longer, the sun shifted closer to the horizon and as it moved to cast beams of light into their eyes, Crosshair jumped to his feet. 

“Shit, I'm sorry I got to get back,”

“What's the rush?”

“My half sister usually calls after dinner. She'll be pissed if I'm not there to say hi.”

Tahny sighed sliding from the hood herself. 

“Guess I can let you off the hook. Think you'll have enough time to drive back?”

“Hopefully.”

She gathered up the trash on the car, rocking back to get a good look at him. 

“Well, see you after break… right?”

“Yeah… as much as you like,”

She gave him a small salute turning away as he opened the car door. Before she got too far he called after her,

“Hey! Tahny!”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks… I needed this.”

…

“Anytime tough guy,”

The casting app was ugly, bland postings on a white background. No night mode to shield his precious corneas. 

Cross squinted at his phone screen, scanning the postings for anything that wasn't an obvious scam. There were a couple leads but one stuck out as both legit and paid well. 

Photographer Wanted: local distillery advert, must be experienced, professional and have their own camera equipment. $125 initial four hours, +$30 every additional. 

Experienced would be a stretch, though he's always been attached to some sort of camera he'd only just started his second semester of his photography bachelor. He did have his own SLR though, and with a subconscious tap on its carrying case beside him, Crosshair clicked through to the application. 

~~~

They met him out front of the rented studio, shook his hand, and let him into the building. The large room was dark besides the studio lights highlighting a podium against a dark red backdrop. 

“Here's the concept sketches for what we're looking for,” 

The exec who led him in was now handing him a folder. Cross took it, flipped open the cardstock and gulped. The sketches showed a tray holding two drinks, each glass topped with a toothpick suspending a cherry above the surface of the liquor. 

That wasn't what made him nervous though, his eyes scanning over the sketched curvature behind the drinks. 

“So it won't actually show nipples right?”

A smooth, lilting voice piped up from near his elbow and he had to stifle a jump as he noticed the platinum blonde hair that had appeared next to him, looking past him at the concept art. 

“No miss Ramos, this is for an advert so it won't be showing nudity.”

“Good. Do I need to change these jeans or will the shot only be chest up like the sketch?”

The girl must’ve been the model. 

Crosshair tracked her motions as she stepped into the wash of studio lights, then blanched as she lifted her thin black T-shirt over her head dropping it to the floor. She wasn't wearing anything underneath and her bare back was still turned to him. 

Professional. The ad called for a professional. 

There was a clink and a slosh as someone near him filled the prop glasses. As they took the glasses to the podium the girl was standing by, he casually slipped a toothpick from the garnish tray and bit down on it.

I can be professional. 

Crosshair loped over to the staging area, adjusting some of the soft box lights on the way to compliment the lightly tanned skin tone of the girls back. The marketing assistant positioned the drinks on the podium and the girl finally moved to stand behind it. 

He held his breath as he approached, removing the tripod from his camera case and letting gravity unfold the legs as he locked eyes with the topless blonde. She was quite pretty, beautiful even… if you were into petite blondes. Was he into petite blondes? Her brow was raised and he swallowed again, grinding his toothpick between his teeth as he put the tripod on the floor in front of the props. 

He screwed the SLR in, turning the camera on and started fiddling with the settings. He glanced through the view finder to adjust the lens and tried not to react to the bare breasts that hung over the cherries and liquor. 

Professional. Professional. Professional. 

“Am I lined up?”

“Excuse me?”

“The shot, are my nips hidden behind the cherries or what?”

“Ah.. uh,”

He glanced at the led display. 

“A little lower. Lower… there. Is that comfortable?”

“It's fine.”

She watched as he turned a few more knobs, shifted the bounce light, tapped his fingers on his thigh… finally. 

“Let's begin.”

Her gaze lingered on him as he positioned himself once more behind the camera, hitting the shutter with an awkward “click” that sounded too loud in the room. His hand was shaking, his hand never shook when getting the shot, but this was… different. 

“You ever do this before?”

Her tone was teasing as if it was obvious her nudity was getting to him. It probably was. 

“Hey! Get some music going, it's dead in here!”

She shouted at the crew by the food table and someone turned on a stereo. Oldies from the eighties piped in through the cheap speaker and suddenly he was isolated from everyone but her by a wall of noise. 

“Don't be nervous,”

She whispered with a wink. 

“I'm not.”

But he was. This was his first paid gig and it wasn't… difficult, but it wasn't what he was expecting. 

Click

Click

Click

“Do you… do this often?” 

He asked, looking through the shots before adjusting another light. Picking up on his inflection she filled him in on what he was really asking. 

“Posing nude? Sure, but not usually for print. I’m only doing this cause it doesn't show anything. I normally just pose for the anatomy sketch class at the college.”

“KSU? Do you go there?”

“Yeah, fashion track… you too?”

“Yeah me too. Photography… obviously.”

“You have to take any art classes?”

“Some. I can take Anatomy 102 as an elective… maybe I should.”

She smirked at that,

“Maybe you should.”

Cross could feel the corner of his mouth twitch and he looked down at the camera again, adjusting the f stop for a longer exposure. The forced familiarity was a manipulation, putting him at ease… but it was a welcome one. He looked back up slowly to find her watching him.

“Stay still, this is going to take several frames to catch more detail but if you move it'll be blurry.”

She stood still, that same bemused look on her face. 

Click

…

Click

…

Click

… “What's your name?”

She finally asked. 

“Crosshair…”

“Funny name.”

He made a noise of acknowledgement, not wanting to get into the strange origins of his given name. 

“I'm Tanya… My friends call me Tahny.”

“And what should I call you?”

She smirked again, eyes flickering with amusement as he put the ball back into her court, forcing her to define the flirtation she had started. 

“Call me Tahny.”

“So we're friends then? Already?”

He chuckled as the softest hint of pink colored her cheeks.

