Pictures of You

"Now that you all have understood a little more about this chapter, I would like you all to write a few little paragraphs with your thoughts about the material covered," The class gave out a large groan at Montgomery's usage of "write" and "paragraphs" in the same sentence.

"Oh, come on guys. You all are practically still teenagers, therefore you love to give your opinion! Just here you are actually writing it, not texting or posting it as a status on Facebook!" I smiled at the Facebook comment while I packed up my books.

"Everybody, look at this! I made Charleston here smile!" Montgomery had been calling me a variant of different dance crazes since I insisted he refer to me as Jazz. I smiled a little wider before heading to the door.

I yawned a little when I stepped outside, regretting having signed up for morning classes. I waddled my way over to my car and opened the door. I threw my books and sat down on the ruined upholstery of the front seat. I closed my eyes and released a tired sigh before opening my eyes once more. I had a tiny paper with the address of my shoot peeking out of the suncover.

I pulled the paper out and gave it a once over before shutting the car door and turning the ignition. It took a few tries before my poor baby would start, but none the less it did. I pulled out a pair of old sunglasses from my bag before I started out on the road to my destination.

1001 Fifth Avenue Pittsburgh

I flipped my radio on and settled with the station it was already set on. The station boasted being the "hottest station in the city" and proceeded to play a few tunes all set to the tone of calling someone.

Traffic wasn't bad and I found where I was supposed to be going soon. I pulled into the parking lot and found a space. I idled for a minute while I gathered my equipment before turning the ignition and stepping out.

With address in hand I looked at the building before me. I could have sworn I was in the wrong place, who takes engagement photos at the CONSOL? I sighed and lifted my bag strap a little higher on my shoulder before I made my way to the door. Someone had to be joking with me.

I was genuinely surprised to find the doors weren't locked upon my entering. The inside of the building was large and had several important looking people walking about. The black tie sophistication of their clothing made my poor jeans feel highly embarrassing.

"Oh there you are!" a voice bellowed, startling me back to reality. A frumpy woman with what I would imagine was dyed red hair waddled towards me, her purple kitten heels clicked as if screeching for help.

"They are waiting down in the arena, let me take you." She said as she grabbed onto my hand. She walked me down a corridor and brought me to a large set of doors, before turning to me:

"They should be on the ice. Good luck." I opened my mouth to give a thank you in return for helping me, but she had already turned away. I sighed and opened one of the large doors. I slipped inside and shut the doors quietly. It was dark, save for the bright light emitting down onto the center of the large room. There I found a large ice rink, shiny like a coin except for the silhouette of two people.

Grabbing my camera out of my bag I fastened on a lens and made my way down to the ice. The two people seemed too enthralled with skating circles around each other to notice my appearance. I cleared my throat, hoping that it wasn't too rude of me to interrupt their play.

"I'm here to take your photos. You two are the couple, right?" My voice was tiny and weak, not a real change from normal, if I must say.

The woman looked to her male counterpart before returning to me, a large smile spread on her face. I didn't know why, but something about that smile vibrated off her to make me smile. Like, UVA and UVB rays of the sun to my skin. I was the sunburn of her smile. That was a really awkward comparison.

"Oui, nous sommes! Vero et c'est mon fiancé Marc-André." My sunburn smile faltered at her use of French and I racked my brain to find the right response.

"Um, je ne parle pas très bien le français." I was sure my pronunciation was awful. The two smiled and nodded in understanding.

"You learned French in high school, I suppose? And it's okay," Marc-André reassured me with a heavy French accent, "we speak English."
"Sometimes." Vero added with the same accent, a playful smile and tiny laugh. I nodded and gave a tiny smile, still embarrassed at my awful French.

"So, why an ice rink?" I asked shyly. The two gave a surprised look before Vero spoke:

"Marc-André plays hockey here, for Pittsburgh." My mouth made an "o" shape and I apologized for not knowing. I was doing an excellent job of embarrassing my self today.

"It's okay, we give you tickets sometime." Marc-André said to me, a large smile on his face. The same smile spread to Vero and soon to me before I suggested we start the shoot.

We started the shoot with taking simple photos of them staring at each other lovingly and holding each other close. It then progressed to some of American Gothic-esque photos with them staring blankly ahead, a hockey stick between them. All the while the two laugh and smiled and I occasionally joined with them as well.

"Okay, Marc, could I get you to maybe skate in circles around Vero?" Marc complied and I snapped photos quickly.

We were about to end or shoot when I had an idea come to mind. "Vero, do you know how to skate?" I asked, she gave a curt nod in reply. I smiled in return, "and I of course assume Marc-André knows." The male smiled broadly and made a sarcastic comment of not knowing how to at all.

"Could I get you two to skate an outline of an infinity symbol and maybe have you two stop in the middle and kiss." They both nodded and I quickly asked if I could skiddle up to the balcony area, Marc agreed and they set off to skate as I ran up the stairs.

I made it to the top as the had just started on the third patten of the symbol. The started on different side and would cross paths to go over the other's side in the middle. I took several photos like this with the idea of making an "In process" kind of thing. Soon they finished etching the figure and met in the middle for the photo. I snapped a few good photos and told them that I would be right down.

I reached down to grab my lens case from the ground and attempted to fix it on as I was walking towards the stairs. Engrossed in what I was doing I did not see the large figure walking towards me until I felt a jolt.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" The stranger said.

"Oh, no. It's okay, it was my fault anyway," I looked up to meet a tall man with long dark hair. His eyes dark as well, the same for his facial hair. "I-I-I should have watched where I was going." I replied, my voice stuttering. "I'm Kris," He stated, his pink lips in a smile and hand outstretched for me to shake.

I lightly took his hand and he shook it, "I'm Jasmine."