I now am off placement and had time to finish this chapter!

Chapter 2
It had been a few days since I had seen Emily. Unless the hospital changed their mind, she would have returned home two or so days ago. I was intentional about giving her some space. The last time we were friends before her accident, me not being able to control myself and how I felt about her was what messed things up. We had been given a second chance, one that I didn’t believe I would ever get, and I wasn’t going to ruin it.

It was nearly midday, as I sat in the study that was originally the spare bedroom, on the work computer, working on photos. After I visited Emily, I went to a shoot, where I was taking photos of some cars. The customer was a collector of classic Japanese cars, which was why I was so eager to take the job. He had everything from Datsuns from the seventies, Toyotas from the eighties, Mazdas from the nineties and even a few modern cars as well. Afterwards we shared a drink and talked cars, especially my MR2. It was probably the best shoot I had done.

On the primary monitor, I had Lightroom open, making adjustments to a shot of a white ‘93 Mazda RX7, with Facebook open on the secondary monitor. Though I told myself it was to make sure I was responding to customers contacting me via my page as quick as possible, I spent more time with it on my news feed.

My attention wavered from Lightroom when I heard light ping come from the speakers. I glanced over at Facebook to see a new friend request.

Emily Collins

I clicked accept in a heartbeat, before opening her profile to have a look. The profile picture was a selfie that looked like it was taken very recently. She mustn’t have been able to get into her phone or computer, so had to start a new one. Other than that the profile was empty. It was saddening to see that. It wasn’t empty because she didn’t care for Facebook. Her old account was full of details about herself. Favorite movies, music, pictures. Everything. But now, she knew nothing.

I attempted to look back at Lightroom, however was distracted by another noise from Facebook. A message from Emily.

”Hey! Are you free today? I’ve spent the last few days at home, and I’ll lose the plot if I don’t get out and do something today!”

I considered declining, and using work as an excuse, so I wasn’t spending too much time with her and risking undoing what had happened over the last few days. However I had been working on these shots fairly consistently for the last two hours, and she seemed to really want to get out of the house.

”Sure. I’ll pick you up. What’s your address?”

A little notification appeared to show Emily had seen it, however it took a few minutes to reply.


”Sorry, I had to find some mail with the address. 113/1320 Plenty Road, Bundoora. How long will you be?”

”I’m about a half hour drive away. I’ll head over now. See you soon.”

I grabbed my camera bag out of sheer habit, as well as my keys and wallet, before walking out of the apartment, and taking the lift to the underground carpark. As I walked to my car, I punched Emily’s address into my phone, before climbing in and driving out.

I arrived at Emily’s a little under half an hour later. It took me a few minutes to find her apartment, however fairly soon I found myself face to face with the door marked 113.

I knocked on the door, and a few seconds later, the door opened.

“Hey!” Emily said, before hugging me, which took me by surprise. I still was wrapping my head around her not hating me. She must have noticed this.

“Sorry, I wasn’t being weird was I?” Emily asked, sounding somewhat embarrassed.

“No it’s fine. You just caught me off guard.” I laughed, “You used to do it all the time, and near tackle me.”

Emily laughed, before speaking up.

“So what are we doing today?” she asked.

“I was hoping you’d tell me.” I replied, “I haven’t planned anything.”

“Well I do have one idea.” Emily said, “Could we maybe go to places that I should know? I’ve spent the last few days trying to learn everything I can about myself from what is around here. But I think this place has run dry.”

“So what, places where you used to hang out?” I asked.

“Exactly!” Emily replied excitedly.

“Sure. Let’s head down to the car.”

Emily grabbed her phone, which she had probably wiped to be able to use it again, her notebook and her keys, before locking the door, and following me down to the main road where my car was parked. When it was in sight, and Emily noticed we were walking towards it, she spoke up.

“Wait a minute!” she exclaimed, opening her notebook and flicking through it until she found the right page. She opened to the page with the photo from my 16th birthday, where I had a black eye and was holding the model MR2.

“Is that the same car?” Emily asked, “The NR2, or whatever you called it?”

“Yep. That’s an MR2.” I replied, “And it’s mine.”

“Bulls***.” Emily said confidently, however soon looked me in the eye, “Really?”

I pulled the keys out of my pocket, and unlocked the door, then started the engine.

“Believe me yet?” I asked.

