A Gift Amongst Friends Ch. 04

Mandy started panicking, moving lamps around, testing different light combinations and different settings on the camera itself. The lighting in these rooms is terrible. She started creating plans and contingency plans.

If she's wearing bright colors, these lights are fine. If dark, we can use those ones. If she's on the bed, these lamps can move here. If she is showing more skin...her mind carried that last image forward, and she had to shake her head to focus.

Meanwhile, she also cleaned things up a little. If her room was going to be used as a backdrop for these pictures, she wanted it to be as unobtrusive as possible. Megan's side in particular was a mess, and Mandy did the best she could to push some of her belongings into the closet.

With another half hour remaining until Sarah would arrive, Mandy started second guessing her own appearance, even though she was just the photographer. This was practically a fantasy come true for her, and she wanted to look her best.

Obviously, she couldn't dress up or that would seem unusual. A tank top and shorts would be fine, but she opted for a little touch up on her hair a makeup—subtle, not something that would draw attention, but a definite improvement over her going-to-class look.

Finally, Sarah arrived. Four minutes early, Mandy noticed, as though the small detail carried any significance.

Her friend was still dressed in the yellow sleeveless button-up shirt and denim cut-off shorts that she had been wearing that afternoon. They stepped into the dorm room and Mandy locked the door behind them.

Sarah sat on the edge of the bed. She seemed more bubbly than usual. Excited...possibly even a little intoxicated.

Maybe I'm not the only one that is anxious about this, Mandy thought. She started explaining her ideas and plans to Sarah, probing her for input and asking about more technical points.

"Whoa, slow down!" Sarah responded, blank faced. "I don't know about any of that stuff. I'll just trust you with that. This doesn't need to be anything fancy. I just suck at taking pictures and figured I would fuck this up! Also, I thought it would be more fun for someone else to do it," she giggled.

Inside, Mandy breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, okay, sure."

"I don't know what I'm doing, so just tell me what you want me to do," Sarah said, slipping her shoes off and kicking them by the door.

That sentence was music to Mandy's ears, and she briefly let her imagination push that idea to several destinations. Coming back to reality, she grabbed the camera and stood across from Sarah, centering her friend in the viewfinder. She backed up another step and repeated the procedure.

"Okay," she instructed, "well, lean back a little bit. Move your arm there and look over here." The first photo did not look right, so Mandy snapped another. Perfect. "Now move back a little bit more, but leave your legs hanging over the edge. Just like that." Click.

Mandy had taken photos of her friends on many occasions, and she already knew that Sarah was very photogenic. Her energy and smile always translated very well to film, and this was no exception. She took several more photos of her friend on the bed in various innocent poses.

She swallowed hard and for a moment wondered if she could get the next words out. "Alright...how about you undo the first couple of buttons?"

To be continued...