Shutter

Chapter Eleven

"Elle, no," Julian balked, shaking his head slowly as realization hit him.

"I'm so sorry, Julian. I'm so sorry. I meant—" She apologized.

"You—they—our—those pictures?" Julian stuttered, trying to find the right words to ask the right questions.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," Elle cried, wiping at her eyes once her vision blurred so much from the tears that she couldn't see clearly.

Julian's breathing heightened and seemed ragged and stressed at the realization of what it all meant. He was silent for a little while just trying to wrap his head around it. And then he looked up and his eyes pierced straight through her.

"Why were they still on your camera, Elle?" Julian asked her firmly, the words sounding sharp and harsh.

It was the most upset she had ever seen him in the whole time they were in each other's lives. As a matter of fact, she had never actually seen him this way, unless she counted seeing him acting on the silver screen - which she didn't, so it was eye-opening.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think. I forgot to... to delete them," she stammered, her head a mush of I'm sorry's that would never be enough to rectify the situation.

"You should have—God! I can't believe this," he growled, fisting his short dark hair between his fingers for a moment, ruining his perfect look.

"You were mister camera happy!" She shouted back at him, not used to being yelled at. Her self-defenses were kicking in without warning, even though she knew it was entirely her fault.

"Yeah, they were for the 'Swiss bank account of folders' on your computer, Elle. For us!" He snapped at her, his tone audacious and sarcastic.

She fell silent, thinking only of how badly she fucked up. It was completely on her. Why would she leave those pictures on her camera? There was no reason, no excuse.

"I'm sorry, Julian. I never meant... I didn't..." She sighed, feeling defeated and worn.

"What happened?" He asked, with his own sigh, calming down significantly.

"I just... I was out and things got out of hand. There was a really big group of people and we got pushed back, and I fell and I wasn't hanging on to it by the strap and my camera just flew out of my hand and... and... and Liam—" She said in a mass of run-on's, halting her words with a big fat fucking realization.

"Liam?" Julian asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Liam! Oh my fucking god!" She shouted.

"What? What, Elle?" Julian asked impatiently, raising his voice too, wondering what the hell she was freaking out about.

"I was searching for my camera on my hands and knees and just, out of nowhere, a camera was thrust in my face. And I grabbed it without even looking at it, sure that it had to be mine. And when I looked up Liam was standing there telling me to be more careful next time. And I just... I was mind-blown at his generosity. Like, he found my camera for me and... and actually gave it back. But like, I got home and it wasn't my camera. I didn't see it until I got here, and it wasn't mine and... and I've been freaking out ever since I realized what was on the camera. Julian, Liam has my camera!" She explained, feeling ten-thousand times more miserable than she did before.

"Fuck," Julian scoffed, running his hands violently through his hair, knowing just what it meant. Elle had told him enough stories for him to know that Liam was a complete snake.

"I'm so sorry," she whimpered as new tears broke free from her eyes.

"Shh, Elle. I know," Julian cooed, gripping her by the back of her head, pulling her to his chest to comfort her.