shorts

short two

inspired by a cute advertisement i saw at the mall

The story starts on a street. Two people. Girl and boy. One walked on the right side and the other on the left side. They were like parallel lines, never intersecting nor meeting. Both with their cameras in their hands, capturing moments, and also each others' hearts.

Will walked down the street like any other day. There she is, on the other side of the road. Wind blowing through her red locks as she struggle to ensure that her hat was still secure. Will smiled as he lift up his camera, trying to capture the beauty of this angel. When he clicked the shutter, the angel turned and he hurriedly pointed his camera elsewhere. The girl went on her way, snapping pictures of a stray cat laying on the street.

Will checked the photos he took that day. He came across the shot of his angel. She truly looked like one. Like the ones he imagined filled the skies. He shook his head when he realised that he had just labelled the girl as his. He has no right over her, they never even talked.

Layla skipped down the street. Something ahout this street keeps her finger clicking the shutter on her camera. Maybe its the ambience, or maybe it's the guy that always walked across the street from her. It was purely coincidental and she always looked forward to walk 'together' with this guy.

She looked across the street. The guy was looking through the photos that he had taken. His long fingers clicked the buttons on the camera. As if looking for something lost. As if his camera was malfunctioning. Her feet almost walked towards him when she stopped herself. She was too shy.

Will jogged down the street. He was slightly late than usual. Thanks to the cute little puppy that was just begging for its picture to be taken. He saw her there. Her right hand was full of different bracelets. She always had them colour coordinated to her outfit. For today, it was purple.

Today, she was not holding her camera instead she was holding a bunch of papers, which looked like photos. Probably just got back from printing those out. Her face was unreadable as she went through the photos.
The shop probably messed up the printing. He thought of offering his printer to her. He almost crossed the street but he stopped himself. He was too afraid.

Layla fell on the street. She was too engrossed trying to capture the beauty of the clouds. She did not even notice the little bump on the sidewalk thus she fell. Luckily the guy was already ahead of her. It would have been an embarassment.

She got up and brushed off the dust from her skirt. Checking her camera for any scratches, she let out a sigh of relief when there were none. She looked ahead and saw the guy about to turn into another street. She managed to snap a couple of shots of his retreating back. She smiled as she walked on, forgetting the pain from the fall.

Will crawled on the street. He was trying to take a photo of the cat under a car. He tried to think like a cat this he was crawling. He managed to take the photo but then the cat leaped at him. Shocked, he backed away and sat down. The cat hissed at him before running away.

He hissed back to the cat's back. He then sat cross-legged as he reviewed his shot. Under the dark lighting from underneath the car, he saw the gleaming eyes of the cat and also a pair of familiar boots. The angel's boots. He must have been observing her so much that he knew what her usual shoes are. He smiled as he looked around for the cat.

Will and Layla walked down the street. It's been months since they first walked down this street and both felt comfortable with the other's company. Feeling brave, Will whistled at her. Layla turned, confused. He gestured to his camera and lift it up to his eye. She laughed before doing the same.

Soon, they were both taking pictures of each other. As if it was the most normal thing on Earth. As if they had known each other since forever. At the same time, both stopped taking photos and made eye contact.

Layla felt confident and took a step towards him. He mimicked her actions and soon they were in front of each other.

"Will."

"Layla."

They both intoduced themselves at the same time. They both laughed. They both walked towards a bench and shared their shots. Layla offered to teach Will the ropes when he got confused which button to press. Will offered his printer when Layla complained that the shop always mess up the colours. They just clicked, like the shutter.