Perfect Snapshots: Episode Twelve: One Perfect Day

Back

Next

---

---

Episode Twelve: One Perfect Day

---

When I went to get my phone, I had several more messages. Most were in the group chat between Seth, Tyler, and myself. They asked about my power, and both of them offered that if I was without I was more than welcome to join them since they still did. They were kind. But, I would rather be alone with Bella in the dark anyway.  

I had a couple more messages from my sisters. Carmen asked about the storm and Irina sent a video of my niece Ava kind of smiling. 

I decided to answer my sister later. I also decided to reply to Jasper’s message from before while I was checking the weather. 

“It may be terrible for my ego. Idgaf. As long as my girlfriend likes me :) :) :) ”

“Oh, so she’s your girlfriend now?” He replied back. 

“Yup.”

“Usually they’re your girlfriend first before you shag,” Jasper teased. 

"I would have asked first, but she was too busy jumping me." 

“I love how proud you are of yourself like you did anything. You just got lucky.”

I laughed at my phone. Bella was in the bathroom, getting freshened up. She looked over at me curiously.  

I couldn’t help but smile at my answer. "You are oh, so right." 

“What are you doing right now?”

"Trying to check the weather. We've got to get some supplies for this shit, so we're probably going to go out for a few minutes. Bella's getting washed up in the ladies. My shirt is legit a dress on her." 

“I bet she looks good in it.”

Bella came out of the bathroom and walked towards me. There was a slight smile on her face while she ran her fingers lightly over my bare shoulders. I put my phone down and pulled her closer to me so that I could push my face into her stomach. Gently, she began to play with my hair, and I felt as if I was going to purr. 

"So, the rain will drop off for a few hours, but there is supposed to be another round that's worse coming right after. If we want to go, we should now. I don't think we should be out too late."  

“Probably,” she agreed. I breathed her scent in deeply. The shirt now smelled of her and I mixed together, our sweat, sex, soap, and Bella’s perfume filling my nose. 

She brought her palm to my jaw and pulled my face up so she could lean down to kiss me. Unlike at the skydiving place, I could touch her like I wanted. I slid my hands up her back, holding our kiss for as long as she would allow. When she pulled away, Bella kissed my forehead. Now that I was permitted to touch and kiss her, I wasn't ever going to stop.  

I kissed her hand at every light on the way to the Target that we had gone to earlier in the week. Once inside, I bought our breakfast to snack on while we shopped. Bella seemed to know better what we needed. I simply grabbed more liquor and snacks like I was still in uni and not an adult. I felt even less like one when I honestly had no idea if I had laundry soap. It was another chore I was too lazy to do.  

As we walked towards another part of the store, Bella had a somewhat worried look on her face.  

“You look concerned. Everything okay?”

“Yeah, just trying to think what I can spend on clothes,” she replied. 

“Love, get whatever you want,” I told her instantly. 

“Um, no.” Bella shook her head slightly as she typed into her phone. “That's not how that works.”

“I'll buy-” Her hand shot up. 

“No. You won't,” she stated firmly. 

Suddenly Bella's eyes got massive, and her tiny hand flew up to her chest as her breathing nearly tripled.  

“What?” 

“This can't be right. I had like five hundred in here,” she said as she shook her head. 

Five hundred? That was it? That’s all she had when she came here? No wonder she didn’t want to buy herself that damn seven dollar dress. It made the money she gave those boys all the more touching.

"How much do you have now?" I knew it had to be more, and I knew why. I didn't expect it to be as much as it was, though.  

"Nearly three thousand!" Bella shouted in shock, tapping the screen over and over again as if it would make it faster somehow.  

I hadn't looked at how well the video was doing since I had posted it and put a few more of the ones that I had made with her in the queue. I had been too wrapped up in our little drama that I had made in my head. I was too absorbed in Bella. It must have been doing well, though.  

“Oh, the first video with you uploaded Saturday. One of the food tasting ones,” I tried to explain casually. “That's why.”