“Maybe…” Emily joked, before climbing into the passenger seat, “So where to first?”

I climbed into the driver’s seat and closed the door behind me.

“Greensborough Plaza?” I asked, “It’s where we’d hang out most of the time.”

“Sure.” Emily replied, “Take me to Greensborough!”

I pressed in the clutch and put the car into gear before taking off.

“So you’re probably the person I have seen most since waking up in hospital, but I still hardly know you.” Emily explained.

“What do you want to know?” I asked, as I slowed down for a red light.

“What can you tell me?”

“Well I was born in Greensborough, around the corner from the plaza, and grew up in Eltham, which is one of the nearby suburbs. I went to primary school there, then went to St. Helena for secondary.” I explained, “In year seven, I lost my dad to cancer, so from then on it was just Mum and I.”

“I’m sorry…” Emily murmured, “I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, it’s fine seriously.” I said, “It was twelve years ago, and he lived a good life.”

I took a second to think about how to explain it as I shifted gears.

“It happens to all of us at some point. Some sooner than others, and some too soon. And yeah it sucks.” I explained, “But being depressed about it all these years later isn’t going to bring him back. All we have left of him is our memories. I just hope that one day I can make him proud.”

“I’m sure you already have.” Emily said, touching my shoulder.

”If you knew the half of it, you wouldn’t be saying that.” I thought to myself.

“So what was your dad like?” Emily asked curiously.

“He was a genuine good bloke.” I replied, “No other way of putting it. He ran a garage down in Diamond Creek, and was always doing work for people cheap who couldn’t afford any more. He loved MR2s, and always said that one day we’d fix one up.”

“Is that why you love this car so much?” Emily said.

“Pretty much.” I replied, “I mean, it’s a great car regardless, but it does have that sentimental value to it.”

We pulled into the parking spot in the Greensborough Plaza carpark, and made our way in. As we entered, we found ourselves surrounded by shoppers and store-fronts. Once Emily had taken it in, we decided to head over to the food court.

“So this is where we’d hang out after school and on weekends.” I said to Emily, “We’d get food, and make our way downstairs to JB HiFi and you’d always walk out of there with a CD.”

“I was pretty surprised when I got home and saw how many CDs I had.” Emily laughed.

“I always told you you were wasting your money and that you could just torrent it for free.” I replied, “But you always insisted it sounded better on CD. I think you were the reason that department still exists.”

We got some food before browsing through a few other stores, eventually finding ourselves near the cinemas. Emily looked around, before pulling out her notebook and flicking to the page with the photos I printed for her. She pulled out the one from my sixteenth birthday, holding it in front of her, analysing the photo and the area in front of us.

“This was taken here wasn’t it?” Emily asked.

“Yep. On that seat over there.” I said, pointing to the seat out the front of Ben and Jerry’s.

Emily walked over and sat down, seeming as if she was just trying to take it all in.

“I want to say that this seems familiar to me.” Emily said quietly, “But it isn’t.”

“It hasn’t been that long.” I replied, “Maybe one day, you’ll start to remember again. You still have the rest of your life.”

“That’s a long time to feel like a complete stranger.” Emily muttered. I was silent for a moment, before conceding to the fact that maybe I couldn’t help her with this more than I already am.

“I wish I knew what to say to make it better.” I said, as I sat down next to her, “But I guess this is just one of those things we can’t change.”

“I’m sorry.” Emily replied, “You’re right. It’s been not even two weeks, and I still have time. Besides, you’ve been more helpful than anyone else with all this. So thank you.”

We made our way back to the car, before making the drive to our old school. I pulled into the carpark as students in uniforms flooded out of the property into the car-park and surrounding streets after a long day. We got out of the car and made our way past the office into the main courtyard.

“Are you sure we’re allowed here?” Emily asked, looking around somewhat self-consciously.

“We’re ex-students, and we’re just looking around. Besides, I’m friends with the media and art teachers.” I explained, “I’m here at least once a month giving some sort of photography demonstration to those classes. And there is a staff meeting after school today, so everyone will be there.”

“Okay.” Emily said, not entirely convinced, but following along anyway.

We made our way to the classroom where Mr. Levy assigned me to show Emily around on that day nine years ago. Whilst the computers were new and it looked like the carpet had been replaced and walls painted, it still looked mostly the same. After that we went to the locker room where I had gotten into a fight with Tristan on my birthday, and found my locker, mostly based on the fact that it was the one with a near black door as opposed to the others being a light grey.

