A Two Person Job

[Quinn Wiley]

Quinn didn’t want to entirely modify a picture through a computer program but he thought it could be useful to learn small things. Of course, taking pictures was the most important here and he didn't want to sacrifice the quality of the shot he took with some fancy effects made through a program. But they could show them how to edit a film at the very least, no? That seemed to be basics too. Well, maybe not basics. But for a club, it seemed important enough, at least to him, for them to show that. He heard the disapproval in her tone so he thought he might as well explain himself. “At least to show us more how to edit the photos, don’t need to change everything about it,” he pointed out.

She argued that she was less shy and it was almost amusing to see her claim he was the one responsible. “Why? If I say something that upsets you, you say ‘screw you’ and move on. You wouldn’t be the first to tell me that,” he told her. In fact, it might just be the first time he would be told in a shy and polite way. Because he somehow could not imagine Zoe losing her temper on him and tell him to go to hell. There was also something weird about making Zoe flustered. Oh, he was not dumb, she was not flustered in that way. But there was still something weird about it. He never thought he could have that effect, really. “Why are you so...flustered, because of me?” he asked her. He couldn’t help to ask her. He had been considered a creep before but that, he didn’t think it happened often if not ever.

He grabbed the film she gave him and place it in the camera. But she was already going on about testing the digital ones since it would be easier to know if they work or not. “If you want,” he said, already taking the batteries off this one to pick a digital camera. Of course, it had no SD card. “They’ll have to buy some,” he warned her as he put his. It seemed to work ok, once he got over the whole recalibrating the thing and updating the time and date. She was still going through the cameras, maybe sorting them out, he was not sure. Not that he cared. He just snapped a picture of her. “Looks like the flash works,” he said as he went looking for the result.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe sighed, but she had to reluctantly nod in agreement. They did have to learn something. "Maybe we can have a meeting or two about it, see if we can get someone to teach us," she suggested, adding a slight smile. it sounded like a good plan to her. It also felt like something that someone who was attempting to take more control of the situation would say, and that was still very much what Zoe wanted to do.

The question that followed proved a good deal harder. Zoe sighed, looking away for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts. She shrugged slightly before looking back. "Well, it's, well, I think I've said it before: I sometimes feel like I should be better around you? Maybe I just want to be more like you?" she smiled and shrugged again, before figuring that maybe a bit of humor would help: "You're a bit too male for me to have a crush on you, so you don't have to worry about that."

Zoe then watched him take the film and get it ready, watching. Oh, right, there were other cameras to try. She started fumbling with her own, "Oh, right, cards. I think there's actually some around here?" she then abandoned her current task to go rummaging, watching out of the corner of her eye as the flash worked. "Well, that's one. Just, well," she nodded toward the gathered pile, "that many to go."

[Quinn Wiley]

It was pretty obvious that this was not something that interested Zoe much. It was true that it was not necessarily the job of the photographer, to edit pictures, but Quinn believed it kind of was. He didn’t want to add all sorts of flashy effects. But you only had to look at about any picture in any magazine to see that some editing skills might be useful. Before you ended up doing some silly mistake like erasing a belly button or removing a person but not the arm they had around someone else. “Don’t feel forced. If you don’t want that, you can just say it, let the others ask themselves.” It was clear she was not interested in that, she had no reason to help those who might want to. Quinn didn’t even know if the others would be interested in learning that. They might be happy just snapping pictures of anything they saw. He could still look for it on his own. It was not like that was something he didn’t do often.

“More like me? Why would you want to be more like me?” Quinn seriously couldn’t see what part of him someone would like to copy. The fact he never seemed to give a shit? He could tell her it was hardly the case, that every word spoken against him might appear to be nothing to him but he would simply repeat them over and over once he’d be alone. He could have smiled at her joke. It was kind of obvious to both of them she was joking. It took him a moment however before one could start appearing at the corner of his lips. “Yeah, figured as much.” Why he seemed to attract only the lesbians of Bellefonte, he had no idea. One thing though, he was not seeing Erin and Zoe together. They were both too shy for it to work. Then again, Quinn was far from a woman connoisseur.

For a moment, Quinn did wonder if Zoe would flush red at the thought she had just been taken in pictures by him. But she did not. She was too focused on doing the task she agreed to do to care about that. “Hope you’re patient,” he said as he placed the working camera on a desk and going for another one. Who knows how long that would take to check every piece of every camera!

