The Photograph
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The Photograph free porn video
An older story, originally broken into three parts. Not sure if it is completely romantic towards the end, but what the heck.
I found it hidden away in the bottom of a drawer, a twenty-year old photograph of me and Jessica hugging and smiling. She’d been wearing her one-piece swimsuit, conservative in comparison to what the other girls had worn, but to me it had given her additional mystique. I just had to sit as I stared at it. What had happened to us? Not that we had ever really been boyfriend and girlfriend, but when she was gone I finally realised that I’d fallen in love with her and that now it was too late. I wiped a tear from my eye and continued to stare.
The photograph had been taken when eight of us eighteen-year olds had gone on a caravan holiday at Easter. By the end of the summer Jess was gone, but just looking at that picture of us with our arms wrapped around each other brought memories of that week rushing back. I was one of the few to have passed my driving test and have access to a car. I suspect that was why I was invited and I’d asked Jess if she wanted to come too. We took two cars down to the holiday site. The other six were all steady couples and it made the sleeping arrangements difficult for me and Jessie until I decided to sleep in the car and let her have the final space to herself. I was never sure whether she was disappointed or relieved by this. The eight of us had a great time, out on our own for the first time. It was a week long party of fun. John, the other driver in the group had taken the photo of me and Jess on our last day, just as we were packing everything up. He’d given it to me when Jessica had disappeared from our college lives that autumn. For months I’d carried it around with me until I realised it was hindering my attempts to get on with a normal life. So I had stashed it away in the drawer and tried to forget Jess.
I looked down again and saw her happy face and was determined to find out where she was, where she had gone. Our best guess at college was that her parents had moved away and she had gone with them, but there had been no sign of this when the summer holidays had begun, the first we knew about it was when she didn’t appear for our first term. I scanned the picture and posted it on Flickr under the title ‘Jessica, where are you?’ with a comment underneath asking everyone for any information. I did the same on Facebook. I also got in touch with some of my old friends to ask if they had heard anything of her. Then I had to wait.
—–
It was a long wait too. I had to fend off several cranks pretending they were Jessie, but none of them knew the right answer to the question ‘where was the picture taken?’ It may have been possible that she wouldn’t know that, having seen it only briefly, but I felt she’d know. After two months the picture had many, many views and nearly as many comments, but nothing from the person I wanted to see it. And then one evening after I’d started to give up hope I got a friend invitation on Facebook from a ‘Jessica’. I checked that it was real. It seemed to be from her so I accepted. I also sent her an e-mail, asking if she really was the Jessie in the picture. Then I waited again. ‘Kashmir’ was playing on the radio when the reply came. All it said was ‘Now do you believe it’s me?’ Attached was an almost identical photo.
We exchanged e-mails for a few days. I skirted around the questions I really wanted to ask and just asked safe questions about how she was and where she was. Her replies were always friendly and any questions she asked were in the same style as mine. It turned out she was living about an hours drive away, in a town I’d passed through quite a bit, but didn’t know particularly well. After a week of pussyfooting around I asked if we could meet, expecting the answer ‘no’. I was more than a little surprised in that case when she said of course. I thought a neutral venue might be best, so suggested a pub called ‘The Black Buck’ about halfway between us. Another quick agreement and then a time and a recognition signal were arranged in case we’d both changed too much.
—–
On the way over I thought about the fun times we had had together. Not just me and Jess, but our whole clique. We must have been the worst set of prefects the school had ever had, breaking more rules than the rest of the school put together. As I got closer to the ‘Buck’ I began to get vague pangs of worry, but tried to put them from my mind as I swung into the car park.
I paused at the door to the pub, suddenly unsure that this was the right thing to do. Maybe it would be better to remember Jessica as she was, or as I thought she was, rather than build this up as a grand reunion and find out my memories were totally at odds with a girl I hadn’t seen for twenty years. I took my hand from the door. Suddenly there was a fondly remembered voice behind me.
‘Second thoughts, huh?’
I span around and was greeted by the dazzling smile from the photograph. I grinned back.
‘Sort of. Too late now though.’ I held out my hand. ‘It’s good to see you again Jess.’ She shook my hand, an amused look on her face and then pulled me close and hugged me.
‘It’s good to see you too Dave. It’s been too long.’
‘It has Jess, it has.’ I pushed the door open ‘C’mon, I’ll get the drinks in.’
‘I just need to check they’re holding my room for me, and then I’ll be in. Get me a Tia Maria and coke?’
