Page 36 of Who's Playing You
“It’s okay, Scottie, but thank you. I’m used to it.”
“So I take it you’ve been doing this for a while then - training with the team, and I’m guessing teaching them plays and stuff?”
“Yeah, you can say that. I did the same thing when I worked with my team in high school and then college.”
Ok so college graduate, I filed away in my brain. That put him north of his early twenties at least.
“Oh okay, so you’re saying you’re kind of a pro at this point?” I teased him with a little shy chuckle and he returned it with a full laugh.
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“May I ask, where did you go to college?”
“Oh, right, we hadn’t covered that either. Yeah, so I went to school in Arkansas, at Zeiders University.”
“Oh my gosh, that’s an incredible school!” I gushed, because that was one of the top ten schools in the nation for their academic programs as well as their research institutions, and their sports programs.
“It sure is. I got the best of both worlds there,” he said, then changed the topic. “So what are you up to right now?”
The change of topic threw me off my train of thought for a minute and I scanned my surrounding area, trying to remember what in the hell I had been doing before he started texting me.
“Oh. Nothing important. I was just trying to figure out a solution to a problem I’m having.”
“Which is…”
“Oh, well one of the things I wanted to do this summer before the fall semester starts up again was to kind of hone my figure drawing skills.”
“That’s cool, that’s cool,” he said in an odd way before continuing, “So what’s the issue?”
“Well, I don’t have a model,” I hedged. I quickly continued, “Normally during the school year we have a list of students who like to model for the art department for extra cash, but they haven’t returned yet, and so I had put out some feelers but it’s come back with zilch.”
“I see, so you’re in need of a model?”
“Precisely.”
“I’ll do it.”
“Pardon?” I stumbled, surely not hearing him correctly.
“I’ll do it. I can be your model.”
“As nice as that is, and thank you, I appreciate the offer… It’sfiguredrawing,” I emphasized the figure part.
“Yeah? So?”
“Figure, as in the human body. As in nude.”
“Okay, and? I’ve got a body.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at his nonchalance. “Yes, yes you certainly do. But Nicholas, I…”
He just started laughing at my obvious stumbling. “Are you saying you couldn’t draw me? Do you not like my body, honey?”
Honey.
Oh my God, I was melting.
Him calling me honey literally had me melting to the floor off my couch while my core flooded with heat. The thought of having him naked in front of me combined with him calling methathad me stuttering like I’d never stuttered before.
