Purple Sharpie

Thirty-two: Cammie

The doorbell rang and I cracked my knuckles, wincing as I stood. Then I remembered. Josh.

I grabbed the strap of my camera and flew downstairs past my brother. I threw open the door; and there he was, silhouetted in the late afternoon glow. "Wow." I found myself muttering. "What?" He said, his hair flipping over his eyes.

I froze, managing to stutter out a tangible sentence when Ree's face flashed into my mind. "Hey. I said hey."

Josh grinned and gestured to the camera, which I shook my head at. "Your turn to be a model." I said.

Josh laughed. "I'm not pretty enough to be a model." We walked out the door to his car. "Come on- Joshy. You're no Brendon Urie, but you're not bad."

Josh laughed, opening the door for me. "You think so?" I grinned at him. "I know so."

Josh grinned at me, starting the engine. "Well, you're not so bad yourself."

At this point my heart shudder-stopped and I chickened out.

I cleared my throat. "Where to, Captain?" Josh turned up the radio just a little. "Um- actually I want to keep this a secret."

I hit the seat beneath me, releasing a tiny puff of dust and making Josh jump a little. "What?"

I glared at him, my arms crossed. "I hate surprises." "Come on." Josh said, the dirt road bumping beneath us. "One time, I paid my mom to tell me what she was getting me for Christmas."

Josh laughed. "Are you serious?" I nodded. "So you're going to tell me where we're going or I'm not going to talk to you."

Josh laughed. "You couldn't do that." He said. "I'm almost as pretty as Brendon Urie."

"Is that a challenge?"

"I'm not telling you where we're going."

"Two more chances."

"Cams, think about this. It'll be hard to tell me I'm doing things wrong without talking to me."

"One last chance, Joshy."

"Fine!" Josh's hand came down on the steering wheel. "We're here."

He scowled at me. "I hope you're satisfied."

I got out of the car and would have made a sarcastic comment, but my breath was caught in the place that I had to swallow to get rid of it.

My throat was way scratchy, and I could have been a Batman villain with the voice that croaked out, but I managed to make one little sound.

"Yeah."

Josh came up behind me and his hand found my waist.

"Knew you would be." He said. "Are all surprises forgiven?"

I nodded. "Hell yeah. Let's take some pictures."