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe smiled as Quinn insisted that she shouldn't feel forced. And then he went and wondered why she wanted to be like him. She was fairly certain they'd had this conversation before, where she'd pointed out that his determination to remain himself, to stick to his values and to his opinions regardless of what people around him, his sort of nonchalance when dealing with outside pressures, all of that is what she admired. Zoe figured she'd have to write a poem about it, but for now:

"Sometimes we have to do things we don't want, and I do want to know as much about photography as I can," she said. She also was tempted to add that she wanted to know what it looked like when someone edited a photo for that knowledge, or that she wanted to know what it was actually like so she could even more fully tell people how horrible and art-distorting it happened to be. However, they did have a task that they needed to get to.

And Quinn's comment on it just made Zoe laugh: "If there's one trait I have, it's that," she insisted. She moved over to where she'd put together a chart, making sure to mark and doublecheck what they'd already done. "That's why I was hoping that there would be someone else, but, well, I did volunteer to do it, so I knew what I was getting into," the apologetic smile she gave Quinn communicated that she knew that he technically hadn't, and that she wouldn't blame him for being upset over it.

[Quinn Wiley]

The memory of a previous conversation came to him after he asked her. But already back then he was surprised she would think this of him. Mainly because he had no idea he had any of the qualities she chose to give him. This way of sticking to his value was nothing but stubbornness from him and reluctance at following someone else’s decision on his behalf. Determination? But he didn’t even know if he could ever achieve any of his goals or even have a life. And if he looked as though he could take on any comment about him, they ripped off his heart with as many daggers when spoken. He simply knew how to not let it show, something he didn’t know if it should be considered a strength or a weakness. After all, it made people, those you would have considered friends, say them thinking you understood it was just for jest since you never reacted to those.

She insisted that she would help if they ever decided to learn about editing photos and that even if she might not really want to. He shrugged, shaking slightly his head at that. “Ok,” he simply replied to that. If she wanted to get involved in something that did not interest her, it was her choice. Quinn was used to not getting what he wanted or to take other means to get it. He was not going to hate Zoe just because she was against the idea of knowing how to edit a film.

He didn't hear her laugh often, even if he believed it was something she did more than he happened to. He believed he had patience too, only he had a short fuse once you stretched it too far. He supposed he depended on what he had to be patient about. He got her apologetic smile as she was well aware he did not sign up for this. “Just don’t feel bad if I leave you in the middle of it,” he warned her. He was giving her a hand but he might as well decide to leave before it was done. “Little smile?” he said, more as a form of jest as he pointed a camera at her to see if it would work. He clicked but nothing. Looks like she didn’t need to smile after all. Sitting at a desk, he looked it up to try and see what might be the problem.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Really, Zoe did try to, well, try. She just knew so many people that had so many different strengths and she could only stare at them and wonder how it was that they had those traits and how she could learn from them. Even people like Quinn, who often didn't seem all that thrilled with life and how it was going sometimes... no, that wasn't quite right. Zoe didn't know quite how to word it. She just knew that she liked and admired Quinn, and that was enough for now.

It seemed like that was more or less enough for him too. he was willing enough to help her out, and that was enough. "Well, I was expecting to do this on my own," she said, holding up a camera and smiling at him. "So I'll understand if you want to leave. I won't even get mad." She flashed a smile, holding it for a moment. She couldn't help but giggle and tap the camera. "Seems like that one needs some work."

Zoe nodded and started moving around the cameras, sorting them into piles and making sure that they understood what each one entailed, making notes both mental and literal. This really shouldn't be that bad, not at their current rate...

[Quinn Wiley]

If someone had to be admired, Quinn thought it was Zoe more than himself. She went through a lot of shit and while it destroyed Quinn’s trust in humanity, she was always ready to give it yet another try. Not to add that for all they had in common, she managed to get people around her to carry her when it was too hard and cheer her up when she was down. Who did he have? A ferret and a girl so intimidated by others she needed a computer screen to tell you what she really wanted to say. Even those who didn’t know Zoe were ready to support her in all of her projects. He thought he should be the one envying her and not the other way around.

But, if she wanted to admire him, no matter how weird that sounded to him, it was not like he could do much about it. After a while, she’ll understand it was not really that bright and move on. “I can still do that if you keep saying it like that,” he pointed out as she said she assumed she’d do this on her own. That was a lot to work through and Quinn would argue, should anyone ever bother to ask him why he was here, that he was only curious to try some cameras he had never handled before.

