The Art Seminar and Thereafter
By: Kaffy


Chapter 3: The Anniversary

Richard and Caroline only grew closer, spending most of their evenings together. Sometimes Richard would stay home and sketch or go to the studio in the art building to paint while Caroline and Annie would have a girls' night out, but usually Annie was busy entertaining guests of her own. Before they knew it, a month had passed. Richard had been hinting to Caroline all week that he might be doing something special for their one month anniversary, but she couldn't get him to tell her what it might be.

"Come on Richard…what are we doing?"

He grinned at her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I don't know what you're talking about…"

She opened her mouth to interrupt, but he stopped her with a kiss, which she quickly pulled away from. "Oh no you don't. None of that until you tell me what we're doing tonight."

He pulled her into another gentle kiss. "Please, I want it to be a surprise…"

She sighed, "Ok, but I can't stand not know…"

He laughed, "I can tell. Now, go get ready."

"What should I wear?"

"Nothing fancy."

"Ok, I'll call you when I'm ready." She kissed his willing lips and skipped out of the room.

*~*~*~*~*

Caroline ran to her room, anxious to get ready. The sooner she was ready, the sooner they could leave and she would find out what he planned. She hopped in the shower and got ready, choosing to wear jeans and a tank top. When she was ready, she picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me. I'm ready."

He laughed into the receiver, "That was quick."

"I know, I rushed so I could find out what we're doing faster."

"Ok, I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Ok, bye."

"Bye." She hung up the phone just as Annie walked in.

"Hey Caroline."

"Hey."

"You look nice."

"Thanks, Richard's taking me out for our anniversary."

"What are you doing?"

"I don't know. He wouldn't tell me."

"I bet that's killing you."

"You have no idea." She started giggling.

Annie laughed with her. "So when are you leaving?"

"He's on his way right now."

"And you have absolutely no idea what you're doing?"

"Nope, none."

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Caroline jumped up to answer it. The door opened slowly to reveal Richard in his usual black jeans and gray t-shirt, holding a dozen red roses. "Hey Richard."

"Hi," he leaned in and kissed her cheek, handing her the flowers, "these are for you."

"Thanks, come on in." He settled down on her bed while she filled a pitcher up with water and put the flowers in it. "Now will you tell me what we're doing?"

He grinned, "No, it's a surprise."

"Pleeeeeeeeeease…"

Annie started laughing. "Ok, if you guys are going to keep this cutesy little lovey-dovey thing you have going on, then you have to leave. My date for the night just baled on me, and I don't feel like seeing it."

"Ok, ok, we're sorry, Annie." Caroline grabbed his hand, "We're leaving now. Bye."

"Bye, have fun tonight."

*~*~*~*~*

"Please tell me where you're taking me…"

"No." He pulled out a blindfold. "In fact, you're going to put this on."

He started to wrap it around her eyes, but she pulled away. "No, come one, you're trying to kill me."

He gave her the puppy dog eyes. "Please, I want this to be a complete surprise."

"Ok, but you owe me big time."

He laughed and put the blindfold on, grabbing her hand. He led her away from the dorm towards the stream that they sat by on their first date. "Ok," he said, "you can take it off now."

She took it off and smiled at the sight in front of her, a romantic picnic with 2 lit candles and food from the diner. "Wow, Richard! This is great…" She placed a soft kiss on his lips.

He smiled, "You're welcome."

They sat and ate, enjoying the food, the atmosphere, and especially the company. When they were finished with dessert, Caroline helped Richard clean up. "So what are we doing now?"

"I don't know, what time is it?"

"Nine thirty."

"Well, it's too late to do what I was going to do."

"What were you going to do?"

"Well, I was hoping we could get into the art building, I wanted to show you the painting I've been working on."

"Oh."

"But it's too late now."

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok, I can just do it some other time."

"Ok, so what now?"

"Well, I thought we could go for a walk, just like our first date or maybe go back to my room for a little while. I don't know. Is there anything you want to do?"

"A walk sounds nice."

They took off around campus, gently clinging to each other's hands and quietly talking. It was around eleven that they found themselves outside Richard's dorm.

He quietly stated, "I thought that maybe you might want to spend the night tonight…"

She smiled up at him. "I think I'd like that."

