The Jacket Snatcher

Chapter 16- Cooking and Confessions

"Oh! I like that one!" Lindsay says as she leans over my shoulder to look at the computer screen.

We've gone through four days' worth of pictures like this, with Lindsay's chair pulled up right beside mine and our gazes locked on the screen. I've been sifting through and deleting the ones that won't work for the magazine while Lindsay points out the ones she likes and gives me tips on the types of photos they look for.

The next photo I scroll to is one of the headshots Lindsay asked me to take of Cody after he won his round.

She lets out a whistle and bumps my shoulder with hers. "Would you look at those eyes. You don't see that green every day."

Instantly, I blush.

"You guys seemed pretty cozy the other night."

"Whatever," I say, bumping her back.

"For a group walk on the beach, you two sure spent a lot of it by yourselves. What'd you get up to anyway?"

"Oh, my gosh, Lindsay! You were like three steps ahead of us the whole time. We didn't do anything!" I swear Lindsay and Rachel must have taken the same How-to-Annoy-Your-Friend-When-It-Comes-to-Boys class or something.

She starts laughing and shakes her head before returning to the work in front of us. I continue to click through the pictures, deleting a good portion of these since they were from my first day and I hadn't quite gotten the hang of what to capture. Lindsay wouldn't let me delete hardly any of the ones with Cody in them though because as she says, "He's one of the front-runners, so we want as many pictures of him as possible in case he wins." However, she let me delete some of the other front-runners, so I'm not sure how much I believe her motivation.

Once we make it through the last of the pictures, I look up at the clock and sigh. I am seeing the boys tonight, and I would be lying if I said I haven't been looking forward to it all day. Heck, I've been looking forward to it all week. But now, here I sit with two hours still left in the workday and very little left to occupy my mind.

"Got somewhere to be?" Lindsay asks, pulling my gaze from the clock.

"Hmm?"

"You're just staring at that clock like it just ate the last slice of pizza or something. Seems like you are anxious to be somewhere."

"Oh, no, it's nothing. I just have plans tonight."

She smirks. "Plans? Plans with who?"

"With some friends." I shrug.

"Friends. Friends who surf, maybe? Friends who may or may not be named Cody?"

I shake my head with a laugh. "No, it's not with Cody. I actually haven't spoken with him since Monday night."

"You never called the poor guy?"

"No?"

"Playing hard to get, I see. It's a daring strategy. Let me know how it goes." She winks.

I scoff. "I'm not playing anything. You've just been working me so hard that all I want to do when I get off work on weeknights is jump in bed."

"Oh, boohoo! You've loved every minute of it so far. I can see it on your face when we're out there."

I let a small smile slip out. She's right. This first week really has been awesome. I always knew I loved taking photos, but I never knew how much I would love doing it as an actual job.

"But," she starts, "being the kind-hearted saint that I am, in honor of finishing your first week, I'll let you leave early."

Before she's halfway through the last word, I'm already standing to my feet. I throw my arms around her neck. "Thank you!"