“It’s kind of bullshit but you have to believe in it for it to work,” Nico said, aiming the camera lens at her. She instinctively started to cover her face, and then something in her made her drop her hands and stare head-on at the device. She had no idea what facial expression she was making. He snapped the shutter and the flash went off, blinding her.

“What’s bullshit?” she said, blinking. “Getting naked for art?”

“Yeah,” he said. “And just, like, in general. You have to suspend doubt.”

“I feel like you’re asking me to take off my clothes,” Marina said recklessly.

“Knock yourself out, girl,” Nico said, taking another picture, with the flash off this time.

“Sure,” Marina said, and before she could think she had undone her bra and taken off her dowdy shirt dress. “Let’s do some nudes.”

He laughed. “Okay, fine. I’m no Aubrey, but I’ll try.”

They traded places, Nico on the floor and Marina standing next to the bed, the LED lights coloring her bare skin a deep mauve. Neither moved for a moment. The only solution to this situation was to move, she thought, and she was immobile.

She experimentally covered her mouth with the back of her forearm and Nico clicked the shutter once. She dropped her hand; he clicked the shutter again. Marina sat heavily on the bed, crossed and uncrossed her legs, cracked her neck, undid the swirly knot at the top of her head and heard the small clattering of her hairpins bouncing off the wooden floor as her hair cascaded down the side of her face. She arched her back so that her rib cage protruded and her breasts disappeared, she craned her head way to the side. Click click click. He kept looking up and over the camera body at her, smiling. She smiled back, came close to laughing a few times but kept herself in check. It took some practice to not flinch at the snap of the mechanism.

“Okay, okay,” she said finally. It could have been five minutes or an hour. She waved her hand at him and then lay down on the bed so she wouldn’t have to look at the lens anymore. He snapped one last picture of her laying there in her panties and then walked over to the bed and lay down next to her.

“I feel like some of those are gonna turn out good,” he said. He was scrolling through something on his phone with one hand.

“Yeah, maybe,” Marina said.

“You wanna take some of me?” he said.