“So this is where that fight happened?” Emily asked cautiously.

“Yeah.” I replied, “This is my locker here.”

I then walked over to another locker a few metres away.

“And this is the one I threw Tristan into.” I explained, “And that’s the wall that they threw me against.”

Emily kept silent. I needed to tone down the talk of fighting. It was making her uncomfortable.

“Come with me.” I said, before walking out the door, and making my way towards one of our old classrooms. Through the window it was pretty bare. Desks, tables and a whiteboard, but not many posters.

“What’s so special about this room?” Emily asked.

“This was the maths classroom.” I explained, “You loved maths, especially when it got weird with letters and stuff. Before your accident you were studying to be a maths teacher.”

“Really?” Emily asked, starting to sound a little more excited.

“Yep. You loved that it followed rules, and that you could always figure it out if you knew how. And you loved that you’d find yourself using it in your day to day life.” I explained, “I mean hell, you even helped me pass it in year twelve, which is a miracle in itself.”

Emily laughed.

“You don’t like maths?” Emily asked.

“Maths for the sake of maths, no.” I replied, “Photography uses a lot of numbers and calculations and I don’t mind that. But when you start trying to figure out the angles of lines off the edges of circles and other obscure stuff like that… Well, I have things I’d rather be doing.”

Emily laughed, before gazing through the window again.

“Where did we sit?” she asked, without moving.

“Back row, left-hand side.”

“So right there?” Emily asked, pointing at a table.

“Yep. Right there is where we spent hundreds of hours over our years at school.” I replied, “You were always getting praised by the teacher, whilst I was frantically trying to do last night’s homework.”

“You make me sound like I was some sort of teacher’s pet.” Emily said.

“You weren’t. Well not intentionally. You were the only person who enjoyed the work, so it was easy for the teacher to like you.” I replied, before looking at my watch. It was nearing 5pm.

“The staff meeting will be over soon, so we better head off.” I explained.
“I thought you were here pretty regularly?” Emily asked.

“Yeah, but I wasn’t the most popular student, even with the teachers.” I replied, “The ones who get me to demonstrate to their classes were the only ones who didn’t think I was some hormonal drop-kick, and I’d rather not run into them.”

“Fair enough.”

We made our way back to the car, as we climbed in, sitting in silence.

“So what do you have planned for the rest of the night?” I asked, somewhat awkwardly as I started the car.

“I was going to have a party and invite all of my friends.” Emily said sarcastically, “In all seriousness, probably pizza and a movie. Granted, I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

There was another awkward silence, before I spoke up, going against every instinct I had.

“Well, if you’d like some company, we can do that at my place?” I said, somewhat cautiously, “I know what movies you like, and what pizza is your favorite.”

“Sure!” Emily responded with a grin, “I’m always happy to find out a little more about myself.”

The rest of the trip was spent discussing movies, which was mostly myself telling Emily which movies she liked, and what they were about. As we drove down the main road of Doncaster, Emily looked out the window, taking it all in. On one side of us was the hotel, and the other side the shopping centre, one of the biggest shopping centres in Melbourne. I turned left at the lights, before turning on my right indicator and driving into the driveway to the underground carpark of my apartment building.

“Where are we going?” Emily asked.

“My place, remember?” I replied, somewhat confused.

“Wait, you live here?” Emily asked, sounding shocked, “I thought we were driving through here to another suburb? It looks like it would cost a fortune to live around here.”

I parked the car and we began walking to the elevator.

“Well it isn’t cheap.” I replied.

“So how do you afford to live here?” Emily asked, “You’re not some big time drug dealer are you?”

“Really?”

“Hey, I gotta ask!” Emily exclaimed.

“A mixture of things. I enter hundreds of photography competitions each month, for cash prizes and equipment. The stuff I win that I don’t need, I sell.” I explained, “That and once you get a good portfolio together, and have your own style of photos, you can charge whatever you want for your time. If people really want what you can offer, they’ll find a way to pay for it.”

The elevator arrived at the eighth floor, as we stood out and made our way down the hall to my door. I unlocked it, flicking on the switch and made my way in. When I saw the empty beer bottles on the bench and coffee table, the empty chip packets and the DVD cases, I started to realize this may be a bad idea.

