unpredictable ; jonathan byers

chapter seven- funerals and hunts

Casey

Twenty minutes later, Jonathan and I found ourselves back at the high school bathed in red light as we entered the dark room for picture development. Nancy was meeting us here, since she had been the one to tape the picture of the creature together, but she was running late which left the two of us alone. 

I watched Jonathan fiddle with some machine, beginning to mumble to himself, which made me smile slightly. "And you're..."

"Brightening. Enlarging," He answered my unfinished question. "Nancy's taped picture wasn't the best quality."

"Your mom didn't say anything else about the creature, did she?" I asked, my eyes trained on him. "Like where it may have gone, or...?"

"No, just that it came out of the wall," He told me, looking through a specific eyepiece, his hand fiddling with something on the machine. I watched the way he seemed to be in his own world, completely focused on the task in front of him.

Jonathan then slid the picture into the water and gently rocked the tote back and forth. "How long does this usually take?" I questioned, leaning into him, and resting my head on his shoulder.

He chuckled quietly, looping his arm with mine. "You ask a lot of questions," He said. "But, it won't take long."

"Why haven't you shown me any of this?" I asked him, despite his last comment. 

"Any of what?"

"Your work," I explained further, picking my head up from his shoulder to look at him. "You've never showed me your pictures, or anything."

He glanced at me, his eyes flickering to my lips, which sent shivers up my spine. "I don't know. I guess I would rather just observe people, than you know..."

"Talk to them?" I teased, which caused him to smile and my mouth began to curve at the sight of it. 

"I know, it's weird," He muttered, glancing back towards the picture. 

I nudged him with my elbow to make him look at me again. "No, it's not," 

"No, no, it is. It's just, sometimes people don't say what they're actually thinking. But, you capture the right moment, it says more," He told me quietly, as if he was afraid I would laugh at him, even though the way he worded that was perfection.

"So, what was I saying?" I asked him. "When you took my picture?"

Jonathan shook his head, looking down in shame. "Taking those pictures was probably the dumbest thing I've ever done. I almost lost you." I opened my mouth to protest but he continued, "But I dunno, I've just always thought you were beautiful, and that night, the way you stood out from everyone just inspired me."

"So, my face inspired you," I stated, raising an eyebrow out of curiosity.

"No, not just your face. Everything about you inspires me, I just..."He trailed off once he realized how close our faces had become. His eyes searched my features, until they wandered down to my lips, which made my breath catch in my throat. We were just starting to lean closer to each other when the door suddenly swung open, which made us quickly jump apart. 

"So sorry I'm late guys. My mother would not quit yapping at me about-" Nancy paused once she noticed the blush present on both of our faces and she smiled while closing the door, bathing the three of us in red light once more. "Did I interrupt something?"

"Uh, no," I said a little too quickly, glancing up at Jonathan who had the same flustered look as my own. "We were just..."

"...Waiting for the picture to develop," Jonathan finished and I nodded quickly. I mean, it wasn't a total lie.