Chapter 8: Trying Again

(Tara's POV)

"Could you just lean.. No, a little more to the left… Turn some… Never mind… I just- No, wait! Don't move. That's perfect!"

I took a few steps back and bend down, zooming my camera in before snapping a picture. My hands shook some, so I took three more pictures just to be safe.

It's not that it's cold out; it's the exact opposite, rather, so I couldn't blame the shaking on that. In truth, I was nervous. I'd never had to take pictures with a live model before and I was stressed out. How did I know what I was doing? For all I knew these photos would be the worst portraits she'd ever see. The angle is probably off and the lighting's probably too bright.

'Stop beating yourself up,' I scold myself, 'That's only going to make editing these photos a million times harder.'

"How was that?" PJ called from his spot about ten feet away. "Reasonable," I answer back, standing up and walking over to him, "I'm finally finished."

My shaking must have been more prominent than I'd originally thought, because PJ eyed me skeptically as I approached him and asked, "Are you ok? Your hands are shaking so much I actually think you might drop your camera."

I nod in response, taking a deep breath and counting back from ten. My nerves seem to subside a little and I give him a small smile. "I'm just a little nervous is all," I explain, "I've never used a live model before and I'm afraid I'm not taking quality photos."

"You've never photographed another person," he beamed, eyebrow rising in surprise, "Well, now I feel really special. I hope I set the bar high for your next model."

I chuckled as we headed back towards his car, "Yes, well, I hope I never have to take pictures with another model. I'm strictly an inanimate object photographer."

"Inanimate object photographer? Quite the technical term, there," he teased, opening the car door for me, "But, in all seriousness, how did you manage almost three years at Uni trying to earn a bachelors in photography without having to take pictures of actual people?

I shrug, "Most my professors would give out projects based on camera angle and lighting and what lens was used, rather than the actual content of the picture. As long as you could see the seven different shades of a single color or somehow managed to take a picture upside down in your house, they didn't care if you were photographing a clown or a pair of three year old shoes. It's never really bothered me, though, it allows me to choose my own content; allows me to capture things I would actually prefer getting a picture of."

"Interesting," he commented, starting the car.

"You say that a lot, don't you," I pointed out, looking over at him with curious eyes.

He looked slightly taken aback, "Say what?"

"Interesting. You say interesting a lot."

"Well a lot of the things you say are interesting."

"How so?"

"It's the way you talk about the simplest things. You could make old socks interesting with the snap of a picture and a brief description on how dearly your feet need them."

"Socks," I repeat, straightening up some, my eyebrows scrunching together in confusion.

"Ok, that wasn't the best analogy," he admitted, shrugging, "But it's the way you speak. As if life is just this ever expanding world of little miracles to you. The way you see the world, though your camera lens, that's how I want to tell life through my stories."

My eyes widened, I'm grasping at straws in my brain, trying to think of what to say next. "I think that's just how you want me to see life," I responded lamely, "Because I'm not sure that's how I see it."

"Well then, how do you see it," He asked calmly, tilting his head to the side.

"It's… Life's a reasonable thing," I mumbled, averting his eye contact.

"Why reasonable," the excited edge in his voice was gone, but the optimism remained.

"Because," I sigh, "Reasonable is safe."

There's silence for a brief second and I look up to see him staring out the window at the park, a large smile still stuck on his face. "One day," he finally broke the silence, turning towards me, "I'm going to show you. One day you're going to see the world exactly the way you explain it to me." And with that we were off to get some lunch.

A cup of tea in my hands, I stared out the window of the little café we were having lunch at, watching the people outside walk in and out of stores. PJ's words were running through my mind like a man in a marathon. 'One day you're going to see the world exactly the way you explain it to me,' He'd said. It made me feel different. Not in a weird, uncomfortable way like I thought it would. The way PJ had said it, with so much brilliance and mystery in his eyes; he'd talked the way I'd once heard my mother talk about wanting to become a marine biologist when I was a little kid.

With a love that seemed to never end; my mom's passion was what encouraged me to follow my dreams of being a photojournalist. It was the only thing in my life that seemed to give me the jolt of happiness that marine biology seemed to give my mother. And that was the exact jolt of happiness that PJ's words held when he had spoken to me.

PJ's passion was storytelling and I knew I had given him inspiration.

