The Art Seminar and Thereafter
By: Kaffy


Chapter 10: The Big Move

The next day, they looked everyone they could to find an apartment that was big enough, close to campus, and affordable. Caroline's parents said that they would pay for most of the little things they needed and would help her until she got into the swing of things. It took them a couple of days, but eventually, they found a small, one-bedroom apartment not too far from campus. It had a decent sized bedroom, a living area, a nice kitchen, and a full bath. Plus, it was only a five-minute walk from campus.

Before they knew it, six months had passed. Just as Richard and Del had predicted, Caroline's strip was a huge success. It wasn't long before other newspapers wanted to publish it. With her approval, Del put her strip into syndication. Her salary shot through the roof right as their one-year anniversary was approaching. Richard was done with classes for the summer and unlike last summer, he planned on spending the summer working, if he could find a job. But, while he was having a hard time finding a suitable job, Caroline was having a hard time getting through all the work.

Richard sighed, "Ugh…I'm never going to find a job!"

"Hmmm?" she asked distractedly while she tried to finish coloring a greeting card.

"I'm never going find a job! At least not a decent one."

"I'm sorry, hon." She said absently again.

"Are you even listening?" he asked, a touch testy.

She looked up from her work. "I'm sorry, I'm just really busy. I don't know how I'm going to get all this stuff colored in by Friday."

"I wish that was my problem, I had too much work to do."

She could tell he was bored and irritated, but she had too much to do to argue with him. "Well, if all you're going to do is sit and mope, color while you do it." She handed him a panel.

He took it from her and sighed. "Great. This is just great. I'm unemployed, living off my girlfriend, and now I'm coloring a comic strip." He started coloring it.

"Are you just venting or should I actually try to make you feel better?"

"Just let me vent."

"Ok."

"It just really sucks, you know. The only summer jobs in this city are at McDonald's or waiting tables at some cheesy restaurant. There's nothing artistic anywhere."

Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. "Why don't you work for me?"

"What?!" He was surprised.

"Yeah, I mean, you can help me color the strip, be my assistant."

"You can't be serious."

"Why not? I need the help, you need a job. Why not?"

"How many reasons to do you want me to give you? I mean, that would be a year-round type of a job, not a summer thing. I want to do something more artistic, and I really don't think we should be working together." He got a mischievous look on his face. "We might not get any work done." He walked behind her at the desk and nuzzled into her neck… "We might end up doing….other stuff."

"Fine." She turned around in her chair to embrace him. "I'm just sick of hearing you mope around here. I don't want you doing it tomorrow when we go out, so I thought I'd make an offer." She paused to press a soft kiss to her lips. "If you don't want the job, don't take it. But, you could do it for the summer, then I could hire someone else. It's more artistic than waiting tables. And as for not actually getting work done…well, I wouldn't think you would be complaining about that." She brushed her lips against his.

He unconsciously moaned as she moved lower, kissing the nape of his neck. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. I just don't want it to cause any tension between us. I love you way too much to lose you now over some silly job."

"You won't lose me. If it causes any tension between us, I'll fire you."

He laughed. "Ok, we can give it a try."

She pulled away. "Ok, I'd love to continue this little lovefest, but we have work to do."

She turned around to start doing her work, leaving Richard shocked and confused. Did she just seduce him to get him to accept the job? She did. He smiled to himself. **She always knows what buttons to push to get me to do something.** He settled back down on the bed to finish the panel she'd handed him earlier.

"So, Richard, what are doing tomorrow night?"

"Do you really thing I'm going to tell you?"

"I was hoping you would, but I'm taking that as a no."

"Nope…I'm only going to tell you that I have two big surprises planned, that's it."

"I hate it when you do this to me.'

He smiled. "I know."


(to be continued)