Kurt Aldritch furrowed his brow as he studied the still wet developing photographs hanging on the clothesline he had strung up in his dark room. They were landscape photos taken from different angles. The first one looked off, the second one he used too much exposure. The third one looked fairly good but it was the fourth that earned a nod of approval.
"You'll go to the gallery tomorrow." He smiled and then began the process of developing several more photos. As he reached for the chemical bottles, he caught a glimpse of his wristwatch. He lifted his left wrist closer to his face to see the time. The clock face read 10:45.
"Oh, shit. I forgot all about Liam." He withdrew his hand and hurried out of the room. Developing films in the old fashioned way had always fascinated the raven haired photographer. And every time he worked in the dark room, he seemed to forget about everything else.
He quickly washed his hands, grabbed his backpack and his car keys and was out the door in only a few minutes.
Driving to Liam's house took a good fifteen minutes. Along the way, he considered stopping to get some sort of peace offering but when he saw the time in the dashboard, he changed his mind and continued on his way. No amount of peace offering would be enough if he arrived later than he already was. As he pulled over in front of Liam's house, his mind raced through all possible alibis he could give despite the fact that he knew that Liam won't believe him anyway. Settling for his usual "I forgot the time" excuse, he got out of the car and made his way to the front door.
Promptness has never been his strong point. And it was something that irritated his writer friend. He lifted his hand and pressed a slender finger to the doorbell and waited, staring at the dark wooden door that was the same shade as his eyes.