Picture Perfect: A CaptainSparklez Story {COMPLETE}

Chapter 1: The First Picture

Click, click, click.

The rapid clicks from my camera capturing another moment made me smile as I gazed intensely through its viewfinder, snapping photos of the people that walked merrily along the park's many intertwining paths. I glanced up at my older sister, who was looking down at me with a silly little smirk on her pale white face.

"Geez, Carrie," she said playfully. "How many photos have you taken?"

"I dunno," I said with a shrug and a laugh. "I'm guessing a lot, but I need more! The day is just too perfect!"

Honestly, the day was perfect for shooting pictures.

Like any other February afternoon in Santa Barbara, the air was nippy and chilled, but not freezing to the point of emanate death. My feet crunched against the frosty grass as I adjusted my position on the cold ground, targeting the next subject of my photo; a young girl who looked no more than six, holding hands with her mother as she skipped giddily down the sidewalk.

My hands began to tremble and I lost focus on my subject.  I cursed at myself under my breath.  No, I'm not having an episode here.  Not here, not now.

Ruby took notice of my sudden nervousness. "Carrie, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I said quickly, quickly readjusting my focus on my subject. "I just...had a sudden chill, that's all."

Ruby sighed despairingly. She knew that was certainly not the reason, yet she knew I didn't want to talk about it.

During my beginning days in Santa Barbara, I was nineteen years old and living in an apartment with Ruby. I had been...traveling...all across the country, and getting in touch with Ruby after so long was really the best thing for me.

It had only been a few days since I finally settled in with Ruby. Her apartment wasn't the biggest, but it was enough for me until I could afford my own place. I would be lying if I said I had not been nervous about moving. Taking pictures seemed to calm my nerves a bit. Photography was everything to me, and I hoped to aim high enough to become a photojournalist for a magazine or newspaper. At the time, I was a freelancer, selling photos to anyone that would pay. It all seemed to be going so well.

"Hey, Carrie!" said Ruby suddenly, kneeling down quickly next to me on the ground. 

"What?" I asked. "What is it?"

Ruby pointed in the direction across the park. "Get your mega lens out or something and zoom in on that guy!"

Confused but curious, I switched out the lenses and aimed my camera at the man across the park that my sister had indicated.

Click, my camera whispered. I adjusted the focus again and was about to take another photo but found myself staring at the man that now occupied my camera frame.

The man appeared to be no older than twenty-one years old; maybe twenty or so. A bit of his short brown hair poked out a bit from under his gray beanie hat. One of his hands was shoved into his jacket pocket, the other was holding an iPhone, as if he appeared to be vlogging. His eyes were a soothing deep brown. His pale, clean shaven face gleamed in the afternoon sun. His jacket was not zipped all the way up and I could make out what appeared to be the face of a Minecraft Creeper on his green undershirt.

There was another man walking with him. His hair was shaven and his skin was slightly darker than his. He was wearing a bright gray jacket and making amusing faces at the other man's phone camera.

Ruby grabbed my camera from me and began cycling through my pictures trying to find the one I took of the guy. I didn't even notice. I was too fascinated by the man. I knew I had seen him somewhere, but I just couldn't remember where! Perhaps I was getting him confused with another; some people do have similar qualities that are so alike they appear to sparkle.

"Oh my God!" Ruby cried. "I knew it! I knew it was him!"

"What? Who?" I said stupidly, snapping out of my little trance. "You know that guy?"

"Well, not personally," said Ruby, making a so-so gesture with her hand. "He makes YouTube videos for a living, I know that."

I turned around to look back at the man and his friend. They were still vlogging. "Really? YouTube videos?"

"Yeah," said Ruby as she started packing up my camera. "You'd really like him, sis. Being the total geek that you are, you would really enjoy the videos he makes. He's really passionate about Minecraft, just like you."

I looked at Ruby and blushed a little. "Well, I wouldn't say I'm really passionate."

"Dude, the spare bed in our apartment has Creeper bed sheets!" said Ruby smugly. "Not to mention the limited Diamond edition Steve collectible on your bookshelf!"

"Don't you dare speak ill of Steve!" I growled.

Okay, maybe I was a little passionate about Minecraft.

Ruby laughed and nudged me with her elbow.  "Aww come on. I'm just kidding, sis." I rolled my eyes and took my camera bag from Ruby and slung it over my shoulder.

"So, what's his YouTube name?" I asked her as we began to leave the park. 

Ruby looked at me and grinned. "CaptainSparklez."

I smiled to myself at that amusingly clever name. It took the sound of ripping Velcro from my camera bag to pull me back into reality just in time to see my camera bag practically explode, sending the one lens I had neglected to strap back in to place flying through the air. 

"Shit!" I shouted angrily as I tried to dive for the lens before it hit the ground.

Luckily, it landed in the grass instead of on the sidewalk, rolling a few feet away before bumping into a man's foot.

The man's foot.

He picked it up and looked around, his phone camera still vlogging.

"Uh, hey!" I called somewhat timidly as I approached him. The man looked up and our eyes locked.

Looking into his eyes for real was so much better than seeing them through a camera lens.

The man smiled awkwardly and handed me my camera lens. "Doesn't look like it took a whole lot of damage. Just...a few scratches, is all."

I smiled shyly and felt my face flush a bright pink. "Uh, yeah. Thank you, thank you so much."

The man chuckled. "Sure, no problem." He smiled and I smiled back.

"Carrie! Come on!" Ruby yelled from behind me. "It's not getting any warmer!"

I shook my head and snapped, yet again, out of my trance.

"I should go," I said softly. "Thanks again for...saving my camera lens."

"Don't worry about it," said the man, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

I silently giggled to myself, slipped the lens securely back into my camera bag and turned away from the man to follow after my sister.

Ruby nudged me with her elbow repeatedly. "I think somebody's got a crush-crush!"

"Quiet you!" I grumbled, secretly hiding a small smile and my flushed red face behind the red strands of my hair.

I was tempted to steal a quick glance over my shoulder, but it was after we were already a ways away from the park. I sighed, thinking the only way I was probably ever going to see him again was on my computer moniter playing walkthroughs of Minecraft maps.

Turns out I was in for a little surprise.