A Story of Now Read Online Free PDF

the night, she wanders to the other end of the bar. Nina is still with the skinny boy, who now seems to be taking photos of her shoulder pressed up against the mirror fixed to the wall.
    “Don’t worry, Neen, all the glasses are clean. I took care of it.” She shoots her friend a dirty look.
    “Oh sorry, babe.” Nina faces her, contrite, her shoulder still pressed to the mirror. “I’ll take out the bins, later, I promise.”
    “You better.” Claire leans against the wall and checks her watch. There’s an hour left until they can start to pack up.
    The boy takes shots of Nina’s shoulder from above. He notices Claire watching them and nods a greeting at her.
    “Why are you so weird?” Claire asks him.
    “Why are you so judge-y?” He grins; his eyes never leave the viewfinder.
    “Because you’re so weird.” Claire folds her arms. Obviously . “So, what are you doing, anyway? Do you purposely come in here for your insanity projects? Or is your whole life like this?”
    “Actually, this time I am doing homework,” he mutters, staring at his camera’s screen. “I’m making the familiar strange.”
    “Tell me now, am I destined to never know what you are talking about?”
    “Probably.” He moves around to the entrance of the bar to take a different shot. “But that won’t be my fault.” He grins again as he captures the silhouette of Nina’s shoulder and neck.
    “Yes it will.”
    He ignores her and turns to Nina. “Can you lift up your arm and hold it until I tell you to put it down?”
    Nina obediently complies. Claire leaves them to serve a customer and then returns to the scene of the crazy. Nina is still holding up her arm, wincing a little but remaining stoic. He takes a few more shots and then sets the camera on the bar.
    “You can put your arm down now. Thank you so much, honey.”
    Nina lets her arm drop. “That kind of hurt. But it’s all in the name of art, right?”
    “Art?” Claire is doubtful.
    The boy ignores her and sits on his stool. “It’s for class, actually. We have to take photos that make parts of the body unrecognisable. Totally conceptual,” he says in a faux-wanky art voice. “You probably wouldn’t get it.” He gives Claire a look that says he’s fully aware she probably does get it, but he can’t stop digging at her.
    “I gotta do some work.” Nina rubs her shoulder and wanders away.
    “Yes.” Claire glares at her. “You do.”
    “I’m Robbie, by the way.”
    Claire nods.
    “I think you’re supposed to tell me your name. Just a suggestion. Social niceties and all.”
    “You don’t seem to be into them, that’s all.”
    He chuckles. “Fair enough.”
    She caves. “I’m Claire.” She can’t help it. She kind of likes this guy even if he is a smart-ass.
    “Claire,” he says, contemplative, as though he’s considering whether he’ll accept it as a suitable name for her. Not as if he doesn’t believe her, more that he’s trying to figure out if it sounds right. Then he nods and shrugs slightly as if he finally, silently, accepts it as her name.
    “Where’s your friend?” She empties a few of the glasses that Nina has stacked on the bar in front of her and puts them in the rack. “The geeky one who reads in bars?”
    “I don’t know.” He sips his beer. “Probably at home studying because she’s way more well behaved than me.”
    “Yes, she did seem very well behaved.”
    “Don’t judge her, missy.” He holds up his glass, a silent request for another beer. “She is one of my favourite people in the whole world.”
    “Yeah, but she’s not mine, so I can.” Claire takes his glass and pours him another. “Besides,” she says over her shoulder. “Anyone would seem well behaved sitting next to you.”
    “Except you maybe.”
    Claire smiles. He’s probably right.
    “So what do you do, anyway?” Claire asks as she returns with his beer.
    He holds up his camera. “I do this. I study photography.”
    “You’re going to do it