He looked at her as she laughed. He didn't get how she could be this happy. Sure, around cameras, he was in his element and happier than normal, but he was not seeing himself smiling and laughing like that, not if he ever lived everything that was said she lived. “Got shy at your sight,” he replied without thinking much about what he said as the words escaped him. He didn’t know how long it would take to sort through all of this but he told himself that he shouldn’t stay more than thirty minutes, forty-five at most. Of course, it was easier to hold to that when you focused on the time. But Quinn was more into the cameras and trying to understand how they work and even more why this particular one was not.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe let out a shy smile as Quinn again insisted that he could take off. "No, don't, it's much better to have someone here," Zoe insisted, nodding slightly, trying to show at least some affirmation in the stance and voice. She could be authoritative if she tried, right? What was almost stranger was that she actually did find herself wanting Quinn to stick around. It was especially odd as she seemed to vacillate between being far too uncomfortable to far too comfortable with the young man. Still, she supposed that was what it was like for most people, right?

The teasing comment about the camera actually had her giggling, as much in surprise as anything else. "I've done some modeling before," she pointed out, tossing her head slightly and giving him another quick, shy smile. "Plus, you'd think the cameras would be used to me," she sorted through them, looking them over. Yes, this was definitely going to take a while, but the benefits would be worth it. If students knew there were cameras available then maybe they could take more interest, and they could always use more photographers.

Zoe sorted through, working at the pile and directing Quinn almost seamlessly. She wasn't really keeping track of time, more focused on getting through piles and working things down on the chart. They were definitely finding more duds than working devices, but progress was still progress, even if it was the kind that revealed more work to be had.

[Quinn Wiley]

Even someone like Quinn could understand why it would be nicer to have someone else around while doing that stuff. Not only was it going to be a long job to do but it would also be boring. Necessary, perhaps. He understood why the school would prefer to make sure they didn’t work before getting rid of them. Buying a whole bunch of new cameras would cost a lot of money. Still, he couldn’t help but feel like they should have taken better care of those if they didn’t want to do that. “I suppose if they don’t work they can use it as decoration or something. If we should have anything in here fitting what we do, a bunch of old cameras not working seemed to make sense.” And he bet it could be interesting too, if they knew how to place them. Not that it mattered much right now, as it was not what they were supposed to do.

Zoe did modeling? It was weird but at the same time it wouldn’t be the first time this girl did something you didn’t expect her to in the first place. “On the other side, maybe. I had no idea you modelled.” Still, in a way, he told himself he should not be surprised. She had the kind of personality that made you think she’d be too scared to do anything yet she always ended up doing them in the end or having people to help her out. It was almost unfair that she’d get all this luck while Quinn stood there in the corner, looking at life instead of living it. He pushed that thought away though, otherwise he might just leave her being mad, not so much at her than what she had more than him.

It took them time to go through this and Quinn didn’t really think about it until he started to get a little hungry. He put down the camera he had been looking at to check his phone for the time. Maybe he should think about a watch but why doing so when everyone had a cell phone nowadays? “Hey, did you look at the time?” he told her. He could start being hungry. They’ve been at it for quite some time now, more than an hour at the very least. Not that he didn’t know for sure exactly how long they’ve been there, he didn’t really check when they started.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

"Oo, I like that idea!" Zoe said as Quinn talked of using the cameras for decoration. She couldn't help but brighten just at the thought of it, her mind already tying strings around cameras or gutting them and putting them in strange displays. It wasn't normally something that Zoe would've done on her own, but now that Quinn had almost casually offered the thought up, she couldn't not think of doing it. She was so lost in it that she almost forgot about the discussion about modelling and the like.

It had her smiling shyly and offering up a slight shrug. 'It's more, um, just, you know, reciprocating. I model for you; you model for me. That sort of thing," though she'd been something of a favorite at her last school, often posing for people. Apparently the whole shy British girl with nice skin thing had made for an appealing subject. Zoe supposed she could understand, even if she still flushed just thinking about it.

They kept going, getting cameras sorted and making excellent progress. Zoe had gotten so into the rhythm of working that she'd almost forgotten about Quinn stating that he couldn't be there forever. "Oh, right!" she said, turning to look for a few moments before just digging out her phone. "We've been at this a while now. Maybe we should, ah, stop?" She gave him a slightly apologetic smile before looking. There actually weren't that many cameras left. Maybe she should just finish up on her own? she looked over at Quinn, clearly ready to start suggesting precisely that.

[Quinn Wiley]

Who would have thought Quinn had good decoration ideas. But that made sense, right? What better way to sell the photography club than to have some sort of sculpture made with cameras? And since they just ended up with some no longer able to work... it was not like they’d have to buy anything. Someone in this school had to have some creativity and glue. There was not much else that was required.

