Snapshot of a Story

The next few days passed by pretty uneventfully. I edited the pictures of Sergio, which looked fantastic, though I knew the reason they did was almost entirely because of Sergio alone. As I got ready to head out that Saturday morning for my few hours at work, my phone rang. Assuming it was Ezra, I answered without looking at the caller ID. “Hello?”

“Hey, Piper? It’s Sergio.” His voice sounds just as beautiful on the phone, somehow.

I swear my heart stopped beating for a second as I stared at the wall, barely holding the phone to my ear. I remembered Sergio was still on the phone, and I said, “Oh, uh, hey, what’s up?” You’re an idiot I told myself.

“I was actually wondering what you were planning on doing today, maybe we could go get that coffee I promised?” Sergio actually sounded - there’s no way... - nervous.

“Oh, um, sure, I work until two, but after that I’m pretty sure I’m free,” I replied, sounding a lot more relaxed than I felt.

“Okay, great! I’ll go by the gallery at two, then!”

“Okay, see you then,” I hung up and let out a huge breath I wasn’t aware I’d been holding. I allowed myself a quick squeal before making myself get it together again and grabbing my bag and heading out the door.

Almost the minute I stepped in the door of the gallery, Ezra was interrogating me about Sergio. “What are you going to wear? Where are you going? What are you going to do? When are you going? Are you going to meet anyone else there? How long will you be gone?”

I nearly had to slap the man to get him to shut up so that I could ask a question of my own. “How did you even know he’d called me already?”

She dropped the hands he had been waving all over the place while he had been talking, turned his back to me, and returned to his desk. “That doesn’t really even matter, does it?”

“Ezra...”

The phone rang, and Ezra answered it quickly, clearly relieved, though he had to know that he was only postponing the inevitable. He seemed to be getting himself comfortable so I had the feeling that he’d do his best to drag out the phone call as long as possible. Realizing this, I disappeared into the back of the studio once more to resume editing photos and responding to emails.

Before I knew it, it was two o’clock, time for me to go. I finished up the last few pictures I had chosen for that collection of pictures and shut everything down before grabbing my purse and heading back out front. Ezra had finished his phone call a long time ago and neither of us had reappeared to resume the conversation we’d been having before.

“I fully expect a detailed account of everything that the two of you do, say, see, hear, everything!” He hugged me bye as I agreed to his terms.

“I’ll see what I can do, though I’m sure there will be very little to really talk about,” I answered, digging my phone out of my purse to call Sergio and see where he wanted to meet.

“Hey, I was just about to call you! I’ve been around town today and there are paparazzi following me way more than usual for some reason, which I’m of course fine with, but I didn’t know how you felt about all that.” He stopped and I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to really interject something or if he was just thinking out loud, really. Before I could get anything out to reply he continued anyway. “So, we could still go to a coffee shop and potentially make the front cover of some gossip magazine tomorrow, or you’re welcome to go back to my house and I can treat you to my world famous coffee instead. Your choice.”

I wasn’t entirely sure how to respond. “This isn’t a trick is it? You’re not a serial killer or something are you?”
 He just laughed and reassured me that he was not.

“Well I don’t know,” I said. I really wasn’t keen on having my picture all over the place and lord knows I’d much rather be behind the camera than in front of it, but was it weird to go to his house? Then again, we’re only catching up as friends because we used to go to school together... “If we went back to your house I’d have to get my car, and-”

“I can pick you up! Where are you?”

Well that solves that problem. I told him the address and waited with growing nerves as I sat on a nearby bench. I had just enough time to realize that I had absolutely no idea what kind of car he’d be driving when I heard the low roar of a sports car’s engine. I looked up to see a dark gray Porsche Panamera speed around the corner and wasn’t surprised to see Sergio’s grinning face dimly through the windshield.

I hopped up and quickly got in the car, trying to let the paparazzi and passerby get as few pictures with me in them as possible. Almost as soon as I’d shut the door, he had pressed the gas to the floor, throwing me back in my seat. As soon as I wasn’t being pressed back into the seat I quickly snapped my seatbelt, wondering if maybe this wasn’t the best idea after all.