The Film Lab – Part 2: Fixer

"Yes," said Lena. "Yes, please."

The kiss was gentle, with a faint smell of vinegar and warm paper. Ayesha's hand rose, steady and sure, to the back of Lena's neck. Lena laughed against her mouth and kissed her back, holding on, in the red light of the little room, with thirty ghostly photographs swaying on the line above them.

"I should turn on the white light," said Ayesha, a few minutes later.

"Why?"

"Because I would like to see you properly."

She turned it on. They both blinked. In the plain light they looked at each other, smiling, mussed, ink and chemical stains on their cuffs. Lena's hair was in disarray. Ayesha's glasses were crooked.

"You are very beautiful," said Ayesha.

"You're not so bad yourself."

"My flat is upstairs. It has windows. Real light." Ayesha hesitated. "And a very good bed."

"I'd like to see the windows," said Lena.

They climbed the narrow stair together. The flat was bright and cluttered with prints and plants, a long sunny room with a bed in the corner and a view across Brussels rooftops. They undressed slowly in the morning light, laughing at stained sleeves and awkward buttons, and under the cool white sheets their love-making was gentle, curious and warm, like watching a picture slowly develop. Time slowed. The city hummed far below.

In the afternoon they sat at the table with tea and a stack of new prints. Lena picked up the first one, the girl on the beach.

"I'd like to take new ones," she said. "Of you. Of this room. Of us."

"I would like that very much." Ayesha smiled. "I will develop them."

"Every one?"

"Every one," said Ayesha. "In the dark, if you like. We are very good at the dark."

Lena laughed and kissed her, with the sun on the prints and a long soft afternoon ahead.

More lesbian romance stories: Tea at the Conservatory · Bookshop at Midnight · Ballroom Rivals