“Lemme see!” An excited Tina snatched the camera from Bette and reviewed the picture. Almost immediately, her eyebrows met at the middle and her forehead scrunched. She hit the zoom button twice and focused on the left part of the image, right beside her body. The picture of the two of them was a pretty one, she’d have to admit. For a self-shot pic, it was nicely taken. She was smiling brightly, looking directly at the camera. Her face was glowing. Bette, on the other hand, was gazing at her face, taking in everything about her with her brown eyes. She had never seen Bette’s love for her so explicitly displayed in a picture until now. Tina’s cheek grew warm. She felt so adored. So loved. It was a beautiful shot of the two of them; and it was made even more special by the breathtaking view from this high above. Venice beach looked spectacular down below, even more so with the lit torches that seemed to litter one part of the beach tonight, as captured on the picture Bette took.

Still staring at the zoomed image, Tina bit her lower lip. Slowly, she turned her body around and gazed at the scenery below – looking at the view captured by the camera with her own eyes. Realizing that what she was seeing was indeed real, she sat in muted shock, her eyes wide and her mouth agape.

Maybe her eye doctor was right, maybe she did need glasses. Something was wrong with her eyes. She was taking in the sight of the torches burning brightly at the beach, and after a second, her vision blurred and she couldn’t see anymore. Tina closed her lids – and it was only then that she realized. Her eyes were fine. But they were finding it difficult to see – being that hot tears had flooded them completely.

Tiki torches were arranged to form some sort of large rectangle at the part of the beach where no one strolled. At the middle of it were even more torches, only this time, they were placed to spell out words. It reminded Tina of something significant from her past. A red tag. Only this time, the paper was sand, and the ink were the blazing fires from the torches. And though the blonde had missed it originally since she had her back turned on that particular view, the camera was able to capture it perfectly and make it visible in their picture.