I sighed as I took my robe off and sat on the stool that was placed in the middle of the room. It was only desperation that caused me to willingly pose nude in front of a group of strangers. I felt extremely vulnerable and out of my element. I kept trying to make myself feel better by rationalizing the situation; I was being paid to be art. Repeating that in my head didn't seem to help at all. At least 15 people were concentration on every inch of my body. I didn't even like to look at myself naked for too long, so having other people stare was completely alien to me. It took all self-control that I could muster to sit still and not fidget for the full hour. I couldn't have been happier when the instructor handed me my robe and the envelope with the $50 for posing.

Once I was fully clothed again, I went outside to smoke and could what money I had. I'd been doing random things all week to be able to keep paying for the hotel room I was staying in. It was false hope that I was holding onto, though. Even after this, donating plasma, handing out fliers, and cleaning park bathrooms, I was still short. Part of me knew that I would be screwed, but it was only after counting everything that it really hit me. I put my head in my hands and tried to stop myself from having an anxiety attack.

"You okay?" a voice said next to me. I looked up and couldn't help but be a little bit taken aback. A guy was sitting next to me; a beautiful guy. He was dressed in dark denim jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black blazer. His exposed skin seemed to be glowing in the moonlight, and his green eyes were bearing down at me.

"Well, I've never had to contemplate living in my car before, so not really." I instantly felt bad for telling my problems to a stranger. "Shit, sorry. TMI."

"You're okay. Why would you have to live in your car?"

"Long story short, I can't afford to keep staying where I've been staying."

"I don't know what happened to put you in this situation, but let me take you for a drink to take your mind off of it." His offer was completely unexpected.

"Um…" I really didn't know what to say.

"Come on. It's not like you have to be anywhere."

"Well, that is true…sure. Why not?"

"Great! I'm Adrian, but the way. I just saw you naked." A huge grin spread across his face and he caught be off guard for the second time in under a minute.

It took a couple of shots to help me get passed the embarrassment enough to talk again. When I was no longer completely mortified, I was finally able to introduce myself.

"I'm Margot." I told him before taking a drink of my pomegranate margarita. It tasted delicious. Adrian had insisted on paying for his martini and my margarita, no matter how much I tried to give him the money. He had a point when he kept saying that he was the one who offered in the first place, but I felt awkward about it. A guy hadn't bought me a drink in what seemed like a really long time. We sat in silence, drinking for a bit, until Adrian decided to talk.

"So Margot, how about you tell me why you are apparently going to be living in your car." He finished the remainder of his drink and then smiled at me.

"I made the mistake of telling my dad that I wasn't going to finish med school."

"And as a result, you're now homeless. Seems normal."

"It is a normal consequence for pissing my dad off. He said he wouldn't be associated with me if I was going to choose to ruin my own life, so he kicked me out and cut me off."

"Damn, that's harsh."

"You can't even imagine." I sighed and finished my drink. "Evil bastard."

"Actually, I can. Something similar happened to me awhile ago." Adrian was lost in thought with a furrowed brow and serious face. He motioned to the bartender for a couple more shots. We took them, and then a couple more. It was a couple minutes of uncomfortable silence before he talked again. "Come stay at my place until you figure things out. I have a pull out couch." I was glad I had finished my drink; otherwise I would have spit it all over him in shock.

"No. No way. That's really nice of you, but totally insane. We just met. We're still basically strangers. I can figure things out on my own." I picked up my keys and stood up to leave, but Adrian grabbed my arm to stop me.

"Look, I know what it's like to be cut off from someone who is supposed to love you. It sucks. I was lucky enough to have help from others, and now it's my turn to pay it forward. It gets cold at night and you'll freeze in your car. I'm not letting you sleep in it all night." His eyes drilled into mine as I thought about what he had just said. It was all crazy. This attractive stranger just offered me shelter. It screamed horrible idea.

"Okay." I told him. It was probable a huge mistake, but a pull out couch seemed better than spending a November, desert night in my car.

"Great!" His smile was huge. "And we're not really strangers. I mean, I have seen you naked." And with that, I was mortified…again.

Adrian informed me that he had taken the bus into town, so I had to drive him. I was thankful because he could easily give me directions, but kind of worried because if he didn't even own a car, what kind of apartment would he be living in? Would the couch be clean? I was starting to have second thoughts about all of this.

"I appreciate the ride. My car is in the shop right now. It's a classic, so I'm getting it looked at." That helped my thoughts. If he could pay for the upkeep of a classic, his couch must be clean. "You'll want to get onto the freeway and then off at exit 38." I did as he said, and the sudden change of speed caused something in the back seat to fall over. I'd always been told that I was hard on my car.

"Shit. I hope that wasn't anything important." I said mostly to myself. Adrian turned to look for me.

"A bag tipped over and clothes dumped onto a guitar."

"Eh, clothes won't hurt that thing. It's practically indestructible. I once used it t hit my brother and it broke his nose, but there wasn't a scratch on the wood." I laughed at the memory.

"You have a brother?"

"Yeah. He's a coupe of years older than me, and a total jackass and me. I showed him not to snitch again."

"How old are you?"

"22. I'll be 23 in January. Not even mid-twenties and I'm already broke. My life is awesome."

"You may be broke, but now you know me, and my friendship is greater than any amount of money!" He smiled at me and I just laughed.