“That's too much,” she breathed out. The poor woman looked like a deer in headlights.
I laughed nervously, “I told you I gave you the standard rate I give all the people in my videos. I don't even look at the money part, honestly. Some program gets it and divides it up. It's only like four percent. And this is for only one video. There is going to be another one today in... a couple of hours? So, you might want to up it from a hundred to five hundred. Or, maybe a thousand. That seems annoying.” I pointed at the screen. I could only hope the rest of the videos did as well. 

And then Bella started to cry, her hand flying up to her mouth.

“Oh, Lord Jesus, first day and I've already made you bawl,” I joked as I hugged her to me, pressing her face to my chest as she did. Bella really had meant it when she told me fifty was a lot of money to her. 

“It's so much.”

“No, it's not.” No. It was just the tip of the iceberg. I was going to give her everything she could ever want in this life. 

“I'm poor. This changes my life. I can pay next month's bills right now and pay something off six months early. And, I can put money in savings and still buy me my first pair of new shoes in a year. A damn year! And I have like five hundred in my pocket that I can just spend and not worry. Do you know how hard it is to just constantly scrape by?” She gasped out shakily. 

Oh, no. No, I didn't. Not in the least. My father was a retired VP of an export company, and my mother was a successful criminal lawyer then judge. Both of my grandparents were well off too. There were several Sirs and Lords somewhere in my bloodline fairly recently as well.  

"No, I don't. I am very privileged, I know. I grew up comfortable, and I've never had to struggle," I admitted.  

I could feel her trembling under my touch as she finally looked at me. I could see her make the decision in her eyes. She instantly did what she said she was going to do, paying off bills and putting the money away in savings. Bella might have been an easy-going person, but she was nothing if not responsible.  

“You seriously give your friends this much?” She asked as we finally began to move again. I let her lead the way. 

I shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, it's no skin off my back. And it makes everyone happy. I've never actually discussed it really in numbers with anyone. Though I give my family more. Just so you know." 

“No,” she said in a nervous laugh. “Let's not jump that far yet.”

“Fair enough,” I agreed with my own chuckle. 

When we got to the women's clothing, she walked towards the sale's racks first. 

“All that and you still shop in the clearance section? Honestly, I'm buying it.” Jesus, she wept over a couple of thousands of bucks. Nothing in this store was that expensive. I would give her anything she asked for. 

“Just because it's clearance doesn't mean it's not cute. Besides, I'm tiny tiny. All the little stuff stays in clearance forever usually,” she told me as she pulled out a cute little shirt with rainbows on it. Rainbows were definitely one of her things. “And, you're not buying shit,” she said evenly without looking at me. 

“Fine…” I sighed. I would find other things to pay for later. Suddenly, my mouth decided to ask a question. “Can you shop in the girl's section?” I instantly thought I had made an ass of myself and probably offended her. Bella didn’t care in the least. 

"The shirts. Especially plus-sized girls. Not in pants, though. My ass is too big. I could probably wear plus-sized girl leggings." She looked at a tiny pair of shorts that I hoped she would get and model for me. "Juniors is my sweet spot."  

“What's your actual height? I've wanted to ask but not be rude. I'm six foot five, by the way.”

“I know,” she laughed, finally glancing over at me with a little smirk. “It's hard to miss. I'm five foot even. I used to wear heels always and lie. Say I was five foot four. Which is... just sad. Aiden used to say I made him feel tall. He was only five-six." As soon as she realized what she said her face flushed and I could see her embarrassment, but I didn't understand it. "I'm sorry. This is weird. But, he would have liked you, though."  

“I think he might have had a problem with how I feel about his wife.” I think he would very much dislike the fact that I was in love with her already. I could imagine myself easily spending the rest of my life with this woman. I thought about the text I sent Jasper when I first saw her and realized it was one hundred percent true. I was going to marry her. 

“Oh, you'd be surprised.” I didn’t believe her in the least. “He wasn't jealous. He was very generous.”

I wondered what that meant exactly. I decided it was time to lighten the conversation a little. 

"Take my wife, please." I did a Groucho Marx impression, making her smirk. She shrugged and looked away from me with a slight flush on her cheeks.  

