Page 8 of Painted

Early let out a breath and practically crumpled to sit on the block.

“How did that exercise go for you?” Rhys asked his class.

“It was good,” one of the old ladies responded. “It’s easier to get that sense of movement than I expected.”

The next few minutes were all about sharing observations, none of which was that Early was ugly and had no business posing for a class. Not once did any of the students snigger at them or make a lewd comment. It was almost as if they were there for art and not to gape at their balls.

Thinking that put Early more at ease. They laughed at themself and relaxed a little, listening to Rhys as he explained the next exercise.

Of course, the next exercise was all about them holding a pose for the remainder of the class so the students could go into more detail with their drawings. And that time, they didn’t get to choose how they wanted to sit to quite the same degree.

“Could you twist a bit more?” Rhys asked gently once Early had settled into a sitting pose they’d be able to hold.

They twisted a bit, which stretched more of their muscles. The pose also opened a few things up and made certain parts more obvious.

“Good,” Rhys said, still gentle and coaxing. “Is that comfortable enough to hold for a while?”

“Mmm hmm,” Early hummed and nodded, then went perfectly still. That was the other thing. If they held perfectly still, then maybe it didn’t really count and they weren’t really naked.

It was a silly line of logic, but it got them through the rest of the class. And really, after the first few minutes, they got used to hanging out in front of everyone. The complete lack of teasing and the concentration of the students made the whole thing impersonal in a way that Early really needed.

Until they caught Rhys staring at them instead of overseeing one of his students’ drawings like he was probably supposed to be doing.

Early caught their breath when their and Rhys’s eyes met. Rhys immediately went bright red, then shook himself as he leaned in to make a comment on the drawing he was supposed to be paying attention to. Early fought the rushing feeling in their groin and willed themself to stay soft by thinking about their grandmother.

By the time class ended, they were incredibly proud of themselves for sticking with the whole thing, but incredibly glad it was over.

“Thank you to our model for posing for us today,” Rhys said as Early gathered up their robe.

The class applauded them. It was kind of nice.

Until Rhys went on with, “Next class, our model will be posed for the real sketch you’ll use for the first big project.”

Early had just stood, but at Rhys’s mention of next time, they froze like a deer in the headlights.

Rhys caught that look. “The gig is for three classes,” he said. “Are you alright with that?”

Early swallowed. “Yeah. Three classes. That’s what I assumed,” they lied.

Oh God, they’d have to do it all again. Two more times.

Rhys needed them. Rhys had also liked what he saw. Maybe if he saw a little more of it, he would see them as someone who he could hang out with, maybe take to dinner.

Maybe take to bed.

Everyone had to have a first time, and Early had their heart set on their first time being with Rhys.

“I’d better get dressed and back to work,” Early said, their voice hoarse and weak from that thought.

Rhys grinned. “Yeah, you’d better or Rebecca will have my hide.”

Early laughed, even though their head was spinning way too much to know if it was funny or not.

They ran to the closet, and as soon as the door was closed, they leaned their back against it and sagged, closing their eyes.

What the actual fuck had just happened? Posing nude for the guy they had a crush on and his entire drawing and painting class had not been on their bingo card that morning. They had a pile of work to do for the beginning of the new session, and thatwas only work. Once they got home, they had to deal with the wrath of their mum and dad. Their dad had fired off yet another angry text just after they’d left the house that morning, saying he wanted answers. Answers to what, Early had no idea.

There was no way to know what would happen once they got dressed and left the closet, let alone once they got home that night. The only thing they could do was put their frilly panties and their trousers on again, one leg at a time, and get on with it, despite the whirlwind of confusion that was their life.

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