Sara was feeling great. Despite not giving herself a break in ages, the weeks were burning by. She finally felt like her own independent person; she had a professional job and the decrease in partying that came with it. But tonight she deserved to celebrate. Three months in and already her boss had guaranteed her a full-time position. Which is why she dressed in the sexiest mini-skirt headed to a house party of people she barely knew.
Sara invited herself in to a living room of house music, laughter, and the smell of booze. She searched for a familiar face.
"Hi, I'm Luke. Welcome to my place!" Luke looked slightly older than Sara, and was lean but not muscular. He was dressed pretty casually, and a fancy camera hung from his shoulder.
"Thanks, this is really great. I'm Sara, sorry, Melissa said I should come by I hope it's cool."
"Definitely, you know, as long as you play by the house rules."
Sara cracked a grin. He was friendly and it felt great. She wanted to flirt. "And what are those?" she asked.
"Always have a drink. There's plenty in the kitchen."
"Oh. I can do that." She was hoping the rules were more interesting, but no reason to turn down a drink.
"And never say no to the camera."
"Oh. Well that sounds fair, too. As long as you share the flattering ones!" Unconsciously, Sara poured a little extra into her drink in response to the new rule.
"Have fun, and there'll be plenty of those." Luke replied. He tipped his glass to her and she winked. "That's not a rule, just modeling advice" Luke added quickly, but then fumbled on trying to patch up the statement.
"Not that you need it. I mean, well whatever. Cheers."
"Cheers," she said. He wasn't sure if he was flirting, until she gave him a rewarding, intentional smile before walking away.
Sara was buzzed by the time Melissa showed. "Hey! Fancy seeing you here."
Melissa walked to the back to help herself to a drink, and Sara wasted no time.
"Who's the cute host? I need to celebrate tonight," she said biting the rim of her cup.
Melissa thought for a minute about her reply.
"Well, I'm sure you got Luke's name. He's a photographer, but unfortunately his girlfriend is the tall brunette in the living room, Emily."
Sara should've known it might be trouble when she didn't feel a sense of discouragement, but a sense of challenge. After all, in the professional world, you need to work for what you want. Sara decided she'd slow down on the drinks, and hopefully she'd get to know Luke a little better.
Luke on the other hand was as liberal with his drinking as he was socializing. He moved from group to group refreshing drinks in between until they dwindled down. After a couple hours, the handful that still remained consolidated in the living room and began talking about photography. A couple said their goodbyes. Sara found herself intrigued by not just Luke, but Emily. She was relatively quiet, and fiddling with a camera herself.
"I helped her pick that one out. She's got a natural eye for composition," Luke said to the top of Emily's head. Sara found herself interested enough in the camera to keep asking about it. Soon, two more wandered up the stairs to pass out on a couch, and it was just Emily, Luke and Sara.
Sara joined Luke on a couch to ask him a specific question about his camera. He was glad to show her how fast his lens was. Emily snapped pictures casually of a variety of objects, occasionally coming back to Luke to snap a candid. She played with a setting or two while Luke continued mansplaining. Sara relaxed and slouched toward the middle, her arm next to Luke's thigh.
"I feel like someday I'll regret not having done pictures while I'm still young."
"That's exactly why a lot of women get their picture taken at our age. They want to remember when they felt sexy."
"I can't argue with that," Sara said with a grin. "Can you help me preserve my youth?"
"Probably not on a couch," Luke said.
Emily put her camera down, and looked up to see Sara's hand touching Luke's thigh.
"Emily, can you get the studio lights? I'm going to get Sara set up." Before Emily had left the room, Luke's hand was at the bottom of Sara's back moving lower. He guided her into the bedroom.
Sara threw herself back on the bed with a surprised laugh. Her skirt rode up dangerously high, and Luke didn't hide his glance. Sara caught his eye as her hands went over her head, instead of down to adjust her skirt.
"Make me look sexy," she crooned.
Luke took three pictures, moving to a lower vantage point each time. "I can do that." Click. He put one hand on her knee and pushed it aside slowly. "But the key is for you to feel sexy."
Sara's other knee spread open as if a hand were on it too. "God I'm burning up. I couldn't feel any sexier. You better get this on film."