"If he knew I wanted it as well, absolutely. And he would have told me to have a good time and tell him all about it later. We were friends, and he just wanted me to be happy. He would have wanted to be your friend, though. He'd like your taste in food and video games. Liked your house and your book collection. He would have watched your videos. He liked Youtube very early on." She stopped in her thoughts for a moment. "He'd be annoyed that I've waited so long to move on. He used to tell me all the time that I was wasting my youth on being an old woman. It'll be his birthday soon. He'd be forty-four." 

He was so much older than her. It was less than our age difference, though. It made me a little surprised that she was interested in me. I wondered if I seemed immature to her. I didn't see her as being stuffy or boring, though. She was hardly an elderly lady. She seemed like a free spirit to me.  

“Why did he say that? You don't seem like an old woman to me.”

"I grew up really quick, and it made me hard. Perfect for New York. I was really bitter when I met him. I'm still pretty hard now, I think, but... he made me a more gentle person. He made me softer. Aiden made me better." Bella wiped her hand over her cheek and gave a little sigh.  

“He sounds like someone I would have liked.”

She smiled at me a little before pressing a quick kiss to my cheek. “I'm so sorry. This must be so awkward. I don't know how to deal with this. I've never done it before. I'm going to scare you away with this.”

"It doesn't bother me. It's not awkward. You loved someone. That's good. I'm glad you were happy, even if it didn't last as long as you deserved. I'm grateful to him, and I wish I could take away your pain. I don't want to replace him, I couldn't imagine trying. But, I do hope that one day you feel even a small amount of what you did for him for me," I blurted out without thinking, just letting my mouth go. It must have been the right thing because Bella's eyes began to overflow with tears as she gazed up at me almost hopefully. "Dammit," I said with a nervous chuckle, my own tears stinging at my nose "You're going to make me emotional." 

“I'm not usually a crier.”

“I am,” I admitted. She laughed as she pushed her face into my shirt. Bella let me hold for a minute as she took calming breaths. No one was around us to notice our tender moment. It felt like we were in our own little bubble.

When she finally pulled away, she said, "I do already, by the way. Feel at least a percentage of what I felt. It's the first day, let us not rush things. But I do like you a lot." 

My heart swelled up. I could see the love in her eyes that she still had for him. Maybe lesser men would be jealous, but I didn't fault this person for his love for her. I wanted any bit of it she was willing to give me. I was ready to patiently wait for even the smallest amount of her affection. I had a feeling that Bella was as generous a companion as she was a friend and apparently lover, though.  
 
"Right. No rushing," I said just before I pressed my lips to hers. She pulled me closer as the building shook with the storm outside. Our little bubble was bursting for the moment, but hopefully, we would continue later when we were alone. "We should probably keep an eye on the time and weather, though."  

Bella rushed through the clothing after that. Within fifteen minutes, she had tried on several things and thrown them into the cart. Then she moved on to the lingerie section.  

As cool as I was trying to play it, I felt heat crawl up the back of my neck as I walked behind her. Her swaying ass was tempting enough dressed, but now that I knew what it looked like in the nude? God, it was too much. The image of her on her hands and knees on my bed as she sucked on me just hours before came to mind. 

I instantly got hard, and Bella didn't notice a damn thing. She just continued to shop, putting things in the cart that I was going to hopefully get the pleasure of peeling off of her.  

She glanced behind at me, and I could see the instant amusement when she realized my discomfort. 

“Want to make any suggestions?” She asked seductively, her voice teasing. “Comments? Anything?”

“Oh.. oh.. um,” I stuttered for a second. “I mean, you should wear what you want and like. It's not for me.”

"Of course, but if you see something you like, I don't mind. No one will see them, but you." 

My mind shut down for a second. This day was going a million times better than I could have ever imagined. It was almost surreal. With zero thought, I pointed to the pretty hot pink set beside us. Honestly, it didn't matter what she picked. I wanted to see every single one of them on her. "That one, please." 

