“What?”
“I think this might be a moment worth documenting. Just for us.”
“Are you…?”Serious…That’s what I wanted to ask, but I stopped myself because I already knew the answer to it. I stared at him for another second, then stepped toward my backpack, pulled out the camera, and switched it on. My left eye found the viewfinder, staring at him.
Theo stood there, exposed, with only a towel over his shoulders and an erection, staring at me. My index finger found the shutter button and pressed it. With a soft click, I took a picture that only he and I would ever get to see.
FRAME SEVEN
CERTAINTY
“Just keep at it,” Theo said just as a flash of lightning lit up the dome of the clock tower above us.
I kept my eye pressed to the viewfinder, the camera fixed on him. He turned toward the pile of clothes on the bench. His bare butt flashed at me as he leaned forward to grab the white briefs. I snapped another photo before the moment vanished.
He stepped into the briefs one leg at a time—click—and pulled them up—click—covering his dick—click—though he had to adjust twice before everything finally settled inside. I zoomed in on the outline of his dick and took another shot. Then I switched to fisheye, framing the entire dome of the tower, making that big guy look small in comparison as he rubbed the towel through his hair. Another thunderbolt lit up the clock faces, causing Theo’s bare chest to glow white against the gray stone behind him—click.
Theo ignored me entirely, as a good model should. He wasn’t just someone who saw things; he seemed to enjoy being seen too.
He tossed the towel on the metal railing of the clock apparatus next to him—click—reached for the gray shirt—click—and pulled it over his head—click.The gray sweatpants that were too short for him came next, and I kept shooting until he wore everything I had lent him. I must’ve taken at least thirty pictures, each one catching that mix of sexual tension and vulnerability.
Satisfied, I turned toward my backpack and set the camera on the ground beside it. I knew I had more things to keep him warm somewhere.
“Are you done?” Theo asked.
“Yeah. We’ve got more important stuff to take care of now.”
I ran my hands over every outer pocket, trying to remember everything I had packed. Most of the stuff in there, I rarely touched. I still had this backpack ready from my days of tornado hunting, usually swapping out only food and camera batteries. Everything else, even the clothes, had stayed in there, still prepped for a day that had already passed.
My mind went through the list of things that should be in there, trying to determine if I was forgetting about something useful, when my hand stopped on the top pocket. I unzipped it and pulled out a small heating pad, a rescue blanket, and a hip flask.
“Ha!” I yelled in excitement. “I’m more prepared than I thought. Look what I found.” I turned to Theo, holding the rescue blanket high. “Downside is, there’s only one.”
“I guess we’ll have to share then. For our safety,” he teased.
He sat down on the bench and pulled his legs up, crossing them. I walked over with the three items and showed them off as the treasures they actually were in our situation.
“If everything here is for emergency heat, I think I can guess what’s in the flask,” Theo said. He narrowed his eyes, scanning the shiny metal in my hand. “It’s vodka.”
“Close, but no. And it’s actually not for warmth.” I gave him the flask. “When I put this bag together, I actually wanted to put vodka in, but then looked it up and found out that alcohol justgives you a false sense of warmth. It actually cools you down further.”
Theo unscrewed the lid, brought it to his nose, and took a whiff. “Oh, it’s whisky. No… scotch?”
“Whisky, yes. In case something went south with a tornado, and I got trapped.”
“Oh, so you get to hammer yourself before being swallowed by the sky?”
“Maybe it was wishful thinking that I’d ever have time to drink it if that happened. Besides, it has probably gone bad by now. I’ve read that the alcohol can take on the scent of the metal if stored in it for too long. I spent a long time looking for a titanium one, since that’s supposed to lessen the effect, but I actually never checked if it did.”
“Only one way to find out, though we probably shouldn’t if it really cools us down more.”
“One sip should be fine,” I said as I lifted the heating pad and the still wrapped up blanket into his view. “And we have these.”
“True. But let’s see if they work first.” He screwed the flask back up. “Because safety… orsurvivalat this point.”
I put the heating pad aside for now since it had a rather short lifespan, and we still had a full night ahead of us. We couldn’t know how cold it would get, so saving it as a last resort felt like the better choice. Instead, I removed the blanket from its plastic wrapping. The foil was thinner than the aluminum foil in my kitchen and didn’t look like much at first. But the more I unfolded it, the bigger it got, eventually stretching wide enough to fit two people under it.
“Hard to believe that this is supposed to keep us warm,” I said.
