They're Only Photos || Norman x Ray

5

RAY

"There's a difference between being clever and being wise."

~°~
Norman had been right. Ray did need to move closer to Lambda Productions. He was stuck in three lanes of traffic, surrounded on all sides by honking cars and smoking engines.

Ray didn't bother honking his horn like the other drivers; he just took out his phone and started to scroll through TikTok and Instagram in hopes of finding something good. He was becoming a social media addict.

The traffic eventually moved on, and Ray thanked fate that he arrived on time. He went to work that morning with a file filled with copies of all his photos and his digital camera stuffed in the front of his duffel bag. Ray wanted to show his employers his recent works.

He was assigned his first job as soon as he entered the studio. They wanted to test his skill, and he knew that. Ray took extra care to make sure he captured the first model perfectly.

The photo was beautiful. The light hit the girl's short messy hair at just the right angle, lighting it up and giving the orange edges a sparkly tint. Her green eyes were doe, her creamy complexion clearly visible to be flawless. 

He took many photos just like that one. Perfect.

Norman hadn't arrived yet, which kind of bothered him. But being Ray, he focused on what he was working on. The photos.

He had loads of photos taken by the end of the day. He scrolled through them, carefully looking for flaws. Ray couldn't see any. 

"Mr. Grace?" Ray turned to see the studio's digital technology and editing manager, Krone, watching him from the doorway. He must seem strange, standing there all alone, while the rest went off to eat their lunch. Come to think of it, he hadn't brought anything to eat and therefore had no purpose to be in the cafeteria. Ray had no friends.

He replied, "If you're wondering, I'm just looking through my photos. I didn't feel like eating." Krone smiled at him and chuckled. Obnoxious. She reminded him a bit of Norman. 

"Well," she said, running her fingers gently through her puffy brown hair. "I was just going to ask if I could have your pictures for editing purposes, but since you don't have any lunch I'll offer to share mine with you."

"I never said I didn't have lunch. I only said I wasn't hungry."

Krone raised an eyebrow. "It's pretty obvious you forgot your lunch, Mr. Grace. Don't try to fool me." 

Ray rolled his eyes behind her back.  Krone strolled over and knelt beside him, peeking over his shoulder. "Norman, huh? This doesn't look like it was taken on set." 

Ray glanced at the photo she was looking at. It was a picture of Norman. The one he'd taken the other day, when he'd been getting that tour. Even though it was only a few days ago, it felt like forever. "It wasn't," he told the woman. "I took for myself."

He then realised how weird that sounded. "Uhm.. not like that. I meant, like, as in -"

Krone patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay, darling. I know what you mean." There was silence as Ray proceeded to show her the rest of his photos. Krone didn't say anything when he was finished, but nodded her approval. Ray guessed that was good enough.

She asked to have his camera so she could edit it, and he obliged. Krone left him in the room with a packet of crisps and a BLT. 

Ray chewed at the sandwich half-heartedly, barely touching the packet of crisps. He remembered his friend from seventh grade, imagining him saying "Chips," and snorted out a laugh, almost choking on a lump of bread. He knew it wasn't funny. Ray just liked to believe.

The whole Chips vs Crisps scenario had been very popular in middle school. He didn't know why, but at the very least it encouraged him to ravish the packet of crisps mercilessly. Ray didn't care if Krone came back and asked for her share. They were in his stomach now.

He was about to leave, when he heard a voice say, "Ray!"

Being Ray, he didn't look up and instead just stared at the floor like a complete idiot. He heard footsteps coming  over and at the last second he turned. "Wah -"

A flash of white tumbled over his shoulder and landed in a heap on the marble floor behind him.

"Norman! Are you alright?"