She looked me over with evident amusement, her nose wrinkling a little bit in that way she did when she thought I was being cute. After finding the right size, she placed it in the cart with her other things. Then with a swish of her hips, she turned her back to me so she could keep shopping.  

 “Yay.” I clapped like a moron for her entertainment. “Best day ever." She didn't turn around, but I could see the sides of her cheeks lift, and her eyes crinkle with her smile.  

Thankfully we weren’t in the panties and bras too long. She hurried along to the shoes where she bought even more stuff on sale. Heels and sneakers. I had realized that I hadn’t seen her in anything but gym shoes and her ballet flats the night of the jump. I couldn’t wait to see whatever she decided to wear for me. Perhaps the pink lingerie and the black heels, like out of some teen boys’ fantasy. 

"I need to get some cosmetic stuff, and we should get some supplies from the pharmacy,” she whispered. 

“Right. Good idea. Those condoms are probably about to expire anyway. I got them right before I broke up with my ex last year. They're Australian condoms,” I overshared.

 “Do you put them on counter-clockwise?” She said as she looked into my eyes, her voice dry as could be. 

“Har har,” I laughed at her stupid joke. “You're a riot, you are. Right full of piss.” 

Jasper was going to love her. Vicky had been very serious, and he avoided her at all costs. They didn't get along very well at all. Like oil and water.  

As if in a way of warning her about how much sex I was hoping we were going to have, I threw a giant box of assorted condoms in with the rest of our overflowing cart. I could see her little smirk.

“Perhaps we should grab some of that as well,” she pointed at the lube above the condoms. That I didn’t have any of. 

"What should we get?" I asked. I never knew, and they were continually changing.  

“Hm, I guess it depends on what you want to do with it,” Bella said, her body pressing into my side. I slid my hand down her back and quickly grabbed her ass. She laughed, her hand reaching up and smoothing over my jaw as she continued to look. “I never know what to get.” 

Well, at least we had that in common. 

“We can always get more than one,” I offered. They were cheap.

She giggled cutely, “what? Are we going to rank these like those Pringles?”

Um, yes, please. 

I let out a nervous snort as I tried to hold in my laugh. She laughed a little harder, tilting her head back to look at me. “I don’t think we can film that,” I said to her in my own laugh. 

“I mean, obviously you can. You just shouldn’t show it to anyone. Oh, my god. Can you even imagine how that would go?” She joked. 

With her bent over my recording table in my office while I fucked her from behind. Sure, I could imagine it all day long. 

I picked one and tossed it in the cart. “Now, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t let me film anything like that.”

“Ha,” she looked up at me again. “You have no idea what I’ll let you do to me.” I threw two more in. She giggled again. “So, Eddie tries lube then?”

This time I let out my laugh. She tugged me along behind her. “Oh, do you think it would make a good video?” 

“Mm, I think it would be hilarious,” she replied. “I can see it perfectly in my mind.”

Hilarious wasn’t a word I would use for my thoughts on the matter. “Oh?”

“Well, this one is... slippery...” Bella did a rather funny impression of an Australian accent as she stopped to look at the makeup. I saw where she was going and decided to play along happily. 

“This one is... smells like a cherry lollie for some reason,” I hammed up my accent for her. 

“Oh, my god! This one burns! Why does it burn?!” She said hilariously with the accent again. 

I barked out a laugh just as an old lady came rolling by. She looked annoyed at both of us for some reason. Bella was unbothered, though. She picked out a pink tube of something and tossed it over her shoulder and perfectly into our cart of stuff. She purposefully flung it the way that I had done her bra in the morning. Quickly I turned away so as not to snort directly at the old woman.  

After she selected her assortment of makeup, we made it to the checkout and put everything in the car. There was a sushi place in the same shopping center that appeared to be open, so I suggested we order a real meal from there. She happily agreed.  

Once we ordered, we sat by the window with her warm little body pressed against mine while we sipped green tea and watched the rain as it pounded against the glass. When she spoke about how she liked to edit in this type of weather, this is what I imagined. My hand rested on the small of her back, her head on my shoulder. 

