Impossible To Resist (BWWM Romance Book 1)(66)
“It’s going to be fine, Cat, you’ll be so busy photographing that you won’t have time to be nervous. This first day is the debate, so emotions will be running high and everyone will be trying to be heard. It’s going to be intense, and it’s going to keep you running around all day, so don’t spend any energy or time worrying about it now. Just let it go and focus on what you want in front of your lens today. Be mindful of where you are standing. If the shot doesn’t look good then you’re--”
She cut him off.
“Then I’m not close enough.” She finished his sentence for him and they smiled at each other. “Then I need to move my feet, not the lens. I know… I got it. I’m just…” she trailed off as the building they were going to came into view and Connor pulled the car into the parking lot.
“You’re going to be amazing. Let the nervousness go. This is what you’ve worked so hard for all of these years. This is what you’ve been going after. This is your dream, and you’re going to go do it and do it perfectly.” He gave her an encouraging nod, and she grinned back at him feeling like her stomach was tied in several knots.
“Let’s go!” he said with a grin, getting out of the car. They trudged through the snow and it crunched beneath their feet. New snow continued to fall around them. Fat flakes landed on her hair and face, like cold little kisses from the sky. She looked around her and smiled, biting her lip. This was going to be the day. This was the day that would change everything she was going to do for the rest of her life, she thought. She took a deep breath and followed Connor into the building.
Whatever she was prepared for, it wasn’t at all what she saw when she went inside. She couldn’t begin to guess at the number of people who attended the event, her eyes swept over a vast field of them. There were so many more than she had anticipated. As she stood there in amazement, she heard Connor’s soft voice in her ear and felt his warm breath on her neck as he leaned over her shoulder and spoke to her.
“Everything you are feeling right now should be caught in your camera. Put that lens up and find the images that define the moment right now, and everything that is making it significant for you.”
She felt breathless at the closeness of him. If he knew what was going through her mind just then, he wouldn’t want it captured on her camera. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, steadying herself, and then she lifted her camera to her eye and began to look for the images that told the story. They were all around her, from the massive crowds of people to the politicians who had begun to take their places at the podiums on the stage.
Connor had been right; emotions were high and the energy around them was tense and vibrant as she moved through the crowd and he followed not far behind her. The politicians took the stand and the debate began. There were four men in suits up on the stage, each of them smiling at the crowd and the cameras and scoffing disdainfully at one another.
Catalina watched the crowd through her lens, turning and eyeing everything around her. The first subject that was addressed by the moderator was gun control. It was a hot topic and the strain and shadow of antagonism flashed in the eyes of the four men on stage, and was almost immediately reflected in the eyes of the people who were there to see them speak.
Two of the men were for gun control in the hands of the government and the other two were adamantly against it. Arguments began to build as examples supporting the positions of each side were thrown out like grenades meant to bring their opponents to their knees. The moderator of the debate stepped in several times to remind the politicians of their time limits and to bring them back to the basics of the questions that were being asked.
On both the left and right sides of the room, microphones were set up and a line of people waited at each of them, anxious to ask their questions and get some answers that were as close to honest as possible.
Catalina’s lens caught everything, from the whole scope of the event to the smallest detail, such as the emotion registering in the eyes and on the faces of people in attendance. Connor had been right; everyone had an opinion to voice, and all of them wanted to be heard. There was a range of moods so vast that they went from indifferent and complacent to furious and passionate, and Catalina was capturing all of it.
Connor had also been right about her nervousness; she was far too busy and focused on what she was doing to be nervous. She was also so busy that for the first time since their trip had begun, Connor wasn’t on her mind. The only thing she was thinking about was the crowd and the politicians who seemed to be lighting fires with words all over the room.
She was standing near a man who was at the edge of his seat, watching one of the politicians closely. Suddenly, he stood up and yelled out, vocalizing his own thoughts and disagreement with what the politician was saying. In doing so, he began to wave his arms around and shout even louder, and then other men around him stood up; some of them arguing with him and telling him off, and some of them agreeing with him and defending him and his right to speak.
Catalina was nearly knocked over a minute into the men’s arguments, but suddenly there were two strong hands clamped like iron onto her hips and she was pulled backward so swiftly that she lost her balance and instinctively clung to the arms around her. In a moment, she felt herself pulled up against Connor’s chest, her hips held tight against him as his fingers held fast to them, and then she felt his mouth almost against her ear and neck as he spoke to her in the nearly deafening chaos that erupted in the room, centered right where she had been standing.