"Lacey, nice to meet you again—" Jack reached to shake her hand like nothing was amiss.
"Yes, you too." Lacey replied with a smile, "Small world."
"Oh, you've met?" Lacey's professor asked Jack.
"Indeed." He didn't elaborate.
"Mr. Taylor, this is my partner, Danny Desai—" Lacey added, so thankful Danny was here with her.
"You can call me Jack." Danny and Jack shook hands for a beat too long.
"Danny was our muse last class, our live model." Lacey's professor grinned.
"Took one for the team, huh? That's great. Did you complete that assignment, Lacey?"
"I—yes, I did."
"Can I see?"
Lacey felt like that was a cheap shot. They had all been so infatuated with each other last night, did he really care about this piece in particular or was he just trying to continue their low-grade sexual bullshit?
"I'm not sure I'm comfortable sharing that—"
"Not comfortable sharing? That can't be right." Jack smiled and looked between the two of them for their reaction to his inside joke, his attempt at breaking the ice. He got nothing back, just like last night.
"It's brilliant, Lacey, you should let him see!" Her professor encouraged, thinking she was helping.
"Art's meant to be seen, to be experienced. Let me experience it." Jack said, all joking aside.
"You're right." Lacey said as she unzipped her folio and slid out her giant sketch pad.
She set it up on the closest easel and flipped the cover to reveal her work from yesterday. Jack surveyed it for a while, Lacey wondered if he was into it or just wanted to compare his body to Danny's.
"You're phenomenally talented, Lacey. It's rare to find. How serious are you about your art career?"
"Extremely."
"I've heard so many students say that over the years, what makes you different?"
"I'm not different. The point is I'm very much the same. I have a passion and I want to connect it with people, to highlight things I think are important. I want to show other people how alike we really are."
"Elaborate." Jack really seemed interested in Lacey's explanation. She kept going.
Lacey gestured to her sketch of Danny, "Like our feelings of love." She then pointed to her collection leaning against the wall, "Our darkness." She pulled out a few more pieces from her folio for Jack to see, "Sometimes, I create things to get the unthinking to maybe stop for a moment and think. Art is my life, it's cathartic and it's one of the only things that makes sense to me about any part of any given day. It's expression, it's how I show my feelings."
"So when you plan your day, you always include time to work on art?" Jack probed further.
"No, not exactly. I have had to do that recently because of a sequence of events that forced me to schedule my time like that. I did it, but it's not my preferred style."
"What do you prefer?"
"I prefer to paint when I'm inspired, I don't do it every day. I try to stay present in every moment, experience life as it's happening. Once I've banked enough time absorbing and processing, it just comes out on my canvas. The good, the bad, all of it."
Jack nodded and walked back through Lacey's collection, taking significant time with each piece. He squatted back down and even used a tiny flashlight to view them thoroughly.
"Jack Taylor owns a premier gallery in Syracuse. He's brokered over twenty million dollars worth of art in the last twenty years. People trust him, so if you are shown in his gallery, it'll boost your overall career by a large margin." Lacey's professor rattled off excitedly before tugging on Lacey's arm, "Hey—"
She turned and walked away from Jack, ticking her head to indicate that they should follow her. The pair looked at each other, trying to figure out what in the world she'd have to tell them.
"I, uh—" She leaned to the side to make sure Jack wasn't within earshot, "I wanted to tell you that I am very disappointed about what happened in the supply closet yesterday after class."
Lacey was almost certain she hadn't known, but there was no use in denying it now.
"I apologize—" Lacey began.
"Sincerely, it wasn't appropriate." Danny backed her up immediately. If Lacey was about to go down, so would he.
"Yes, well, all that being said, you're not the first people to have had sex in that closet. I need to tell you that I'm not who you have to worry about."
"Why would we worry?" Lacey asked.
"You know how expensive those supplies are, there are security cameras in there."
Lacey's eyes bugged out.
"Who sees the footage?" Danny asked, trying to stay calm for Lacey.
"All of the security camera feed on campus goes to the students who monitor them as part of the criminal justice program here at SU. I'm alerted every time someone uses the closet in an inappropriate way."
"Of course." Lacey sighed at the swift and consistent karma she had been receiving from her recent questionable choices. Her parents would love this shit.
"It won't happen again." Danny offered.
"I'm sure it won't." The professor smirked.
Jack bounced back up and gave a single clap.
"Lacey, I'd like to display your work at my holiday show next month. All six in this collection."
"I'd be thrilled, Jack, thank you."
"We sell out every year and I believe I have a couple of buyers for you so I'll need to know the pricing. I'll send someone by to collect them in a few weeks. I hope you're ready for some major cash." Jack smiled.
