The Street Photographer

Chapter 9

Point. Focus. Click.

My alarm went off at an unpleasant 6am, a solid half hour before Kent said his alarm would go off. I squinted at my phone and groaned, every fiber of my being complaining as I moved. Kent's guest bed was extremely comfortable and gave me the best night's sleep in ages. I just wanted to burrow down into the covers and go back to sleep. But no... I'd agreed to start our photoshoot as soon as he woke up. Why had I done that?

"I hate myself," I groaned, pushing the covers off and rolling onto my side. This would be a double-or-nothing kind of work day. I needed photos for myself and Madison. If I didn't give Max something, he would get on my case more than ever. It would only get worse, and I couldn't keep the truth secret for very long.

"Okay..." I dragged myself out of the bed and into the bathroom. Got to be ready for all this chaos.

Twenty minutes, a face wash, the simplest layer of makeup, and a trip to the kitchen to start the coffee pot later, I grabbed my camera and sneaked up down the hall to Kent's room. I stood there for a good five minutes before working up the nerve to knock on the door. Was I seriously going to do this? This was, by far, the craziest thing I'd ever done for a photoshoot, and I'd probably never do anything this crazy again.

Sucking in a deep breath, I knocked on the door. The sound would probably only wake him up, so I waited a few seconds and knocked again a bit louder to draw him to the door. Once I heard him shuffling behind the door, I stepped back a few paces and adjusted the focus on my camera.

The door slowly inched open, and a blurry-eyed Kent appeared in the doorway. It took him a second to let everything focus and register. His hair stuck in several directions. His shirt was heavily wrinkled from sleep.

"It's too early for this," he mumbled. "Let me go back to sleep."

"You can if you want to," I told him, "but that means I can do whatever I want. Do you want to risk that?"

His head snapped up, hair falling into his face and eyes only half open. "Whose idea was this?"

"Yours," I giggled. "C'mon, get up. I started the coffee already."

Just as he was about to argue with me, his alarm went off. Grumbling under his breath, he shuffled over to his dresser and swiped across his phone screen to silence the alarm.

"You want to follow me into the bathroom?" Kent yawned, running his fingers through his hair. "I'm gonna brush my teeth and take a shower."

"Nope!" I squeaked, dramatically capping my camera lens and staying put in the doorway. "We definitely don't need that many in-depth photos. You do your thing, and I'll meet you downstairs whenever you're ready."

He stopped in the bathroom doorway and glanced at me over his shoulder. "You sure?"

"Yep. See you downstairs." I pulled the door firmly shut behind me. Leaning back against it, I could hear his chuckle as he wandered into the bathroom. My heart thumped a little bit faster for a moment. That could have escalated into something bigger, and we were not there yet.

Okay...

#

The day passed far quicker than I expected. Between photo sessions, we took breaks for meals and moments just for us. I semi-staged him in a few rooms of the house, mostly letting the moments happen. He made a few suggestions here and there, bringing in different elements of his life. For the most part, any professional photographer would have collected the same material.

We'd just finished washing the dinner dishes when Kent trapped me against the counter. "Okay, Ally. All day long, you've been letting me take the lead. I'm putting it back in your ballcourt. I'm giving you the chance to get some photos to placate your boss. If you could stage, pose, or direct me in a private photoshoot, what would you have me do?"