Inhaling sharply, Pandora handed Ms. Wendell some of the pictures she had recently printed off in the school's computer room. The first picture was of Pandora's workplace, mainly her receptionist's desk. The second was a photo of Ian's car, Morty, with Ian giving the camera a thumbs up from the hood of the car. As Ms. Wendell flipped through the pictures she had a straight look on her face, Pandora recognized the look as boredom.
"I'm not going to flat-out say that these pictures are bad but," Ms. Wendell looked at Pandora and saw the eager look on her face, waiting for the verdict. "These pictures need work."
Pandora nodded, completely understanding where her teacher was coming from. "I'm an extremely boring person," Pandora enlightened her teacher before swallowing the spit that was building up in her throat.
"It's not that, Pandora. I honestly don't feel like you're trying hard enough." Ms. Wendell pulled out a blank piece of lined paper and wrote down a few words. Pandora glanced over the top of the sheet before looking away, not wanting to feel like she was intruding. "Use this as a guide to help you take pictures that mean something."
Glancing down at the list, Pandora exhaled the breath that she had been holding in. Ms. Wendell had written down some things that Pandora wasn't so sure of.
1. A picture of your favorite place to be.
2. A picture of something you find beautiful.
3. A picture of someone who means a lot to you.
4. A picture of somewhere local.
5. A miscellaneous picture.
"Thanks, Ms. Wendell." Pandora gave her teacher a fake smile before leaving with her bad pictures and guide. How was the guide supposed to help any?
::
The flash of the camera frightened the birds out of the trees, causing Pandora to groan loudly. Every time she would find a new animal to take a picture of the flash would scare them off. Pandora laid the camera against her chest, allowing the strap around her neck to pull down, and searched the area for something to take a picture of.
Pandora wasn't going to let this trip be a bust. She had taken fifteen minutes out of her way to drive to La Push to take pictures of the forest. A twig snapped behind Pandora and she froze, her body tensing up in fear. A bunch of thoughts came to mind – imagining that it was a bear that was going to attack her, an attacker that was going to rape her and steal her $10 that was for gas, or an escaped convict.
"What are you doing out here?" Embry's voice echoed through the trees. Pandora's shoulders relaxed and she turned to see Embry looking at her skeptically.
Embry was going for a run when he heard distinct sound of a flash from a camera. After following the sound, he luckily came across Pandora. Once Embry noticed her look of anger and frustration, he felt like he had to talk to her.
Pandora easily noticed that Embry was shirtless and covered in either water or sweat – unsure of which, all she knew was that his hair was moist and he was glistening. Nearly swallowing her tongue, Pandora avoided looking at Embry and stared at the scenery.
"Art project," Pandora answered while Embry walked up behind her. "But these birds won't stay still."
Embry laughed and put his hands on top of Pandora's, pressing a button on the camera that Pandora didn't recognize. "Try it now," Embry pointed up to a flock of birds sitting atop a tree branch.
Pandora lifted the camera and snapped the shot, the flash having seemed to disappear completely. Pandora stared down at the picture and smiled, "How did you do that?"
"I turned the flash off." Embry responded before shrugging and taking the camera from around her neck.
"No! Don't break it!" Pandora instantly became worried, fearing the worst would happen to the camera.
Embry gave Pandora one of his signature grins and lifted the camera to eyelevel, zooming in on Pandora's face. "Smile." Embry made a 'tsk' noise as Pandora forced a fake smile on her face. "Smile and actually mean it." Embry looked above the camera and down at Pandora, who gave him a sincere smile – her eyes locked on his. Pandora started to see spots as the flash on the camera went off.
Pandora let out a laugh as she covered her eyes with her hands, rubbing the spots away. "Why did you do that?"
"I felt like your class needed to see the same person that I do." Embry turned the camera to show Pandora the picture he had taken. There was a goofy smile on Pandora's face as her eyes went above the camera, showing that she was staring at the person behind it. "Beautiful," Embry's blunt statement caused Pandora's face to redden.
"My turn," Pandora took the camera from Embry's fingers, feeling a spark as they touched, and turned the camera onto him. "Give me your best award-winning smile!" Embry smiled with his lips closed, causing Pandora to scoff. "Teeth!" Embry let out a laugh and looked away from the camera and down at the ground. Before Embry could look back at the camera, Pandora had already snapped the shot.
"Delete that!" Embry demanded with a joking grin on his face.
"Not happening," Pandora laughed loudly and took off with Embry chasing her through the trees. "I need this picture for my class!" Pandora squealed as Embry started to catch up with her.
Pandora's flats met the sand of First Beach, her shoes flooding with sand and weighing her down. Embry ran up behind Pandora and lifted her in the air out of her shoes. The camera dropped safely into the sand and Embry collapsed in the sand with Pandora sprawled out beside him. The sun was nearing sunset, though it was still midway up in the sky, and Pandora gasped at the sight. Reaching across Embry, Pandora took the camera and snapped a shot of the water.
"Absolutely gorgeous," Pandora spoke to herself out loud as she stared at the picture she took.
"Yeah…" Embry stared at Pandora who was too intent on looking at the picture. "Gorgeous," Pandora's body tensed when Embry pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
Pandora looked over to Embry, who was admiring her, and gulped. Elaine told her to take a chance, what was the worst that could happen? Pandora sat the camera in her lap and turned to Embry.
"I want you to kiss me," Pandora blurted out.
"What?" Embry asked, furrowing his eyebrows together.
"I want you to kiss me." Pandora repeated, putting emphasis on the words 'kiss me.'
Without any hesitation, Embry caught Pandora's lips with his own. Pandora's hand made its way into Embry's hair while he pulled her closer. Fireworks slowly started going off in her head, feeling completely blissful. Pandora's hands started to shake as she tasted a mix of cinnamon and firewood – two of her favorite things.
All too soon, Pandora pulled away from Embry and glanced up at him. "Why do you have this effect on me?" Pandora whispered, "You're driving me wild, Embry Call."
"The feeling is mutual, Pandora Maynard." Embry's lips slowly pressed against Pandora's jaw. "I'm willing to deal with it if you are."
Pandora smacked her lips together and looked at Embry through half closed eyelids, "What the hell?" Pandora pushed forward and slammed her lips against his once more.
Thank you, Elaine.