“I like to work when I’m in a happy state of mind, which as of late, hasn’t been often.” I’m surprised by how honest he’s being with me and a bit confused as to why he is in the first place.
“Have you tried?”
“Tried what?”
“To paint when you’re angry?”
“No. I have no desire to,” he states firmly.
I flash a weak smile. “Maybe you should try. You might surprise yourself.”
Before he can respond, the phone rings and makes me jump. Neither of us moves as the phone continues to ring. His eyes are locked on mine and mine remain locked on his. “Don’t you have to get that?”
“Get what?” I blink a couple times, finally focusing. “Oh, right.”
He grins. “You’re O for two.”
“Good thing door watching and phone answering isn’t my major.” I sneer and turn to answer the phone.
It’s Ms. Jones.
“Yes, everything’s fine. No, I haven’t burned it down yet. Yes, I’m watching the door.” I turn and see Professor Hampton smiling wide in amusement. “As a matter of fact, there’s someone here. So I better let you go. Yes, I’ll put my friendly face on. Mmkay, bye bye.”
I hit the ‘end’ button and point at him. “Don’t even say it.”
He’s laughing now. “Say what?”
I’m flustered and can’t think straight. “Anything. Don’t say anything.”
He’s still laughing. “Okay.”
I watch Professor Hampton as he effortlessly explains our next assignment. You’d never guess by how passionately he talks about art and how knowledgeable in the classroom he is that he’d be going through some inner turmoil himself. He has such a strong, confident aura about him, but when you really get to know more about him outside of being a teacher, you realize he could be just as damaged and broken as I am.
We’re working on optical illusion 3D images tonight. I love being able to paint with colors and tell a story, but sometimes drawing is a nice break in between pieces.
I’ve done 3D drawings before, but I’ve never done them outside of class to really get practice. I’ve done simple objects, nothing too over the top, but now we’re stepping it up a notch and adding an illusion factor.
“Think of your favorite character. Disney, anime, hero, whatever. Draw it with a backdrop. You may have to cut parts of the paper out to pull it off, but get creative.”
We each settle into our areas, and as everyone’s pencils are already furiously moving, I stand anxiously and stare at the blank paper.
“What’s wrong?” Ellie asks, noticing my puzzled expression.
“I can’t figure out what to draw…”
“Girl, I’ve been drawing for ten minutes, and I still don’t know what I’m drawing.” I laugh out loud at her confession. “Seriously, just wing it.”
I turn and scowl at her. “You’re so helpful. Thank you,” I say dryly.
“I’ll be here all night.” She grins.
I smile as I think about the Disney movies Ari and I used to watch as kids. We’d always argue over which ones to watch first. She always wanted The Little Mermaid so she could say she was Ariel, the mermaid, and I’d get stuck being Ursula. I preferred The Lion King and 101 Dalmatians, anything with animals, but I probably won that battle once out of every four times.
Sometimes I didn’t mind, though. We’d dress up in princess gowns and dance around the house while singing—or rather shouting—the lyrics we made up.
We were so carefree and happy in those days. It’s bittersweet to think about now. My chest tightens as I think about those memories. Although they’re happy ones, I hate that they’re all I have of her. I miss everything about her, even when she was bossing me around and making me be the villain as we watched Disney movies.
And just like that, I knew exactly what to draw.
I tune everything out and hardly notice Professor Hampton walking around even when he’s watching me. I’m drawing the water, making it look like it’s in the paper and the rock is on top of the paper, just as Ellie leans over my shoulder and gasps.
“I love that!”
She really has no boundaries. “Thanks. I haven’t even drawn the mermaid yet.”
“Doesn’t matter. That fucking rocks.”
I smile just as I look up and see Professor Hampton standing next to us. “What is it?” He tilts his head and furrows his brows.
“Wow, rude much?” I sneer, cracking a smile. “Like I said…” I turn toward Ellie and scowl. “It’s not done yet.”
“It’s not bad,” he says half-impressed.
“Not bad?” Ellie gasps. “Then for the love of all that’s holy, don’t look at mine.”
I laugh, avoiding eye contact with Professor Hampton. “It’s the Little Mermaid,” I explain. “I’m going to draw her body on the rock up here and then cut the paper out around her so it looks like she’s coming right at you.”
He nods, staring intently at the paper. “Try going deeper with the water to exaggerate the rock’s placement. Then widen the rocks surrounding the water so you can really see the depth of it.”
“All right. Thanks.” I flash a small smile.
A faint, amused grin appears on his face as he winks before walking over to another student.
Students begin packing up and heading out as soon as it’s eight o’clock. I’m right in the middle of drawing the mermaid’s tail and failing miserably at it.
“I’ve never seen anyone curse at a Disney character before,” I hear from behind.
“Well, then you haven’t known me long enough. I always verbally abuse my work before I finish.”
“That’s an interesting concept, however…” I hear the sardonic tone in his words. “Let’s try this.”
My heart jumps a beat as I feel him behind me, pressing his chest into my back. He grabs my right hand and wraps his around it with the pencil in between our fingers. The simple action sends a lightning bolt through my fingertips straight to my heart, and for a brief second, I swear I can feel it beating harder, louder, and faster. I close my eyes for a moment, wondering if he feels the intense electricity between us, too.
“The scales on the tail should be angled this way. The illusion should make it look like her tail is wrapped around the rock. So essentially she’s on top of the rock that’s sitting on top of the paper.” He moves our hands to show me where to shade in the scales. “Make sense?”
I can barely comprehend a word he’s saying with him so close to me. My body is humming as I feel his muscles contract against my skin when he brushes the pencil over the paper.
Oh, sweet Jesus…I need to breathe. I don’t think I’ve exhaled since he started talking thirty seconds ago.
“Aspen?” he questions again.
I clear my throat, releasing a breath. “Um…” I blink, trying to think of something smart to say, but nothing is coming to mind. My mind is literally blank.
“Here…” he offers, gripping my hand tighter as his other hand wraps around my waist and squeezes my hip. My eyes widen in a holy shit expression as I try to calm myself down. “Ninety-degree angles…see? Then shade the tail in over here.”
“Okay…” I choke out, gulping. My eyelids feel like they’re taped against my skin as I try to comprehend how close our bodies are together. I inhale and can smell him. And it’s oh so fucking delicious. Christ. I need to focus. “I think I understand. Thank you.”
Our bodies are still fused together, our hands still touching. “You’re welcome.”
The room is so silent I can hear the vent above us blowing out air. His breath tickles my neck. I’m two seconds away from spinning around and slamming my lips against his. Especially since I can feel his distinct bulge against my lower back, confirming he’s struggling with the same forbidden attraction as I am.
Moments later, reality crashes back into my mind, and I know making out with my really hot art professor would be a really bad—but really hot—thing. The only reason I came out to California, besides needing to get away from home, was because I was offered a partial scholarship. My parents offered to pay for my entire education if I went to a college closer to home, but I wanted nothing to do with that idea. I didn’t want their money or any ties to them at all. I don’t know the exact rules of my scholarship, but I’m pretty certain having an affair with your professor is grounds for losing your scholarship and possibly being expelled.