Playing Games

Slender brunette Polly Bangs curls up on the cream corduroy sectional in a pale blue lace-trimmed camisole and matching shorts, a magazine open across her lap and a tortoiseshell claw clip holding back her dark hair. As Sandra Shine's erotic lesbian film "Playing Games" begins, her girlfriend Britney Dutch wanders in, effortlessly charming in an oversized blue plaid shirt worn over bare legs, her hair swept into a ponytail. The two settle around the gray wood coffee table for a wooden marble strategy game, sunlight pouring through the tall curtained windows and colorful throw pillows scattered around them. Polly keeps losing, her playful pout growing sweeter with every round, and Britney can't help teasing her. When the pout turns genuinely sulky, Britney leans in to console her, one hand resting tenderly against Polly's chest. The teasing softens into something warmer as their eyes meet and hold. Polly's disappointment melts entirely when Britney draws close, foreheads touching, smiles turning shy. The first kiss is gentle, unhurried, and it lingers. As they nestle together on the sofa, the game forgotten between them, the bright room and everything beyond it slowly fades away until nothing exists but the two of them and the closeness they've found.