Page 64 of Keeper
I groaned. I stared at Ainsley, wondering if I should just cut through all the bullshit right now and ask her if we couldpleasetalk about the other night.
But Ainsley stopped me before I could. “Don’t look at the camera,” she said. “Stare off into the distance.”
Fuck it,I thought.I’ll just do whatever she wants me to.
I stared off into the distance.Chik chik chik.
“Good,” Ainsley said. “Now give Marta your hand and help her out of the car.”
Chik chik chik.
“Now put your arm around her back and pull her close.”
Chik chik chik.
“Now stare into her eyes and hold her like you’re going to kiss.”
Chik chik—
The sounds of Ainsley’s shutter stopped when Marta forced her lips against mine.
24
Ainsley
Staring up at the much taller athlete, Marta draped her arms around his neck and hung from him, one knee artistically bent.
He’s not actually going to kiss her, is he?I thought as I watched the two through my camera’s viewfinder.
I thought I was going to be sick when I realized who Tanner was … but seeing Marta with her hands all over him made me feel like I was going to die. No, Tanner wasn’t my boyfriend, but I still had fond feelings for the guy I barely knew. I still had hopes of maybe running into him outside his building.
I certainly didn’t want our run-in to be anything likethis.
I thought it was bad enough watching Marta flirt with him right under my very nose—but then she pressed her lips against Tanner’s and actually did it. She KISSED him. And high school jealousies that I’d tried hardto forget were exhumed in an instant. Unleashed, an age-old furor swept across my burning heart.
You willnotsteal another guy from me!I thought in silent protest. My finger would not press the shutter button. I refused to be an accomplice to this farce.That should be me in his arms!
But my indignant rage began to waver. I’d agreed to be her photographer today—what choice did I have now? Besides, unlike when Marta started screwing Brendan behind my back, this time, she legitimatelydidn’tknow that Tanner and I had a small bit of history together. If I were a smarter or braver person, I would’ve immediately told her the second I realized it was him. Yeah, she would’ve been pissed at me, and it probably would’ve ruined the mood of the photo shoot, but so what? I hadn’t done anything wrong; I hadn’t even known who he was until the second he showed up.
As much as it feltlike she was doing all this to personally spite me, deep down, I knew that she wasn’t—that shecouldn’tbe because she had no way of knowing. No, this was simply her job. Andmyjob now was to take pictures.
Begrudgingly, I put all those scorned feelings back in the bottle where they belonged. The shutter button depressed beneath the weight of my defeated finger—chik—and Tanner and Marta separated.
Back on her own two feet again, Marta staggered as if Tanner’s kiss had made her lightheaded.
I know the feeling,I thought with bitter disappointment.
“Okay!” she cheered woozily. “I think we should head into the actual garden now, don’t you?”
Tanner scratched the back of his head. “Yeah. Sure. Whatever.”
***
Spring was in full bloom at the Arboretum, but Marta wasn’t doing herself any favors in winning Tanner’s heart. The whole time we walked around taking photographs, she found something to complain about—from her claims that the sun was “literally” making her melt and sweat like a pig, to being perpetually harassed by gnats and mosquitoes and ticks and chiggers, and being on the verge of passing out due to the stench of the animals in the petting zoo.
I’d learned during the photo shoot that Tanner was an easygoing guy—every time Marta complained about something, he had a reasonable response about how it wasn’t so bad at all. Marta had no idea how much of a drama queen she was coming off as to him. And her efforts to seem excited by the Arboretum came across as equally shallow.
“Look at all these beautiful flowers!” she squealed as we neared the popping display of 500,000 tulips. “What are these, anyway?! They’re lovely.”
