Part 8 (2/2)
Today we were drawing Laurent, some dude in his mid-seventies, I'd estimated. Every week it was someone different: black, white, young, old, strong, feeble. Occasionally I got lucky; the model might be a female grad student from Yale or Fairfield in their twenties or thirties. It was all about technique but still, I'm a guy and gazing at a beautiful woman was a far superior way to pa.s.s the time.
Chuck was standing over me, critiquing my hand. ”No, it looks too stiff here, you see?”
”The hands always give me trouble.”
”It's the single hardest thing to master, Jeremy. You'll get it.”
Just then the door opened, which never happened. School was pretty much deserted by that time and the third floor art studios were like no-man's land to begin with. We were in our own little world up here with the door covered to protect the model's privacy.
I was right by the door so I was the first to see Carolyn peek in, a happy, excited look on her face. She locked eyes with me and then her eyes followed mine as I instinctively looked to Chuck and then to the model. When I looked back, her mouth was hanging open and the paper she'd been holding dropped onto the floor. I jumped up and gave an apologetic look to Chuck as I grabbed the paper, ushered her out and closed the door behind us. ”What the h.e.l.l are you doing up here, Carolyn?”
”I...I...You draw naked people up here every week?”
”Yeah. What do you think figure drawing is?”
”I didn't know. Wow. That's pretty cool. You looked like the youngest person in there.”
”You got that from the nanosecond you spent in the room?”
”Yeah,” she said, laughing. ”I'm pretty observant.”
”Ok, freak,” I teased. Seeing her laugh or smile always made me feel light-hearted. Carolyn was so beautiful when she smiled. ”What was so important that you had to barge in and scare the poor old naked guy half to death?”
”Oh,” she said, innocently, ”nothing, just...the ninety-two you got on your Physics test.” I took the now crumpled paper and stared at it in disbelief. ”Jeremy, say something!”
I grabbed Carolyn and spun her around. I couldn't contain it, I could hardly believe it. A ninety-two? Really? When I came to a stop, our faces were an inch apart. She was smiling, as happy as I was. ”Thank you, Carolyn,” I whispered.
”It's all you, Jeremy,” she whispered back.
I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to feel her close, her body pressed closer to mine. I think she wanted me to kiss her, too. It was probably no more than five seconds that we were positioned in that way, with our faces angled towards one another, but it felt like a lot longer. A million thoughts raced through my head but one stuck: she's not mine. So I lowered her to the ground and backed away. ”Really, Carolyn, thank you. I never would have gotten that grade without your help.”
”You're welcome, Jeremy.” She looked sad suddenly. ”I'm sorry I interrupted your cla.s.s. Mrs. Parks saw me and shared your grade with me. I was excited. I got a little carried away.”
”No, it's fine, really. I'll see you Thursday?”
”Sure,” she said, turning to go. ”I'll see you then.”
The tension at our lunch table had been unbearable this week. It was just the four of us. Most of the guys were missing in action. Drew hadn't come to the cafeteria once this week, complaining that he was swamped with work and was busy polis.h.i.+ng up his essays for his back-up school applications. He'd already applied early admission to the U.S. Naval Academy.
By Wednesday, Samantha was ready to blow. ”It's kind of sad, huh, Kerri? You let Will Clarke screw you, without so much as even a pre-game conversation, and he hasn't come within a mile of you since.”
Kerri looked to me, desperate. ”Stop it, Samantha,” I said.
”Yeah, don't be a b.i.t.c.h,” Erica spat.
”Oh, and don't even get me started on you,” Samantha hissed back at Erica.
I didn't know what that was about bit it must have been something bad because I never saw Erica back down so quickly.
”f.u.c.k off, Samantha,” Kerri shot at her. ”You're so much better? Every time I turned around I saw you trying to grope Jeremy's d.i.c.k. You're pathetic.”
”Do you think I'm jealous of you?”
”No, I think you're just being a straight-up b.i.t.c.h.”
”I'm so not jealous, Kerri. If I wanted Will I certainly wouldn't have to strip down naked and throw myself at him.”
”I don't think he'd want you even if you stripped naked and dipped yourself in chocolate, Samantha. In fact, I'm pretty sure he despises you.”
”Well, I'm sorry to break it to you, Kerri, but all the guys know. They all know you give it up easy. I'm sure you'll have plenty of dates now. Was that your goal?”
I gasped, ”Samantha! What the h.e.l.l? Shut. Up!”
I gathered up Kerri's things and followed her as she ran out of the cafeteria and into an empty cla.s.sroom. ”She saw me. Will told me that she walked in on us and took pictures.”
”He knew?”
”Jeremy told him. Apparently Jeremy saw us. f.u.c.k. He saw me naked too.”
She was head-down on a desk, her shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs. I had nothing to say so I just rubbed her back. A few minutes later I asked, ”Who has the pictures?”
She took a deep breath. ”Jeremy erased them from Samantha's phone.”
”So then Samantha was lying. All the guys don't know.”
Kerri looked up at me and c.o.c.ked an eyebrow. ”Samantha knows so she'll make sure that everyone we know finds out.”
”No she won't. I'll talk to her. Kerri, do you want me to get you out of here? I'll cut with you.”
”No,” she said, sniffling. ”I have a test next period. I'm not f.u.c.king up my GPA because of her.”
There was a knock on the door then and Will came into the room. He looked like c.r.a.p-like he hadn't slept for days. ”Can I talk to you, Kerri?”
I nodded at Will and left the two of them. Later on Kerri called and told me that Will comforted her, apologizing again, and told her he'd deal with Samantha on her behalf. Will also told her that he explained what had happened to Tori-he felt he owed it to her. He a.s.sured Kerri that Tori wouldn't tell anyone else. Tori was p.i.s.sed but also knew how upset Kerri was about the whole thing. Kerri observed sadly that Will seemed upset and concerned about Tori most of all.
”I wish he did have a thing for me, Carolyn, because I swear, I don't think there's a better man on the planet.”
”Yeah, Will is a great guy. Drew loves him like a brother.”
”You're lucky, Carolyn, and Tori's lucky. I'd like to have someone...a good guy who cares about me. Drew looks at you like you're everything, you know?”
”Yeah, he is great,” I agreed. And I did think Drew was great. Sometimes I wondered how he shouldered everything-football, maintaining a ninety-five-plus average, and especially living up to his father's expectations.
That last time we went out to dinner with his parents, I made the mistake of asking Drew what his back-up school was, just in case he wouldn't be heading to the Naval Academy. His dad retorted, ”We don't do back-ups. Drew will be in Annapolis at the United States Naval Academy.”
I found myself actually praying to G.o.d that night, pleading with the powers of the universe to make it so. If Drew didn't get one of those few, coveted spots, I could only imagine the h.e.l.l his life would be. Maybe it wasn't entirely fair but I despised his father.
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