"Art"
by,
Bunny
CJ clutched her robe nervously, sitting on a stool.
"What are you doing now?"
"Looking at your neck... And, um, getting a reading on my light meter. Uh... light is very important! Without it you've got... uh..." he stammered nervously.
"Darkness?" she broke in, smiling.
"You've got the makin's of a great photographer." he grinned.
CJ smiled, then bursts into nervous laughter.
"Whatcha laughin' about?" he asked curiously.
"Oh, I was just thinking how my mom would freak if she knew I was up here..." she admitted.
"Your mom?" he echoed, sitting next to her, a smile pasted to his features now.
For some insane reason, it had not occured to him his model even having a mother...
"Yeah, she's always warning me about guys. Don't assume boys are as innocent as you are, Carol." she laughed, shaking her finger mockingly.
"You... your name is Carol?" he asked in shock, hopping up as if on fire.
"Well, Carol Jean actually, but only my mom still calls me that..."
Mike sort of stumbled towards the camera equipment, rubbing his face as if suddenly weary.
"Man, even when she's not here she's ruinin' everything!" he muttered under his breath.
"What?"
"Uh, nothin', nothin'..." he said distractedly.
"Look, I know how to get around this. I just have to remind myself that you're an artist, not just some dirty-minded guy who wants to see me naked..."
Mike had his back still turned to her, the emotions and thoughts pulsing through him clearly painted on his face.
"What if this were my Carol? Scared, embarrassed, and alone with some perv with a camera?"
He stared at the robe suddenly tossed on his shoulder, and it struck him just how very much it scared him to think of "his Carol" in that situation...
"Here. Where do you want me? Is there something wrong? Mike?" she asked, perplexed.
Mike grabbed the robe & tossed it back over her, refusing to look.
"Carol, look, you can't do this!" he exclaimed. "Uh, somethin' kinda hit me as I was looking at your... uh, face! An inspiration. Somethin' kinda wild, kinda wacky..." he said, his stammering begining to smooth out...
"Wacky?" she repeated, clearly confused.
Mike smiled and began gesturing with a big grin.
"Art: Nude, with clothes on!"
"But... your assignment was Nude, with clothes off." she said with a puckered brow.
"Assignments?" he scoffed. "I have never been bound by assignments, believe me..."
"Do I still get my twenty bucks?" she asked hopefully.
"Forty." he assured her...
~*~
Boner came back in, just as he was putting the film into his pocket to be developed.
"Hey, Mikey." his friend smiled widely. "Sooo... how'd the photograph go?"
Mike grimaced, not wanting to really discuss the painful, embarassing incident ever again...
"Work of art, buddy... Work of art..." ~*Finis*~