Exposure • Tamber

Chapter 8: Scary Stories

heyyyyy babes i just wanna say no i have not quit and no i will never😜😘 anywho enjoy the story!!

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Amber was so used to feeling annoyed or disliking pretty much anyone she had to have contact with, that it didn't take much for her to realize she had somehow developed a crush on Tara. But that didn't mean she had any idea what to do about it. Or how it happened in the first place.

Tara was the exact opposite of who she usually went for. She was happy and bubbly, always positive, constantly talking, always curious and asking questions, sweet, kind, silly without worrying what other people thought, not afraid to go after what she wanted and...

...maybe that was the point.

Someone had finally started breaking down Amber's walls because for the first time in a long time, she had let someone in her life that was more than just something superficial.

She would blame Professor Macher for that, but Amber was afraid she would have to thank him too. Because ever since that tiny ball of sunshine found her way into Amber's life, things had started to change, even before Amber realized it.

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Amber stood in the dark room alone that morning. She liked to get there before classes started when she had film to develop. It was easier to develop her own photos without idiots that didn't know what they were doing bumping around the room with her. She had finished with the chemical mixtures and was cleaning up while her prints were drying.

"This is new."

"Holy shit!" Amber spun around, dropping the container she had just washed on the ground. The plastic box bounced on the ground as Amber stumbled into the table in the dark room.

"Holy shit is right." Weathers chuckled as she tugged on a photo being held to the line by a clothes pin. She walked over to the dim light offering the light glow in the dark room and held the photo up.

"What are you doing here?" Amber asked, picking up the dropped container and setting it on the counter.

"You aren't the only one that likes to be the alone in the dark room." Weathers commented before grabbing another photo and examining it like she had the last one. "These are really great, Amber."

"Really?" Amber asked quietly, stepping forward to see what pictures Weathers was giving praise to. Her eyes went wide when she saw which ones were being held under the light, "Oh, actually, those aren't—"

"Aren't what?" Her professor turned to her, holding out the photos for Amber to take.

"Aren't the ones I had planned on using for my final portfolio." Amber took them back before walking over to the line of drying photos. She pulled a couple from the line and walked back over to her professor.

Weathers took them and looked them over while Amber watched her carefully. The room was dark but not dark enough for Amber to see that her professor was less impressed with these.

"Remember when I told you to make me feel something?" Weathers pressed her lips together tightly before looking over at Amber, "Whatever is going on with those first photos— that's what I was talking about."

She turned and walked out of the dark room, leaving Amber speechless. Amber looked down at the photos in her hand. They were good. Really good. The color was incredible, the lines sharp, she had been excited to show her professor and what had just happened was nowhere near what she was expecting. She went back to the line and let her eyes trail along the photos still hanging up before picking up the ones her professor had looked at first.