“Are you ready to get started?” Finn asked. He craned his neck to look around the camera and tripod that blocked most of his view. Charlotte stood on the other side with a tissue in hand waiting for yet another sneeze to come out.
“Hold on,” Charlotte answered. She blew her nose.
Finn sighed and adjusted the camera once more. “You wanted to get this whole video shot today, right?”
“I didn’t expect to wake up with a cold.” Charlotte countered. She rolled her eyes at him and breathed heavily through her mouth. Now her nose was all blocked up and the sneeze still wouldn’t come out.
“Why don’t we post-pone the shoot, then? We’ll see how you feel tomorrow or we can wait until next week to get it done.” Finn suggested. He turned the camera off so not to waste any more of the battery. They had done a couple of shots throughout the day but it’s been slow and Finn worried his second battery would die while the other was still charging. Then they really wouldn’t be able to get any shoots done.
“No,” Charlotte said sternly. She tossed her tissue into the trash and fixed her hair. “No, I can do this. We’ve already stopped this shoot once before. I don’t want to put it off any longer.”
“There was a blizzard last week. That couldn’t be helped. Now you’re sick. Do you realize how difficult it’s going to be to auto-tune your clogged voice from your sinuses?” Finn sighed. He walked around the other side of the camera and sat down on the couch. “Your viewers will understand why the video is late.”
Charlotte too let out a heavy sigh and sat down on the couch beside him. “I appreciate you Finn, really. I do. I know you mean well and you want what’s best for me, our viewers, and the channel.”
“Your viewers.”
“Our viewers.” She corrected. “Just because you’re not on camera doesn’t mean you’re not part of this project. This channel wouldn’t have happened without you. You’re my camera man and editor. I don’t know what’d I do without you.”
Finn chuckled. “You did just fine on your own. You started the channel yourself and did everything yourself. You only wanted to upgrade the quality and make things a little easier on yourself, which was why you hired me in the first place. I’m just a helper, that’s all. But I do care about the channel and you.”
Charlotte shook her head. “Finn, stop. I used to do it all myself but I still only have half the knowledge you do when it comes to editing. You cloned me in the last video. That’s crazy how you did that.”
“It’s just a couple of buttons and good timing, that’s all.” Finn shrugged. He turned the other way beginning to feel a little embarrassed.
He had always wanted to be a video editor or a film maker. It was his dream but it was tough for him to get a job in the field without moving out of state. His mother was sick and couldn’t work so he had decided to stay and work a dull job in order to take care of his family.
Charlotte was a video channel he watched often. He loved watching other people work, edit, and create movie magic and he would try to imitate them to hone and improve his own editing skills. Finn went onto social media one day and noticed a post from Charlotte. She was looking for a video editor.
He applied, he interviewed in person with her, and she gave him the job. It started off with him editing just two videos a week for her while she did everything else. But as her channel grew, she needed more and more help. Finn offered to help for more money instead of her hiring another person. Charlotte loved his work and enjoyed the type of editing he did on her videos as well as him putting his own personality into it, that she agreed to let him do more.
Now Finn was her cameraman for every video she shot and also edited every single video they did together. All Charlotte had to do was take care of the analytics, write her own scripts, act, and promote the channel. They were a good team and things were going well.
“Sometimes,” Finn said, “you can be a workaholic. I know the channel is important to you and it’s your love. It’s your work, your life. I also know we’re trying to get a backlog of videos to start posting on the channel daily, but maybe that’s a goal that we need a later deadline for. There’s two more months until the new year, why don’t we surprise your viewers with a daily video starting on the new year?”
Charlotte nodded her head as he spoke to her. She glanced up at the ceiling deep in thought from his last statement. Then she grinned. “That actually sounds like a great idea. That’ll give us more time to get everything together.”
“And we can take a break for the rest of the week while you feel better and get over this cold.” Finn added.
“The rest of the week?” Charlotte pouted.
“Today’s Thursday and we take the weekends off. I think you can manage the rest of today and tomorrow to just chill and relax. Maybe you can brainstorm some new video ideas and get started on a couple new scripts.” Finn suggested. “You know, while you’re resting on the couch.”
Charlotte grinned. “Okay, that sounds like a good idea. I don’t think I’m going to convince you otherwise…” she sneezed. Charlotte pumped her fists in the air. “I finally sneezed!”
“Bless you,” Finn chuckled.
Words: 967
Sunday Morning
An abandoned house. A heist. A new puppy. Lost Love. From unbelievable to true-to-life, this flash fiction collection will take you to many places and get to know various characters. With no two stories alike each is thought-provoking, emotional,...