‘Of course. I wish I’d thought about getting a room too. Just have to hold off on the alcohol I suppose.’
‘Oh, you can share the room if you like. I’m sure they won’t mind.’ I had a flashback to the caravan. Jessie saw the look cross my face. ‘You don’t have to if you’re worried what people think you know.’ She smiled that smile again, more knowing now. I grinned back.
‘I think we’re both grown up enough now to handle it. Thanks Jess. But I sleep on the couch if that’s okay?’
‘Sure Dave, if that’s what you want. The room may not have a couch of course.’ She gave a wicked grin and went to find out about her reservation. My head spinning slightly with the suddenness of everything, I went and got the drinks in.
As we sat sipping our drinks we began to reminisce about our days at school together, the things we did either as a pair or part of a larger group. The jokes we had played or seen, the mishaps, the teachers we played up. The time passed swiftly and so did the drinks. I went to stand as the bar was closing and found my legs belonged to someone else. Jessica caught me before I fell and led me to what was our room. I couldn’t understand it, my brain was functioning normally, but the rest of me was on holiday. And Jess had drunk as much as me, but she didn’t seem to be affected. She opened the door and sat me down on the edge of the bed.
‘I’m sorry Jessie, I seem to have got carried away with the drinking.’ I was really upset that I may be ruining our reunion.
‘It isn’t the first time I’ve carried you to bed.’ She said soothingly.
‘It isn’t? I don’t remember being this bad with you before.’
‘The Christmas we were eighteen? Leaving school at dinnertime and not going home until six o’clock? I got you home that day, and without your mom finding out.’
‘You did? I don’t recall…’
‘Of course you don’t. You barely remembered your own name, let alone mine, kept calling me Belinda, very disconcerting for a girl.’
‘I apologise extremely belatedly.’ My mind began to wander, but still connected to my mouth unfortunately. ‘Belinda? Belinda? I wonder… I know! Belinda Carlisle! I had a crush on her back then.’
‘I didn’t really want to know that.’
‘Sorry.’ Suddenly I began to feel really queasy. My hand went to my mouth and I stood and began to stagger in the direction I hoped the bathroom was.
—–
It was embarrassing, throwing up like that in front of somebody I hadn’t seen for twenty years. I felt so fo
olish, and really, really ill. Jessica seemed to just take it in her stride, as if happened all the time. She turned the shower on and told me to get under it, leaving me to it. I struggled out of my clothes and sat beneath the stream of hot water. It didn’t do much for the thumping in my head, but it did make me feel less queasy and I didn’t get the whirling pits when I closed my eyes.
It must have been more relaxing than I thought. I awoke with a start as daylight was creeping through the window. I held my head and struggled to sit up. I was in the bed. Guiltily I looked around me, there was no sign of where Jessica had slept. I slid out from the sheets and had another shock, I was naked! And the only one who could have moved me from the shower was Jess. Hurriedly I pulled on my boxers and trousers, wondering where a my shirt was: And b where Jessie was. Had she been forced to sleep in the armchair? Or had she slept in the bed beside me? I was going to feel guilty whichever it was. I was looking for my socks and shoes when Jess came into the room with my shirt.
‘You’re awake then? Good. I’ve managed to get your shirt cleaned and dried.’ She said, handing me the garment. I took it and began to put it on.
‘Jessie, I’m so sorry. I’ve been nothing but a problem for you all night.’
‘Calm down Dave. It wasn’t the first time I’ve put someone to bed, I got a lot of experience of that while I was in the RAF.’
‘But I took your bed and everything.’ I paused. ‘You joined the RAF?’
‘Ten years.’ She said proudly.
‘There is so much about you I don’t know anymore. I should have asked you all those things before I met you again.’
‘Dave, you haven’t changed a bit. You still worry about so many inconsequential things.’ She smiled. The word ‘inconsequential’ made me look from the bathroom to the bed for some reason. Jessica saw the glance and laughed. ‘Yes, I put you in the bed. As I said, it wasn’t the first time.’
‘But… but, I was… you saw…’ I spluttered, going a deep red. She was still grinning.
‘If you must know, I didn’t look.’
I managed to calm down. I looked at Jessica and realised I was still hung up on her. I had to do something.
‘Jess. Can we talk? There are a couple of things I need to say, and maybe a question I need to ask.’
‘We spent most of last night talking didn’t we?’
‘I suppose, but that was just chatting really. Please Jessie, this is important to me I promise.’
