Pictures of You [M. C.]

1

(Song for this chapter: "Landslide" by: Oh Wonder)

The sun shines brightly overhead as I walk further into the park. A gentle breeze picks up, blowing leaves across the path. It's early spring but the air has a slight chill to it. I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket but I ignore the incoming call, already knowing who it is. He can deal with whatever it is on his own, I think bitterly. I'm tired of always having to fix his problems.

Crossing the small bridge that stands over a creek, I stop to take a few pictures of the ducks swimming and another one of a little girl attempting to feed them. A smile spreads across my face as I look at what I just captured. I have always been fascinated by photography. My parents gave me my first professional camera for my sixteenth birthday a couple years ago and I don't think I've put it down since.

I make my way to the other side of the park where my car is but stop when I hear faint music. I finally distinguish where the sound is coming from and start that way. A few seconds later I find a guy around my age sitting on one of the many benches with a guitar propped on his leg, strumming and quietly humming a tune.

The pale boy has his eyes closed, concentrated on what he's doing. My eyes shift to his hair, which is a light green that's almost white. He's wearing black jeans that hug his legs tightly and a gray and white flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. I spot a couple tattoos peaking out from the fabric. Everything about this strange guy mesmerizes me and I can't seem to take my eyes off of him.

Without thinking, I put my camera up to my eye and press the button, capturing this moment. Thankfully, the flash is off, keeping what I just did a secret. Feeling extra brave this morning, I move from where I'm standing to get a better view to take another picture. I walk to a large pine tree that is very close to where the boy is sitting. Positioning myself behind the tree so that he can't see me, I lean around the trunk and quickly snap another photo.

Satisfied with my work, I sit, my back against the tree, and listen to the boy. He's still humming the same tune as when I first noticed him and I find myself wishing he would actually sing. But, he never does.

A few minutes pass and the wind starts to really pick up. Sighing, I stand back to my feet and prepare to leave. When I turn to go, the boy is no longer there. I frown, a little disappointed. My phone vibrates yet again and I know it's time for me to go home.

Walking through the front door of my small, two-story house, I drop my bag on the couch.

"Riley? Is that you?" my mom calls out. I follow her voice to the kitchen where she's sitting at the dining table.

"Yeah, it's me. Sorry, I know I'm late. I guess I got caught up in my photography," I say. She turns and gives me a smile.

"How was it? Get anything good?" I feel my face heat up slightly at the thought of the boy I saw. To hide my growing nervousness, I go the fridge and grab a bottle of water.

"Um, I guess." I take a sip of the water, not meeting my mother's watchful gaze. I silently beg that she won't ask anything else about it.

"That's nice, dear," she mumbles, now distracted by the newspaper in her hands. I let out a sigh of relief.

Sensing the conversation is over I start towards the stairs.

"By the way, Calum called. He said you ignored his calls earlier and he wants you to call him back."

"Okay," I reply to my mom, rolling my eyes. Of course he called the house. Why would I expect any less from him?

I go up to my room and sit down at my computer with my camera. The first thing I want to do is download the pictures I took on my walk. Once all of them make it on to my laptop, I scroll through them, stopping on the ones of the guy. I click "print" and wait as the printer comes to life. Once it comes out, I take the photo and pin it to my corkboard above my desk.

Maybe this is weird and I should just throw it away, but I can't bring myself to do so. I don't have a crush on the stranger, even though he is attractive. I find him interesting. I can honestly say that I've never seen anyone like him before and I'll probably never see him again.

My phone vibrates yet again for the third time and I decide to pick it up.

"What do you want, Calum?" It comes out harsher than I meant it to.

"There's my girl," he says, unfazed by my tone. "I was starting to think that you were ignoring my calls on purpose."

"Well, that was sort of the idea."

"What's up with you?" he asks and I can practically hear him roll his eyes.

"It's nothing," I mumble. I get up from my desk and move to my bed, laying on my back and stare at the ceiling.

"We both know it's not nothing," Calum scoffs. He's right; it is definitely something.

"I don't want to talk about it," I say dryly.

"That bad huh?" Calum's once condescending tone is now replaced with one full of compassion. I don't reply. "I'll come over later and you can not talk about."

I tell him thank you and we end the conversation.

Calum and I have been best friends for as long as I can remember. Our parents even have pictures of us in diapers playing together. He has always been there for me and I don't think I would've made it this far without him. All of our other friends at school always comment, saying that we should date. Calum and I just laugh at them. There is no way we would ever look at each other that way. He is like a brother to me.

Later that night, I'm sitting on my bed working on homework when I hear a knock at my balcony door. I get up and unlock and open the door to revel a very tired looking Calum. His hair is messy and he tries to stifle a yawn.

"When you said that you would be coming over later, I didn't think you meant at two in the morning," I whisper, not wanting to wake my mother. Calum has been sneaking into my room in the middle of the night for the past few years and he has never been caught. I would like to keep it that way.

"I had to wait for my mom to fall asleep. She was up late watching one of her talk shows," he replies, rolling his eyes. I step back and he walks further into my room and sit on the edge of my bed. I go over and join him.

"How are you?" he asks.

I shrug my shoulder, "fine, I guess." I know what he's asking but I pretend not to.

"Is it getting any better?" Calum questions.

"It's not getting worse..." I trail off. Calum lets out a frustrated sigh.

"You have to tell your parents."

I shake my head. "I can't. With my dad always gone my mom has enough to worry about. I'm not going to add to her stress." Calum stands up, obviously frustrated with me and rubs his face with his hands. He opens his mouth to reply but stops when he gets to my desk. He takes a picture off my corkboard and turns to me.

"Who is this?" He holds up the photo of the guy at the park. A smirk is plastered to his lips as I stand up to snatch it away from him.

"No one... I don't know," I say keeping it out of his reach. He lifts his eyebrows at me, clearly not satisfied with my answer. "It's just some guy that was at the park this morning. He looked interesting so I took his picture."

"So now you're taking pictures of strange men? What happened to the innocent Riley I know?" He starts laughing but I quickly cover his mouth.

"Shut up," I hiss. He mouths "sorry" while holding up his hands in surrender.

We stay silent for a few moments then Calum clears his throat.

"He's very cute," he says, trying not to smile.

I point to the door he came in, "Get out."

"But, Riley..."

"Get out," I cut him off. Calum pretends to pout as he slowly makes his way to the door. I follow him so I can lock the door once he's gone. He places one foot outside then stops.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he whispers, quickly placing a kiss on my cheek. I give him a half smile as I push him the rest of the way out and shut the door.

I place the picture on my desk and crawl into bed, no longer in the mood to do homework. Turning off the lamp on my nightstand, I pull the blankets up around me and close my eyes, wishing for one night of sleep.