Camera Shy || Ashton Irwin (a.i)

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I stared at her, watching her giggle and laugh with a group of friends at her lunch table. Her laugh is genuine, beautiful, nothing I have seen before. Her smile is unique and her voice is a melody I can't get rid of in my head. She intrigues me overall.

Her hair cascaded down her shoulder. When confusion was etched on her face, it amazed me. She can still look perfect even when she's confused. She even looked beautiful with her eyebrows scrunched together. I wondered if she knew she was beautiful, if she knew she was what I wanted, if she knew she was perfect. Her teeth were perfect, even if one or two are crooked. Her hair was perfect, even if it's uneven and has split ends. Everything was so perfect, I never took my eyes off her.

Her first time talking to me was in science class in the eighth grade. I knew her since she moved here in sixth grade, she lived across the street from me. But she spoke to me in eighth grade when Mrs. Londel paired us up for partners. I still remember that day, even if it was three or four years ago.

Her hair was a darker brown, darker than mine. It swayed as she walked towards my lab table, taking a seat across from me. She took the lab safety goggles and slapped it onto her face. It made a noise, causing me to giggle as I was sorting the equipment we were given. I looked up to find her narrowing her eyes at me, but genuinely smiling after she realised I was looking.

"You should wear bandanas," she suggested. "Your hair is going to be crazy and is gonna need the support later on."

I ran my hand through my fringe, "it would look weird with this fringe."

"You're not going to have the fringe forever," she advised me, handing me the safety goggles.

I gripped onto the band of the goggles and placed it on the back of my head then fixated the goggles to make me see good. I opened the compartment that held the aprons and handed one to her before tying mine on.

"Do you want help?" I asked, looking at her wearing her apron as a cape.

"Nah, I got it Ashton," she smiled and slid the apron to the front part of her.

I choked on my spit as my name rolled off her tongue perfectly. "You know my name?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Why wouldn't I? We're basically neighbours."

I chuckled nervously and bit my lip as I nodded, looking down at my feet. That's when I decided to take more interest in her and try to learn about her. I didn't ask my friend or tell my friends about my crush on her, they've figured it out themselves when they caught me getting distracted a few times by her.

Here I was, wearing a red bandana that supported my giant messy ball of hair. It also helped the sweat that fell down on my forehead. Her advice was right and I shouldn't have doubted it. Hair changes and she apparently knew a lot about hair. I guess that's how she ended up in taking cosmetology.

However, there was something oddly strange about her that I didn't quite understand.

One of her friends at the table were sitting next to her, making jokes about whatever. Her name was Lori and wore slightly revealing clothing a lot. I found it disgusting, but I was not one to judge.

Lori pulled out her phone from her pocket and asked if Lily wanted to take a 'selfie' as girls call it. She accepted the request quickly and posed with a big smile you couldn't miss. Somehow, he was always brought into this kind of situation.

He sat with her all the time, he was her buddy, her best friend. He was with her non-stop. She was never alone. They had classes together all the time. He didn't even allow her to use the bathroom. He was what she didn't need.

He stood up from the table and called out her name. Her attention was brought towards him as Lori was ready to take the picture. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her away from the phone and into the hallway. Her friends at the table were confused and worried, they saw this happen frequently and never decided to do anything about it.

I never understood why it was a big deal for her to be in front of a camera or a phone. She wasn't afraid of it since she likes to take pictures with friends. However, they never really caught a full glimpse of her in the photo. She was always a blur or she was taken by him. But when he decides to take a picture with her, nothing happens. The picture is taken and nobody is there to drag her away like he always does.

I've constantly tried taking pictures of her, randomly at the lunch table far from hers. I loved seeing her smile and I just wanted a picture of her smile. The first time I tried was in tenth grade. She still sat at the table that was far from mine.

She was smiling and was bubbly. I pressed the circle that was displayed on the screen to take a photo. I did take the photo, but when I opened it, she wasn't in it. I looked away from my phone towards her, but she was already gone. I always believed that she knew I was taking a picture of her. But now Im starting to believe that she didn't know, but he did.

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SHORT I KNOW, BUT ITS JUST THE BEGINNING THING IN THE START OF STORIES I GUESS AND YEAH ,

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