Aubrey sent over maybe a dozen pictures. Within a few minutes, Marina had decided which ones she liked and which she didn’t, downloaded the ones she liked, and begun to look at only those over and over.

There it was, her body, her face. She imagined these on a gallery wall, like Nico had said.

There had been trans muses in art history, and she thought about them while she took a long shower, using up all the hot water, trying unsuccessfully to dispel the headache that had been forming behind her eyes. That whole Warhol thing. Were they ashamed too?

Nico texted the group chat: these are great

Aubrey texted: i really like them. marina you’re so pretty, was v nice meeting you last night

Marina responded: yeah thanks for these! it was nice meeting you both

Sylvie had also texted her: per’s kinda mad about you and miss nico fucking in her bed. don’t worry about it though. didn’t think he liked girls at all

Marina responded: god should i apologize? hard to say what happened there. im still sorting it out

Sylvie responded: couldn’t hurt, I mean nico did, yall didn’t do anal right? she was worried about that

Marina didn’t respond, instead drafting a series of elaborate texts to Nico in her head as she made herself eggs and toast and coffee. She ate it standing up in the kitchen, staring out the window into her backyard.

After doing her breakfast dishes she texted him:

hey!

last night was nice :) id love to see you again

could be coffee, a walk, breakfast, whatever

It was a Saturday, and although the morning was mostly over, the amount of time that stretched out in front of her seemed obscene. She tried reading and tidied her room and took a walk in the bracing sunlight through sidewalks filled with leaves. When she got back, she had a missed call from Sylvie, and when she called her back, Sylvie told her that Perrin wasn’t mad anymore, and also, was she free tomorrow morning for brunch?

So that was all right. After she reheated herself leftovers, Nico texted her back:

hey! sorry for the delay lol

you’re coming to brunch tmrw right? w perrin? sylvie told me u were. aub will be there for sure

apparently per was super mad lol. but it’s fin now

*fine

we should walk/talk afterward

Marina’s stomach fluttered. She thought about how easy touching him had been.

She responded yes please and turned her phone off. For the rest of the day, she didn’t think about him at all as she took clothes out of suitcases and put them into the wardrobe and dresser. She turned her phone back on a few hours later just to look at the pictures.