After their meeting, the four of them walked out together, Lacey's professor bidding them all farewell as she locked up the studio and headed home.
"Thank you for this opportunity, Jack. I really appreciate your time today." Lacey said sincerely.
"It's a prospective art deal. No need for the big thank you, it's just business. You need to get used to the process, I predict that this will be your new normal very soon."
"I hope so."
"Anything else we should talk about?" Jack asked as he lit up a cigarette.
"No."
Jack nodded and blew his smoke away. He offered his pack up between the two of them, they both declined.
"Can I give you some advice?" Jack asked as he took another long drag from the cigarette.
"I'll listen. Sure." Lacey didn't want to lose this opportunity.
"Stay focused, and I say that because I was you twenty years ago. Art for me was living too and I lived my way right out into the streets. I was homeless for over a decade. You have a job, yes? At that bar?"
"I do."
"Keep it. What else do you do?"
"I'm a double major here, business."
"Finish both. Entertain every opportunity and then weigh every chance you take. If you ever find that you're taking more chances than you are collecting wins, stop and edit your life. Art is a business just like everything else, it's easy to lose everything if you're taking too many chances."
"Was last night one of your chances?" Lacey asked, suddenly fearless and with a fair bit of snark. Great opportunity or not, who the fuck was this guy giving her advice like this?
"I thought we didn't need to talk about last night."
"Maybe we do, I mean, I'm not the fifty year old trying to sleep with an eighteen year old—"
"Whoa, whoa, I'm not fifty. First of all, that bar is twenty one plus." Jack raised his eyebrows in challenge to her. Busted. "Second, I'm fairly sure I remember you and I having a mutual moment, your boyfriend included. Tell me I'm wrong—"
"You're not wrong." Lacey admitted.
"Last night I asked, you said no. Today, I asked if I could give you advice, you said you'd listen. I don't waste time doing anything unsolicited, you're the real deal, Lacey. I am just trying to help you navigate."
"I appreciate that."
"All I'm saying is, focus on building off of the answer you gave me in the studio. You're right, that's what it should mean when you say art is your life. Not that you're literally painting every day, but that you're motivated to structure your life in order to facilitate your passion to create. You're fortunate to already be thinking about it that way."
"That is my intention."
"All bullshit aside, we had no idea who we were last night, you know? We were just two adults on the dance floor. Maybe our paths crossed for a reason." Jack suggested and handed Lacey a business card with his gallery name and contact info listed on it, "Call me if you need anything, if you have any questions. Networking is important and your talent alone makes me want to never lose touch with you, I mean it."
Lacey accepted the card, his words rolling around in her head. He actually was pretty encouraging. If only she hadn't known the thickness of his junk or heard him call her stunning, that knowledge was incredibly distracting. Lacey knew then that she would never mix business and pleasure in the future, but he was right, they hadn't known who they were last night. Thank god she had Danny.
Jack stamped out his cigarette butt.
"Danny, very nice meeting you. You're obviously very supportive of your girlfriend, good on you man." Jack gave Danny a quick bro hug and said goodbye to both of them.
Danny walked Lacey back to her dorm, Sarita looming by the entrance, ready to keep Danny out until he paid his debt to her.
"Interesting meeting." Danny said, trying to see where Lacey's head was.
"A fucking rollercoaster."
Danny wrapped his arms around her and hugged her.
"Congratulations on the gallery offer—"
"Sounds like a good opportunity." Lacey sighed, "What are we going to do about the supply closet situation?"
"Cole's a criminal justice major I'll talk to him, see how permanent things are. I feel awful if I made this part of your life awkward. I hate that."
"We were there together. Besides, It's not like I'm running for office—"
"Speaking of that, come to my place for Thanksgiving?"
"Running for office reminds you of Thanksgiving?"
"Do you want my cooking or not?"
"Hell yes."
"I am inviting the team, spirit too, it's kind of a tradition now since we're all stuck here for our Friday game. Second annual Thanksgiving at my place."
"Oh." Lacey couldn't stop the disappointment in her voice, "There's the politics, I get it now."
"Ouch."
"Sounds like fun?"
"Liar."
"They don't like me."
"I like you. I want you there. I'm definitely thankful for you." Danny smiled at her.
"Okay, I'll come." Lacey was so ready for another Danny-curated meal, team or no team.
"Sleep over tonight?"
"Honestly, I'm going to take advantage of not having a roommate for the next couple of days. I'm going to clean everything, use all the hot water, play my music loud and get things prepped for my next classes."
"You don't need to explain, use your vibrator on your own terms." Danny joked.
"Oh I will." Lacey giggled and kissed him, "Thank you for coming today, and for this morning, and for last night—I'm thankful for you too."
"See you in a couple days."