‘All right.’ She said with a shrug. ‘Why don’t we go for a walk? It’s a lovely day and you look like you could do with some fresh air still.’
—–
She waited for some minutes as we walked, while I was trying to sort out how to say what I wanted to say without seeming crass or bluff, until the silence became too much.
‘So, what was it you wanted to say?’
Here goes nothing, I thought.
‘The first thing is, I’m sorry about the caravan holiday, I didn’t think it through.’
‘Why are you sorry? It was fun wasn’t it?
‘It was great fun, but I should have realised that the others would all pair off, leaving you with me. I hoped that it would be boys and girls bunking separately, but I know your shyness made you embarrassed when it happened the other way.’
‘I was embarrassed to start with, but I was kind of hoping that we’d end up together.’
‘You were?’ It was a bit of a shock to hear that. ‘And I thought I was doing the right thing for you. I’m truly sorry Jess, but why didn’t you say something?’
‘Because you were right, I was shy. And so were you.’
‘Yes. Yes I was. It looks like I made a right mess of that too. I’m really, really sorry.’
‘You don’t have to keep apologizing, we both could have done things differently.’ She smiled. ‘In any case, maybe it was all for the best. After all, we both kept an image of a perfect partner in our heads for twenty years didn’t we?’
I nodded.
‘I suppose.’ I replied slowly. The phrase ‘perfect partner’ was bouncing round in my head.
‘Was that all you wanted to say? You mentioned a question.’
‘Yes, yes I did.’ I held her hand, wondering how to put it. ‘What happened that summer Jessie? You just vanished without a word.’
Now Jessica looked away.
‘Oh, that.’ She turned back around and took my other hand. ‘Well, my gran had been ill for some time and dad decided we needed to move closer. It was all a bit of a rush, and some things got forgotten.’
‘I can see that, but why couldn’t you just come and say goodbye? You knew where I lived, it was only twenty minutes walk.’
Jess hung her head.
‘My turn to say sorry.’ She looked away and then lifted her face to me. There were tears forming in her eyes. ‘I’d managed to convince myself that you didn’t like me, what with the caravan holiday and everything, so I thought a clean break would be best for both of us. But I never stopped thinking about you.’
‘Jessie, why would I have asked you to come with me if I didn’t like you? To make up the numbers?’
‘I know, I know.’ She almost wailed. ‘I was just confused I suppose. I’d never been in love before.’
The words hit me like a hammer blow. I hugged her as tears began to roll down her cheeks.
‘Oh Jess, Jessie. What have we done? Between us we seemed to have screwed up a budding romance.’
‘Do you think we could try again?’ She asked, looking up with reddened eyes. I held her closer, hugging her tightly.
‘Of course we can.’ I smiled down at her. ‘It wasn’t until I’d lost you that I realised that I loved you. Something else I’m sorry for.’
Jessie giggled through her tears.
‘We seem to have spent most of the past day apologizing for one thing or another don’t we?’
I laughed too.
‘We do.’ I led her back towards the ‘Buck’. ‘What do you think we should do now?’ She shook herself, and a thoughtful look crossed her pretty face.
‘Well, are you busy the rest of the day?’
‘Not especially, no. Why?’
‘I’ve got something I’d like you to see. Can you follow me back to my studio?’
‘Your studio? Are you some sort of artist then?’
‘I’d like to think so.’ She smiled. ‘I’m a photographer. Mainly portraits, family groups and weddings. And I like to think my pictures are fairly artistic.’
‘I know what you mean.’ I said. ‘I take pictures too, not professionally, just for pleasure, planes and cars mainly.’
‘What do you do for a job now? I never thought to ask.’
I shuffled my feet and looked down embarrassedly.
‘I’m ashamed to say that I’m a bin man for the local council.’
‘That’s not a job I’d have connected you with, but why are you ashamed?’
‘Because I know I could have done better. With you gone I couldn’t be bothered at college, and messed up my exams. I bummed around for a year and then got a job as a ‘temporary general operative’.’ I shrugged. ‘I found I enjoyed working outside, and I was good at it. Eventually they made me a RCV driver.’ I saw the look on Jessica’s face. ‘Yes, I’m one of those who, once a week, get in your way when you’re in a hurry.’ By now we were back at the pub. ‘Look, let’s get our things, and I’ll follow you wherever you want to go. Something I should have done twenty years ago.’ Jessica nodded and went to collect her bag. I went and paid off our bills and then waited for her by the door.
