Snapshot of a Story

Only an hour after I arrived at my apartment in downtown Madrid, the door was thrown open. I didn’t even have to look up to know that it was my best friend, Elena, though most everyone called her El instead. “I come bearing movies!”

I let out a small grunt to signal that I heard her but continued to stare at the television I hadn’t gotten around to actually turning on. The fact that I was photographing Sergio the next day was affecting me a lot more than I had expected it to.

“I know there’s not much on tv lately but that’s no reason to sit and stare at a blank screen, Piper,” El said, falling on the chair next to the couch I was occupying.

“What?” I broke my stare from the television and turned to look at her.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Work.”

“Uh...I thought you love work? I don’t get it. Did Ezra start flirting with a client again, cause that kinda got me last time-”

“I’m photographing Sergio Ramos tomorrow,” I interrupted her, barely broken out of my daze.

She dropped the movies she was reading the descriptions of and stared at me. “What? Are you serious? Why in the world aren’t you thrilled right now? Other than Cristiano Ronaldo, he’s like the hottest man at least in Spain!”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the Cristiano Ronaldo comment. I had had the “pleasure” of meeting him while taking his picture a few months ago and while he had been nice enough, I could tell it wasn’t genuine. Though he was certainly a very attractive man, he was too done up for my taste, I would find it hard to be interested in a man who put more effort into their appearance than I do. “Well I mean I went to school with him, and I just feel like it’s gonna be awkward, that’s all I guess.”

“Whatever, you’re an amazing photographer and you know that, otherwise the magazine or whoever wouldn’t ask you to take his picture. As for the awkward part, you always feel awkward no matter what you’re doing, so that shouldn’t be anything unusual,” she shrugged. “Honestly I’m just super jealous you get to meet him! The things I would do to that man!”

I laughed and asked what movies she’d brought instead of mentioning that it’s generally much more awkward around your first crush.

The next morning I got up and took a long shower before drying off and standing in my closet. Normally I didn’t have a problem picking out what to wear, especially to a normal day at “work” but today was a special day. Though I had no remote expectation that anything would come out of my time with Sergio today, I still wanted him to like me, is that so wrong? I finally decided on a burgundy high waisted skirt, a black long sleeve shirt with a white and tan crochet infinity scarf, over the knee socks, and ankle boots and put my hair in a neat bun on top of my head, my favorite outfit.

After applying a minimal amount of makeup I headed out, grabbing a poptart on my way. I walked into the gallery at 9, an hour before the gallery opens to customers. Ezra looked up from his computer. “Big day!” He gave me a knowing look and wiggled his eyebrows.

I laughed and rolled my eyes, “Shut up, I’m stressed as it is.”

I passed the morning editing the pictures of Cesc and a cars hoot I’d done of an Audi R8, one of my personal favorite cars. If Ezra didn’t come in at 12:30 with a bag of Japanese food I know I would’ve forgotten to eat. I smiled and thanked him before opening the styrofoam box to see my favorite meal: teriyaki tofu. I know the idea of tofu is nasty to most other people, but as a vegetarian, I don’t have all that many options and it really is delicious, I swear.

Finally, 1:30 arrived and I silently prayed that I wouldn’t do anything embarrassing and that the shoot would go well before I heard the front door open and a few sets of footsteps walk inside before the noise from the street and the expected crowd that Sergio surely generated wherever he went. I saved the pictures I had finished before appearing in the doorway of the workroom and the front gallery. Ezra had mercifully stayed quiet, most likely because he was in shock. I greeted Sergio and who I assumed to be his assistant, though they looked remarkably similar.

He smiled easily at me, “Hola, I have a 1:30 appointment.”

Oh, I’m very well aware, I thouht, but said, “Of course, this way.” I led him and his assistant to the back of the gallery and then through another door and into the studio.

“Oh, and this is my assistant and brother, Rene,” Sergio introduced us.

I smiled and said, “Nice to meet you,” and thankfully he didn’t try to shake my hand. I don’t care for shaking hands in the first place, but if he did he surely would notice how uncomfortable I am.

As I turned on all the studio lights I instructed Sergio on how to get ready and turned off the overhead lights. Rene took this as his cue to go, though I had no problem with him staying, so long as he was quiet and out of my way. But he left, apparently deciding he had other things he could be doing while Sergio and I were busy.

This was the moment I had been dreading. The ‘getting started’ phase of the shoot. This was always the hardest part, but it didn’t help that I knew the magazine would want some with his shirt off and I didn’t want to make it awkward to try and get that part out of the way so I might could think clearly again. Thankfully he seemed to know this as well and went ahead and took it off, leaving himself in only a pair of dark wash jeans that weren’t too loose or too tight and hung low on his hips.

Shit. This is going to be even harder than I’d thought.

By an amazing turn of events, the shoot was actually very easy; Sergio was good at diffusing whatever tension I had created in my mind and actually made me laugh for much of the shoot, which of course always results in better pictures. Having fun, that is.

An hour and a half later, I concluded that I definitely had all the shots the magazine would need. I might have gotten a little carried away, normally shoots for magazines, at least with one person, would only take an hour tops, but what can I say? I was having fun. Sergio changed back into his James Dean t shirt and his Adidas Sambas.

“They look like they’ll turn out great, I’ll let you know when I have some of them ready and get them to you,” I said, leading him back out towards the front of the gallery. When we got there I expected him to maybe smile, say that sounded good, and leave, but he surprised me again.

“Do you remember me?” He asked.

I just raised my eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“We went to school together, I remember. You were always one of the few girls I could stand being around,” he smiled.

I allowed myself a small smile as well, and said, “Well yes, I do. I didn’t know if you did, so I didn’t want to say anything and it be awkward...” I drifted off. Nice and smooth, the usual.

His grin widened, relieved that I remembered him as well. “Well I was actually wondering if you’d like to go get a coffee or something sometime.”

I was completely shocked, not only did he ask to actually spend time with me, but he actually seemed almost nervous or something. “Sure, that’d be great,” I agreed, forming coherent words by some miracle of God.

We exchanged numbers and he left, promising to call me by the end of the next day. I stood there, taking it all in, before Ezra appeared from behind the door to the workroom, grinning like a fool. “Shoot girl, the Sergio Ramos just asked you out!”

I just looked at him for a moment before saying, “So he did, Ezra. So he did.”