PJ walked up a few minutes later with our food, handing me my sandwich and taking a seat across from me, "So, what's on the agenda for the rest of the day?" I shrug, setting my tea down before grabbing my sandwich and taking a small bite. "Brilliant," he continued, "Because I figured that since it was such a nice day we would forget any projects or reading or school work in general that we have to do and go for a stroll through the city."

I continued to chew, thinking some on his preposition before nodding in agreement. He nodded back, giving me a crooked smile, and began to eat his lunch.

We'd been walking around Canterbury for a few hours. It wasn't the biggest city in the world, but we'd managed to grab a few things while we people watched. I'd managed to buy a new memory card and a couple of lenses before PJ snatched away my camera and dragged me into the nearest bargain shop. He told me I'd get it back once he'd taken me home.

The sun was beginning to sink down behind the buildings when we finally began to make our way back to the car. The temperature dropped slightly, giving me goose bumps, but I didn't mind, I just picked up my pace some and I began to hum quietly under my breath.

"So," PJ began, his voice slightly hesitant, "I only have a couple of months until I graduate."

"You do," I agreed, turning his words around in my head.

'He's graduating,' I repeated, 'Why am I freaking out, this isn't even a big deal, so what if he's graduating? This isn't like when we were kids, when your friend graduated you never saw them again because they'd made better and more mature friends. We are the better and more mature friends. So why do I feel like melting into the side walk? Wasn't I just having second thoughts about this friendship days ago, anyways? Maybe that's why. Because I'm actually trying to make this friendship work and now I think he is just going to drop me because I'm a year behind him."

"Tara?" PJ's voice broke through my thoughts and I looked over at him. "Oh," I blinked a few times, "Did you say something?"

He laughed loudly, making my cheeks blush, "Yes. I said that some friends of mine are going with me on a trip for two weeks to Ireland and I was wondering if you'd like to come."

"Ireland," I asked, scrunching my eyebrows together, "Why Ireland?"

"Because it isn't Scotland," He stated, laughing obnoxiously. I shrugged, it must have been some inside joke that I didn't understand.

"Who's all going," I continued after he had composed himself. "Well, people you know would be Jamie, Louis, and Sophie," He started, and I nodded, knowing fairly well who those three people were, "And then I have my friends from the Fantastic Foursome coming along too."

"Fantastic… Foursome," I repeated slowly, my eyes widening some.

"Oh, I forgot you don't watch my videos," he chuckled, running a hand through his hair, "Never thought that would be an inconvenience. Yeah, me and my three friends Dan, Phil, and Chris are all Youtubers and we call our friend group the Fantastic Foursome."

I nod, something poking at the back of my mind. "Dan…" I repeated, biting my lip, "Dan… is not on fire? He's the one who's obsessed with the internet, right?" PJ laughed and nodded his head, "That'd be the one. Figures he'd be the one you'd know, he's got the most subscribers."

I shake my head, "I don't watch people on Youtube at all. Belle almost got us into a car accident last week when her phone updated her that he'd uploaded a new video is all. I don't let her drive us around anymore."

"God, she's dedicated," he muttered, shivering some, "Anyways, what do you think? About the trip that is."

"Well, if I can find the money, I'll definitely come," I agree, smiling brightly.

"You can room with me if that will cut the costs down," he tried, "I need someone to room with anyways. Chris can get a little… clingy."

"Sounds good to me," I decide, smiling some and adding to myself, 'Maybe he won't drop me after all.'

I know, I know, I've been gone for a couple days. But I promise it is with good reason! I've got my play this week and community service to do and scholarships to fill out and projects that are due! I promise I didn't forget you guys!

Anyways, woooo chapter 8. Who's been slowly dying as they waited for this one? Yeah. It's a lot longer than the last few chapters. I managed to find some extra time on my hands and put it completely into this chapter.

I would like to thank my best friend settingdanonfire for helping me with the plot, yet again.

And I'd also like to let all of you in on a little secret. Unlike a lot of people who create O/C characters, my character is not heavily based off myself. It is more influenced by my best friend, aside from the height thing, which is more of a me thing. I just thought that would be an interesting little fact you guys would be surprised to know!

Please tell me what you thought of this chapter in the reviews and I will try to get as many chapters up this week as possible!

-Boots