A/N: LaPaige created a forum called 'One Hundred and One'. It's 101 prompts for an author looking for a challenge or simply lacking inspiration. You can check out the list and hopefully something will catch your eye. I chose 71. Camerato get me started. I won't be doing more until I update my chapter fics though because those are due and on the brink of being ready. If you're interested you can find the forum link on my profile. You should check it out.
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.
Nate brought a camera with him everywhere he went. He took pictures of everything from coast to coast. Houses. Stores. Deserted buildings. Plants. Billboards. Fences. Cars. People. Anything. You name it; he's probably got a picture of it.
Shane would laugh at him and tell him he'd spend all his savings printing off pictures at the rate he was going. And if that didn't turn him broke all the batteries he had to replace in that digital camera of his should do the trick.
Jason would tell him he had to stop, that he just had too many pictures and they were bound to start getting repetitive. He would say he loved a good picture, but you had to know when to stop.
Mitchie would give him a little smile and shake her head at him. She would say she didn't understand his obsession with taking pictures that came about so suddenly, but there were worse things he could be obsessed with.
Caitlyn would wrinkle her brows and pout in confusion. She wouldn't say anything to him or anyone else about it. She didn't want anything to do with all his pictures. When he'd pull out his camera she'd turn the other way.
He thought her reactions were the weirdest. He could understand all the responses except hers. Shane just thought he was being an idiot. Jason just thought he'd get too much of a good thing. Mitchie just thought as long as he was happy it was okay. Caitlyn, well, he wasn't sure if she thought he was stupid, pathetic, obsessed or what. Heck, maybe she thought he was a creep, he did end up with pictures of a lot of people. He didn't know what she was thinking, but he was going to find out.
Caitlyn and him were out shopping one day when they passed a teen-aged girl sitting on a bench. She had her headphones on and her head leaned back with a small smile on her face. Nate immediately stopped walking and pulled his camera out of its side pocket in his messenger bag. He snapped a picture quick and scanned the area for anything else he'd possibly want to capture. That was when he noticed her with her arms crossed and her face turned away. He sighed and tucked his camera away.
"What?"
She turned back to him and blinked. "What do you mean what? I didn't say anything."
"I know you didn't, that's the problem."
"Let's just keep shopping," she said, moving to take a step the way they had been heading.
"No Caitlyn," he grabbed her arm lightly. "What's your problem?"
"I don't have a problem," she defended right away.
"You do," he nodded. "You don't like me taking pictures all the time."
"Well you're always doing it."
"I am, but you're the only one who acts like it's something terrible."
"That's not true. None of the others like it either."
"They just don't get why I do it, but they let me still."
"I let you too."
"You do," he nodded again. "You're just the only one who gives me the feeling that if you could get your hands on it you'd toss my camera into the ocean."
"More like I'd run it over with a car," he heard her mumble.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why are you so against me taking pictures?"
"Why are you so obsessed with taking pictures?"
He smiled despite the annoyance in her voice. No one had ever thought to ask him that. They'd always commented on how many he had, boxes full by now, but none of them had asked why he had them.
"I'm looking for something."
"For what?" she asked, her face clearly showing her confusion.
"Something beautiful."
"Okay," she said slowly, clearly not understanding.
"You remember when my picture taking all started?"
She nodded. "Just after you went home to visit your family. You came back, bought a brand new camera with a crap load of memory and went shutter happy."
He laughed at her choice of words. "I have a cousin who's a photographer and we got talking about pictures and stuff like that."
"So you want to be a photographer now?"
"No," he shook his head. "He was telling me about this picture he'd taken, said it was the single most beautiful thing he'd ever seen."
"So now you're trying to find something beautiful and you think pictures are the way to do it?"
"That sums it up yes."
She was quiet for a moment then she shook her head. "That's stupid Nate."
"It is not," he frowned.
"Have you found something beautiful yet?" she questioned. "Of the hundreds of pictures you've taken, have you found that one beautiful thing you've been looking for?"
