Snapshot (6 page)

“Aw!” She lowered the camera and looked at AJ. “No fair.”

“Elusive isn’t it? I’ve been sitting here for fifteen minutes trying to get a good shot.” AJ’s friendly demeanor made her feel she’d known him forever, not less than a day.

“Did you get one?”

“I think so. Here, check these out.” He shared his camera with her, and they peeked together at the dozen or so pictures he’d taken.

“Oh, I like that one!” Marti pointed to a shot where the loon’s whole body could be seen in a close up. “I think it was looking at you.” She peeked at AJ and laughed.

“That’s because I was calling to it,” he said.

“And how did you do that?” Marti listened to the low tones of his voice and watched his mouth move. Would he kiss her again?

“First off, you have to know how to speak fowl.”

“You swore at the bird?” She raised an eyebrow.

“No!” He laughed. “I meant fowl, like the bird family, not foul as in language.”

“I know. I was messing with you.” Marti watched for his reaction.

AJ gave her a sly look and shook his head. “Nice one.”

“So tell me about this fowl language of yours.” Marti held her camera at the ready in case the loon reappeared.

AJ released his camera and let it hang from the neck strap. “You know that eerie call it made earlier this morning?”
 

Marti nodded.
 

“It starts low pitched and then goes high at the end.” He cupped his hands around his mouth and let out a soulful wail. AJ’s voice, pure as the crystal clear lake, gave her goose bumps. The sound reverberated across the water and echoed back. Marti watched in awe. His long fingers, cupped together, formed a megaphone effect. He opened his mouth and called out again like a mournful melody.

AJ turned and grinned his adorable smile. She imagined his lips on hers.

“Oh my god, that sounded amazing! Are you in choir?”

“No. I’m just a loon caller,” he teased.

“You should join.”

The call of a loon, similar to Adam’s, echoed from across the lake.
 

“Look at that! It’s back! It’s answering your call!” Marti lifted her camera and focused on the distant bird.

Together, they watched the loon as it swam through the placid water and sang out an occasional call. Sometimes it was a low wail and other times, a trill. Every so often it dove under, and they’d guessed where it would pop up.

The sound of the creaking cabin door interrupted. They turned and spotted the girls leaving her cabin, camera gear in tow. Despite her disappointment that her time alone with AJ was over, Marti waved them over. “Hey you guys, you should see this loon. It’s amazing!”

“Hi,” AJ greeted the girls and smiled so adorably that Marti actually felt a pang of jealousy. She wished he would save that smile only for her.

“That’s great, but breakfast is in like five minutes,” Brooke said.

“Oh geez.” Marti stood up and realized she was still wearing the t-shirt she’d slept in and no bra. She covered her chest with one arm as her face warmed. Had AJ noticed? She brushed the dirt and pine needles off her butt with her other hand. “I’m not even ready.”

“We’ll save you a seat,” Haley said.

“Thanks. I’ll hurry.” The girls started off for the lodge.
 

“Do you want me to wait?” AJ offered as the guys came out of his cabin.

“No, that’s okay. But thanks for showing me the loon and everything.”

“Anytime,” he said in his sexy, easy-going way, and Marti hoped that meant soon.

*
 
*
 
*

By the time Marti arrived at the lodge with all her gear, breakfast was well on its way.

“Thanks for saving me a seat.” She hooked her camera strap over the back of the chair and squeezed in next to Kayla and Haley. Four girls she hadn’t seen before occupied the other side of the table. Marti smiled a greeting.

“We saved you two pancakes and some bacon, but the eggs and sausage are gone.” Kayla passed the near empty platter to her.

“Thanks.” Marti slid the food onto her plate. She glanced at the nearby tables, but didn’t see AJ or the guys.
 

“Good morning, Campers.” Tony’s voice boomed out over the kids’ chatter and clinking dishes. “This afternoon, swim tests will run from one o’clock until three, so be sure to get down there. Lifeguard Brian will help you out. Also, there will be a volleyball tournament with games every afternoon, so be sure to support your team.”

Marti scooted her chair back and shifted to the side for a better view of the tables in the back corner. She glanced around but still didn’t see AJ. She craned her neck and finally spotted his group. A bunch of girls she hadn’t noticed before sat with them. A cute girl with light red hair giggled and kept flipping her hair. AJ laughed and leaned closer, touching her arm.
 

Marti’s heart sank. Great. He wasn’t interested in just her. He was interested in any girl. AJ looked up and their eyes connected. Marti whipped back around. He must think she was spying on him. Which she was. Would anyone notice if she crawled under the table and hid? Humiliation burned. How could she have misjudged him? Last night he’d been drunk, yeah, but this morning, she thought for sure that he liked her. At least a little.
 

Determined not to look desperate, she refused to look back again. She focused on a salt shaker and ate her cold pancakes. She needed to stop acting so obvious. If he was interested, he’d have to make a move.

*
 
*
 
*

After breakfast, their heavy-set, balding photography instructor, Mike Sellers, reviewed the basics of Depth of Focus. He sent them on a hike to a railroad track on the other side of the lake for their first assignment.

Kayla wanted to change from sandals to tennis shoes, so the girls were the last to leave, which really bugged her because she didn’t get a chance to see AJ and prove she wasn’t that into him. She wished he’d notice her more. Her emotions were a little all over the place and she didn’t really know why.

After a thirty-minute hike on mostly level land, they reached the railroad tracks and found Mike and small clusters of kids setting up equipment and experimenting with different angles and light levels.
 