Even if it was a bit silly, Quinn actually felt good that she liked his idea. It was very simple and not that brilliant of an idea but she liked it. And he liked that she liked it. Giving the idea was as far as he’d dare to go though. He might imagine how to have it work, use different cameras of different eras, perhaps some old film too... Okay, maybe he had more or less of an idea about what to do with it. But he would not do it. Having ideas was easy, and Quinn had plenty when acting on said ideas required some more guts than he possessed. The fear someone might judge his work badly prevented him from doing anything.

She explained for the modelling. Reciprocity. “Of course. But it must be easy to find people for you, no? You’ve got plenty of friends.” Quinn could not believe at least one of them, in this era of selfies, wouldn’t enjoy having their pictures taken. It was harder for Quinn, who often found himself having to almost stalk someone to get a shot. “But you’re doing more artistic pictures, no?” Maybe that was harder to get them to take the right pose then.

He looked at work remained to do. Yet now that he looked at the time, his stomach remembered he was hungry and was telling him. But he could just hear about everyone he met in his life. They always loved to say he never finished what he started. “I guess we can finish, since we’re almost done.”

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe had to flush as Quinn mentioned her having plenty of friends. If you'd asked her a year ago, she would've stammered out some sort of protest or denial. But, well, in some strange way, she'd somehow managed to get quite a few people who she'd count as friends, those that wanted to support her and that she wanted to support in turn. She could at least nod along with that without smiling.

"Well, often, yes," Zoe admitted, "but sometimes it's about just capturing people at the right moment, like I did with you," she had to flush at that, remembering not only the photograph but how it had essentially sprung into something of an art show. She doubted that Quinn would be all that comfortable with remembering it either. While they might have both acted as models, they were still a good deal more comfortable being behind the camera.

"Right, just a bit more," Zoe said, before shifting through the next one, clicking it and checking. It wouldn't take long at all at this rate. She even held that camera, looking over at Quinn. 'You, ah, can leave... if you want. I did start this by myself after all," she added a slight shrug, knowing that it had been a foolish mistake from the start.

[Quinn Wiley]

It was not the fact she had many friend that Quinn would envy. It was the fact she was likable enough for people to want to consider her as a friend and be friendly to her. Like supporting and encouraging her. Quinn didn’t think people could do that with him. If some didn’t like who he was right now, the person he chose to show them, he was certain they wouldn’t like the real Quinn. He was not even sure who the real Quinn was. Might even no longer exist, with how much he preferred to keep people away from him and not ask himself those questions about himself. If he had to describe who he was deep inside, he’d find himself too much of a wuss to ever let that side out. This one was better. Risked less pain.

“Yeah. I do that a lot,” he admitted with a light nod. Although it might be more because he dared not ask than because he was lucky. He stopped thinking about it, so he would not get bitter. “It was weird. Seeing myself in a picture. Not used to that,” he admitted after a moment of silence. Being behind the camera was so much more comfortable, so natural unlike being in front of it. He didn’t know if it was the same for her, she looked so shy but was also so daring, but he figured she’d understand. She understood a lot of stuff, or at least he felt like she did.

She offered him to go. Yes, he supposed he could. Technically, he could have since the beginning. He looked at the tiny little pile that remained. Tiny in comparison to what it was at first. “Well... it’s almost done...” he argued. He could not just say he’d stay, let alone stay to help her. He’d rather pretend it was just because it was almost over and it was best to finish it all than come back later for so little. If she was so good at speaking Quinn, she’d get it. If not... well, the result would be the same, he’d be here until the end, right?

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The memory of the photo, and of having to show it to Quinn and talk to him about it, had Zoe smiling again. It was strange how that had all worked out. But they were here now. Though, come to think of it, they probably would've ended up together in some form or fashion regardless. They were both in the photography club after all: it wasn't as if they could really avoid one another without making a fuss about it.

Sort of like Zoe did now, as she offered Quinn an out. She kept working, though she couldn't help but be distracted, so distracted that she kept looking up at Quinn and expecting him to simply leave. He argued, if halfheartedly, that he didn't have to. "Alright," Zoe said, nodding and gesturing. "If you really want to stay and help, then I'm more than willing to take it. But," she looked up at him, "don't just help because... because you feel sorry for me or anything. I started this on my own, and I'm perfectly capable of doing it.

"Plus," she pulled another camera, struggling to get to the battery compartment, "I'd rather my friends not pity me that much..."