"No," he said sadly. "None of them have been right. Some of them are really beautiful, but they're just… I don't know, they're missing something."
"So stop looking at everything through your view finder and really look at things."
"What do you mean?" he frowned.
She sighed. "If you're always looking to take pictures, always hiding behind your camera, you're going to miss the big picture."
"I'm not going to miss any picture, that's what the camera's for."
"Do you know what I saw when you just took that picture of that girl?" He shook his head. "Behind you there were three kids. They were absolutely cracking up. Their cheeks were red, their faces were glowing and their little hands were covering their mouths. That was beautiful."
He smiled softly. "That had to be quite a sight."
"It was," she smiled back. "Too bad you were looking through that camera again and missed it."
"But what if I see my beautiful thing and don't get a picture of it?" he asked quietly.
She shrugged. "Then you wait until you see it again. And if you don't, you remember it. Not everything's always going to be captured on film."
It was pouring rain as they finally finished up their shopping that day. They cursed their stupidity for not checking the weather reports that day as they steeled themselves to head outside. The car was down at the other end of the street. They'd choose to walk the length of the shops since it had been so sunny, bad choice. With a short countdown they swung the door open and ran outside, holding their various bags over their heads. Regardless, when they reached the car they were soaked.
"Hurry up and unlock it!" Caitlyn called from the passenger's side door.
"I knew I should have changed the stupid battery in this thing!" Nate called back, hitting the unlock button on his key-chain over and over.
"Just use the actual key!" Caitlyn laughed. "The key hole is there for a reason you know."
Nate looked up to tell her he would if she would just wait two seconds, but the words never left his mouth. Instead he dropped the bags in his one hand and his hand quickly dove into the trusty side pocket holding his camera. He pulled it up to his face.
"Nate," she groaned. "I thought we talked about this!"
"Just hold still," he said breathlessly. She rolled her eyes and shook her head at him. He hit the button to capture his image. As soon as he was sure the picture had been taken he clicked the review button and his eyes lit up at the image.
"What?" she asked hesitantly. He just shook his head slowly, a soft smile taking over his face. "What Nate? What did you take a picture of?"
"The single most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he whispered.
"So you're done snapping random pictures?" she asked hopefully. He nodded. "Well that's great." She paused briefly before speaking again. "Can you open the doors now?"
"Oh!" he jumped, suddenly realising it was still pouring rain on him. He quickly fumbled with his keys before finally managing to unlock the door. As soon as his was opened he unlocked Caitlyn's door and picked up the bags he'd dropped before climbing into his seat.
"Alright," Caitlyn asked once she was out of the rain, even though she was already dripping wet. "Can I see this beautiful thing you've been searching all over for?" He wordlessly handed her his camera and she gasped as she caught sight of the picture. "This is your single most beautiful thing?"
He could tell by the softness of her voice that she had expected anything but what she was looking at now. With dripping hair, slightly running eye makeup, an exasperated smile and arms over her head to block the rain Caitlyn stared up at the two of them from the camera. The sun was peeking through some clouds, reflecting off the hood of the car and lighting up her face.
"This is it," he said, looking up in to her eyes.
"Nate," she breathed, "I-I don't know what… that's so sweet of you to say."
"It's the truth though," he said seriously. "You've always been beautiful Caitlyn, but now, laughing and glowing in the rain, you're just… you're breathtaking."
She didn't say anything back to him, but he knew he'd said the right thing. She simply grinned and placed her hand on top of his before looking back down at the camera she had hated an hour prior. Content, Nate gave her hand a quick squeeze before letting go to start the car. Once he had it in gear he reached back for her hand, linking their fingers and resting them between the pair.
"Now that's beautiful," she said lightly, lifting his camera with a free hand to snap a picture of the carefree way their hands rested so nicely together.
A/N:I was nice to Naitlyn for once! That doesn't happen often. :P Thanks for reading!