Another week passed, only this time Normani was not alone throughout her shift. Rather than work the store with Megan, she ran it with her father and her best friend Dinah. The Polynesian woman's curls bounced as she moved from place to place restocking products with Mr. Hamilton. It was a couple hours into opening and they were very busy. This Saturday, a bunch of tourists and new customers flocked into the store since opening.

After the afternoon rush, Mr. Hamilton called on Normani and Dinah. The taller black man gestured over towards the register to have a little discussion. Both the workers looked on intently at the man.

Mr. Hamilton smiled proudly, "Good job on the opening rush you two! Felt like a proud dad seeing you two handle everything," The tall dark skin man patted Dinah's back making everyone chuckle, "Alright y'all, I gotta go. Please don't let my shop burn down."

"No promises." Normani and Dinah responded routinely. Mr. Hamilton's smile grew into a fatherly grin as he pecked Normani's forehead and hugged Dinah. He made his way out towards the back, but stopped remembering one more important thing.

Mr. Hamilton had stopped by the shop to grab a couple things before his business trip. A couple customer questions and needed restock products later, Mr. Hamilton got sucked into the store atmosphere and ended up staying for the morning rush. He lost so much time that he forgot he had to develop Amala's film. After losing to a game of Not It, Normani was stuck with the job of not only developing but scanning and printing Amala's newest roll of film.

Mr. Hamilton spun on his heel, "Ooh! Normani, real quick," The man balled his fist for emphasis, "Please, please be careful and develop these properly. Not too over exposed and not too-"

Normani rolled her eyes, then pushed her father towards the back, "Alright Dad, jeez. You can trust me. You've literally had me developing film since I was like 12. Cart the film, label the film, cart the film to the machine-"

"No no no, this film you gotta do by hand.

The dark skinned woman's face scrunched up in disbelief, "By hand?? Dad you've got to be kidding me-"

"By hand Normani! You gotta get the tank from my office and the chemicals from the storage closet and-"

"Alright alright alright Dad fine! I know how to do it by hand. Just go on before you're late!"

Mr. Hamilton finally obliged and exited from the back. Normani huffed softly after her father finally left, "I gotta get better at Not It. Those two are whooping my ass bro," She said aloud to herself as she tightened her apron. Normani peaked her head from around the back corner to see Dinah sitting at the register, "Dinah I'm going to the dark room. I gotta do her films by hand."

Dinah turned around, an appalled expression on her face, "By hand?? Good freaking luck. Don't forget to turn on the sign light like last time, dummy."

"Yeah, yeah whatever nigga," Normani returned to the back, mumbling to herself, "I told you last time anyways. Your big head ass just don't listen."

"Heard that."

Normani quickly turned herself back towards the corner, peeking her head around to make sure there were no customers. Swiftly, she flipped Dinah a quick middle finger and once again, returned to the back.

Lazily, Normani flipped on the "Dark Room In Use" sign and grabbed the two rolls from the film bin. She grabbed all necessary materials for the manual job and headed inside. Normani truly hated how meticulous the film process was by hand. This Amala girl must be God sent for her father to give her such special treatment.

"Shawty better have pictures of Beyonce or somebody in here. I'm not playing. Got me grabbing chemicals like I'm some scientist. I haven't touched this thing since I was 15 dammit." Normani grumbled to herself as she grabbed a mask from the far shelf. She put the mask on and began the developing process.

Much to her surprise, Amala had put in two rolls of film to be developed. Normani examined the identical rolls before her, "200 film, huh? She was definitely outside on some adventure. Let's see what you got Amala."

~

The repetitive chiming of Normani's phone alarm brought the girl back to reality. Hours had passed and Amala's film should be dry. The machine developed films should also be ready to scan. The dark skinned woman grabbed all negatives and headed towards the desktop in the back. Normani plopped herself down onto the office chair and routinely opened the necessary applications.

"Okay random citizens of Dontown, let's see what photographic masterpieces we have today," Normani grabbed a negative strip and checked the computer for what the customer needed done. Like second nature, Normani got the first roll of film scanned and put into the file sharing website, "There you go Mr. Mario. I hope you like how you and your wife's Florida pictures turned out."

All of the pictures were pretty generic scenery and family time from around the town. Everything breezed past Normani until the last roll. Upon seeing the scanned product, Normani sat up in her seat. Now this was a person who understood composition.

"Holy shit." Normani muttered, now scrolling through all this roll's scanned images. This person was definitely on an island. A beautiful one at that. Normani scrolled to see more pictures of wild horses, the sunrise, nature, but her definite favorite, a lighthouse.

Normani's mouth fell agape in awe. These were the kind of shots she would see from professional photographers on social media. She didn't think she would actually encounter it before her.

The dark skinned woman turned towards the second monitor, seeing what the customer ordered with their film. The full package: developing, scanning, and printing. A mindless smile made its way onto Normani's face as she looked more into the pictures.

