Through The Lens | ✓

3

"You're wasting your time," Ava told me that Wednesday morning.

I glared at her from my sleeping bag. I had been telling her all about Mystery Boy and my photos of him at our sleepover that Wednesday, but she didn't seem to think the same as me.

"Ava, it's winter break, I'm 17, almost 18, and I need to live the rest of my teenage years to the fullest before I become a responsible adult," I explained to her. She sighed and shifted on her sleeping bag.

"But, stalking a guy at a cafe sounds like 'living your teenage years to the fullest?" She made quotation marks with her fingers on the last part.

"Um, yes. A very hot guy to be exact." She rolled her eyes at me. I shrugged sheepishly.

She glanced at her phone. "Well, I better get going."

The thing was, once Ava left, I could go to the cafe. So I excitedly, maybe too excitedly, said, "Okay! Bye!"

She stared at me for a prolonged second before gathering her sleeping bag and rolling it up. I bounded over to help her. I gathered her stuff from the floor and soon, she was all done.

Right when she got out the door, I glanced around my quiet house before grabbing my purple camera bag and heading to my car.

❃ ❃ ❃

I arrived at the small cafe on 31st Street with my insides bubbling with excitement.

I was so ready to watch Mystery Boy through the lens of my camera. I strolled inside the cafe, glancing around as I did so.

My gaze landed quickly landed on him. Mystery Boy. He was slumped over a book, looking slightly tired. But he still looks gorgeous nonetheless.

I tore my gaze away so I could grab a hot cocoa, the exact thing I was currently craving.

I ordered a small hot cocoa and also ordered a chocolate chip cookie before heading over to my normal table. 

I pulled of the lens cap of my camera once I sat down at my table, almost bumping into my hot mug in the act. I moved the mug and stared into the viewfinder. I made the camera point right at him, and I stayed there.

He shifted in his seat and I flinched a little, hoping he didn't look my way.

He didn't. So I resumed on looking at him through the camera.

I felt like a stalker, and sure, I probably was a stalker. 

Let's just say I was half stalker, half lover.

He flipped to the next page in his book and took a sip out of his mug. I wondered to myself what was in the mug. And that made me remember my own steaming drink that sat right next to my arm, so close I could feel the heat seeping through the top.

I slid my hand over and took a sip, keeping my eyes on Mystery Boy. 

I snapped a picture then, capturing him taking another sip of his dink with his eyes on his book.

But then he suddenly sat his book down and stood up, taking his mug, book, and plate with him.

I put down my camera quickly, startled. I hid it under the table and pretended to be interested in my cookie.

And when I glanced up, he was gone, leaving no trace of himself. 

All that was left of him was the pictures in my camera roll.