“You have a point. But I still think nude with a Viking helmet could be awesome.”
He raised his eyebrows skeptically.
I frowned and folded my arms across my chest, “You’re the artist. Figure out a way to make me look awesome. It would be a first. I mean, you said it yourself, how many nude portraits of women wearing Viking helmets are there?”
“I’m guessing none,” Christos said.
“See? It’ll be a first!” I was totally into my idea now.
“I’ll have to think about it,” he said thoughtfully.
“Really?” I was kind of surprised.
“Really. Let me mull it over. It might actually work. But you’ll have to wear pigtails like Brunhilda.”
“What? I hate pigtails. They make me look five.”
“That’s the deal,” he grinned.
“Seriously?”
He shook his head. “Maybe not. Pigtails might be a bit much. But I’ll think about that helmet. So you’ll do it?”
“I guess?” I smiled nervously. “But no spread legged crotch shots, right?”
He grinned, “What, no wide open beavers?”
“You keep talking like that and you can forget it,” I giggled.
“I’m kidding. You only see beavers in porn, or maybe tattoo art. I don’t want to scare off the fine art buyers.”
“What! Are you saying my lady bits are scary?” I stood up from my chair and turned to face him.
He jumped out of range. “I’m sure some men might feel that way…”
I lunged at him, but he dodged. “Take that back!”
“I was thinking of gay men!” he said as he jogged out of the studio. “They’re probably afraid of your beaver because they’re worried about getting their dicks too close to those huge teeth!”
“Huge teeth? Is that supposed to be an apology?!” I shouted as I chased after him. “Anyway, mine doesn’t have any teeth! And it doesn’t look like a beaver! Come back here! I’m going to tear your nuts off and feed them to the squirrels outside!”
“Wouldn’t you rather feed them to your beaver?” He called as he ran into the living room.
“It’s not a beaver!” I shouted as I followed him around the couch. “It’s a pussy! You said so yourself!” As I was about to grab his shirt tail, he jumped over the couch, out of reach. “At least you could call mine a lion or a jaguar. There’s nothing sexy about beavers.”
He ran to the far side of the living room and stopped. “What do you mean? I bet male beavers think female beavers are totally hot. The guy beavers are probably like, ‘Dude, check out that chick’s tail. It is so big and flat and rubbery, you could use it as a swimming pool cover.’”
“Swimming pool cover?” I scoffed, creeping toward him, one step at a time, hoping he wouldn’t notice I was stalking him like the jungle cat that I was.
Christos frowned, backing up a step. “What? Beavers spend a lot of time in the water. They think about these things.”
“Beavers build dams! What does that have to do with swimming pools?” I asked skeptically, inching toward him.
“Duh. A dam causes water to pool up, hence pool covers.”
I shook my head, moving slowly forward. “I don’t think so. Anyhow, why the obsession with beavers all of a sudden?”
“You’re the one who’s been drawing wombats all the time.”
He was almost at the base of the stairs. If I moved slowly enough, maybe he’d be lulled into a false sense of security so I could catch him. I cracked a smile, “You’re incorrigible.” I took another step toward him.
“What are you and your jaguar gonna do about it?” he taunted.
“My jaguar is going to eat you alive,” I growled. If he ran upstairs, he was mine. There was no way he could escape.
At the last second, Christos dodged right and ran toward the front doors. He was outside quicker than a cheetah.
“Come back here!” I shouted as I ran after him, right on his heels.
My breath pumped in a steady rhythm under the covers of darkness. The movement of my body and the liquid feeling of my limbs consumed my focus.
Christos was only a few paces ahead as we ran along the dark streets outside the Manos house toward the trailhead nearby. I meant, our house. Where we both lived.
I still managed to find time to run three days a week, despite all the craziness in my life over the last several months, and was in good shape. But Christos stayed several steps ahead no matter how fast I went. Despite all the drinking he’d been doing, he was still an amazing athlete who put me to shame. I could tell he could leave me in the dust if he wanted to, but he didn’t. He teased me with the proverbial carrot on a stick. In this case, it was a hunk of man meat on the stick. Or should I say his man meat on a stick. Either way, I wasn’t letting him or his stick get away.
When we reached the trailhead, he bounded up the slope like a weightless gazelle. Now he really did leave me in the dust, but I pumped my legs hard to keep up.
My heart pounded and my lungs burned when I reached the top of the trail. Christos stood at the edge of the small clearing, taking in the view. I took note of Spiridon’s old wooden bench, the one where Christos and I had kissed many moons ago under the stars. I think it had been the first time I’d ever been topless outside in my entire life.
I’d shared so many wonderful firsts with Christos since we’d met. And I hoped that we would share thousands more over our lifetimes.
This clearing was also the place where Christos had first sketched a picture of me, the caricature showing me as a painter with the inscription, “World Famous Master Artist Samantha Smith. You can totally do it!” I still had that picture. Christos had bought a frame for it and it hung next to my drawing table in our studio.
Our studio.
This clearing was the place that Christos had said that only his family ever visited. I had been such a bitch that day. I’d wrongly accused him of bringing all his girlfriends up here to get their pants off and screw them. I’d been too dense and too angry to realize he was already calling me his family when he barely knew me.
Wow, how prophetic that had been.
And of course, this clearing was the place I had mocked Christos and told him his nude paintings were just trashy trophies of all the women he’d had sex with. I’d said that his paintings were an invasion of the women’s privacy, nothing more than exploitation porn on fancy canvases. Funny. That’s exactly what my mom had said when she saw Christos’ studio during Spring Break.
“That’s not art,” Mom had said, “That’s pornography. I hope you would never consider debasing yourself by deigning to strip for Christos. I should hope I’ve taught you better than that.”
I chuckled softly to myself as my mom’s words echoed in my head.
“What’s so funny?” Christos asked.
“I was just remembering what my mom said about your nude portraits when she was visiting.”
Christos smiled and nodded. “It seems to me she sounded a lot like you did back when we met.”
“Like mother, like daughter,” I sighed.
“We don’t have to do the nude portrait if you don’t want to, agápi mou. It’s totally up to you.”
“Thank you, Christos. But I don’t want to be like my mom anymore. It’s time for me to finally leave all that behind. I’m my own woman now.”
“Yes you are, agápi mou. You are all woman.” His eyes flashed darkly in the silver blue moonlight. “And that’s the woman I want to paint.”