"Normani are you deaf bro?" Dinah sudden voice made Normani flinch harshly. Normani spun around to see the Polynesian woman.

Normani sighed and turned towards her, "Jesus Christ dude, don't scare me like that."

Dinah rolled her eyes, "I've been calling your name for the past minute. I'm tryna take my break, so you gotta go on the floor."

Dinah made her way back towards the front of the store. Normani held her chest, stunned that she couldn't even hear Dinah speaking nor approaching while going through the photos. This person definitely had talent.

~~~

The following day, Normani and Megan were working the closing shift together. The front of the store was bare as the last bit of customers trickled out hours ago. The siblings looked at each other, knowing they were ready to close up.

"4:30, c'mon Meg. We gotta restock the shelves too so let's get it over with." Normani said, locking the front door in the process.

Megan groaned exasperatedly, "Bro that's gonna take forever. I don't wanna-". Megan didn't finish the statement before Normani was already down on one knee yelling "not it". A proud smirk spread across the dark skinned woman's face.

Normani stuck out her tongue teasingly at her sibling, "Finally gotcha!"

Her victory was cut short by the sound of soft knocking at the door. The pair turned to see Amala standing patiently at the door. Normani mentally face palmed herself for forgetting Amala's routine of ruining their early closing.

Megan chuckled, her luck never running out, "That's your girl, you go ahead Normani."

Before Normani could protest, Megan tossed her the keys and made her way towards the back. Normani grumbled small profanities to herself as she made her way towards Amala. Habitually, Normani stopped before the door and looked at the brown skin woman with a raised brow.

Amala smiled a toothless smile and waved at Normani, her baby blue mittens swaying as she greeted the employee. Normani couldn't help but smile back at the woman. Normani raised her arm, pointing to her wrist. Amala expectedly repeated the same action.

Normani shook her head, laughed at their weird shenanigans and opened the door for Amala. Briskly, Amala made her way into the store and straight to the film once again. Normani noticed Amala grabbing at 35mm film and Star Wars Polaroid film.

Today, Normani was not taking her eyes off the sneaky woman. Amala moved so swiftly and managed to scare her twice. Normani paced herself along the counter, keeping her eyes on Amala as she found her way back to her register stool.

Normani mindlessly tilted her head as she watched the woman. She had never noticed how small she was. Her light skin worked really well with her baby blue sweater. Amala even sported a pen behind her ear and a tiny backpack heart on her back, making Normani internally chuckle.

After a quick minute, Amala walked up to the register, placing another high ISO 35mm film and two packs of Polaroid film. Amala kept her eyes down at her hands, fiddling with them shyly. Normani raised a brow at the action, "Forgetting something?"

Amala's eyes shot up, surprising Normani, "I shouldn't have. I got everything on my list so far-" Amala dug into her pockets, searching until she pulled out a piece of paper, "I got almost everything on my list done. I came to buy the 1600 ISO film, the Star Wars and Yellow Polaroid film, and then I-"

Normani smiled, never seeing the girl so flustered. Today must have been a hard day, "Your film Amala. You have film ready for pickup."

A harsh blush spread across Amala's face, warmth spreading from ear to ear. Amala definitely missed the most important item. Too flustered to speak, Amala nodded sheepishly.

"Hey Meg! Can you grab an order for me? Should be under Amala." Normani shouted to her sibling in the back. After a couple seconds, the taller girl trotted her way to the front holding a large envelope. She handed it to Normani and made her way back towards the back.

Normani flipped the envelope to scan it, only to notice something in the small preview in the corner. There she could make out a rock hill and building. It almost looked like-

Normani's eyes widened in shock, "The lighthouse!". She thought to herself as she nearly dropped the envelope. There was no way. There was no way that Amala was the one taking professional level pictures like that.

"Thank you!" Amala beamed, the shyness seemingly dissipating at the sight of her work. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Normani's entire demeanor changed, "Don't worry! I only went to Warren Islands. So nothing too crazy."

Normani almost threw her hands up in defeat. Warren Islands were known for being raggedy and run down. It was a cheap trip alternative for many people in the city. There was no way Amala took those pictures there.

Rather than express her admiration, Normani nodded at the woman, flashing her a small smile, "Have a nice night, you be safe."

"You too!" Amala excitedly retorted. The lighter woman made her way out of the shop in a hurry, the excitement of her pictures very notably visible.

Normani this time let her eyes linger while she watched Amala leave. That girl was a character. "A character who can really take pictures, because what the hell?"

"C'mon, what're you waiting for? She's gone already?" Megan whined as they rounded the corner and made their way next to Normani.

Normani continued to stare off, not knowing whether or not she's staring at what was once Amala or was still paralyzed by the fact that the girl took such beautiful pictures. She didn't even seem like the photography type.