Page 94 of With Stars in Her Eyes

“I want to go see some of the photos.” I adjusted my nose ring. Somehow my brain had turned on, and I couldn’t go back to sleep.

“Couldn’t we just look at the digital camera?”

“Yes, but I could also go develop the film ones, and you should probably also charge your phone.”

“Why?”

“Don’t you have big legal stuff going on?”

“Oh yeah. I guess that’s true.” Courtney was unfortunately an adorable pouter.

“And Marshall probably thinks I’m dead, so I should call him.”

“Or…” Courtney kissed me.

“Nope.” I pushed her away gently. “I want to see how the photos turned out. I also need to go home and get clothes.”

“Clothes are completely unnecessary if you just stay here,” Courtney said in a slight whine.

“Come over to the studio in a few hours, okay?” I kissed her forehead.

Courtney closed her eyes.

I rolled out of bed and pulled on the sweatshirt and shorts I was wearing earlier. If anyone could understand how a weird artistic fervor could draw a person out of bed way too early, it was the gorgeous woman drifting back to sleep in front of me. With a last long look at Courtney looking otherworldly and beautiful while sleeping, I headed out the door.

I hung the last of the developed prints on the clothesline. I’d scanned most of the film into my computer, but when I saw how the first few photos of Courtney turned out, I couldn’t wait to get them on paper. I was feeling a little lightheaded because I haddefinitely not hydrated enough after the time spent in Courtney’s bed.

My mom called twenty times since last night. I called her back to make sure she didn’t call the FBI or something, but somehow, I found the confidence to get off the phone in a reasonable amount of time. She wasn’t happy, but I had work I was excited to do. And if my mom was going to make me feel weird about having boundaries, maybe the problem was with my mom, not the boundaries.

Lightbulb moments kept coming as I worked through the photos. A couple of my exes had said my people-pleasing was a problem. As a Libra, I wasn’t exactly surprised to hear that, but maybe that was part of why people didn’t share themselves with me. Maybe it’s because people wondered if the open part of me was real. Not that anyone had stuck around long enough to find out though.

“Thea?” a voice called out from the front room. I replaced the developing chemicals in their jugs and flipped on the light.

“I’m back here.”

The door creaked open. “Whoa.” Courtney wore a variation of her usual T-shirt and jeans combination.

“Ms. Jeannie was right that this space was perfect.”

“I’d say you should tell her that, but I think she already knows.”

I checked on the unspooled film that was still drying in long ribbons in the back. “That woman thinks of everything. I hadn’t even considered setting up a film studio like what I used to have at my grandfather’s house.”

“She really does…” Courtney smiled. “Can I look at the photos?”

“They’re still wet, so don’t touch them, but…” I gestured that Courtney should follow me to find one particular print. I had actually shrieked—okay, maybe screamed—when I first saw the film negative.

“Holy shit, Thea.” Courtney whistled low.

“You like it?”

“It’s so cool.”

Courtney was a ghostly presence in the foreground. You could just make out her facial features. The stunning part was how the short star trails arced over her head. It looked photoshopped and the fact that it wasn’t made the effect even cooler.

“It’s not perfect, and I could definitely design the shot better if I thought about it more ahead of time but overall—”

A kiss interrupted my self-criticism. “It truly looks so cool.” Courtney’s eyes swept around the room. “Which others are your favorite?”