Promise Me This Read Free

was thinking of photographing something outdoors,” I said to the group, my eyes panning across each of their faces.
    “You mean like flowers or trees?” Avery asked. “The fall leaves would be gorgeous.”
    I wrinkled my nose. I wasn’t much a nature girl and I knew she wasn’t either, even though I did admire it from afar.
    “No, that would be too . . . lame,” I said.
    “You could always come with me to the dog park,” Emmy said, still nursing her first drink. I shook my head. Her and those darn shelter dogs. She probably cared more about them than humans.
    “I’m thinking something more gritty, industrial—like maybe bikes or motorcycles,” I said. “I don’t know, been wracking my brain about it.”
    “Meet me at the biker bar this weekend,” Cory said. “The entire lot is filled with sweet rides.”
    He was a true motorcycle aficionado and had even inherited a vintage Harley from his uncle. He’s met some of his past boyfriends at that bar, even though that was a tough room to work if you were gay. But Cory knew how to keep everything on the down low—at least that’s how he’d described it to me.
    “Not a bad idea,” I said. We’d all been to that bar with him before. It tended to bring a rough crowd. If you thought these guys were exclusive, you should meet that pack. They don’t appreciate fake enthusiasts, either.
    “How about photographing buildings?” Nate said. He was studying to be a structural engineer and loved anything having to do with blueprints and construction.
    Last summer, Nate had invited me to a concert at the Artisan Music Center with his cousin, Kai. We’d road-tripped there with Bennett and Avery, her roommate Ella, and Ella’s boyfriend, Quinn. On the way up, Nate would point out interesting structures and tell me cool facts about them. It had never occurred to me to photograph them, though.
    “Not sure that’s my thing,” I said. “Sorry.”
    “No sweat,” Nate said, his leg finally settling beneath the table.
    Avery motioned for Bennett to move aside so she could slide out of her seat to use the restroom. Bennett leaned over and kissed the side of her head before allowing her to pass and she smiled endearingly at him. When she first got together with Bennett, I thought she might eat him alive. That girl was tough and I loved her take-no-shit attitude, but Bennett had softened her. I thought they complemented each other well.
    “I just thought of something for your project, Jessie.” Bennett said, turning back to me. “Maybe Nate here
can
help you out.”
    “Huh?” Nate’s head snapped up. “What the hell do you mean?”
    “You have that cool internship where you get to go up on bridges and shit.”
    “Seriously? I know you’re working for some firm this semester, but I never knew exactly what the hell you do for them,” I said, staring Nate down. “You’re allowed to climb on bridges?”
    Nate nodded. “They have a contract with the city and my supervisor took me up on the Municipal Bridge—you know the big blue one that shines over the river downtown?”
    “That is so rad,” I said, my mouth hanging open in awe.
    “Yeah, you should see the view from up top. It was honestly one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done,” he said, his eyes slightly unfocused, as if he was recounting it in his head. “But no way I’d be allowed to take you up there.”
    My mind started firing away, think of bridges.
    “Still, that fits into my industrial idea,” I said and then snapped my fingers. “I bet I could take photos of different kinds of bridges.”
    “I knew you’d think that was cool,” Bennett said.
    “Great idea. But this city has got nothing on Bridgeway, over the state border,” Nate said. “It’s known as the city of bridges.”
    “For real?” I said. “Never knew that. What kinds do they have?”
    “They have a few smaller ones constructed like the bridges we have here downtown,” he said, his eyes lighting up. “But if