After sitting a while and reviewing all the facts, a few things started to make more sense. At least, to the photog that is. This project had a good size of impossibility to it that wasn’t obvious in the beginning. Taylor was head over heels for Sara, that couldn’t be denied. However, Sara’s openness to Taylor was greatly in question.

Here are some of the facts. They both worked together for a while. Both had full schedules that made a social life near impossible. Both very career focused. That’s where the similarities ended.

What were some of the problems? For starters, Taylor managed to secure his seat in the friend zone well before he attempted to make a move towards Sara. Worse, it was the co-worker friend version of friend zone.

Taylor had another strike against him. He would melt into this awkward nervous nerd act in front of Sara. His feelings got the best of him. He foolishly thought he was hiding it well, but it was more like he was making others uncomfortable with his awkwardness

This was made most clear by the fact that whenever the visiting manager swung by the office, Taylor was wracked with feelings of jealousy he couldn’t dare mention to anyone. He’d retreat to his office in an unexplained change of mood to the darker more serious side.. that would dive deep into work. His stammering switched over to short dictatorial burst of commands that made his direct reports on edge.

Sara’s mood always picked up when she was visited by this manager. She smiled more, laughed more, giggled more, blushed more, even flirted more… ok.. just flirted.. as no one else got that treatment. Yet, Taylor had no evidence to suggest they were an item at all.

After even more careful probing, Taylor admitted that they’d never even had a friendly lunch together. The whole plan to have a photo session of the two of them shifting a friendship over to a relationship was not looking good at all. If anything, waking Taylor up from his reverie would be a much better use of everyone’s time.

As much as the photog wanted to refund the money, and as much as his curiosity prompted him to try and salvage things, making this work would require schooling this fella on the ways of romance. But even, before that, getting him out of the dreaded friend zone would be first and foremost.

(to be continued)