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He cursed under his breath, adjusting the lens and lightly tapping the camera on it's side. He hated using any percussive maintenance whatsoever--cameras were fragile, of course, and lens cost almost as much as the device itself. He'd have to work till closing at Urban Outfitters if he wanted to buy a new one and still have money left.
He touched his hair, subconsciously fixing it, and touching the streak that he always styled in the middle of the pompadour. It was a bleached streak, in his chestnut hair; he would dye it purple sometimes, but then he'd get too busy and forget about it, and it would be blonde again. He had lots of other things to worry about, besides his hair. Like how much he hated the kids who came from the outskirts of the city, taking pictures of anything and everything for some quality tumblr. Suburbanites, Long Islanders, made him sick. He hated them with a passion.
He turned on the camera and then tested it out; pointing at a random location and casually zooming in, then zooming out. He put his lens case back into his messenger bag and faced front again, waiting for the bus that was taking oh-so-long to get to where he was. He looked around him, hoping for inspiration; some picture he could take that wouldn't be a waste of memory.
"You're a photographer?"
He looked up to see a beautiful girl sit down next to him. He felt like he'd probably seen her before--maybe on campus for a fleeting second, or at the cafe. Maybe at his job; he wasn't exactly sure.
She had big brown eyes, friendliness visible in them, covered by circular magenta glasses. Her deep cinnamon hair was in a ponytail, but even so, it was still below her shoulders, one shoulder holding a magenta backpack. She wore a shirt from some swim team in Florida, a multicolored jacket casually hanging from her waist, and jean shorts that were just the right length--not exactly suburban teenage girl level, and not exactly my-parents-are-extremely-religious level. Her voice was bubbly, and as friendly as the rest of herself.
"Yeah, you could say that," he said as she sat down next to him.
"What kind of camera is it?"
"Canon Rebel, T4i," he said, a tinge of pride in his voice, "do you like photography?"
"Yeah, I think it's awesome!" she said, the smile on her face becoming wider. God, she was cute.
"W-would you like to see some pictures?" he asked, slightly nervous. He always spoke with an odd stutter on v's and w's, and never knew why. It just felt right. Lots of people asked him about it, and he would snap at them, getting into the fact that he was allowed to speak in whatever manner he felt comfortable with, and nobody had the right to tell him any different.
"I'd love to," she said, scooting a bit closer to him on the bench to see the screen of his camera.
He scrolled through a few--a sunset on the harbor, a fountain in Central Park, the moon over the sea at night. Most people forgot about the city being an island, getting lost in its streets and cigarette smoke scented air. He liked to go to the harbor often, and breathe in the salty air. The ocean was almost an escape for him. Nature, especially water, in general, was beautiful, and he wanted to show people. So he liked to take photos.
"You like the ocean, and stuff like that?"
"Yeah. I like the city, too, but its nice to see w-water sometimes."
"Yeah, I love to swim. I'm captain of my swim team and everythin."
"Really?" he said, letting out a small smile, for the first time that day, "that's good to know, miss.....?"
"My name is kind of...weird, I guess," she said, slightly blushing, "Call me Fef. What's your name?"
"Eridan."
"Eridan?" she said, and then beamed, "Well, its nice to meet you, Eridan."
"Likew-wise, Fef," he said, mirroring her expression.
"Would you...take a picture of me, Eridan?" she asked, hands moving towards his camera, but hesitating.
He grumbled internally, thinking of how, if she was someone else, he would tell some lie about how his SD card was full, or his camera's battery died, or something like that. Instead, he let out an inaudible sigh and gave a small nod.
He held the camera up, looking in the lens and seeing the details of her face. She had little freckles on her nose, barely noticeable, that made Eridan suddenly think of her as even cuter.
He snapped three pictures, and she kept smiling until he brought the camera away from her face.
The engine of a bus could be heard from far away; meaning that the bus was somewhere down a few blocks. He put his camera into the case inside the bag and situated it on himself, adjusting the strap. He prepared to get up, when Fef suddenly grabbed his hand.
"W-what are you--" he said, before she uncapped a magenta sharpie and scrawled down ten different numbers.
"Maybe you could send me more of your pictures?" she asked, a clever smile on her face.
He gave a sheepish grin as he looked at his hand. "Yeah, or somethin like that."
The bus finally came towards its stop; slowing down to eventually come to a halt.
"See you around, Fef," he said as the bus stopped, the doors preparing to open. She still sat there, obviously waiting for a different bus, or a bus later on.
She gave a soft laugh, and looked him in the eye. "See you around, Eridan."