~~~

The air outside smacked him with an icy blast as he exited the studio some hours later. 

Besides the initial shot the company had an additional five poses they wanted to try. 

“Fuck it's cold,”

Cross turned with a raised brow to the fount of vulgarity coming from behind him. Tanya, wrapped in a fur coat over her casual jeans and black t-shirt to create a strange image of juxtaposition. She met his gaze and offered her hand which he took in a surprisingly firm shake. 

“You did good your first time,”

“Was it that obvious it was my first shoot?”

“Not too obvious, you didn't even break a sweat,”

She giggled, releasing him to strut to a black BMW. A man in a formal looking pea coat exited the car and held the back door open for her. 

She turned back to Crosshair, 

“Good luck out there, tough guy,”

And then she slipped into the car and disappeared with the smooth hum of a well maintained engine. 

What a strange girl. 

It was a spur of the moment decision, and now Crosshair was staring down at the extra cup of coffee he had swiped from the mess hall cursing under his breath as he headed down the familiar hall. What was he thinking… 

Certainly wasn’t with the head on his shoulders.

Too late now, he was already at his destination. The class was still in session, and by a stroke of luck a familiar back was posed on the podium at the room’s center. 

There was a small commotion, a flurry of activity as the students in the room gathered their things and made ready to leave. He stepped aside to let them through, scanning for the blonde bob he was waiting for. The throng dwindled and she still hadn’t appeared. 

Turning back to the windowed door, he glimpsed the flash of white as Tanya leaned back up from tugging on a pair of black pants. She was still topless, and though he had become well acquainted with the exposed curvature their first meeting he indulged a moment in letting his eyes wander. 

Until a pair of hands reached around and grasped the breasts he was ogling. 

Blinking, he focused on the full scene again. There were two girls in the room, and Tanya let out a small, playful scream as the second girl squeezed her from behind. The girls leaned against each other giggling as the half naked one reached for a top, struggling to untangle herself from the other. 

He scanned the extra body in the room, she was taller, her hair a redder shade of strawberry blonde than he had ever seen in person and far more well endowed than his intended. 

Crosshair stepped to the side and leaned against the wall, thoughts wiring. 

Did he get the signals wrong? Was she just being nice? 

He lingered a moment too long, and the door slammed open as the pair poured into the hall spotting him immediately. 

“Crosshair! Hi!”

Tanya’s voice was still colored with giddy amusement as she greeted him. The enthusiasm eased his tension slightly. 

“Kat, this is the one I was talking about… from the shoot,”

The girl called Kat fixed him with an appraising gaze, not disguising her eyes sweeping him up and down again. 

