The Silent Photographer

Chapter Four

In all my seventeen years of life, I had never had a more daunting task than what I was going to have to do on Monday. I was going to have to confidently walk up to Ashton and hand him my phone number...at least according to Maya anyway. I was pretty sure he wouldn't mind me slapping a piece of paper with my number on it, into his hand and then running away and hiding for literally the rest of the semester.

To be honest, after his angry outburst on Friday I was trying to convince my parents to let me drop out. Sadly, I don't think they would agree but it was worth a shot.

Anyway, it was Sunday night and I was laying on my bed squishing my face into my pillow. I had been practicing for hours how to hand him my number, and so far they were all failures. We needed some way to communicate with each other for the project, and at least through text I'd be slightly less nervous since I wouldn't have to actually see Ashton.

I let out a huge sigh and flipped over so I was staring at my ceiling. This should not be this hard. I slapped my cheeks and steeled my nerves for Monday. Ashton was just a guy who I had to do a group project with. I could totally give him my number. Eventually, I fell asleep with that thought in mind and then it was Monday.

I was determined to give him my number as I made my way to school...and then I actually arrived. I took my usual photo of the entrance, saw him in the photo, and dove behind someone's car to hide from him. As I looked discretely at him from behind the car, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned and saw Maya raise an eyebrow at me.

Letting out a huge sigh, I came out of my hiding place. I walked dejectedly over to Maya and gave her a hug. Burying my head into her shoulder, I let out a frustrated noise. It should not have to be this hard to just hand Ashton a piece of paper. So renewing my determination, I lifted my head from Maya's shoulder, took a deep breath, and walked over to where Ashton was standing.

When he noticed me walk over to him, he looked surprised before a small smile graced his face. To be honest, he looked adorable with a smile. Unfortunately, it was gone just as quickly as it appeared and he went back to his usual expression.

Anyway, once I was directly in front of him and close enough to have a legitimate conversation, I felt my mouth dry up. Like I wasn't even going to speak, what was I so nervous for? I put my hand in my pocket, and clutched the piece of paper with my number on it as if it was a lifeline. You can do this Isabelle, the worst he can do is throw it away, I thought as I was about to pull it out of my pocket. "Good morning Isabelle." he said making me blanch. I wasn't expecting him to say anything, so I practically froze and had no idea how to proceed.

I looked up at him with wide eyes before lifting my other hand in a half-hearted wave. We were then enveloped in an awkward silence and I saw him nervously rub the back of his neck. This made me pause, what was he nervous about? As I was trying to come up with a reason for his nervousness he cleared his throat. "Um, so...ugh I'm not good at stuff like this." he mumbled before rummaging through his backpack and pulling a cookie tin out of it.

He thrust it towards me and before I could even think about anything, I took it. "So, like...I want to...apologize for how I acted on Friday." he mumbled looking away with what looked like a slight blush on his cheeks. I gave him a questioning look as I opened the tin. Inside were chocolate chip cookies that looked homemade.

I pulled one out and inspected it very closely. Seriously, I even sniffed it. "Really? It's just a cookie." Ashton said with slight irritation. I took a tentative bite, and holy shit, it was amazing! I could feel myself beaming as I took another bite and I heard Ashton chuckle. "I'm assuming you like them then." he said giving me another one of his small smiles. He needed to stop doing that. He looked so innocent and boyish when he smiled, and it was giving me butterflies. Like he was Ashton, the guy who wore all black and stomped around in his combat boots usually wearing eyeliner. As I had that thought though, I looked up at him and saw that he actually wasn't wearing eyeliner for once.