the story of mary magdalene

iv

"It's the most beautiful view I've ever discovered since I've been here," Blaine says. Him and Mary were sitting on a thin ledge to indicate the line crossed between campus and off campus. The view was indeed gorgeous--it was the sunsetting over the trees and river. It was so amazingly pretty.

"I'm worried I'm going to fall," Mary laughs, looking down at the deep height below her dangling feet.

Blaine chuckles. "I won't let you fall, I promise." He sounds so calm and collected, and she sighs, letting go of the fear of falling.

Mary takes out her phone, capturing the image of a beautiful sunset with her camera lens. "Want to take a picture? A first one together?"

"There's no one here to take it," Blaine laughs.

Mary giggles. "That's why we live in the twenty-first century, where there are such things as selfies!"

"You want me to take a selfie with you?" Blaine shakes his head, but soon nods and shrugs in a "why not" manner.

Mary flips the camera around, so the lens is focused on their faces. "Smile!"

But the two didn't smile. They laughed, and even though it wasn't the smiling picture perfect photo, their laughing was enough to make the picture look like they were having a good time.

Mary pulled up the picture and showed Blaine. He shook his head and laughed at it. "Would ya look at that? We have to take another one, we weren't ready!"

"No!" Mary laughs, putting her phone back into her pocket. "I like that one, it's better than actually being ready. Haven't you ever heard of candid?"

"Yeah," he says. "And candids are clearly not candids. It's people doing something while they take a picture, but it's like scripted."

Mary smiles. "Well that one was obviously non-scripted, and you and I both know it. It's a cool picture, admit it."

"I don't take selfies, I'm a guy," Blaine says, shaking his head.

Mary giggles lightly and says, "Well now that you're my friend, you will."

"I'm your friend now?"

"I thought--"

"Mary Magdalene!" Blaine shouted. "I feel very honored!"

Mary smiled. She had just made a friend in her first day of being at the school. "Me, too."

As the sun continued to set more and more each minute, the two watched it go down. They didn't have much to say to each other, but they just watched the sun fade away. Every second or so, Blaine would look over at Mary.

He figured he had something more beautiful to look at than the sunset.