‘Which car is yours?’ She asked when she came out. I pointed at my Range Rover. ‘Nice. Mine’s this one.’ She walked over to an Escort Cosworth that I had been admiring.
‘Very nice.’ I said.
‘It suits me.’ She got in and turned the engine over. It was a sweet sound. Then I heard the music on the stereo. It was Led Zeppelin IV.
‘That’s amazing.’ I gasped out. ‘I was listening to that too.’
‘It was you that started me listening to this music back then.’ She smiled up at me. ‘Come on, get into your monster and foll
ow me.’
—–
We pulled up at the back of a row of shops. Jess slipped into a parking space that was obviously hers. Unsure where to park, I waited until she indicated the space next to her. She led me into her studio. It was light and airy and full of camera equipment. I couldn’t help but look at some of it enviously. Jessie noticed my interest.
‘What camera have you got?’ She asked.
‘Nikon D50 and a Tamron zoom.’ I swept my hand around. ‘Nothing as grand as this, but it does what I want mostly.’
‘I started all this with a Nikon, they’re a good camera.’ She turned back around and headed for a door. ‘Coffee?’
‘That would be nice.’
‘Through here.’ She said, motioning towards the door. ‘It’s a little utility room where I keep some of my stuff that I don’t have room for upstairs.’
‘Upstairs?’
‘I live over the shop. It’s a bit small I suppose, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, but it suffices.’ I followed her into the utility room and sat on a stool she indicated. Looking around I could see several boxes of bits and pieces that looked like they had been recently disturbed. ‘Sugar?’ Jess asked suddenly.
‘What!?’
‘Do you take sugar?’
‘Oh! Yes, yes. Two please. I’m sorry, I was thinking of something else.’ I was blushing, and I knew it. Jessica looked at me and smiled.
‘You still worry too much, and at your age too.’
‘Can’t help it I suppose. You said you had something to show me?’
‘Yes. There on top of the scanner.’ She pointed at a pile of pictures. I picked them up and began to look through them. There were more than twenty of them, mostly from the caravan holiday, a couple from the school trip later in the year and some from our last days in that final term together. But I was in all of them, mainly with Jess, a couple of times on my own. I looked up as Jessica handed me a mug.
‘Jess…’ I began falteringly. ‘Jessie, where did you get these?’
‘Oh, I either took them or asked someone to take them with my camera. It was only an Instamatic back then though.’
‘But why? If I was that important to you, why didn’t you say?’ I was at a loss.
‘Because… Because I was shy. And if I didn’t ask, you couldn’t reject me.’ She looked down, her eyes tearful once more. ‘It was stupid, I know.’
‘No, no it wasn’t stupid.’ I stopped and thought. ‘Well actually it was pretty daft because…’
‘Why?’
‘Because that’s the exact rationalisation that I used.’ I tried to grin, but couldn’t. ‘We really screwed up Jessica. If one of us had got the courage up to say something, we could have been together.’
‘We wasted twenty years then?’ A watery smile spread over her face.
‘I suppose.’ A grin broke through onto my face, and then I began to laugh. Jessie giggled and then began to laugh too. I stood up and held her close, hugging her to me to make up for twenty years of wondering. ‘I think we’ll have to do better this time.’ I said as we pulled apart reluctantly.
‘We will. And the first thing we need is a new picture.’
‘How are we going to do that? We’re the only ones here.’
‘Dave, out there is my photographic studio.’ She grinned. ‘I have all sorts of gadgets for taking pictures remotely. Come on.’ She led me by the hand back through the door.
I sat in the middle of the studio as Jessie set up the camera, the lights, and the remote shutter, marvelling at all the attention to detail. All I’d ever done to take a picture was point and shoot! I asked her what she was doing next weekend.
‘Nothing I can’t cancel.’ She replied.
‘Want to come to a car meet with me?’
‘Sure. Shall I bring a camera?’
‘That’s up to you, I’ll be taking mine though.’
‘I might do then, but I reckon you just want to borrow my big zoom lens.’ She said mischievously.
‘Jessie! As if.’
She laughed.
‘Only kidding Dave. Of course you can borrow it.’ Finally she was ready and came to sit next to me.
‘How shall we pose?’ I asked.
‘How about recreating the picture you posted.’
‘Well there’s no caravan, but…’
‘Idiot!’ She laughed, kissing me. ‘Smile.’
—–
It had been six months after Jessie and I had been reunited and things seemed to be going well between us. Then I got a phone call from her one afternoon just as I was leaving work.
Angelica
- 01.02.2021
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