Page 49 of Save You
But even so, the touch feels like an electric shock.
I take a step to the side as subtly as possible and hurry toward the door.I push it open and step into the small warehouse.
I look around.It looked way more inviting online.The pale yellow light offers the bare minimum of illumination, and the low ceilings are covered with spiderwebs.There are various electronic gadgets lying around, but most of the space is taken up by photo booths—at least twenty of them.There are small speakers playing garage music quietly, and a balding guy who’s sitting at a desk behind the narrow counter is nodding his head to the beat.
“Wow, nice shop you picked out,” James whispers, but before I can reply, the man sees us and gets up with a smile.
“You must be Ruby,” he says, coming over.
“That’s me,” I reply with a nod, taking his outstretched hand.“And this is James.”
They shake hands too.
“I’m Hank, and I’ll show you quickly how the photo booth works first.D’you want to come round?”He beckons us around the counter and then points at one of the booths.
“This is the one you went for, right?”he asks as we stand next to it.
I study the thing.It has black walls and a red curtain over the door.To one side, there’s a thin slit with a light-up sign above it labeledPhotos.Next to the door, there’s a little blackboard telling you about the various filters you can put on your pictures.The chalk-style lettering is lovely, with looping handwriting.
“Can I personalize that with stuff about our event, Hank?”I ask, pointing to the board.
He nods.“Of course.I’ll give you a spare marker pen.”
I smile at him.“Perfect.Thank you.”
“So, here goes.There’s a built-in SLR camera in here, which you work via the touchscreen.It’s really easy to use—you just have to press on the camera symbol.Then you get three seconds to pose before the picture is taken.After that, you can use the filters or, if you don’t like it, you can delete it and take another.”
I move the red curtain aside slightly and study the screen.“It looks pretty foolproof.”
“Want to give it a try?”asks Hank, grinning like a little kid.
Before I can say no, James replies.“Yes, please.”
I raise an eyebrow, but he pays no attention and steps into the box.He holds the curtain back and looks expectantly at me.
“What are you waiting for?In you get!”says Hank beside me.
Just like that, I step into the little booth and eye James skeptically.Meanwhile, he’s concentrating on the screen.“We have to make sure everything works, don’t we?”he asks quietly.
I’m irritated that I didn’t think of that myself because I was too busy keeping an arm’s length from James.
“Ruby, you’re blocking the camera.”
Back to the wall, I squeeze along until I’m standing behind James, who’s sat down on the little stool in front of the camera.
“Look into there,” he says suddenly, pointing to the small black hole over the touchscreen.
I bend down so that I can see over his shoulder, into the camera.Now I appear on the screen too, but I can hardly focus on the blurry image of our faces.
A strand of James’s hair is tickling my cheek and my nose is filled with the familiar scent of him.I’m suddenly far too warm in my coat.Beside me, James has frozen, and I think he’s even stopped breathing.I slowly turn my head and look at him.I’m so close to him that if I wanted to, I could brush his skin with my lips.
At that moment, James clicks the button.
The quiet sound plucks me out of my trance with a jump.I suddenly remember what we’re actually doing here—and realize what I was about to do.
“All seems to work,” says James, as if he never even noticed the chemistry crackling between us for a few seconds just now.
Did I just imagine how hot that was?