“Sorry about the mess.” I said quickly, grabbing the empty bottles and putting them in the recycling box, trying to think of a cover story, “I had some friends over for a few movies last night.”

“It’s fine.” Emily replied, though not sounding entirely convinced. She made her way over to one of the walls, where a large canvas hung of a photo that was pitch black, with a few orange, decorative light globes.

“Did you take this shot?” Emily asked, looking up at it, “It’s amazing.”

“Yeah I did.” I replied, ceasing tidying for a second to look, “I won my first competition with it.”

“Wow.” Emily muttered, “Where is it?”

“A cafe at uni. I went there after failing one of my photography assignments and was pretty depressed about it. I saw that and decided to take the shot, and really liked it. I had been struggling with uni all year, and felt like giving up on photography altogether.” I explained, “It was going to be my last shot before I threw in the towel.”

I walked over to have a closer look.

“So why didn’t you?” Emily asked curiously.

“You wouldn’t let me.” I replied with a smirk, “I sent you that and told you it was my last. So naturally you submitted it to a competition to prove a point and it won. That helped me realize that uni wasn’t going to do anything for me, and that I needed to find my own way.”

“Wow…” Emily muttered to herself, as I walked into the kitchen to grab a pizza menu from the bottom drawer. Emily began walking around the apartment, taking it all in.

The apartment itself was impressive. The main room consisted of a kitchen and dining room, and a lounge room down some stairs. On the left hand side were two doors, one to my bedroom and the other to the spare room which acted as my study, then on the right a hallway to the laundry, bathroom and toilet. The wall opposite the front door was a giant window with a balcony that provided a breathtaking view of the Melbourne CBD. Emily had found her way there, and was looking out at that whilst I called the pizza shop.

I placed the order and hung up, before grabbing two Coronas from the fridge, and taking them out to the balcony, where Emily sat on one of the chairs taking it all in. I grabbed the bottle opener off the wall and opened a bottle before handing it to Emily and opening my own. I took a seat as Emily gave me a funny look.

“Beer? Really?” she asked, reading the label on the back.

“Trust me, you like it.” I explained, “When we finished school you used to drink as much as me.”

“Used to?” Emily asked, “So did I start drinking less or did you start drinking more?”

This caught me by surprise.

“You less.” I replied, “You started university and didn’t have as much time on your hands.”


Emily took a sip of her beer before grinning.

“I gotta learn to not question you.” she laughed, before taking another sip, and looking out over the balcony, “I still can’t believe you live here. You really have made it.”

”That’s if made it includes being a lonely alcoholic.” I thought to myself, before shaking the thought.

“I guess so.” I replied, “It’s alright, but I still have a lot I need to do.”

“Give yourself some credit.” Emily said, “You said you were bullied right? Those people, what’re they doing with their lives now?”

“The main one is now a plasterer.” I laughed, “And he is still an apprentice. He kept trying different trades and getting sacked.”

“And let me guess, he still lives with his mum?” Emily asked.

“Nope.”

“Really?” Emily asked, sounding shocked.

“His girlfriend’s mum. He got a girl pregnant and moved in with her family in their two bedroom townhouse.” I replied with a grin, “Other than when he gets caught cheating on her and gets thrown out for two weeks.”

Emily burst into laughter.

“You see? I’d bet every cent I have to my name that he is miserable right now, in some shack, now stuck looking after a kid that he probably doesn’t want, doing a job that he hates.” Emily replied, “Do you like what you do?”

“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t.”

“Do you like living here?”

“I wouldn’t if I didn’t.”

“Does it bring in enough to live comfortably?”

“More than enough.”

“Then you’ve made it.” Emily replied, taking another sip, “Whilst you’re sitting here on the balcony of your flashy apartment, looking at the sky-line, he is probably sitting on an old couch with a Jim Beam, trying to watch the footy over a screaming baby.”

“Fair enough.” I said, before being interrupted by the doorbell. I made my way to the door and was greeted by the smell of fresh pizza. I paid the delivery boy, before placing the two boxes on the bench and grabbing some plates.

“Which would you recommend?” Emily replied.

“Your favorite was meat lovers.” I said as I grabbed a slice of hawaiian, “You always said you could never be a vegan. It just tastes too good.”

Emily laughed as she grabbed a couple of slices, and we made our way to the couch. I grabbed the remote, and turned on the TV, starting up Netflix, and scrolling down through my recently watched list.

