***
Late in the afternoon and the final set of outfits, swimwear with some utterly impractical cut-outs and string ties… not her style at all, but as ever she was professional and did what she needed to do.
As she walked off, final shots taken, and grabbed a chilled bottle of water to cool herself down, Bel was there.
“Those looked good,” she said, indicating towards where Luisa had been standing with a nod of her head. “I liked the relaxed pose, with your legs crossed. It nearly made me want to buy it.” She said the last part with a grin.
Luisa smiled back. “Someone needs to. Not my style at all.”
Bel grabbed a water for herself and took a drink, watching Luisa. “Dinner later, my treat.”
Luisa looked at her, thinking it through. Dinner would be good, time with Bel would be good, but also she knew where it would lead… always, inevitably, as sure as the sun rising in the morning, they would end up in bed together.
Not that that was a bad thing… it wasn’t a problem with her relationship being open with Amy, and her and Bel always seemed to end up in bed together every night they worked together, had done for years. It was almost a given.
Her and Bel never said no to each other.
But then… something nagged at her. She was still annoyed at everything, still needed some headspace that evening to get everything worked out, and maybe, just maybe this one time she needed not quite to say no, but instead to say later and leave the door open for something with Bel later on in the shoot. Luisa didn’t want to do something that night that she’d come to regret later.
But then again, looking closer, there was expectation all over Bel’s face… it was a look that Luisa had learned over the years. The look they both shared that said, this is what we do, andeverything leads to that. The look that saidcome to bedhours before either of them actually said it.
Although maybe, thought Luisa, I’m massively overthinking this. I do need to eat after all and there is no catering tonight. She was torn.
“Well…?” Bel asked, eyebrow raised in amusement, and Luisa realised that she’d been thinking for so long it had got rude.
“Sorry…” Luisa replied with a laugh. “Long day. I’ll pass on dinner, maybe later in the shoot?” Buy time to think about it properly was what she really meant.
Bel looked disappointed, as if she’d assumed it would be a yes, but hid it well. “Ok, a drink then.”
“Well… I could really do with getting some rest, and…”
“One drink. You can’t say no to that, surely?” She grinned. “Sleep when you’re dead.”
Luisa couldn’t help smiling, defeated. One drink would be nice after all, would help her get her perspective. “You’ve got me. One drink, meet in the hotel lobby at seven?”
“Seven is perfect.”
“But one drink. I mean it,” she called after Bel as she started to walk off.
Bel just turned around and smiled knowingly at her.
Amy
London
London was grey that Thursday morning. Nothing unusual there, thought Amy, except that she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was somehow her fault. That the clouds hung lower, the air felt colder, the drizzle was somehow wetter, because of her night with Sarah the night before.
She felt wretched.
Last night... she shouldn't have let that happen.
Amy had gone to meet Sarah with the intention, not to mention the certainty, that it was for a drink or two and to talk. With everything that had happened with Luisa since she'd last seen Sarah, Amy had been clear with herself that she would go home, alone, at the end of the evening, that it would be an evening that helped her and Sarah to define whether there was anything that could still happen between them but nothing more.
Well... Amy had managed to go home alone at the end of the evening, that was true. She'd left Sarah's place a little after midnight and been messaging Luisa from her own bed by one.
It was what happened between the bar and her bed that was the problem.
Fuck. Why couldn't I just be stronger? Why didn't I just leave when I said I would?