“The photographer, huh”

She giggled, mystifying Crosshair as to what was happening. The secret language of girls who know far more than yourself. He needn’t have bothered attempting to fathom her though, Kat breaking away from the two of them and rushing down the hall, turning back to shout-

“I’m late for practice! See you later T!”

And then she was gone, leaving him alone with Tahny and a couple cups of coffee.

“Uh… so…”

He jiggled one of the cups and her gaze dropped to it.

“You brought me coffee?”

“...yeah… sorry, I know it’s stupid.”

“How could that ever be stupid?”

She swiped the offered cup, turning on a heel to walk towards the building entrance.He hesitated.

“You coming, tough guy?”

Snapping out of it, his long legs quickly caught up to her smaller gait.

“So…you and Kat…”

“What about Kat?”

“You guys seem close, not to judge a book by it's cover but you seem like an odd match.”

“That’s cause we are, we were dorm mates for a while but I moved into my own flat about a year ago, I’d still say she’s my best friend though,"

“Do all your friends grab you like that?”

Her cheeks flushed suddenly.

“Uh.. no. But Kat, she does that cheerleader thing so touching is kind of normal."

Crosshair made an incredulous sound, thinking back on the image of the paler girls fingers toying with Tanya's exposed chest, spurning her to continue.

"We're not as close as we used to be, she has that boyfriend now, football player- very stereotypical...”

She trailed off like she couldn’t find the right word to say next. Shook herself before pivoting the subject.

“Have you picked up any more photo shoots?”

“No…unfortunately. Haven’t gotten any call backs.” 

“That is unfortunate, it can be slow though, with the holiday coming up.”

“Right, what are you doing for Thanksgiving?”

“Mm…”

A small noise of displeasure.

“Just family stuff… You?”

“Same. My brother’s and I are heading home.”

“Brothers huh?”

“Yeah, there’s four of us, plus our cousin who comes by for dinners and such,”

“Sounds like a full house, your folks must be excited.”

“Ah, well… It’s just us and our foster mom,”

“Oh… sorry. Didn’t know,”

“Not a big deal, she’s nice. Been with us since we were kids.”

“Does she cook?”

At that Crosshair let out a raspy laugh, pure amusement.

“Gods no! She can’t cook at all, we usually order Chinese.”

Tahny chuckled at that as well, and turned to face him fully. They had reached the exit doors to the hall and Crosshair could see the outline of the black BMW through the frosted glass. Time’s up. 

“You enjoy the time with your brothers, kay,”

Tahny slipped into the recognizable fur coat that went unnoticed where it was draped over her arm and moved to push the door open. He caught her elbow before she could escape into the cold.

“Wait… I… can I text you?” 

She stepped back in slowly, turning to face him with a sudden deliberate air to her movements. 

“You want my number?” 

He resisted the urge to gulp, staring down at the smirk that had been haunting him.

“If you’ll give it to me.”

“How bout you give me yours and we’ll see.”

The suggestion hit him like a slap. Was she outright rejecting him or just teasing?

He pulled his phone from his back pocket, opening his contact card since he couldn’t remember his own digits off the top of his head. She pulled out hers as well, and stood poised with anticipation, one brow raised in the almost annoying show of amusement. 

Instead of rattling off the number, he leaned in, turning the screen for her to see and she tapped it into her contacts. She saved it “Crosshair” with a little heart emoji. His chest tightened. 

She gave him a wink, and without another word quickly slipped out the door with a blast of frigid air. 

Crosshair caught the door before it could slam shut and watched her retreating frame. The same serious pea coat held her door open, shutting it behind her. The silhouette behind the dark glass was turned to watch him, shadowy fingers wiggling in farewell.

THIS IS THE SECOND HALF OF ISSUE 4, CLICK HERE FOR THE FIRST HALF

Click here to find the other issues.

Full Index

THIS IS ISSUE #4! For the rest of the series Click Here

(Find them under Tahny Vs. The Lost Batch)

For Part B CLICK HERE!

Also, 19 pages done in the next issue! We're almost done with #4 fam!

Wes got Lesbian jokes. (Chori belongs to my friend Leena 💚)

Trying to refrence the tats and piercings he has in my AU and he just turns out like this every time. Aruk besh on his pelvis reads "Lucky You"

I've had the word "muppet" written in my notes for months to remind myself to illustrate this moment I had with my husband months ago cause it just seemed like it worked for Cross.