Chapter 3 #2
His answer was more real than I had anticipated. A teasing comment about the time we spent upstairs yesterday, or how out of place I looked all day, that’s what I expected. But at least his honesty made my chest unclench.
“You’re good. I can imagine that gigs like these can hardly be satisfying.”
“No, that’s not it. I love my job. But I also love to sleep, and I won’t get much tonight since I have a wedding tomorrow.”
“Sorry for keeping you up last night too,” I said.
“Oh.” His mouth finally formed a proper smile. “That counts as sleeping.”
We stared at each other for a moment, neither of us moving.
I bet if I went for it now, he wouldn’t say no to coming upstairs with me, but the way he mentioned yet another job early tomorrow, how tired he sounded, how fragile he looked, made me want to focus on the real person standing in front of me instead.
“Do you like taking pictures of people?” I asked.
His gaze dropped to the floor. “I like finding the little things that people usually don’t notice.”
“Like when I watch the rain?”
“Yeah, although that one was almost too obvious. I mean this.” He lifted his camera toward me without moving any closer, forcing me to step in.
The small screen displayed a picture of a board member who was half drunk with his eyes rolled back and his face slack with boredom mid-sentence.
Theo eyed me, his slender thumb hovering over the down button, waiting for me to give him the go-ahead to continue.
I nodded. He clicked, producing a new image on the screen every few seconds.
Like a couple from the fundraising committee clinking glasses while shooting matching glares at each other.
Or the mayor standing just a little too close to a woman that wasn’t his wife, leaning in with a suspicious smirk.
Each photo revealed a secret in plain sight.
“These…” I whispered. “They’d hate these.” But only because they were so full of truth that they would shock anyone who was caught in them.
“Most likely. They won’t be the ones going on the website. But they’re the ones I’m keeping.”
I let out a short, surprised laugh. I couldn’t help it.
He flipped to another photo of the gallery director picking spinach out of her teeth behind a pillar.
I snorted. “You always do that?”
“I promise you, I only send out the standard glossy stuff I get paid for. These are just for my own artistic kicks, you know? Although they’re nowhere near the quality of your pictures.”
“No, you don’t get to talk yourself down. These are astonishing. Nothing I could ever shoot.”
“Hard to believe.”
“It’s true. Why do you think I asked for someone else to take my portrait? I can’t shoot people well to save my life. Never found them interesting, although seeing your pictures might make me change my mind.”
“Says the guy who just opened his own exhibition, landed the cover of last month’s International Geographic, and is already being called the next shooting star of photography.”
“It’s true! I wish I could just learn how to take those kinds of pictures.”
“I could say the same about your storm chasing.” He made a face. “Honestly, I’d really love to tag along sometime. But I’m not going to ask if I can. You made it pretty clear in your interview with The Ratio Aspect yesterday that you only shoot alone.”
“You heard that, huh?”
“I listened strictly for professional reasons, I swear.” He pushed himself off the wall. “It’s too bad. I would’ve offered to take you to the wedding, so you could practice finding the small stories in exchange for you taking me along once too.”
He fixed his eyes on me. His lips moved as if he were biting his tongue to stifle a grin.
“I see what you did there,” I said, glancing over my shoulder as if the press were already there, eavesdropping for the next scoop. Not that my agreeing to a professional tagalong would be newsworthy. “That was clever.”
“It was, wasn’t it?”
“You planned that?”
“No. I just took a chance when you gave me the opportunity.”
It would have been wiser to say no. Nothing was likely going to come of it.
I went on my shoots alone for a reason. Not only are they boring as hell—because waiting on the weather can take forever—but they also carry an inherent risk, especially when it comes to thunderstorms and tornadoes.
Letting someone tag along meant I had to watch out for them, when watching out for myself was already hard enough.
And yet there was something about his offer that made me think twice: the chance to move beyond being just a one-night-stand kind of guy. It was an invitation to become something else. Acquaintances, maybe. Or friends. Not just fuckbuddies.
“When does your wedding start tomorrow?”
“Eight in the morning.”
“Already?”
“Told you, it was going to be a short night.”
Short my ass. It was almost midnight, leaving less than six hours for sleep, more likely five, considering the time it takes to prepare the equipment. But fuck it… “I could make some time tomorrow.”
“Could you now?” His right eyebrow popped up. “You think that’s wise, after what we did yesterday?”
“I don’t see how this”—I glanced at his camera—“and that”—I nodded upstairs—“are related in any way. But let me warn you…” I took a deep breath, putting on the serious face he likely needed to understand I wasn’t joking.
“If I take you with me, later on, you’ll have to play by my rules strictly.
Shooting in a storm is fun but dangerous. ”
Theo grinned. “If you tag along, I expect nothing less from you.” He shifted his camera from his right hand to his left and held out his straightened palm, waiting for me to shake it. “I’m accepting any terms.”
Shaking his hand meant sealing my fate—committing to spending more time together and getting to know each other in a way that I had never gotten to know anyone before.
It was rare to meet people who liked me, and even rarer to meet someone who shared my passions.
I might not have done it if I hadn’t had some beers before, but at that moment, only one decision made sense.
I slapped my hand into his, the clap echoing through the hallway, sealing the deal.
The warmth of his grip spread through me, into my chest, and for the first time in ages, it felt like I had stepped onto a new path, one that actually made me feel excited.
Because I was finally done being a scaredy-cat.