Shut Up and Model for Me (9 page)

I open the mailbox only to have disappointment return to me. Nothing but advertisements and junk mail.

I chuck the papers in the trashcan and return to my room, where I spend the rest of the day studying for my biology test tonight. Dallas pointed me in the right direction, and with his guidance, hopefully I will only study what’s needed for the test. Hopefully, he won’t be screwing me over.

An hour before class, Mom texts me.
So, this weekend… u busy?

I sigh. I can’t avoid her any longer. I hit the reply button.
Sure. I’ll come see your new place.

Dallas

Being a graduate intern means that mostly, you get to do a bunch of bitch work.

One of my peers and I distribute exams to the two-hundred undergrads in the lecture hall. Test A, test B, test C, test D. We make sure no two people sitting next to each other have the same letter.

Evan sits at the very back of the hall. She smiles at me when I hand her the test. I want to mouth ‘good luck’ to her but I know how weird she is about people seeing us interact, and I want to respect that.

The next two hours are spent being the asshole who walks up and down the aisles, watching all of the students like hawks to make sure no one is cheating. A couple of times I catch Evan’s eye. She bites her lower lip to hide a grin and glances back down at her test. God… I don’t want to know how many guys she’s won over with that move.

It’s nine-pm when all of the tests are finally in. I’m on my way to the office to begin the grading marathon when I pass Evan in the hall. To my surprise, she looks to her right and left to make sure that we’re alone, and then leans up against the wall. “Hey.”

“How do you think you did?” I ask.

The corners of her lips perk up. “Nailed it,” she says. “I think I might need you to tutor me every week.”

Even though her makeup-less face, glasses, and sweats make her look young enough to be a teenager, she still has this wise aura about her.

“What about this weekend?” I offer. “We’re done…” I glance around. “We’re done shooting. I wouldn’t mind getting out of town for a bit.”

She frowns and pushes up her glasses with her fingertip. “I have to go visit my mom this weekend.”

“Where does your mom live?”

“Chico.”

“Oh, ok. It’s nice there.”

She cocks her head. “Are you hinting that you want to come with me to my mom’s?”

“I didn’t think I was hinting at anything, but if you’re looking for company… Tricia’s going on a weekend trip to visit one of her clients anyway. It’s not like I’d be doing much, other than homework.”

“You really want to come?” she asks, and then shrugs. “Well, I guess that would work well for me. If I have a guest, Mom won’t pressure me into staying longer than a day. There’s a great coffee shop downtown.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I sigh and scratch my head with the one not holding all of the tests. “So, the issue goes into production this week.”

She nods. “Britain’s really excited about it. You nervous?” Her eyes sparkle with this adorable curiosity.

Before I can respond, voices come from down the hall. The other grad students that are going to help grade tests tonight are here.

Evan pulls her books tight against her chest and pushes up her glasses one last time. “Talk to you later, Dallas,” she says, and before I can tell her goodnight, she’s already made her way down the hall and out of sight.

^^^^

I’m about to send Evan’s Scantron through the machine when Brad, another graduate intern, says, “So Dallas, you gotta let me know if the rumors are true.”

I glance up at him. Brad and the three other interns are staring at me. All of them wear wicked grins—except for Abby, the girl of the group, who just rolls her eyes.

“What rumors?” I ask nonchalantly, and slide Evan’s Scantron into the machine.

“The ones about you getting to fuck those EPE girls on camera.”

The machine spits out the Scantron. She missed three. Evan got a 97 percent on the multiple choice part of the exam.

“I’m not fucking anyone on camera, Brad,” I say. “Don’t know where you heard that, but your source is wrong.”

My answer doesn’t satisfy him. “But you
are
modeling for EPE, right?”

I flip open Evan’s test and pull the answer key toward me, avoiding eye contact with Brad. “I am. What’s it to you?”

“Fuck, dude. You are like the luckiest motherfucker alive. What I wouldn’t give to be able to dry hump those bitches. That Rylan chick has such a sweet ass I’d like to—”

“I swear to God, Brad, shut up before I beat the living shit out of you.”

I’m not really a violent person. But fuckheads like Brad make me snap.

He holds his hands up. “Whoa, bro. Chill. I’m just kidding around.”