Marti’s group walked on, because, face it, they couldn’t fight the magnetic pull of the guys next door. Not to mention the fact that Brooke insisted they find Justin before picking a spot. She was hot on his trail like a dog sniffing out a rabbit. Marti was pretty sure Brooke would bag the guy soon.

Another hundred yards around a bend, they found the guys. Ryan’s equipment was set up and ready to go. Justin and Kyle relaxed on an outcropping of rock. Marti didn’t spot AJ at first, but then saw him further down, adjusting his tripod. As soon as he spotted her, he stood up and waved.
 

Her heart beat a little faster. She waved back and instantly wished she’d acted less eager. In an effort to act nonchalant, she ignored him and chatted with the others. She could see Justin and Kyle weren’t too invested in photography. Brooke was right; with Justin’s good looks, he belonged in front of the camera, not behind it. Ryan obviously loved photography as he concentrated on his assignment and not the conversation.
 

“I’m going to go check out what AJ’s doing.” Marti didn’t care if the other kids weren’t interested in the assignment. She was, and it looked like AJ felt the same way. Plus, talking about the assignment was a great excuse to go talk to him.

“Mind if I join you?” Haley asked.

Marti fought the urge to tell Haley no, since she knew she’d sound like a jerk or desperate for a guy. “Not at all. Come on.”

They caught up to AJ, who had picked an ideal location.
 

“Nice spot.” Marti lowered her backpack carefully to the bed of gravel. A half-mile down, the train tracks disappeared into a dark stone tunnel.
 

“Thanks. I thought it would work out pretty nice.” His eyes followed her.

“Mind if we join you? Or is this a restricted area?” Haley asked.

“My tunnel is your tunnel.” He grinned and Marti wished she could gaze at his smile all day.

Marti admired the spot he’d picked for taking pictures and how the distance created an illusion of the tracks growing narrower and narrower until they faded into the mysterious passageway.

“Think any trains will come out of that tunnel while we’re here?” she asked. In her mind, she screamed the real question she wanted to ask: “Did you kiss me because you wanted to or because you were drinking?” Maybe it was a good thing Haley was here.

“If one does, I hope I get a picture before it runs me over.”

“Now that would be a great live action shot,” Haley said.

Marti went to work unpacking her gear. She took her camera from its case and secured it safely to the tripod.

They took turns capturing shots of the tracks and the tunnel from various heights and shutter speeds. The warm sun promised a spectacular day ahead.

Marti perched on a large boulder with a bottle of water. “Did you hear that cello last night?”

“That was so great.” Haley futzed with her camera settings.

“Whoever was playing sure knew their stuff,” AJ said.

“I love classical music, and there’s something about a cello. It’s just so... mellow,” she said.

“Do either of you play?” AJ sat on a nearby boulder.

“The cello? God no. That would be a disaster,” Marti said.

“I tried the guitar when I was younger, but I quit,” Haley said.
 

“Why’d you quit?” AJ tossed a small rock back and forth between his hands.
 

“You ever hear that guitar song Classical Gas? Well, I wanted to learn to play that so bad. That’s why I tried guitar lessons, but it was too hard to hold down all the strings. Never could play a lick.”

“That’s too bad,” he said.

“I love that song!” Marti said.
 

AJ raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“I’m not kidding!” She laughed.

“How do you know Classical Gas?” he asked.

“I heard it all the time when I was little.” She almost said her dad played it to her at bedtime, when he happened to be around, but she didn’t want to bring him up again.

“How about you, AJ? Do you play?” Haley asked.

“Me? Nah.” He swiped a drink of his water and then stretched the fingers on his hand.

“How’s everyone doing down here? Getting any good stuff?” Mike asked, joining them.

“Yeah, lots of great shots!” Marti said.

“Glad to hear it. Now, I need to have you gather your stuff and move about ten feet off the tracks.”

“What’s up?” AJ asked.

Mike checked his watch. “In about three minutes, the eleven o’clock train will be coming through.”

“Oh!” Haley lifted her tripod, with her camera attached, and quickly moved it off the tracks.
 

Marti and AJ tossed loose items in their packs, grabbed the rest of their gear and joined Haley.

The distant sound of a train whistle startled her. She shared an excited look with AJ.

“Oh my god! The rest of my gear!” Haley looked at her gear scattered on the other side of the tracks.
 

Mike laughed. “Don’t worry, plenty of time.”
 

The three of them raced over, gathered everything up, and ran back.

The other kids in their group ran up with their cameras, ready to catch pictures of the train. A couple more minutes with an occasional locomotive whistle, and the tracks begin to rumble.
 

Anticipation escalated as the noise grew. Marti expected the train to burst through the tunnel at any moment, but it didn’t. The sound became louder and louder, bouncing off the tunnel walls. The distant light on the engine shined brighter. She grabbed AJ’s arm with one hand, her camera poised with the other. He grinned at her.
 

Suddenly the train engine burst through the tunnel. She fumbled with her camera and started snapping shots. The whistle blew loud repetitive blasts, causing her to stop and cover her ears. AJ lowered his camera and put his arm around her and laughed. She ducked into his embrace to block out the ear-splitting train whistle. He tipped her head up in time to see the engine pass. The engineer sat at the window and gave them a quick smile and a wave before letting loose on the whistle again.

Some in the group concentrated on getting train pictures, others plugged their ears, and Kyle took pictures of everyone’s reactions.
 

As the train passed and the sound faded, Marti stayed in AJ’s secure arms a few seconds longer. She didn’t want to attract undue attention, but geez, the guy felt great. He had strong arms and a solid chest as if he could protect a girl from anything. She stepped away and smiled shyly, which was dumb, because they’d made out last night.