NᎪᎢᎪᏞᏆᎬ laid her back against the soft leather sofa, crossing her arms in the midstof her deep sigh as she wondered why her best friend would be nevertheless entirely clueless. Though this is the case, Natalie always had some sort of feeling that Rose’s shots looked familiar. It was only brought to her attention today that Gael Flores’s photos were exactly like hers.
“Congrats, your million dollar question has finally been answered!” Natalie whispers
loudly, waving her arms in exasperation. “Took you long enough, my coffee’s cold now too.” She drank her now lukewarm coffee sadly, feeling the mug getting lighter in every sip.
“I don’t get it. It, this, could be just a coincidence, right?” Rose questioned
defensively despite her complete stuttering; trying to convince Natalie or more or less to herself, that this was not really happening. “You’re totally pranking me.” She laughed, throwing her hands up into the air. Her eyebrows coming together more intensely by the moment while beads of cold sweat are starting to form on her forehead. “Haha, good one.”
“Girl.” Natalie lightly placed her hand on Rose’s left shoulder, shaking it a bit to
somewhat tell her best friend to get herself together. “I hate to say this but you have to check out the other twenty-nine photos he reported and we’ll see if it is coincidence.” She finished with another deep sigh.
Rose felt a bead of sweat trail down down to her chin as she gulped. Natalie was right, she thought. There was no other way to confirm other than to check. Rose shook her head, knowing this wouldn’t turn out as she hoped, giving in to her best friend’s suggestion. The tasty mocha she had happily enjoyed earlier felt like it had traveled up her throat. Not wanting to cause a scene in mind, she pursued her lips and remembered glass of complimentary water the waiter had placed earlier. She drinks through the glass, hoping the water would help the puking sensation in her throat pass away.
Rose hid her phone in the drawer this morning for this exact reason, she didn’t want to deal with and face the upcoming turmoil. Once done, Rose then lifted her phone, her hands visibly shaking from the earlier not-so-well kept nervousness and fear. Her fingers slid through the notifications bar where it displayed a whole list of reported photos by none other than the famous Gael Flores along with the other bad comments about her work while Natalie, who looked just as stressed as her, quietly prepared her own phone displaying Gael’s profile. Rose slowly closes her eyes and aggressively taps on one of the reported photo notifications, frantically turning anywhere else but the phone to prevent the tiny scream from escaping her lips.
“Ro.” Natalie tilted her head slightly towards Rose, calling her name but Rose refused to look at her.
Natalie’s hands take hold of Rose’s shoulders, forcibly turning her to face her. “No, you either face this or worry forever. We don’t want the second option, right? C’mon, Rose.” She brings both phones to Rose’s face. The phone brightly displayed another pair of replica-like photos from two incredibly different accounts.
“How is this even possible?” Rose questioned Natalie once again, her eyebrows furrowed at her.
Just as Natalie was about to answer, she was swiftly interrupted by the sound of the speakers getting louder on the flat screen TV planted against the rustic cream painted walls, catching everyone’s attention. Due to this, the cafe went almost completely silent, leaving only the sound of the TV playing and the whirring sound of the coffee maker. The two best friends, as well as the elderly couple from a while ago, had their eyes glued to the screen. The cafe manager had asked one of the waitresses to turn the volume up for the art students to hear because she heard that this was important news.
“Good Morning Canada! It is now ten in the morning and GMC is prepared to give
you the most up to date news! Flash report: Mysterious Instagram user has been reported and flagged with a tremendous amount of copyright warnings due to the impeccable similarity of the photos created by the famous Hispanic Instagram photographer, Gael Flores. Photography Experts, as well as those with Multimedia Accreditation, are reported to be currently investigating the situation. This Instagram user will most likely undergo a due process to determine whether he or she is guilty of art theft. Is this real or is it just a hoax? Perhaps a coincidence! More on this at our website. Next up, 3D printed retinas are in progress!”
