Chaper 2

I turned a corner and ran head first into a wall. And of course it would be just my luck that at that moment I was standing in a puddle of water.

So as I was heading toward the floor and cursing my stupidity for running into a wall in the first place; the said wall reached out and latched onto my arm, jerking me back up onto me feet and forcefully slamming me back up against the solid surface.

“You ok?” I looked up at the man I ran into before going into panic-mode.

“My camera!” I squeaked, stepping away and immediately examining the camera that got squished between us. I took a couple pictures, looking for anything wrong before breathing a sigh of relief. I looked back at the man to see him looking at me worriedly.

“Is it ok?” he questioned.

I nodded, “It looks that way. I got lucky this time.”

“I’m really sorry, I didn’t even see the camera, and I was just trying to keep you from falling.”

“It’s all good…no harm no foul. If something had happened to it though, I think I just might have cried.”

“Is it really that important to you?”

“Yeah…it’s kind of my paycheck, and it’s a nine hundred dollar camera so I don’t really have the money to fix or replace it.”

“Nine hundred dollars? You’re kidding!” he looked at me in disbelief.

I shook my head.

“That must be one hell of a piece of equipment for that chunk of change.”

I smiled, “Yeah it’s a pretty amazing piece of technology.”

He smiled back, a white, dazzling smile that I was sure made girl’s hearts flutter in excitement.

“The name’s Max.” he said, offering his hand.

“Annabel.” I replied, shaking his hand firmly.

“Annabel? That’s a beautiful name.”

Oh he’s smooth.

I giggled a little while replying with a quiet, “Thank you.”

“So what’s a very lovely lady doing at a smelly ice rink?”

I chuckled while motioning to my camera. “I’m here to take pictures and as far as the smell goes it doesn’t really bother me…well I’ll correct that…I’m here so much that I can’t smell the “man stench” anymore.”

He laughed, throwing his head back before looking back down at me with amusement twinkling in his dark brown orbs. “Man stench huh? That’s an interesting way to put it. So you’re taking pictures of the kids?”

I nodded quietly watching as Max stared at the kids staking and falling down on the ice during warm-ups.

“So, is one of these little munchkins running around yours?”

I shook my head and he let out a small sigh of relief.

“Nope, I was just hired to take pictures for the new website for this place.”

“I see. Well would you mind if I joined you for a little while? I have probably thirty more minutes before my bus leaves for my hotel.”

I shrugged, “If that’s how you want to waste your time, don’t let me stop you.” I winked at him before moving toward the rink.

“Oh I’m sure it will be time well wasted.”

I looked over my shoulder to see him following me with a goofy grin plastered across his face.

“I hope you don’t mind moving around a lot. I need to get pictures from all different angles.”

I stopped right up against the glass, while raising my camera to snap off a shot of a kid taking a practice shot at the goalie.

“Oh no worries, I’m the type of person who gets bored from staying in one spot for too long.”

I smiled, “Then I have nothing to worry about.”

I took a few shots before looking around for good places to take some more pictures.

“So…uh…Annabel, how long have you been a photographer?”

“Well…I’ve only been doing it as a job for the past year or so since I graduated. But I have been taking pictures for as long as I can remember. I still have my first camera which was a classic Polaroid with the instant film.”

“Ah I remember those! I personally think those are the best cameras that have ever been invented. I mean yeah digital is great and all but I mean those cameras were instantaneous, and every picture, no matter how funny you looked in it, was treasured because there was no delete button. Every picture was special ya know?”

I looked up at Max while he was lost in his thoughts and took a quick picture of his profile facing the glass.

“Did you just take a picture of me?” he looked over at me, raising his eyebrows in amusement.

I shrugged while looking back toward the glass. “You looked so serious while you were thinking; I got the feeling that I was witnessing a rare moment.”

“Psh…Ok but I just think you secretly think I’m hot and you wanted a picture to put in your keepsake album.” He waggled his eye brows at me before winking.

“Oh Max!” I exclaimed in a high pitched voice, “How ever did you figure me out?”

“Well you see, I just have this sense for these things.”

“Ooo were your Max senses tingling?”

“Oh yeah, they were a seven on the Richter scale.”

I laughed before taking a few more pictures. “Come on lets go up to the bleachers for the puck drop.”

He nodded and followed me up to the center of the bleachers. We talked and laughed all throughout the game. Max was hilarious and I could honestly say I enjoyed being around him. I didn’t like him as far as relationships go but he was more like a long lost brother or best friend.

“MAX!”

He stopped mid-sentence of telling me a story to look around for the source of the voice. He smiled and I looked over to see a man climbing up the bleachers to us.

“Flower! I thought I recognized a fellow French Canadian voice.”

“Yeah well I was sent by coach, the bus is loaded and we are all waiting on you.”

“Aw…already? Not fair I was having such a good time!” He looked over at me and winking and I just smiled back while taking a quick shot of the two men, Max sitting and Marc standing in front of him.

“Hey Annabel this is Marc, but we just call him Flower. Flower this is Annabel, she’s a photographer.”

“Is nice to meet you Annabel.” He said in an extremely adorable French accent while extending his hand to shake mine.

“Ah likewise Marc.” I shook his hand giving him a small smile.

“We need to go Max.”

“Fine fine, hey Annabel are you coming to the hockey game tonight?”

I nodded, “Yeah my friend Lily got me tickets.”

“Ok cool I’ll leave you some locker room passes at will call, what’s your last name?”

“Towland. Spelled exactly how it sounds.”

He nodded while standing. He leaned down giving me a quick hug being very cautious of my camera.

“Ok see you tonight!” He exclaimed while following Marc down the bleachers.

“Good luck tonight guys!” I called back.

They both waved before walking off the bleachers and out of sight.

I finished my couple hours at the rink with a huge smile on my face.