Gerard and I were walking through the mall, strolling past the less interesting stores. Gee loved to go shopping, and in a matter of thirty minutes he had already obtained four huge, filled-up bags. We were on our way to the food court when Gerard put his arm out to block me. He pointed at the big blue rectangle in front of us and smiled at me.
"Frank, it's a photobooth! Let's do it!" he said as he grabbed my hand ran toward it, dragging me with him. He slipped into the box first, and read the directions out loud to me.
"It says we need to put in two dollars here," he said, pointing at the little slot in the wall. "And then we get to take four pictures, and the strip dispenses here," he pointed at a different slot.
"Hey, it says it makes two copies. One for each of us." I said.
"Oh wow, that's perfect," he said as he inserted the dollars. "Frankie, you get to pick the background."
"What an honor," I laughed. "Let's see, I like the… the one that looks like a film strip."
"Great, me too." he said as he pressed the corresponding button. We agreed that for our first picture, we would give our biggest smiles to the camera. He wrapped his arm around my neck and I squeezed his waist. Then, we slapped on the cheesiest grins possible just before the camera flashed.
For the second photo, we simply stuck our tongues out, and for the third I leaned in front of him and his face peaked over the top of mine.
Gerard then told me what he wanted to do for the last picture, and I nodded in agreement. But in all honesty, I wasn't listening. I had a trick up my sleeve. We got in position, and the screen counted down.
5… 4… 3…
With two seconds to spare, I grabbed Gerard and pulled him in for a kiss. The oldest trick in the book.
"This is why I love you, Frank." he said as his face blushed red.
I had to laugh when the picture came out, he just looked so surprised. We put the photo strips in our wallets and carried on the rest of the day, smiles almost never leaving our faces.