Seeing Double

Chapter 7 - Stupefied

            “So, where do you live?” I asked Josh conversationally as the truck entered the main road. The soft, indie music playing from his custom built-in stereo and the familiar antique roar of the engine made me feel immediately at home.

            “I live on Tenth Street, near the grocery store,” he replied.

            “Wow, that’s actually quite close to my house!” I commented happily. “That’s just a few minutes away,”

            “Cool,” he smiled. “Then maybe driving you home isn’t such a bad idea,” he deadpanned.

            “That’s so mean,” I laughed, playfully punching his shoulder. “So do you have any siblings?”

            “Nope, just me,” he shook his head. “What about you?”

            “Me neither,” I wrinkled my nose. “I’ve always been the spoilt only child,” I smiled.

            “Don’t you feel lonely though?” he asked me curiously, his eyes glued to the road.

            “Not really,” I laughed, remembering my reaction when I first met the twins. I was apalled to see they were boys, and so were they, but we hit it off by the end of the day. “The twins have always been around. We were like triplets,”

             “You guys are really close, huh?” he asked me quietly.

            “Yep,” I nodded, popping the ‘p’.

            We both lapsed into a comfortable silence after that. While he drove, I hummed softly to the song on the radio, watching the streets with a sort of detached interest. Bored, I looked around the wide brown leather seat and spotted the camera bag lying beside me.

            “Hey, can I see your camera?” I asked, my interest piqued as I remembered his photography hobby.

            “Erm,” he hesitated, glancing between me and the camera bag embarrasedly.

            “Please?” I gave him my puppy dog look, causing him to chuckle and shake his head in defeat.

            “Okay, but promise me not to laugh,” he warned me sternly.

            “Promise,” I nodded, opening the bag excitedly to reveal a Canon EOS360 digital camera. “Wow,” I breathed in admiration as I carefully transferred it to my hands, not wanting to break it. “Don’t these cost a fortune?”

            “Yeah,” he grimaced. “I worked my ass off for years to save up for it. She’s my precious baby,” he added with a chuckle.

            I laughed at his words. “Usually guys call their cars or bikes their ‘baby’, but you call your camera ‘baby’,” I commented in amusement. “Did you name it too?”

            “As a matter of fact I did,” he admitted with a sheepish laugh.

            “Really? What did you name her?” I raised an eyebrow at him, still cradling the camera in my hand like it was a fragile piece of glass.

            “Uh, I named her Sheila,” he mumbled embarrassedly, avoiding my gaze.

            “Aww, that’s so sweet,” I cooed, enjoying his embarrassment as his cheeks flushed. Turning on the camera, I leant back against the soft leather seat and began browsing through his pictures. There were pictures of his new house, his dad, his artwork, views from the interstate, the city line, and there were pictures of his friends back in Boston. I laughed at the pictures of what I assumed was his farewell celebration. They were throwing paint on each other and laughing without a care in the world. I noticed that one of the girls kept recurring in the photographs, and when a picture finally came up of she and Josh kissing I couldn’t help but gasp softly. That’s really sad.