When she looked up at me with a small smile, I had the urge to kiss her. I held back for a moment but realized I didn't have to. She didn't want me to. Closing the distance between us, I pressed my lips to hers. She smiled against them, her fingers dragging over my jaw and up into my hair as she returned it lightly.  

I was grateful for my covered garage as the storm began to rage again when we arrived home. The wind slapped violently at the door as it closed behind us. Bella hurriedly helped me bring all of our bounty inside. She took all of her new things to the guest bedroom and came back with her camera in hand. She placed it down onto the coffee table in front of the couch before she helped me set the entire living room, kitchen, and dining room up with unlit candles.  

 "You should put one in your room and one in the bathroom now," she commented after putting batteries into all the torches for us. I probably went overboard with our supply, but at least we wouldn't be hurting for a romantic atmosphere.  

I took them back to my room like she had told me to, checking my phone as I did. There were so many messages I was ignoring. Seth and Tyler were still talking through the group chat. I also had a text from Tanya asking about the weather. I sent her the reply that I was just fine, but the power was going in and out.  

Looking at the weather again on my phone, I realized that it was going to continue on for at least another day. We were supposed to go out the following day to shoot, but there was no way that was going to happen. It was fine, I could reschedule. It made me excited to think about having a day all alone with Bella. I quickly sent the guys a message, letting them know what I had decided. Seth agreed to call all of the places to let them know, and I would set up the new time for later in the weekend, probably.   

Since I had my phone out, I decided to finally reply to Jasper's text from earlier. "You bet your ass she does, but she's going to look even better in the knickers she let me pick out for her." 

“Pics or didn’t happen lol.” 

“Haha, go fuck yourself,” I laughed to myself as I typed it. 

“I’m trying to. That’s why I asked for pictures.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“So, I canceled shooting for tomorrow and arranged it for later this weekend. All I have to do tomorrow is a little editing now,” I told Bella as I came back into the living room. 

My phone beeped in my hand. Jasper replied with, "no shit.'' 

I shook my head and put my phone away. "The power is out over at Seth's. Tyler's just came back on." 

Something hit the window, leaves, and limbs clattering against the roof as the wind and the rain increased. The lights flickered off again, making Bella jump in surprise as she leaned against the bar. 

The lights went out again as the wind slapped rain against the window.

“If there is electricity you'll do a little editing,” she answered before she began to actually light our candles. I hurried to help her. 

And it looked just as romantic as I imagined it would. 

“What shall we do?”

Please say roll around with a nerdy Australian in the nude, my mind joked at me. It was a bit funnier this time. 

Bella bit her lip for a moment before she looked up at me from underneath her eyelashes. “Have a glass of wine and a joint then eat our sushi by candlelight while listening to music on my phone and watching the rain?” 

Oh, hell yeah. 

"Oh, sounds perfect," I spouted before quickly turning on my heels and going to get the joints she had suggested. When I came back, Bella had music playing on her phone already. Placing them down on the side table, I went to get us a bottle of wine to share. While I did, Bella began to take pictures of everything. I knew these pictures were for no one else but her. This was for her personal collection. I smiled to myself as I watched, pouring us each a glass.  

“You look like the cover of a Harlequin novel,” she joked playfully. I certainly did not. She showed me the picture with a little smirk on her lips. 

“My shirt would be off for that.”

"Later," Bella said funnily just before she ran her fingers over my ticklish stomach. Despite myself, I laughed and jerked uncontrollably backwards. I almost spilled our drinks everywhere. She giggled as she wrinkled her nose a little, taking the glass I had for her.   

I had always enjoyed cuddling. As a child, I was always laying in the middle of my sisters like a kitten who always had to be the warmest in the pile. They allowed me to crawl all over them until I was far too big. Some of my fondest memories were me, age seven or eight, laying pressed between my oldest sisters on the couch while we watched movies for hours. Sometimes whole weekends. This was better, though. I enjoyed my job as a pillow, and I had never felt so comfortable before.  