“Wait, stop for a second!” Emily exclaimed, “That one there. Remember Me. Is that a chick-flick? The poster looks a lot like a chick flick!”

“Maybe…” I muttered, “What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing!” Emily replied with a grin, “Each to their own. I won’t tell anybody.”

I kept scrolling until I found the movie I was looking for.

Hot Fuzz.

“An action movie?” Emily asked.

“What did you say before after I gave you a beer and you liked it?” I asked.

“Okay, I’ll trust you.”



The next two hours were filled with a mixture of unexpected laughs, groans and noises of disgust from the excessive blood. When the credits rolled, I flicked off the TV.

“So what did you think of that?” I asked, curious to hear what she said.

“It was pretty weird and f***ed up.” Emily replied before grinning, “But it was pretty hilarious and I loved it.”

“You said the exact same thing the first time I showed it to you.” I laughed, “I guess some things never change.”

“I guess you’re right.” Emily smiled, before checking her watch, “It’s only nine. Do you want to chuck on another movie?”

I thought about it for a second, before having a thought.

“I have a better idea.” I replied, “Go get your jumper.”

Emily didn’t question it, but got her jumper off one of the chairs whilst I grabbed my camera bag and a few more beers from the fridge. I walked to the front door and beckoned her to follow, before we made our way towards the lift, and headed for the twelfth floor. The roof.

As the lift doors opened, it revealed a room made up of glass that covered about half of the roof. On one end were a couple of couches and a TV, and in the other corners were a pool table and a grand piano. I walked to the door that lead to outside, and sat down on one of the seats there. Emily followed me out taking in the view.

“This is nuts.” Emily muttered, as I passed her another beer. She sat down opposite me, with a glass-topped coffee table between us, “I could never get sick of this.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes, before I tried to spark a conversation.

“So you made a new facebook account?” I asked.

“Yeah, I gave up on ever getting into my old one.” Emily replied, “I can’t even see the old one. I had it set to private.”

“Do you want to see it?” I asked, before pulling out my phone. I opened the Facebook app, and searched Emily. Two profiles came up. The one that added me today, and the one that added me nine years ago. I clicked the second and handed her the phone.

For the next few minutes she furiously scrolled through her profile, clicking on every photo, reading every comment.

“I have listed under favorite quotes, ’The greater good…’” Emily laughed, “You were right.”

“Told you.” I replied, taking a sip of my beer.

“Jesus, I have 1,200 friends.” Emily muttered, “And only you visited me.”

“You don’t remember how Facebook works?” I asked, “If someone meets you once at a party, or even just sees you across the room, they’ll add you, either to make themselves feel like they’re popular because of the amount of friends, or ‘cause they like you and don’t have the nerve to say anything.”

“Still…” Emily said before scrolling further. Her eyes widened, “Who’s Aaron Turner?”

“S*** how far back did you go?” I asked, sounding shocked. I’d hoped to never hear her talking about him again.

“About 5 years.” Emily replied, “It says I was in a relationship with him, but I am not sure if that was legit or just a joke.”

“He’s your ex.” I replied, “You dumped him when you found out he cheated on you.”

“Jesus…” Emily muttered, “I kinda wish I remembered that.”

“Be glad you didn’t.” I replied, “It was messy and he was an a**hole.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Emily lamented, “Still, this seems so full of life and personality, and my new one seems so empty. I mean, even the profile picture is better…”

Emily turned around in her chair so that she was now facing me side on, and pulled her legs up, hugging them whilst holding her Corona in one hand, and staring into the distance.

“Don’t move a muscle…” I said, before grabbing my camera out of the bag, and putting on my 85mm portrait lens.

“What’re you doing?” Emily asked nervously, not having moved but her eyes trying to see in her peripheral vision.

“Look forward, and relax a bit.” I said, looking through the viewfinder and lining up the shot. Emily figured out what I was doing, and relaxed a bit, not posing or faking a smile. Just taking in the moment.

I focussed the shot before pressing the button to release the shutter. Within a fraction of a second it was closed again, and an image appeared on my screen. Emily staring out deep in thought, with the Melbourne sky-line behind her.

I reached over to hand her the camera.

“What about that for a profile picture?” I asked, as she held the camera and stared at the shot. She tried to hold it in, but couldn’t help but smile.

“Thank you. For everything.”