Page 21 of Picture Us

Rose felt herself smile at her happy friends.

Drew nodded and reached around Rose’s body to the light switch, delicately flipping it. Their chest leaned against Rose’s back, lightly pressing their warmth into her.

“Now you’re ready for the photo paper,” Drew’s voice came out as a low rumble.

Rose swallowed her excitement, trying to ignore the slickness growing in her panties. With the light off, Drew passed her the photo paper she had been so eager to take out. As Drew released it into Rose’s grip, the tips of their fingers grazed her palm.

Lifting her eyes to meet Drew’s heady gaze, Rose’s chest heaved with anticipation, an electric shock of lust jolting from her palm through her body.

With the paper in hand, Rose delicately opened the clamp and placed the paper inside. She was careful not to nudge it as she dropped the clamp down tightly around the paper.

She pulled her hand from the clamp and looked at Drew, a smile on her face. “What’s next?”

Drew reached across Rose’s chest to point out a timer on the opposite wall, just above the on-switch.

Rose’s heart raced, feeling Drew all around her. Their chest was hovering over her back while their arm caged her front.

Biting her lip, Rose avoided looking into Drew’s eyes. “How long do you set it for?”

“That’s part of the fun,” Drew whispered, careful not to yell in her ear. “You have to guess.”

Rose couldn’t hold back her smile any more, instead whipping her head around and glaring at Drew. “Seriously?”

Drew laughed at her annoyance. “Well no.Idon’t have to. But you do.”

“What? Why?” Rose scoffed as she playfully pushed Drew’s chest with the palm of her hand.

Drew licked their lip at the touch, a fire burning behind their eyes. “Because it’s more fun that way. I’m not just going to hand it to you.”

Are we even talking about photography anymore?Rose tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Willing to wager a piece of photo paper? You’re either rich or risky… or both.”

With a shrug, Drew waited for Rose to do the math. “You’re a smart woman, you can figure it out.”

Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Shutter speeds are 1/100th of a second, so I can’t imagine it’s anything longer than ten seconds…”

Drew’s eyes scanned Rose’s face as she worked through the problem. Which was not helping Rose think… like, at all. In fact, it was actively distracting.

“Okay, final guess, seven seconds.” Rose crossed her arms, as if she was arguing with Drew. To be fair, that seemed to be their standard.

Staring back blankly, Drew watched Rose begin to panic.

“Oh god, that’s not enough? Or is it too much? Shit.” Rose rubbed her forehead.

Drew placed a hand on Rose’s shoulder, heat rushing from their warm palm through Rose’s knit vest. She couldn’t pretend to not be calmed by the heavy, calloused hand.

Working photography was a manual job, but it didn’t wear on your hands quite like that.How seriously did Drew workout?Rose tried to steady her breathing as she pictured the muscles hiding beneath their clothing.

“Just try it, there aren’t any consequences for being wrong.” Drew lowered their head to intercept Rose’s spiraling gaze.

Drew drew in a comically large breath, looking into Rose’s eyes as they did. Rose followed suit, reaching to her left and starting the timer for seven seconds. But as she did, she realized the timer went as high as sixty seconds. Which meant seven seconds was like… barely any time at all.

Panicked, she looked back at Drew, who still had a small smile on their face. But their eyes were steady, nodding to Rose as the bright, white light flicked on and the exposure began.

It felt like the longest seven seconds of her entire life. Rose’s breathing grew heavier, and she couldn’t tell whether it was the scent of Drew’s cologne making her woozy or her anxiety about screwing up in front of them.

Click.

The enlarger flicked off, plunging Drew and Rose back into dim, red light.

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