"How long have you been interested in art?" I tried making conversation because I hated being stuck in confined places in silence.

"I've always loved art. I took some classes before, but dropped out. I'm just not getting back into painting. I've got some at my apartment that you can check out."
"Sounds good to me. Then I can judge if you were truly worthy of painting me."

"Oh, I'm worthy." He winked and I rolled my eyes. His phone started ringing as I pulled off at the exit. The voice on the other end sounded like it belonged to a younger girl.

"Hey Jill…yes…yes I know, don't worry…I've made a new friend and she's staying at my place, sleeping on the couch, and if you tell Sydney anything before I do, you'll regret it…heh, no worries, jailbait. Everything is fine…yep, I'll see you tomorrow. Later."

"Is Sydney some girlfriend I'll have to deal with? I'd rather risk it in my car than deal with an angry girlfriend."

"Oh god, no. Sydney and Jill are my little sisters. Sydney's a senior and Jill is a sophomore at Amberwood."

"Oh, okay. Cool. I just hate being the cause of problems for people. Especially relationship problems."

"I'm guessing that's happened to you before?"

"Had to get stitches and a restraining order. Bitch was crazy."

"You'll have to tell me that story sometime. But for now, turn left and then right into the parking garage. The code is 2641." I followed his directions, and a minute later, I was putting my clothes back into the bag they had fallen out of. I then grabbed my guitar to take inside. It could stand a lot of things, but the cold was not one of them. Adrian took my bag of random books and toiletries for me. I couldn't stay anywhere overnight without a book, toothbrush, and blow dryer.

I'm not sure what I expected Adrian's apartment to look like, but after he opened the door and turned on the lights, what I saw was very unexpected. His walls were painted a wild, bright yellow, his couch, loveseat and recliner were all a plushy, green plaid, and the appliances in his kitchen and living room were all very sleek. It all seemed like an odd combination, but it worked.

"I really love your wall color." It made me happy just looking at it. It was such a peppy yellow.

"Thank you." He said with intense sincerity. "No one else has liked it."

"How could they not like it? It just makes you cheerful."

"That's what I told them! We're definitely going to get along." Adrian grinned his knee-buckling grin and proceeded to give me a tour of his apartment. His hallway was lined with paintings, which I presumed were his. There were also a couple of smaller ones in his bathroom that I quickly glanced at. From what I could tell, he was very good. It made me wonder what his painting of me looked like.

"I'm going to go change, but make yourself at home." He went into his room and shut the door. I looked at his paintings a bit more and then went to change into my tank top and fleece pajama pants. Since I was already in the bathroom, I put my hair up and washed off my makeup. When I walked back into the living room, Adrian was busy making the couch bed. He wasn't wearing a shirt, so I couldn't help but stare. His face was attractive, and now I saw that his body matched. He wasn't huge, but he had toned and defined muscles. I luckily wasn't drooling when he turned to face me.

"I really appreciate all of this. It is so damn nice of you. Is there any way I can pay you back?"

"No, don't worry about it. Like I said, I'm just paying it forward.

"I promise I'll get our of your hair as soon as I can."

"You can stay in my hair as long as you need to. Seriously, there's no rush for you to leave. It'll be nice to have someone else in the apartment."

"Thank you, Adrian."

"It's really no problem." We both smiled shyly at each other, which was weird. He hadn't been shy the entire night. "I'm, um, I'm going to get to bed, but feel free to watch TV or whatever if you aren't tired." Adrian went to leave and I tried to get our of his way, but we ended up doing that awkward thing where we just move back and forth in front of each other. It ended with us just a couple of inches apart and him looking down at me. I panicked and ended up doing the dumbest, most awkward thing ever. I help up my hand and had him high-five me. He laughed as he walked to his room, and I internally kicked myself as I got into bed.

I wasn't able to get much sleep. When I looked at the times once I decided that trying to fall back asleep was useless, I saw that it was 4:30 in the morning. I groaned, grabbed a cigarette and a cardigan, and went out to the balcony to smoke. I quietly slid the door shut and noticed that Adrian was standing at the railing, smoking and looking at the city below.

"Couldn't sleep either?" He asked as I stood next to him and lit my cigarette.

"Nope. I can hardly ever sleep through the entire night. I always wake up after a few hours." I took a drag and looked over at him. He was still shirtless, which I thought was crazy since it was pretty chilly. I stared at his glowing skin for a few seconds. "What about you?"

"Bad dream." He sounded like his mind was miles away.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." He turned to face me. "Will you promise me something?" He put his hands on my shoulders. He was looking at me, but his eyes seemed distant.

"Sure, Adrian."

"Don't let anyone tell you how to live your life. Don't do anything to give anyone else the upper hand on the decisions that are yours to make. It's no life worth living."

"What are you talking about?"

"Just promise me, Margot. Please!"

"I promise, Adrian. I promise." I looked up at him, confused, as he let me go. He lit another cigarette and went back to looking at the view. I sat down, still confused. Adrian seemed pretty eccentric, but what he just did was plain weird. I tried to blame it on the drinking, but for some reason, that just didn't feel right. Something was up with him, and it made me feel bad for him.

"Sorry for acting strange." He sounded me like himself this time. "I get a little out of it sometimes. Nothing to worry about." He smiled half-heartedly at me.

"You're fine, Adrian."

"Thanks. I think I'm going to try and get a little more sleep. I'll see you later." And with that, I was outside by myself.