No you aren’t
, I think. I look down, realizing I’m crumpling Evan’s test in my hands. I smooth it out, take a few deep breaths, and start grading.

This girl isn’t just some eye-candy or fuck meat for assholes like Brad. She’s brilliant. And I realize how brilliant she is when I finish grading all of her complicated drawings of proteins and cells—stuff that, even though I did give her direction on what she needed to study, she’d only know if she were really dedicated to her work.

Ninety-five. Evan got a ninety-five.

When I finish grading my portion, I say nothing and leave the office, knowing that anything out of my mouth would be threateningly confrontational.

I don’t realize that Abby is following me until I’m almost to my car in the parking lot.

“That was a really awesome thing you did,” she says.

“What’s that?”

“Standing up for those models.” She scuffs her feet. Abby is the kind of girl who’s painfully nerdy. I’m not sure I’ve even heard her speak before now.

“They’re not just models to me,” I say honestly. “They’re my friends too. Of course I’m going to stand up for them.”

“It’s really cool to hear you say that,” she says excitedly. “Can’t wait for the next issue.”

I take a step back. This chick—an EPE subscriber? I wouldn’t have guessed in a billion years.

“You get to pose with Rylan Willow?” she asks.

“Yeah, I do.”

“She’s my favorite. You’re a lucky guy.”

I smile, opening my car door. I guess I am.

^^^^

The living room is dark when I get home, but I can see that, down the hall, the bedroom light is on. I throw my keys on the dining table and set my stack of papers on the couch, undressing as I make my way back to the bedroom. I freeze in undoing my tie when I see Tricia sprawled across the bed in nothing but a pair of black panties. She stretches her arms above her head and says, “I’ve been waiting for you.”

About damn time.

“What’s the occasion?” I ask, unbuckling my belt.

She arches her back, splaying her slender legs. “I’ve been evasive lately, and since I’m going to be gone this weekend and then leaving for a week next month, thought I’d give you a little treat.”

When my clothes are off, I climb onto the bed and lie on my back. Just seeing her for the first time in a long time trying to turn me on instead of the opposite way around is enough to get me hard immediately.

When Tricia’s on top of me, I slide her panties down her legs and she sinks down on top me. I groan, savoring the feeling of being inside of her.

We don’t speak.

When I offer to get her off after I finish, she kisses me and tells me that it’s okay. That she’s tired.

She rolls over and turns off the lamp, and we go to sleep.

Chapter Eight

Evan

What the fuck am I doing?

I’m bringing Dallas to my mom’s house, that’s what I’m doing.
I think that we were both much too polite to tell the other that this is a really dumb idea. I’m wondering if he feels the same way as me. That going to Chico is just getting our minds off the fact that EPE is in a printing weekend, and on Monday, our naughty school girl and professor photo shoot will be readily available to anyone willing to pay five dollars.

Dallas needs a distraction so much that he’s willing to visit my mother in her crappy apartment.

As I drive up the freeway, I tell him, “So my mom thinks that you are my coworker. As far as she knows, I do clerical work for a tech support office.”

“So… I’m supposed to be like, part of the geek squad?”

“Sure,” I say. “You fit the role.” I bite my lip, trying to hide the fact that I’m amused at my own damn joke.

“Har har. Hey, just because I am a grad student in biology doesn’t mean that I can’t be hot. Britain seems to think so.”

I nod, keeping my eyes on the road. “That she does.”

“And so do you.”

“Okay, Mr. Cocky-Ass. Way to assume.”

“So you don’t think I’m hot?”

I open my mouth to respond, but is there really a reason for me to flat-out lie to him? I maneuver my way around the question instead. “Well, you were kind of forced on me, so I guess, given the circumstances, dealing with you hasn’t been the hardest thing.”

He scoffs. “Okay, Evan. Sure.”

I feel my entire face flush. I remember how wet I was during our last shoot. How much I wanted Britain and Andrea to be gone and my lingerie to be gone and for him to just take me. He spread my legs apart. My panties were incredibly thin.

He had to have seen how much I ached for him.

Luckily, he veers from the subject. Maybe he sees how uncomfortable I am. “So, I’m the nerd that you work under.”

“She’ll assume we’re together. Just be honest and tell her we’re friends.”

