Shutter

Chapter Eight

"Riiiiight. And my name isn't Charles Wayne Richter the third," he laughed.

"Oh, it isn't?" She asked him sarcastically.

"Ha-Ha," he laughed back just as sarcastically. Elle smirked to herself as she looked down, fidgeting with her camera lens.

"Hey... uh, don't look now, but your boyfriend's at three o'clock," she heard Charlie say.

And of course, her head immediately shot up to her right searching for Julian's face.

"You're such a dick," she laughed, realizing he was baiting her when she didn't see Julian anywhere, reaching out to smack his arm.

"No, I'm serious. He's right there," Charlie said, pointing his finger across her view. She followed his finger to find Julian sitting outside a small café with a blonde guy she'd never seen him with before.

From what she could see, he hadn't been spotted by any paparazzi, which was nice for them. She almost felt guilty having her camera in her hands, but then she thought about what Julian used her camera for, and it made her insides all warm in the most pleasing way possible.

"So, are you going to go talk to him or are you just going to stand here grinning like a fool?" Charlie asked her.

She hadn't realized that she was even smiling until he pointed it out.

"I, uh... he's eating," she said, making up an excuse.

"So," Charlie said, looking at her oddly.

"He's with a friend," she added, giving him another excuse.

"Like I said... so," Charlie edged her on.

"I mean, I don't want to interrupt him," she clarified, shrugging her shoulders as she felt her face grow hotter.

"You're a pap, Elle. It's what you do," Charlie pointed out.

Elle kept her eyes on Julian, watching as he laughed and carried on an animated conversation with the man he was sitting with. Her cheeks blushed when she remembered her very first conversation with him, even though she knew first hand that he wasn't gay.

"Do you have any comments on the new rumor that's been popping up on the internet?"

"And what's that?"

"That you started batting for the other team."

"What?"

"That you're gay."

Still to this day, she couldn't believe she actually asked it. But if she hadn't, she and Julian wouldn't be where they were now.

Without even thinking, Elle pulled her camera up to her eye and adjusted the lens so Julian was perfectly in frame, in perfect focus before she snapped a few pictures of him from afar.

"Really, Elle?" She heard Charlie's sarcastic voice.

"What?" She asked, turning back to him with a slight flush in her cheeks.

"Go talk to him," Charlie nudged.

Elle scoffed with as much annoyance as she could muster, but looked both ways down the street anyway and found herself walking toward Julian. Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she closed in on the two men casually chatting with each other as they sat at the small café table together.

"Can I get a smile, Julian?" She said in her best schmoozy paparazzi voice.

She could only be seen by his friend, who looked up at her immediately, his eyes widened slightly as he stared at her. Julian turned back to see her, one of his eyebrows heightened with a look of intrigue on his face.