“I heard that she does this storytelling thing. At this one bar, not far from here, actually. So I wandered in one night. I was just curious, I guess, to see her do anything that wasn’t drawing.” He puts all my supplies on the counter. “Turns out…she was drawing.”
I study his expression. And I see it all. His tenderness for her, sure, but also…his tenderness for someone who freely shows how much she cares for the thing he also cares so much about, but pretends he could take or leave.
Every drawing for him is perfection, but he acts like he could toss it in the trash and not care. Every drawing for Em isa gorgeous work in progress and she treats it like it’s sacred. For both of them, itissacred. It’s language. It’s point of view. It’s their inner selves, in physical form.
No wonder he’s in love with her.
“And…” I prompt him, hip-checking him away from the scanner, this little scamp is trying to pay for my art supplies.
“And…I went and sat next to her. And didn’t disturb her. Just watched her draw. And at the end of the night…she turned to me and…just, like, started kissing me.”
The look on his face right now…He’s like a thirteen-year-old boy who witnessed a magic trick and wants to re-create it but has no idea how the magician pulled it off.
I decide to throw him a bone. “Sincerity,Lauro. You sat and watched her draw and didn’t throw any bullshit her way. That’s why she kissed you.”
“Okay, okay.” We’re back outside in the July evening air. It’s like stepping into a fire-warmed blanket. He aggressively points between his own eyes. “Grow new personality. Immediately.”
“It’s not a new personality!” I’m certain. “She was drawn to you in the first place because you showed her that side of you. Just show it to her again.”
We’re walking into Nine Five Four now and he’s glancing behind us. If Em were to walk in, I get the feeling he’d stiff-arm me into a trash can.
So I spare him and head in first. Reggie and Daniel are already here, and they give me a wave. I choose an easel in a part of the circle I’ve never been before. Lauro goes to sit over next to Reggie. None of us chat.
The rest of the class files in one by one. Esther flies solo today. Em is still not here. Lauro is glancing at the door, willing her to appear. I can feel his thoughts. If she doesn’t showup…if she stops coming to this class because of their fight last weekend, then itreally isover…
She’s the last one through the door.
There are a few empty easels. She surveys them all and chooses the one next to me. She sets up quickly and some of her pencils fall. I get the feeling she wasn’t going to come and then changed her mind at the last second.
I gather up the fallen pencils and hand them to her. She takes them, her eyes on mine like flame. They’re hazel eyes, almost yellow around the iris. Damn, she’s intense. “I’m sorry,” she says bluntly. “For last weekend. I…was really fired up. It was probably uncomfortable for you.”
I look away because her eye contact is too high-octane for me. “It’s okay. But…”
I’m not sure how to say this.But…you should give Lauro another chance? But…you should talk to him at least one more time? But…
The fact is, none of this is any of my business, no matter if Lauro and I are friends or not.
Mybuthangs there until Daniel saves the day by ruining the day. He’s been talking on the phone, but now he hangs it up and stands up, screeching his chair against the floor.
“Hi, everyone. Unfortunately, I just got word from the agency that there was an error and they didn’t book anyone for us today.”
I glance around. Sure enough, no model. There are collective groans of disappointment. Daniel is leafing through a notebook.
“I have a lecture prepared. But without a model…It’ll be an early day, folks. Sorry about that.”
“I’ll do it,” Lauro says, stepping out from behind his easel. Every head has turned in his direction.
“No. Lauro, I couldn’t ask you to—”
“You didn’t,” he says with a shrug. “I volunteered. I’ll sign the consent form.”
He’s already stepping into the middle of the circle, toward the model stand.
Daniel pulls him aside, they talk for a minute, and then Lauro signs a form. The class is abuzz with the idea of drawing someone they know. (And maybe with the idea of seeing Lauro full monty.)
I glance at Em. Her eyes are slightly narrowed as she watches Lauro step up onto the model stand and start to unbutton his shirt.
He’s obviously staunchly ignoring our side of the classroom. But when he sticks his thumbs inside his shorts, I transmit thoughts so strongly in his direction that he glances at me with a start.
