Page 18 of Picture Us

Drew Hudson

Drew shrugged it off and stood from the desk. She’d have to do more than get a few shots out of a few hundred right to impress them.

Grabbing a pair of loose jeans from the clothes rack by the window, Drew pulled them over their hips and headed into the dark room.

They ripped a few dried negatives off the clothesline at the back of the room, the red lighting dimmer than usual as the bulb warmed up. With the negatives in hand, Drew went back out to the loft and headed to the lightbox by the desktop.

Flicking the switch to the machine, the bright white panel illuminated, and Drew set each negative down gently. They pulled out a clear plastic sheet from inside a drawer and slipped each row of negatives inside the two-inch wide channels. Once they were secure inside the sheet, Drew placed them on top of the lightbox.

Each picture glowed, the brownish-amber film finally showing images. Drew grabbed the magnifier next to the box and lowered their head to the strips of images.

There were over fifty shots in this sleeve and another fifty still hanging to dry. As Drew examined each shot, they couldn’t help but smile.

The way Fin and Ellen looked at each other… how could they not be a little jealous?

“That’s it,” Drew clicked their tongue as they looked at a shot of Fin’s face when Ellen kneeled down in front of her. It wasthepicturesque shot of the happy couple.

Drew stood up from their desk chair and paced around, unable to tear their eyes from their inbox, still open on the desktop. They took a deep breath and rolled their eyes before pulling their phone out of their pocket.

“Hey. Do you want to come to the studio and help me out?” Drew licked their teeth as they shook their head. They couldn’t believe what they were doing.

A giggle came from the other end. “Is your company gone, or is it gonna be a party?”

Drew chuffed and raised their eyebrows. “Very funny. Do you want to or not?”

Rose cleared her throat. “Yeah, I do. I’ll be there in an hourish.”

“See you then,” Drew said as they hung up the phone, tapping the device against their palm. A smile crept to the corners of their mouth.This better not be a mistake.

10

ROSE

Rose hungup her phone and stared at the screen in disbelief. But she didn’t have time to linger.

She sprinted around her apartment, throwing supplies into her tote bag. Grabbing her laptop, charger, and hard drive, she frantically searched for anything she might be missing.I must be missing something.

As she reached for the front door, Rose paused and looked down at her outfit.

“Oops.” She had completely forgotten to actually get dressed. Running to her closet, Rose grabbed a pair of red corduroys and threw them on. She ripped off her Central Valley High t-shirt and put on a simple, black bra.

She scooped her hand into the bra and lifted, giving her boobs some extra cleavage. The beige, knit vest she threw on top had a slight v-neck that gave just a peek. She hustled to the mirror to make sure it all worked.

Looking her outfit up and down, Rose’s heart raced. She couldn’t stop herself from wondering if Drew would think she looked hot. If they were just as tempted by her as she was by them.

Rolling her eyes, Rose grabbed her tote bag from the counter, happy enough with her outfit. She threw on a pair of white sneakers and scanned her living room one last time for anything she might be forgetting.

She sprinted out of her apartment and down the stairs, already certain to be late.

Warm, summer air filled Rose’s lungs as she pushed open the door of her building and headed for the subway. She hopped on the next train and before she knew it, she was rocketing toward Manhattan.

By the time she had caught her breath halfway to Drew’s place, Rose couldn’t believe what she was doing.

Why am I so eager to spend time with this absolute asshole?The train rumbled through the tunnels.

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