Page 113 of Camera Stays On

“Purdy!” Cupping my hands to my cheeks, I called out when I saw her. She was walking alone, her backpack slung over her shoulder. Her eyes looked tired, and she had a small slump to her posture that fell away when she looked up and saw me. A grin of relief settled on her face as she came over.

“What are you doing here?” she exclaimed. “Shouldn’t you be resting for tomorrow?”

“Shouldn’t you?” I pointed out. “Why didn’t you take a day off?”

Slowly, everyone from the seminar she’d been in started to disappear, heading out in their cars or on foot to the nearby dorms, leaving just us under the streetlight. She shifted in her spot beside me, dropping her backpack to the ground.

“I thought about it, but I was kind of already falling behind. Sawyer’s schedule keeps me from my studies.” She laughed, but it didn’t match her eyes.

I sighed. Purdy was smart, and she loved film, like my brother and I did. She’d gotten a full ride on her academics alone, but she was struggling to maintain what she needed to simply because my brother was a dick. He wanted her attention at all times, making it impossible for her to focus on anything else.

“I have something for you.” I went around the truck and opened the driver’s-side door. Reaching into the side pocket, I pulled out two mini bottles of flavored vodka. When I came back around, I handed her one. “Figured we could toast to your last night of freedom.”

“Freedom? Ha.” She frowned, but then seemed to realize what she was saying and perked right up, forcing a giant grin. “Yes! Let’s toast. Soon, you and I will be sharing a last name, brother-in-law.”

Oh, how I’d love for her to have my last name.

We unscrewed the caps and toasted.

“To Purdy.”

She grimaced as the burning liquid scalded her throat. “Ugh, I don’t know how you guys drink this stuff.” She handed me the empty bottle, and I shoved hers and mine into my pocket.

“It’s an acquired taste, like most things in life. Purdy...”

Do it. Say it, you fucking coward.

“Yeah?” Her brown eyes shone under the streetlamp, her mouth open just a hair, as if waiting with bated breath for me to finish my sentence.

“Are you happy?” I blurted.

She blinked.

“I’m getting married tomorrow.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re happy. That just means you’re getting married tomorrow.” My heart was beating so rapidly I couldn’t breathe. Was she going to storm off? Tell me to fuck off and then flee? I wouldn’t say it was undeserved, but it would crush me.

Purdy turned and looked at me, then fell back against my truck, causing it to bounce.

“Happy is relative. Are you asking because I’m out late like this? Sawyer volunteered to come get me, but I turned him down.” She scrunched her nose. It was her tell. She was lying. He never offered. That wasn’t Sawyer’s MO.

“No, just...in general. I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to upset you. Maybe I’m feeling the alcohol a little more than I realized.” Heat flamed my face as I tried to backtrack.

She laughed nervously and waved me off. “Nah, you’re fine. I think it’s a valid question. He is your brother after all. I’ll be fine. I always am. Sawyer’s just... When he wants something, he makes sure everyone knows it.” She sighed heavily.

Oh, how I wish I could be the same, yet here I was, with the most beautiful woman I’d ever known, whom I’d been madly in love with for years, and unable to speak.

“Right. And he wants you.”

“Seems that way.” She pursed her lips. “It’s kinda weird, really. I’m no one special. Just some girl who moved in next door to him ten years ago.”

“You’re not just some girl, Purdy.” The words I’d been wanting to say for years nearly slid right off my tongue, but I caught them just in time. She was more than that. So much more. She was... “Purdy, if you weren’t getting married tomorrow, what would you do instead?”

She smiled. “What do you mean? Like, plans? Probably catch up on schoolwork, I’m this close to academic probation.”

“No, like, if you no longer had to do all this stuff that Sawyer signed you up for. Marriage, school, work. What would you do?”

She thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know. I’ve never really given any consideration to life without...Sawyer.” She looked down at her feet.