*~*~*~*~*

When they got back to his room, he pushed her down on the bed so he could talk to her. He didn't know how to say what he needed to say. "I…um…have something to tell you. I don't really know how, but I guess I just wanted to…um…tell you that I'm, uh…" He didn't know how to finish.

She grabbed his hand and pulled him down to sit on the bed next to her. "What is it?"

He looked into her eyes, getting courage from their expression, "I think I'm falling in love with you."

She smiled and looked down, blushing. "I think I'm falling in love with you too." She met his eyes and leaned forward, coaxing a gentle caress from his lips. He slowly leaned back, laying down and bringing Caroline with him.

*~*~*~*~*

Caroline was the first to wake the next morning. She looked over her shoulder and saw him sleeping, a soft smile on his face. She smiled and turned over, placing a gentle kiss oh his lips to wake him up. He moaned and smiled, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist, but not opening his eyes. His lips blindly sought hers, but she resisted. "Come one, we have to get up. We both have class in 45 minutes."

He ran a hand down her still bare back, causing her to moan. He smiled, "Can't we stay in bed for a little while longer?"

"You make it so hard to be good…"

He kissed her gently on the neck and shoulders, "So?"

"How long does it take to walk there?"

"Five minutes…"

"And how long does it take to get ready?"

"For me? Ten minutes…"

"And I have to stop by my room and get my sketches, that'll take five minutes."

He continued his kiss on the hollow of her shoulder, making her breathless as she finally answered, "I'll give twenty more minutes."

"But it leaves us 25 minutes…" he whined, continuing his soft caresses.

"It takes me 15 minutes to get ready…"

It was her turn to kiss him, but she chose his chest, he moaned with pleasure. "I guess I'll have to settle…" he couldn't finish, too distracted by Caroline's touch to think straight. "Caroline, if we keep this up, I won't be able to stop…"

She grinned up at him, "Sorry." She collapsed onto his chest. They stayed there, cuddling, until it was time to leave. They quickly got dressed and ready for class. He walked her back to her room and waited for her to get her stuff together and they went their separate ways to separate classes.

*~*~*~*~*

Caroline didn't see Annie again until that afternoon after classes. She crossed the street back to Jefferson and climbed the stairs to their room, where Annie was waiting.

"Hey Annie."

"Hey, how did it go last night?"

Not able to control herself, Caroline chuckled, "It went really well."

"Yeah? Do tell."

"Let's just say, he definitely has a romantic side."

Annie grinned, "I noticed you didn't come home…"

Caroline tried to play it coy, but being incapable of lying, she erupted into giggles, "I don't know what you could possible mean…"

"You didn't?!"

"We did!"

"Wow! Finally!"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, if it was me, we would have done it, like, 3 weeks ago."

"Oh, well, I don't think he would jump into that. You know how serious he is."

"Yeah, I guess…so are you guys doing anything tonight?"

"I don't know, why?"

"Remember Seth?"

"Yeah."

"Well, he and I wanted to go out, maybe see a movie, you guys want to come?"

"Maybe, he didn't get any work done yesterday 'cause he was so busy getting stuff ready for last night, so he might have to stay in."

"Ok, just let me know."

Just then, the phone rang. Knowing it was Richard, Caroline grabbed it before Annie could embarrass her. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me."

"Hey you. Annie wanted to know if we wanted to out with her and Seth tonight."

"I don't know, I have a lot of work to do."

"Ok, so what's up?"

"I was just seeing if you wanted to come over again tonight."

"I don't know, can I call you back?"

"Of course."

"Ok, I'll call you in a little bit."

"Ok. I love you."

"I love you too. Bye." She put the phone down and looked at Annie, whose jaw was on the floor.

"I love you?"

"Stop right there, Annie…"

"What?"

"Don't tease me about this please…"

"I wasn't going to." She got an unbelieving look from Caroline. "I swear! I was just going to say that I'm glad you 2 finally admitted it."

Caroline smiled. "Thanks. Well anyway, ha can't go out tonight, he has too much work to do."

"Oh, ok. Are you going over there?"

"I don't know. Do you want some alone time here with Seth?"

Annie smiled, "I wouldn't complain…"

"Then, ok, I'll sleep there."

(to be continued)