Page 30 of Who’s Playing You (In The Nick of Time #1)
“Tempting,” she mused. “But here, come here,” she instructed me and positioned me off to the one side of the studio where she was dragging a crushed velvet chair from the corner.
I had gotten that chair because the moss-colored green of the crushed velvet was gorgeous, but the chair had no arms and just screamed to be lounged on, and for someone to be draped over its back while another someone held on tight to her hips and pounded into her from behind…
but then again, that could just have been the fantasy I had while I saw it in the store.
“Here, sit here, and your Thinker isn’t a horrible idea, but let’s modify it,” she said as she waited for me to sit.
“Lean back, yep, just like that. But now, take your left arm and have it kind of hang over the back of the chair just like- okay perfect,” she said as I maneuvered as she instructed.
“Okay and then shift your body weight more to your left hip, so you’re leaning this way just slightly.
Then, could you bring your left hand back up and lean your head against it? ”
I did as she instructed and I let my legs land in their natural state, which was to man-spread.
My Chief Member stood proudly jutting into the air between us, even though Scottie was trying to be professional and ignore him.
He was hard to ignore though, he leaned slightly right onto my spread thigh with his glistening tip.
I took great care to man-scape multiple times a week, especially ahead of today.
My usually well-trimmed man-bush had a smattering of short black hairs that helped accentuate my main man.
She took a step away and examined me, and sure, maybe the lighting too.
“What would you like my face to be doing?”
“You don’t have to worry about that yet, we can chat for a bit, just as long as you can hold that pose for a while.
I’ll start with getting the basic sketch down and then the details as well as the lighting.
I'll let you know when I’m ready to work on your face so that you can strike a pose with it that’s comfortable to hold for a while,” she explained to me.
“Sounds easy enough,” I said while she got her materials together, pulled an easel over and got herself all set up.
“Will it distract you if we talk?” I asked her.
“Of course not,” she gently smiled at me from behind her oversized sketchpad. “In fact, now that I’ve got you captive,” she chuckled to herself before continuing, “tell me more about yourself. I feel like I barely know much about you.”
“I’m not that interesting,” I stated simply.
She snorted in the most adorable way I’d ever heard before saying, “Somehow I find that hard to believe.”
“Oh yeah?” I couldn’t help but smile, knowing that her response indicated that she in fact found me not just interesting but irresistible.
“Well, within five minutes of meeting you, you told me you were ‘kind of famous’ and then we’ve had to do some cloak-and-dagger maneuvers, something I’m not accustomed to, so you can hide yourself from people.”
“Ahh. Well. It’s stupid. It’s not even that big of a deal,” I said, trying to brush it off because in the grand scheme of things - me and Scottie’s future being the “things” - it was somewhat irrelevant.
She stopped her pencil scratches and looked at me. “Fine, if you don’t want to share that, what’s your last name?”
“Also boring. Let’s talk about you, you’re way more fascinating.”
“Nuh-uh. That’s not how this game works,” she said as she wagged a finger at me as if she were scolding me.
“Oh come on, I’ve told you the important things like that you’re amazing and about how much I like you. Everything else is just white noise,” I told her honestly. “But if you like games, we can play a game.”
She raised her one eyebrow at me.
I continued, “Two lies and a truth.”
She contemplated for a few seconds while she looked at the paper in front of her and the fresh scratches of the pencil she’d been busy making. “Ok, fine. But you start!”
“Fair enough. Hmm, let’s see. Okay, I got it. One: I’m 21 years old,” that made her unintentionally cringe, which only made me laugh. “Something wrong?” I asked her like the jerk I was, knowing full-well that I was toying with her.
“Please God, tell me that’s a lie.”
“Two: I’m the eldest of three siblings. And three,” I dragged the third out like I was thinking really hard. “I double majored in college in business and human sexuality.”
She stopped her pencil mid-stroke and cast her eyes in my direction, “Human sexuality? That’s a major? Wow, and I thought that Stetson U was progressive and a liberal college,” she muttered that last part to herself.
“Yeah, I’m a bonafide sex expert,” I chuckled. “So, chop-chop, which is the truth?”
“Well,” she drawled. “Here’s to manifesting that you’re over 21…” she eyed me, awaiting confirmation.
“Yes, not 21.” To which she visibly relaxed.
“And as for the other two… hmm. Can I ask a follow-up before I choose?”
“If you must.”
“What was your focus in business?”
“Business development, brand development as well as management, and then I rounded that off with none other than marketing,” I stated without hesitation.
“And human sexuality?"
“It’s a major in the psychology department.”
“Right, right. Well… I find it more likely that you’re the eldest of three.”
I made the sound of a buzzer. “You’re wrong, beautiful,” I teased her. “I’m the youngest of three.”
“The baby, huh?”
“And the favorite,” I gave her another practiced Diva smile, but with Scottie, those smiles finally felt genuine and real.
“But of course you are,” she laughed. “So you’re telling me that you have a Bachelors Degree in human sexuality?”
“Do you want to see the diploma? It’s in the house. Framed and everything,” I gestured with my right hand in the general direction of the house.
“Hey, no moving,” she mock-scolded me.
I grinned at her. “Yes, ma’am.”
“And… sorry, I have so many questions. Like… what do you actually study for that? The Karma Sutra ?”
Now it was my turn to laugh. “For one, yes. We do read it, discuss it. I even wrote a paper on it. But we also study more PG rated things, like psychology, biology as well as anatomy. We learn just about everything there is to learn about the human body and brain, and their pleasure as well as erogenous zones and the like. And then we also watched a lot of porn.”
“Well, I’m sure your parents are happy to know they paid a pretty penny to send you to college so you could watch porn - in class and for credit,” she teased.
“Ehh, I left that part out,” I grinned at her.
“But it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, I had a full scholarship.
So no porn tuition money for them. But even if they would have had to fork it out, as I said,” and I pointed to myself with that right hand she’d told me not to move, “favorite child, remember?”
She just shook her head and laughed.
“Ok, now your turn,” I told her.
“Oh, I don’t think so. I think it’s way more fun having you in the hot seat and learning little nuggets of information like that about you!”
“Alright, how about for every two I do, you do one?”
“Deal.”
“Ok, hmm. One: I’m from Baltimore. Two: I bought all the spots in your workshop so I could meet you. And three: My two best friends’ names are Nick too.”
“You’re from Baltimore,” she said quickly.
“I’m from just outside Philly.” She had stopped her sketching and wiped her hands on the cloth she kept on the easel.
“I guess the chances of sharing the same name as two of your best friends is pretty rare, huh?”
“Maybe, but it’s true. They used to call us the Three Amigos before we re-branded in high school and we became the Trickie Nickies.”
She looked both relieved and disappointed at the same time. “That’s cute,” she stated simply before returning to the sketch pad in front of her.
“Hey,” I said gently to get her attention. Her eyes flashed to mine. “Number two was also true.”
“You’re not very good at following rules, Nicholas. The game is a truth and two lies, remember?”
“I guess,” I grinned at her for what felt like the hundredth time in as many seconds. “But you also didn’t expect one person to snatch up all your spots, so, there’s that.”
“All because you wanted to meet me?”
“All because I wanted to meet you,” I said quietly and honestly.
She smiled shyly and looked back to the paper while the pencil scratches filled the sound between us.