Work Text:
1.
Bella had been sitting on Leah’s bed, trying to ignore Jacob while he stared her in the eye, dramatically lip synched along with the Prince song.
She was rolling her eyes and Leah was cackling as he stood, shaking his hips and inviting her to dance with him.
Her little hands came to cover her eyes, hair falling over her face as she tried not to laugh while the gangly boy wiggled at her. He grabbed her hands, dragging them from her face, pulling her up to standing. His eyes were shut tight as he mimed holding a microphone, singing along with Prince. Her face was red, a mixture of hilarity and embarrassment as she grudgingly danced with him, his big hand still over hers.
Pop. Life. We all got a space to fill-
SNAP.
2.
In the evening, three men all leaned back in their chairs, sitting around the card table in Billy’s little backyard. All three of them clutched a Vitamin R in their hands, arguing in what might have been jest and might have been true sports-induced frustration.
Harry’s eyes were wide, clearly taking issue with Charlie’s point, as he unceasingly complained at his oldest friends from Billy’s left. Billy, center frame, sat with his eyes closed, but his index finger was lifted in protest, as though he were waiting for the perfect moment to lodge his point.
Charlie, to his right, was leaning towards Harry, his dark, bushy eyebrows drawn together even though his mouth was pulling into a smile. His dark brown eyes were crinkled with the laughter he held off as he raised his voice over the other men’s.
Bella was standing behind her dad, her brown eyes- the very same as his- smiling in indulgence over the scene playing out before her. She leaned over his chair, one delicate hand resting on his shoulder, as though to restrain him; her face looked round and pale pink, and one could clearly see the tiny girl that Charlie still saw when he looked at her.
She was sharing a look with Jacob, to the left of Harry. They were both about to mutiny, sharing a shout of “DAD-”
SNAP.
3.
Bella sat on the beach at mid-morning, wearing a pair of running shorts and a sports bra visible under one of Leah’s cut-off tank tops. Her long brown hair ran in a thick braid over her right shoulder; her thin arms were wrapped around her knees as she stared off at the horizon.
Her face was still damp with sweat and red with the exertion of the run they’d just returned from, and like she sometimes did, she sat down and let tears run down her face. This war they fought with their bodies, propelling them steadily, one foot after the other, warring for control, often wrought well-repressed emotions from their resting places. Leah recognized so deeply the look on her friend’s face-
SNAP.
4.
It was dusk. Leah’s own feet extended into the bottom of the frame, almost touching her friend’s knee, as they sat facing one another on the Clearwaters’ front porch. Bella tried to hide the cigarette she held between slim fingers. The brunette’s face was almost obscured by the disposable camera she pointed back at the one the photographer also held. They were both laughing at one another-
SNAP.
5.
Lit only by the bonfire, Bella stared down the photographer as she sat on the bleached driftwood log, clutching a red solo cup. Right behind her was a tall, shirtless Native boy. His hair came down a little past his ears; though he was ignoring the girl pressed against his back, every muscle on his back body was tense. A giggling blonde girl draped her long arm over his shoulder.
Bella was sucking her teeth, so pissed she was almost laughing. Out of frame, the photographer had one eyebrow arched as if to say, told you so-
SNAP.
6.
In a tiny, cramped bathroom, both girls were crowded in front of the mirror. Leah stood behind Bella, a good head taller than her friend. Makeup and hair products covered the countertop; both girls looked to have a comical amount of poorly-applied makeup on their faces. Leah’s long, bronze arm was lazily draped over Bella’s left shoulder; the smaller girl leaned back against her friend, giving the camera a lazy grin. Leah’s face was focused as she squinted through the viewfinder-
SNAP.
7.
Bella and Angela laid on their stomachs on the blanket, dappled sunlight cast through the trees onto their bodies. Their heads were bowed together over a book - it was Proust - and a half-full bottle of white wine sat corked between them. Leah’s copy sat spine-up, pages-down to hold her place-
SNAP.
8.
Bella sat on a milk crate in Jacob’s shed. A strange haze filled the air in the image. She was pointing a finger at someone out of frame, eyebrows pulling together in a frown as she scolded. Jacob stood over the engine of the Rabbit, just over her shoulder, head tossed back in what was clearly uproarious laughter as he clutched his stomach. Embry, sitting on the floor between Bella’s knees, held something like a cigarette between his teeth, grinning lopsidedly at the camera-
SNAP.
9.
Bella was bent double just outside the treeline, lit by the flash of the camera. She was the only object in the foreground of the image; it gave a strangely liminal feel to what might have been an average image.
She was getting sick. She was flipping off the camera.
SNAP.
10.
Bella had just been standing on the beach, chortling as Jacob and Embry wrestled off frame, when Quil sprinted up behind her; he bowed, sticking his head between her knees, and stood up in a flash, pulling the girl up on his shoulders as he took off running.
She was shrieking in terror, unbalanced, and grabbed onto the burly boy’s short curly hair for balance. Quil’s face was twisted in surprise and agony, still replacing the grin that was there only half a second before; it was the very definition of ‘I Have Made A Grave Miscalculation-’
SNAP.
After Leah had that one developed, she drove directly to Jacob’s to show it to Embry. He’d laughed so hard tears had run down his face and, when he finally calmed down, he demanded a copy for himself.
11.
Bella was grating lemon zest into a bowl in Charlie’s kitchen. Bags of flour and sugar and a carton of eggs covered the countertop; she wore a dirty apron over her cut-off jeans and tank top. Her face was total concentration as she bent over a recipe book, the tiny tip of her tongue poking out as she read and worked simultaneously-
SNAP.
12.
The photographer was sitting passenger in Bella’s truck; the windows were down. Bella’s face was calm, a small smile playing on her face as her whipped in the wind and reached for the tall trees over her shoulder.
She had her left knee bent, pulled up against the door. Driving left handed, her right hand braced over her beating heart-
SNAP.