he took me to a window.
the window was large and found in the back lounge area where the employees go. it was still raining and the window had millions of raindrops filling the glass. outside was gloomy and the wind was starting to pick up.
I knew that I should be leaving soon to get home in time before the storm hits.
he stood behind me, not saying a word.
I chewed on the inside of my cheek slightly and crossed my tiny arms over my body, feeling chilly. I was confused and very uncomfortable as to what we were looking at.
he let out some air, breathing onto my neck softly. "look."
"at what?" I snapped back.
"at me."
I spun on my heels to find him with no other than his polaroid in his two hands. I knew this boy for at least twenty five minutes and I already knew that polaroid goes everywhere with him.
I gazed at the vintage device, "are you planning on taking another picture of me?" i playfully teased.
he chuckled at my comment, "no, you are the one taking the picture."
I lifted an eyebrow, "me?"
"yes, you."
I shook my head with a pathetic laugh, "listen Luke," i let out a soft sigh, "you are nice and you have a nice choice in music, but I don't know the first thing about photography. you have the wrong girl. it's about to rain and I should be heading home." I tucked that one annoying piece of hair away for what seemed like the millionth time.
and then i began to shrug him off, turning my shoulders away and almost leaving the room.
before he called out my name, causing me to look over my shoulder.
"i'm going to teach you." he spoke softly, almost like a whisper.
I let out a sigh, fluttering my eyes at the boy, getting impatient and still utterly confused.
why did he want me here with him?
I stuck out my hand and he placed the surprisingly light camera in my hand. I ran my finger around it, seeing the scrapes and chipped paint, obviously it has been through a lot.
he placed his hands on my shoulders, causing me to jump at his touch.
he spun me around so that I was peering out the window again, the rain starting to pick up. it slammed against the rooftop and made it hard to concentrate and listen to lukes instructions.
"look into the view finder." he almost had to shout over the rain.
I did as I was told and placed one eyes into the glass while the other squinted.
"all I see is rain and broken trees." I said in a flat voice, uninterested.
"i'll explain later," he spoke with such passion about this, "and just don't even think about it, just press the button."
I stood in my tracks before doing what I was told. I brought the camera away from my face and spun around to him once more.
"you're wasting film on something completely boring." I shrugged, "what's so good about rainy air and swaying trees."
he furrowed his eyes at me and blew out some frustrated air, "take the damn picture."
my eyes widened and I turned myself back around, not wanting to come between this boy and his pictures ever again.
I did as I was told and snapped the picture, my mouth becoming agape. the camera was taken away from my face and the picture made its way out of the slot.
after developing the picture came out in low quality, which was no surprise.
the rain made the photo look shitty and the sky looked intimidating. I bit down on my lower lip and put the picture into his grasp.
he took one look at it and chuckled to himself.
"don't laugh at me, I told you there was absolutely no point of me taking a picture of a storm!" I shoved the camera into his two arms and crossed my own two arms with a tut.
"getting angry, aren't we?" he smirked.
I couldn't help but roll my eyes, "you're weird."
all i wanted to do what go home at this point. it was a mistake coming here.
"seemed to me you had such a pure fascination to these pictures when you first walked in here." he smartly replied, still glancing down at the tragic photo.
"well yeah," i wanted to smack that irresistible smirk off his face, "because those are actually meaningful," I ran a hand through my long golden hair,
"you travel the world, you've seen the Seven Wonders, and you wanted me to take a picture of rain?" a harsh laugh left my cold body.
"that's the point." he stepped away from me and walked over to a coat rack in the darkly lit room.
the room was very dark.
I stood there speechless, not even knowing where to begin with this stranger.
"it doesn't matter the quality of the picture, what matters is the memory that crossed your mind when you pressed the button." the mysterious boy shuffled through his duffel bag and put away the camera, yet still had the photo I took in his hands.
he stepped back closer to me, his face lighting up as he got closer to the window.
I raised an eyebrow, "but luke, employee of 27th street record shop, complete stranger to me, strange boy who has a photography kink, that photo has no meaning to it whatsoever."
a obnoxiously loud laugh came from his mouth at the foolish nicknames I gave him. he put the photo out in front of him so that I had a view of it.
"it does have memory to it." his eyes locked straight into mine.
"no it doesn't."
"it does"
"it doesn't"
"it does"
"no, it doesn't." I spoke with such attitude.
luke took some steps closer, "you see Jade, you will look at this photo in a year and you will laugh. you will remember the boy who worked at the record shop, and you will remember me forcing you to take a pointless picture even though we don't know anything about each other."
the photo was still in the air, in his grasp, his hand out waiting for me to take hold on it.
"keep it." he added.
with some hesitation, I grasped onto the thin piece of paper and held it close to my chest.
my eyes peered up at the ever so tall boy and just shook my head in amazement.
"who are you?" I mindlessly and sarcastically laughed.
he chuckled a deep laugh and shook his head, "ive got a photo kink."
I tutted and playfully slapped at his chest, "stop that, that's weird!"
and with that a loud bang of thunder crashed into the California ground, causing things to almost shake, and causing me to practically have a heart attack. I jumped and covered my ears until the lightening and thunder went away for now.
"I've got to go." I repeated, my hands still over my ears, my eyes squeezed shut.
thunder and I didn't get along.
"nice meeting you, Jade." Luke began walking over to the door of the lounge and opened the door up for me.
I cautiously made my way over to the door, my heart still racing.
"in a year from now, promise me you'll look at that photo and remember me." he teased as if this was some sappy movie.
I tutted, "this is goodbye?" I questioned.
"for good?" he also questioned.
I shrugged my shoulders, "hey I still need to learn how to properly take a polaroid picture."
"I'll take you up on that offer, Jade." he smirked down at me, leaning up against the doorframe.
"see you soon?" I started,
"see you soon." he finished.
and with that I made my way down the steps of the old empty store, and put into the storm. running to my car. keeping the polaroid safe and dry.
authors note;;
ok hi friends, im natalie by the way. and I just wanted to add quickly that I know my chapters are quite short, and don't worry they will get longer as it progresses. and I'm also working on adding gifs and such,, wow I'm so lame. I don't even know if this is GOOD??..,,,.,.,, ok
OH and ALSO my twitter is @/tipsykidluke !