Page 22 of Save You (Maxton Hall #2)
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 labeled Photos .
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?
As fast as I can, I push my way out to where Hank is waiting for us, the strip of photos in his hand.
“A funny pose, but you seem to have figured out how to operate the camera,” he says, pressing the four little pictures into my hand.
No, I definitely was not imagining things.
In the photo, my face is turned toward James, while he’s looking straight into the camera. And his expression…
I give a dry gulp.
I know that look. And the curl of his lips there.
James must have felt it too. In this second, I’m absolutely sure of that.
“Nice,” I croak. I’m about to hand the photos back to Hank, but before I can, James takes them from me. Without even looking at them, he slips the strip into his coat pocket.
“Where do we sign?” he asks, in the same businesslike tone he used that time we went to Beaufort’s.
Hank leads us back to the counter, where I fill out three forms, and he gives me a little instruction book. After that, the three of us carry the box out to the boot of Mum’s car. I’m glad to be back out in the fresh air. It’s gloriously cool on my hot cheeks.
On the way back, I put the radio on again, a little louder this time. Why on earth did I think it would be a good idea to ask James to come along? I should have realized how hard it would be to be this close to him for such a long time.
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see James unbutton his coat and unwind his scarf.
“If you’re too hot, I can turn the heater down a bit,” I say with an effort.
“Ruby.” The way he whispers my name is so familiar.
I grip the steering wheel, trying my hardest to focus on the road. The air between us feels more highly charged than ever, but I’m desperately fighting that down.
The lights ahead of us turn red, and I slowly brake, rolling the car up to the stop line. Then I dare to glance in his direction. James looks at me and I can see countless emotions in his eyes, which make me long to reach for him, to hug him, to hold him tight.
“I just wanted to say that I’m—”
“Please don’t.” I cut him off pleadingly, shaking my head.
He clenches his teeth so hard that a muscle in his jaw starts to twitch. We look at each other for a moment, and there are so many unspoken words between us.
But I can’t talk to him now. It’s just not possible. Not when I get the feeling that I’m about to cave in.
The next moment, James turns his face away again and looks straight ahead. “It’s green.”
I put my foot down. The drive to school has never felt longer.