“Or I can tell her I had you bent over a desk in your panties yesterday.”

“God, you’re an asshole.” I take in a deep, shuddering breath, less because I’m angry and more because the way he said it sounded so fucking hot.

“Chill, Evan. I’m kidding, of course.” And then he’s back to his goofy self, his dark, sexual aura suddenly absent. It’s incredible how quickly he can change like that. Must be the model side of him. The ability to reflect whatever character he must. “I think it’s unfair that our scenarios have me continuously dominating you.”

“Well, we’ve put on the professor-and-naughty-student pants. What more can you expect?”

“But it’s unfair. I feel like we have to make it even somehow.”

“Like have a shoot where I’m whipping your ass with a riding crop or something?”

He bursts into laughter. “Ouch? Is that supposed to be sexy?”

“To some people.”

“How about something a little gentler?”

Suddenly I’m imagining myself straddling him as we both sit, pinning his hands above his head and grinding my hips into his groin.

Stop it, Evan.
Stop it.

“You convince Britain, and I’m down,” I reply.

“You got it,” he pulls out his phone.

“Seriously? Well, alright.” I keep glancing at him from the corner of my eye as he texts Britain. When he slides his phone back into his pocket, I ask, “What did you say to her?”

“I asked if you could pin me down and spank me with a riding crop next shoot.”

“Shut up.”

A grin creeps up onto his face, but he says nothing.

^^^^

An hour and a half later, I pull into my mom’s complex. I told her I was bringing a friend from work and we were going to be studying at the coffee shop later. Only thing is, she doesn’t know he’s a gorgeous grad student that’s two years older than me.

The apartment complex is a dump. Peeling paint and foggy windows. There’s even a shopping cart full of trash bags parked on the curb. I sigh and park my car in front of her number—105. Dallas and I get out of the car and he follows me up to her apartment.

My mother—God bless her soul—looks like a crazy cat lady. Today she wears a long gauze skirt, frizzy hair pulled into a bun on top of her head. Her eyes are magnified into huge orbs by her thick wire-rimmed glasses. Standing in the doorway, she spots me, blinks, and then her bug eyes expand even more when they rest on Dallas.

“
Oh
my,” she says, entirely unabashed.

“Mom,” I mumble, pointing to Dallas. “This is…”

Dallas steps forward, stretching out his hand. “I’m Dallas Whitley, Evan’s boss.”

I do my hardest to not roll my eyes. Oh, dear god.

“Well, Mr. Whitley,” Mom says, brushing her hands over her skirt. “I hope you don’t mind a vegan dinner.”

“Not at all. I’m fully aware of Evan’s eating habits.”

I shoot him an icy glare. Way to make us sound casual.

“I hope you don’t mind me bringing him,” I tell Mom. “We’re in the same major. He’s a grad student, and he’s been helping me study.”

“Study. Sure,” she says. “Won’t you come in?”

I nod and wait for Mom to re-enter her apartment before I turn back to Dallas. “Please stop trying to charm the pants off of her,” I beg. “She’s been waiting for me to ‘find a man’ for ages and I don’t want her to get her hopes up with you.”

The corners of his mouth perk up as he leans against the door frame. “Why ever would I do that?” he asks.

“Because you’re evil, that’s why.”

He chuckles and follows me into the apartment.

^^^^

Mom has really outdone herself. I’m impressed.

I’ve been living a semi-vegan lifestyle since I was a teen, mainly having Mom as guidance. We did our best with what we could afford, making the most with our patio garden and practically living off of lentils. But tonight, she’s conjured a sweet and sour tempeh dish, with stir-fried vegetables and rice. I’m half expecting Dallas to be completely grossed out and not eat anything, but to my surprise, when we’re all sitting around Mom’s meager dining room table, he digs in.

“This is amazing,” he says in between swallows. “I don’t miss the meat one bit.”

I catch his eyes, trying my best to convey a look that suggests he’s full of shit. I’m not sure if it comes across.

But Mom seems happy and unfazed of any fakeness that Dallas may carry within him. “I’m quite glad,” she says. “I’ve been cooking without meat since Evan was in middle school. I’ve got to tell you, I’ve had more energy in my fifties than I ever did in my thirties.”