Page 3 of Picture Us

Drew shifted to the left, trying to avoid Fin’s wandering gaze. But just as they did, the redhead followed, stepping ahead of Drew again.

Under their breath, Drew muttered, “My god, lady. Just pick a speed and stick to it.”

But the woman simply offered a gentle smile, clearly not having heard Drew’s rude words.

Instead, the woman pointed her camera down the Esplanade. Drew rolled their eyes; hopefully her pictures of the gardens with some random couple in them were worth ruining an engagement shoot.

But thankfully, Ellen and Finley swiftly moved toward the Rose Garden.So close now.

The entrance to the garden – a narrow, wooden trellis with delicately climbing roses – forced Drew to try and rush past the woman to make the slim walkway. If they fell even one step behind, they could miss a crucial moment of the proposal.

Just as Drew was about to walk past the redhead, the woman nudged past them with a light wink.

What the hell? Why would she do that?Drew gritted their teeth. They worked tirelessly to frame the woman out of the shot, skewing the shots to Finley’s face as Ellen prepared her speech.

Ellen cleared her throat. “Finley, you know I love you so much, right? You just mean the world to me. I don’t know how I would’ve survived this last year without you.”

Finley squeezed Ellen’s hand and pulled her closer as they walked together. Drew snapped a few shots of this, still trying to preserve as much of the roll as possible. But the same couldn’t be said for the stubborn tourist strolling directly to Drew’s right. Her shutter sounded as if she was taking pictures at a groundbreaking press conference.

Fucking digital.Drew rolled their eyes.

“I feel like you’ve healed so much for me. And I just adore you. I love your laugh and the way you refuse to wake up in the morning. You’re just everything I could ever want.” Ellen and Finley stepped onto the raised pergola.

Drew came around to Ellen’s side, their lens perfectly framing Finley. The redhead had moved to Finley’s end of the platform, as if she was framing Ellen.

Drew pushed their confusion aside, trying to stay focused as the golden hour sun began to lower onto the couple’s faces.

Ellen reached into her pocket while she spoke, lowering down onto one knee. Finley’s hand flew to her face, covering her mouth with surprise.

“Finley…” Ellen began as Finley started fishing around her own pocket and getting down on one knee.

What is happening?Drew panicked as they tried to fire off as many shots as they could while maintaining the composition of the shot.

“Ellen…” Finley laughed as she kneeled, now eye level with Ellen.

Pressing their finger down on the shutter-release button, Drew couldn’t stop a light smile from creeping onto their face as the couple said in unison, “Will you marry me?”

Drew began to step closer to the scene, no longer needing to keep their identity a secret. As they did, so did the redhead. The gears turned in Drew’s head.Finley must have hired this photographer to shoot her side of the engagement.

Shaking their head, Drew tried to recenter on the project. The pair both nodded and said yes as they leapt up from their kneeling positions into a warm embrace.

Drew snapped as many shots as they could, the familiar click of a near-empty roll becoming more and more intense.

Once they broke from the hug, Ellen squealed. “Oh my god! Rose! Rose is here! Did you hire her?!”

Finley nodded and, while swiveling to look at Rose, caught sight of Drew snapping pictures. “Oh, and you hired a photographer too!”

Rose ran up to her friends and gave them both hugs. “I cannot believe I got to see this.”

Drew used the last few shots on the reel of film to capture Rose hugging her now-engaged friends.

After a moment, they walked up to the couple and extended their hand to Finley. “Pleasure to meet you and congratulations… to both of you.” Drew smiled.

“Thank you so much. Is that a film camera? I bet those shots look amazing!” Finley pumped their fist, feeling the cold metal of their engagement ring for the first time. “That is a new feeling!”

Drew laughed and stepped off the podium, their smile fading almost instantly. Quickly Drew changed out the film for a fresh canister. Like a leaky pipe drip, Rose’s shutter clicked loudly behind them as they worked. When they turned around, Finley and Ellen were looking at each other’s rings.

Rose pushed past Drew.

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