Strange Things Are Happening. (Jonathan Byers x OC) Wattys 2017

26.

Samantha continued to take photos all during their walk, making sure that it was okay with Jonathan first because she knew that this was supposed to be a date, but she just couldn't help take pictures.

Of course, Jonathan didn't mind. If he had his camera, he'd be doing exactly the same thing, though he was sure his would be pointed at her.  He watched as she walked ahead to take a couple of snaps of trees, some of flowers and then a woman who walked by with her dog.

Eventually, they reached the top of the hill, where there was a bench and she pulled him over to it, falling down onto it with a huff.

"This place is beautiful," she commented, resting her head against his shoulder, "I can't believe I've never come here before. But I'm glad my first visit is with you."

He could see her camera sitting on the bench and wordlessly leant over to pick it up.
Samantha watched curiously, lazily lifting her head when he started to turn his body towards her.

"Oh no," she shook her head and quickly stood up.

"What?" he gasped, "It's only fair!"

"I'm not letting you get one of me just sitting down. Let me get into a pose at least."

He laughed as she started pulling these ridiculous poses; pursing her lips, a lame peace sign and then finally, she just gave him a dazzling smile.

"That's the one!" he said, standing up, "Hold it."

After hearing the quiet click of the camera, Samantha giggled and turned to look out at the view of Hawkins.

Jonathan put the camera down and moved to stand behind her, cautiously wrapping his arms around her waist. "I feel like I know nothing about you," he whispered, chin on her shoulder, "Like where did you live before?"

"New York," she said softly, leaning back into him.

"Wow. Why'd you move here?"

"My dad," she began, "He wanted to be closer to his brother. And my mom doesn't have any family except for her mom, who lives in Indianapolis. So it was a no brainer really."

"Were you okay with the move?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I was excited to hang out with Nancy and Mike again. When we were younger, we'd spend summers at each other's places. We'd come here and then the next year, they'd come to ours."

"But you lived in New York," Jonathan whispered excitedly, "That had to be amazing."

"It was," Samantha agreed, "I mean, I have tons of pictures that I'll need to show you but...it's hard to explain. In a city with millions of people, I ended up just feeling lonely. I think that's another reason why they decided to move here."

Jonathan frowned, he didn't want to imagine her moving around that magical city feeling so sad. He tightened his arms around her waist, "I'm glad you moved here, Samantha."

She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled, "Me too, Jonathan. Me too."

"Wait there," he whispered and unwrapped his arms.

He quickly grabbed the camera and returned to stand behind her.

"What are you doing?" she asked when she saw her camera being raised in front of her.

"Well, I thought that since we have photos of each other, we may as well get one of the two of us, right? Now smile, Wheeler."

Neither of them knew how the photo was gonna turn out, they'd have to wait till Monday but Samantha would put all her money on betting that it would turn out to be one of her favourites.