I realized as I sat with her pressed against my side that I hadn’t thought about my mask once all day. The notion almost brought tears to my eyes. I don’t think she realized what she was giving me. Even if it was just for a single perfect day. 

She scrolled through pictures on her camera, looking at everything she had captured in the past few days. Bella had taken so many. Every one of them seemed so good. She was such a talented artist. I wanted to see the world the way she did. She saw art in things I looked past every single day. I wanted her to teach me how, and I wanted to crawl into her mind and see how it worked for myself.     

“You're so talented,” I said honestly. She smiled a little before kissing my cheek. 

“Thank you.”

We took turns smoking, both of us silent. It wasn't uncomfortable, though. I wasn't sure we needed to say anything in those moments. It felt as if I had everything I needed for the first time in a long time.  

Bella put her camera down on the side table before checking her cell. “What would we have done if I had to fly out today? I'd be back home by now,” she asked. 

That was a good question. I had no idea what I was going to do. Either cry into a bottle or do something overdramatic.

"I was going to beg you to stay or fly to New York to follow you if you left before I could. Call and beg on your way to the airport to come back. I don't know. Something like that," I teased though it was probably more accurate than I would have liked.  

“No,” she laughed.

“Mm, yes. Maybe I'd just show up at your door with flowers and beg you to give me a chance. I expected more begging altogether, frankly. I thought after Saturday it would be harder, to be honest,” I told her a bit too truthfully at the end. I didn’t need to be drinking and smoking too much in front of her. I already knew I wasn’t the best at handling it. 

She seemed confused. “What about Saturday? Why?”

“I thought you weren't interested in me, to be honest.”

She shook her head quickly. “I thought you were flirting with me like you had with that girl at the party.”

Damn, I knew that’s what upset her. I mentally kicked myself for doing it again, but at least it worked out for the best. 

“I shouldn't have done that. It's... It's an act I have to put on when I'm in public. I admit I probably let it go too far that night. But, I don't feel the need to act for you.”

“So, did tonight work out better than you hoped?” She smiled at me warmly as she brought her hand to my face, her fingers dancing against my cheek before she pressed her palm to my skin. I leaned into her touch. 

"I didn't even want to think about tonight, honestly. If you weren't interested- I just... I just knew I had to tell you how I felt and deal with it, but there was no way I couldn't," I confessed. I had been a fool for keeping it in as long as I did.  

Bella seemed surprised, clicking her tongue as she flushed slightly. “Couldn't you tell how much I am into you? I feel so obvious. I even kissed you!” She giggled, looking down at her lap in almost embarrassment. 

"But I asked for it! I wasn't sure. I thought... maybe... but I wasn't sure if I was just projecting my feelings onto you. But I knew the second I watched you get out the car and I saw your face for the first time, though…" That you were my soulmate and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. Jasper was right. I was a dramatic bitch, and I was going to scare her off if I didn't chill out. I shook my head, clearing my thoughts away. "You are the most amazing woman." 

She pulled the smoke from my hand before leaning in to kiss my lips. I could imagine I looked a little dazed when she pulled away. Bella smirked a little to herself, taking a long hit as she settled back against me. Wrapping both of my arms around her, I let my hands rest on her soft stomach.

“That's so sweet. I wish I could say something equally so about the first time I saw you,” she said almost wistfully. 

"That's okay," I answered with a happy little laugh. I was just pleased she was there. She gave me back the joint, so I took a drag.  

“The first time I saw your face and knew exactly who you were, to be perfectly honest, my roommate and I had watched eight solid hours of your videos and well... I definitely masturbated thinking about you. Does that count?” She deadpanned perfectly. 

It was so unexpected that I sucked in too hard and began to cough, shooting curls of smoke out of my nose and mouth. She laughed to herself. Oh yes, her and Jasper would get along famously. 

“Dammit! And you say it so dryly, too! Christ. You did that on purpose.”

She didn’t look the least bit repentant. “Yeah, but it's still true.”

"Well, I did too, but I wasn't going to tell you that," I laughed as I gulped down my wine.  

