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[i]Useless?..[/i]

The terrible humor just wouldn't stop on Ricky's end. It never did. But what was the point of fueling an already raging fire of insecurities and self-hatred? Alex didn't know that much about the guy honestly, and the little he'd learned last year as a new student was more than he ever wanted or needed to know. Thanks to Jordan, of course  -the endless spout of gossip that he was- it seemed there was a history of domestic abuse in the Quinn household, something that Alex couldn't really relate to as he always saw his parents are fairly vanilla. Boring even. The occasional squabbles about petty things, as most families would have no matter who you were, but nothing to the degree that Ricky had endured.

But maybe he had a point, nevertheless. Alex would be lying if the thought hadn't crossed his mind whether or not he would have any other skills outside the artistic realm. Is this all there is?

[color=00aeef]"You might very well be right."[/color] Alex responded with a shrug, lifting the camera up to his face and positioning his eye in the viewfinder. [color=00aeef]"But as long as every picture captures some kind of personal story, I guess I'll continue to do whatever I'm doing."[/color]

He centered Ricky's portrait in the frame, the yellow-orange of the bonfire's warm colors reaching far enough to light one half of his face. Quinn was a good-looking guy, and Alex appreciated a subject who, for one reason or another, seemed fairly photogenic, despite their emotional struggles. [color=00aeef]"Hold that pose. Nothing unnatural. People can sense fake. Just be you."[/color]

Alex didn't have to like Ricky, but he also didn't need to be on the guy's "shit list" for no other reason than existing.