Page 12 of Picture Us

Jess laughed. “Rough night, huh?”

“You have no idea.” Drew could hardly muster a smile as the noise of the coffee shop invaded their ears. They looked up at the specials for the day.

“You want your usual?” Jess started tapping away at the POS.

Shrugging, Drew pursed their lips as they thought. “Definitely the usual coffee. Is the pastrami sandwich any good?”

With a groan, Jess nodded. “You have no idea; it’s heavenly. And the perfect hangover cure.”

“I wonder why you would say that.” Drew laughed.

Jess got to work on the order while Drew looked out the window facing Tompkins Square Park. They used to spend every day in that park in college, wandering around taking sneaky portraits of the strangers who would spend their time there.

It’d been so long since Drew had gotten to do a passion project. To do anything worth showing in a gallery or submitting to a newspaper.

They tapped their fingers along the polished, slick wood of the coffee bar.

“Order for Drew,” Jess winked.

Drew grabbed their hot, black coffee and deli bag from Jess. “Thanks, Jess. Have a good one.”

Pushing the door open and cringing once more at the loud ding, Drew was greeted by the bright morning sun. They squinted into the light, hoping their eyes would adjust faster if they just blinked fast enough.

They made their way down their avenue toward their loft.

At least I can spend most of the day in the darkroom.Drew sighed, the peace of the dull, red light already comforting their exhausted brain.

A part of them was oddly nervous to develop Ellen and Finley’s engagement film. Something about working with peppy Rose made Drew want to outdo themself. Which was ridiculous considering she was just some basic, digital photographer.

Drew had met dozens of event photographers like Rose. They’d all picked up a DSLR in college, taken a few cheap headshots for their friends’ LinkedIn profiles, and thought that made them a professional.

Drew rolled their eyes as they thought about how muddied the field was.

As they rounded the corner of their block, Drew stopped in their tracks.

“Hey! What took you so long? I’ve been ringing for like ten minutes.” Rose smiled.

Fuck. I completely forgot.

Stumbling to cover their mistake, Drew pushed their sunglasses up the bridge of their nose. “Just grabbing a coffee. I didn’t expect you to be on time.”

Rose nodded. “Right. Or did you just have a few too many last night?”

Drew shook their head, hoping they were doing a decent job hiding how caught off-guard they were.

“Besides, you’re an hour late,” Rose smirked, sucking in her cheeks as she tried not to laugh. “And you set the time.”

Drew’s eyebrows wrinkled. “Of course I did,” they mumbled under their breath as they dug their keys out of the deep pockets of their dark gray denim jeans.

Rose crossed her arms as she watched Drew fumble to unlock the front door.

Is she looking at my arms?

Drew gulped as the lock clicked open. They pushed open the door, barely holding it for Rose.

“Cool building.” Rose’s eyes wandered around the filthy lobby as she caught the door. Strangely, she wasn’t being sarcastic. Drew had half expected Rose wouldn’t like the pre-war look. That she’d prefer some ultra-modern building where she could throw some pretty prints on the wall and call it hers.

They made their way up the stairs slowly. Each step made Drew’s brain rattle in their skull, the headache that had been lightly playing at their temples now dominating their mind.

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