“Well, I already assumed you did. I would assume that even if you weren't interested in me romantically actually. You were definitely staring at my breasts at the tattoo shop.” 

She was a brilliant and observant woman.  

"That was so hot," I admitted. "I felt like a whiny cunt, and then you lay there like a goddamn gangster. When you took your shirt off. Bless. Seth almost dropped his camera. It's my favorite part. I had so much fun. Thank God Tyler caught his reaction.”

Bella giggled and blushed again. “Well, that was hot for both of us. You weren't too bad. It does hurt.” She kissed my tattoo through the fabric of my shirt. It felt as if my heart was going to thunder out of my chest. “It was your first. You get used to it.”

She opened herself up to questions by making a joke, so I decided to go for it. "Did you really... um, play with yourself? I mean, thinking about me? After watching my videos?" 

“You're so cute,” she teased as she touched my cheek. “I did... And I did after the tattoo shop in bed that night. And... in the morning in the shower afterward. And a few times in between. I literally took pictures of your ass just for me.”

Fuck… I remembered how easily she came on my fingers in the morning. I wanted to watch her do that to herself again. It was hard to believe how open she was. Bella certainly wasn’t shy in the least. I quickly drank the rest of my wine as I flushed at her words and my thoughts. 

“You're so forward.”

“Is that bad?” She questioned. 

“No. You're normally blunt so I shouldn't be surprised. I've never met a woman like you. Your body is too small for your personality, you know that?”

"Sounds like something you'd say about a Yorkie," she pouted a little bit, and I couldn't help but giggle. I was unbelievably relaxed and buzzed.  

The lights went on and off a couple of times before deciding to stay on for just a few minutes. We opted to eat since they were on. They only remained on long enough though for us to warm up our meal. 

Once again, Bella began to take pictures. It pleased me so much that she was. She wanted to remember this night, just like I did. I decided to take some photos of my own. Then another idea popped into my head. I hadn't made a diary entry since Bella's first day. Most of them lately were filled with my anxiety, loneliness, and depression. For once, I wanted a happy one. Without overthinking it, I began to record.   

"So, it is... well, it's raining cats and dogs outside, and we, the gorgeous Isabella and I are without any lights," I began in a cheesy voice. "But, fear not. We are prepared. We have candles coming out of our arses. We have torches. And we have a metric fuckton of Japanese food we bought on our way home from picking up storm supplies. Look at all that." I showed the camera the goods before focusing it on Bella. She looked incredible in the soft yellow light. "So, darling, do you want to tell us what we have today?" 

"Well, first, we have sushi. We have salmon and white tuna nigiri, and we have salmon and tuna maki. And a shrimp tempura roll, which I'm super excited about. We also have chicken, shrimp, and steak mixed plate of teriyaki with extra vegetables because they're my favorite. Steamed and fried rice. Miso soup. Seaweed salads. And steamed dumplings because we're apparently pigs?" She pointed to everything prettily, a big smile on her plush lips 

“We could have gotten more,” I told her with a smirk, zooming on her sweet face. 

“Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Besides, didn't you buy a bunch of desserts?” She playfully chided. 

“Yeah,” I answered with a silly grin before I poured us each more wine. “A toast to stormy weather,” I said before I picked up my glass. Bella did the same. “Prost.”

“Salud.” Bella returned my smile before she took a sip. I ended the video just as she pulled the glass away from her lips, her eyes flicking up into mine. 

She was perfection. 

“You're a natural,” I told her again. She practically glowed when she was in front of the camera. I could easily see her being a star. 

“Well, I did take, like, two years of drama in high school or whatever,” Bella replied as she tossed her hair over her shoulder playfully just to make me laugh. I have to admit that I liked how much she was showing out for me too.

"And it shows! It's probably just going to be for me, though. My diary. I want to remember every detail of this night." 

---

Back

Next

---

This Episode goes with Episode Thirteen of Imperfect Pictures! 

Click to read episode thirteen of Imperfect Pictures!

---

Click to download the epub of this Episode!!

Click to download the pdf of this Episode!!