“What? You are. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard that before,” Ward said, smiling the softest smile at me.
I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that I hadn’t, because no one ever saw me in the mornings. No one ever stayed the night.
He was the first person I’d ever woken up next to, and still the only. Which was so pathetic I didn’t even want to say the words out loud.
“Gimme your phone,” Ward said, and I handed it over without a second thought.
Normally I wouldn’t have given my phone to anyone without a fight, but this was Ward.
I watched his tongue peek out from between his lips as he concentrated on taking a picture of me. He fluffed up the pillow, rearranged the blankets, and then grinned as he finally took the picture, eyes lighting up.
When he turned the phone around to show it to me, I was smiling.
Not just smiling, I looked… happy.
Even with the dark circles under my eyes, even with my hair like a before photo in a shampoo commercial. My job meant that I was never entirely happy with the way I looked—perfect was the aim, and perfect was impossible—but I had to admit, even if it was only to myself, that I liked this picture.
“See? Cute,” Ward said, handing the phone back.
I took the opportunity to take a picture of him, still smiling at me, his eyes sparkling in the shaft of sunlight falling across his face, hair glowing where it was wild around his face hanging loose instead of tied back like it had been yesterday.
“You’re not half bad at this,” Ward said when I showed it to him.
“You’re the one who’s got the award for it.”
Ward laughed. “Oh yeah. The Otter Bay High Senior Photography Award,” he said. “Right up there with a Pulitzer.”
“Do they give those out for photos?”
“Yes,” Ward said. “This is as bad as Liz not knowing that the densest element is osmium.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Come on, you knew that,” Ward insisted.
I shook my head, the corner of my lips twitching at the look on his face.
“You’re surrounded by idiots,” I teased. “You were always the smart one.”
Ward snorted, blushing along the ridges of his cheeks. I took another photo to record it, but iPhone cameras were only so good, and it was barely noticeable. The shy way he was glancing away from me, long dark lashes standing out against his skin, though…
It definitely wasn’t a bad photo.
“You’re getting the hang of this,” Ward said when I showed it to him. “I guess Astrid wants one of us together though, huh?”
“I guess,” I said, feeling awkward all over again. It was one thing to share a bed—we’d done that before—and mess around taking sleepy morning photos of each other, but…
Ward took my phone out of my hand again and held it up above us, scooting closer to me.
“Don’t look at the camera,” he murmured in my ear, breath brushing against the back of my neck, making the short hairs there stand on end.
His nose brushed against my cheek as I looked away from my phone. “I know how to have my photo taken,” I said.
“Mmhmm,” Ward agreed. “You know, you say I’m the smart one, but I only know twenty-five letters of the alphabet,” he said.
“Really?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I don’t know Y.”
