The Secret Lives of Fireflies

A Puppy

               Luce's eyes were fixed on the door when I walked in, showing that she had been waiting for someone. "Jan, is she okay?" And apparently that someone was me.

I nodded. "For the most part. She won't be walking around or anything for a while, Sara is taking care of her though. I offered, but Dev was afraid it would 'throw off my game' and that since she wasn't 'using your bar in the intended ways' anymore that she didn't want me helping her out because I am 'the only one left who can rescue women from a night of disappointment'." Honestly, I was pretty sure it was none of that and that she just wanted to be with Sara for a while, which I had no problem with.

"Really? She thinks you're a savoir of women in this bar? I think in the entire time I've known you, you've gone home with three women from my bar. I mean, you're definitely great to look at," she winked and my stomach flipped, but I tried to act nonchalant, "but you don't take enough initiative to sweep these women off their feet. So maybe the token cute puppy of the bar, but I'm not so sure about savior."

"Watch yourself, Luce, you may end up finding out just how good at this I am."

She bit her lip seductively, "Is that a promise?" Oh no, What had I gotten myself into? I couldn't even stutter out an answer before she straightened up and said, "Thought so. So Sara is taking care of Dev now? Big step, Dev letting anyone but you around her for purposes that include clothes."

"I know, it's so strange not having to be the one to take care of her all the time. What am I going to do with all this free time?"

"Oh, I don't know, I'm sure you'll figure something out. Or you can spend all your money and time here." Luce offered. "I could always use the extra cash dads spend when they realize their kids don't need them anymore."

I rolled my eyes, "Sorry, but I'm going to have to turn down the offer to lose all my money here, I'm looking at buying a new camera."

"Another one?"

I shrugged. "It's what I wanna do, I have to have all different kinds."

"You never take pictures of me." She said, giving me a fake pouting face.

I obviously couldn't tell her that she was too beautiful for any camera, no matter the price, to capture, so I just mumbled something about how she never asked before drinking from the beer in front of me.

I stayed for an hour or so, but the bar got steadily busier and Luce had to pay less attention to me, so I decided it was my time to go home. Once I was home, I hopped onto the computer, as per usual, and started editing my photos from a few days before. Some of them were of myself, candids of friends, things from around the city, a little bit of everything. And then I picked a couple of favorites and decided to upload them to social media, my tumblr to be precise. I had a photography tumblr and a personal one, and both of them had a link to each other in case people were interested in seeing the other.

First I uploaded a few of the Puget Sound that I had visited a few days ago, a couple of Pike's Place Market (including the infamous gum wall and fish sailing over the crowd's head), and my favorites were a series of me, which was strange because I don't think I've ever liked a picture of myself, let alone three.

They were all black and white and all of me either nude or in only my boxers, though none of them showed anything. I wasn't exactly the biggest fan of my body, which was generally why I didn't like pictures of myself. I hadn't met many people who loved their bodies though, Devon was one of the few, but at least they all had reasons. Too much fat, not enough muscle, size of their hips, the way their legs looked, some reason. For me, it was a little harder to place. Sure, I could give names to a few, I didn't like my hips, but why? I wasn't sure. Probably because magazines told me not too, honestly. Plenty of other people like my body, and that's what mattered, truly the important thing.