#idk idk i've had a low grade headache for the past two days and putting them in situations must be the cure

[syoddeye]

i’m thinking of the local photo place i visited as a kid. when your developed photos were ready for pick up, they’d place them in a big bin up front. you’d prepay when you dropped off your film, so you’d just walk in, find your name, and grab your packet of developed photos.

(obviously—so many things could go wrong. so many things probably did go wrong. this was [redacted] years ago and completely normal in my hometown.)

now i’m thinking about johnny hanging the latest batch of developed film up to dry.

he’d been bored with the latest roll. lots of amateur shots of nature, clearly from the camera of someone on a hike. it wasn’t until the end that he laid eyes on the customer. there are three pictures of her posing in front of some lookout point. a big smile on her face. a little sweat staining her shirt. he barely registers the landscape behind her, his eyes instead drilling into her hips and thighs. he calls simon over. he needs the other man’s approval.

they make kyle call to tell her that her photos are ready. simon’s banned from the phone, and johnny’s afraid he’d babble. it is a ruse, of course. when you arrive the next day, excited to see how your pictures turned out, your packet’s missing.

kyle handles it spectacularly. convincingly.

someone with a similar name must’ve walked off with them. it happens. we do apologize.

simon and johnny watch from the back. the latter chubbing up at the sound of your voice and grinding against the doorframe for relief. you’re just as sweet as you looked. so polite and kind about the whole misunderstanding.

(johnny already taped your self-portraits to the staff lockers. the nature photos? long gone.)

and without needing an explanation, john slips into the scheme effortlessly. he emerges from his office with a calm, deliberate air and a slight frown creasing his brow. he reads the situation and kyle’s expression, then joins the pretty face at the counter. he apologizes again.

how can we make this right?