The Act of Arting

Ivy woke up suddenly and looked at the clock. It was 7:47am. Spanish class starts at 8.

"Dammit!" she yelled, jumping up.

She quickly threw some clothes on, ran to the bathroom to wash up, grabbed her book bag and ran to class. Ten minutes late again, she slipped as quietly as possible into the first available seat by the door.

As she pulled out her Spanish book, her sketchbook fell out onto the floor. She picked it up and made eye contact with Dyson, the guy across the aisle. They held the gaze for a second and then simultaneously looked away. Ivy's stomach tingled and she felt a rush of heat to her face as she tried to pay attention to the professor.

When class was finally over, she walked down the hall toward the front of the building where she always met her friend, Hilari. She found her in the same spot she was always in, doing the same things she was always doing: Leaning against the wall by the door smoking a cigarette and talking to her boyfriend, Rian, on her cell phone.

When she saw Ivy she smiled and waved as Ivy stood and waited for her to hang up. They always met for breakfast between her Spanish class and Ivy's art class. Usually they would talk about what Hilari did in class because Ivy was taking the same art class with the same professor, Mr. Rolando. Hilari finally hung up the phone with her boyfriend and put her cigarette out.

"Hey Ivy!" she grinned.

"Hey girl," she smiled. "Ready?"

"Yeah, c'mon," she said as they headed toward the cafeteria.

They went in got their food and sat at their usual table in the corner where they could see everyone. "So what did you do in class today?" Ivy asked. Hilari rolled her eyes.

"Another portrait, another model, another day. I mean when are we going to do something new? I don't understand why he makes us do the same thing every... single... day. It's really getting old."

Ivy laughed.

"Girl you know that man ain't right. He don't know what he's doing. He probably majored in flute or something."

Hilari laughed agreeing.

"We're supposed to be doing nude models next week though. How hot will that be? At least I hope it is. I don't wanna see no herpes or nothing on his junk."

"I know that's right!" she laughed loudly. As she laughed, she glanced toward the door and her smile quickly faded. Hilari looked at her.

"What's wrong?"

"That's him," Ivy said trying not to stare but not able to tear her eyes away.

"Who?" Hilari asked, confused looking around.

"That's him. The guy in my class, Dyson," Ivy said as her heart rate kicked it up a notch.

"The one that always makes eye contact with you and then gets all scared and looks away?" she asked following her gaze.

"Yeah... him."

Hilari looked at the guy Ivy was infatuated with. He was about 6 feet tall, had a statuesque build and short curly black hair.

"He is pretty hot," Hilari said in awe. "You have good taste."

Ivy smiled.

"I know girl."

They watched him for a minute in silence as he walked over toward the yogurt and fruit. He got a bowl and filled it with strawberry yogurt, then sprinkled granola on top.

"Shut up!" Hilari said giggling. "He is eating the same thing as you! I'm gonna go say something to him," she said getting up.

"No!" Ivy said even though it was too late. Hilari moved fast; she was already halfway to where Dyson was standing. Ivy's heart was beating so hard she thought it would burst through her chest. She looked down at her food trying not to watch what Hilari was doing but couldn't help it. She peeked up and looked at her.

She was standing next to Dyson; her 5'3" making her seem even shorter than she already was standing next to him. She pretended to look for a piece of fruit then looked over at Dyson. He was still fiddling around with the fruit trying to find a decent apple. Ivy was nearly jumping out of her skin. She couldn't see Hilari's face and therefore couldn't tell if she was talking to him or not. Then she saw her smile and walk back toward the table.

"I can't believe you did that!" Ivy said as soon as she was at the table. She laughed.

"What?"

"Did you talk to him?" Ivy asked eagerly. Hilari bit into her pear.

"Maybe," she grinned.

"Did you!?" Ivy asked again.

"I just said 'You would think for all the money we pay to go here we could at least get decent fruit right?' and he said 'You would think so. Or at least decent food.' Then I grabbed this pear and said 'Good luck with that'. That was it," she reported.

"I can't even believe you did that!" Ivy gushed. Hilari giggled.

"He is really, really attractive up close. I seriously doubt he's single," she said.

"Girl, I don't even care."

"I know you don't," she laughed. "But we gotta go. We have 15 minutes until class starts."

They stood up and gathered their trash and belongings from the table. As Ivy was putting on her coat, Hilari spotted Dyson again. He had finally sat down a few tables away from where they were. He was staring straight at Ivy. When he saw Hilari see him, he looked away quickly. A smile spread across Hilari's face and she turned her back to Dyson.

"Alright, you ready?" Ivy asked. Hilari just smiled at her.

"What?" she asked half-smiling. Then she focused over Hilari's shoulder and saw Dyson who looked away as Ivy made eye contact with him. Her stomach fluttered again and she headed toward the trashcan, Hilari following. When they got outside Hilari grabbed Ivy's arm.

"He was so checking you out! Did you see him?" she said excitedly.

"No, he wasn't," Ivy said slightly embarrassed.

"Yes, he was!" Hilari said again. "He didn't see me see him and I saw him looking at you. When he saw that I was looking at him, he looked away!"

Ivy laughed.

"You're crazy. I gotta get to class."

"Hey, call me later!" she said as they parted ways.

"I will."

Ivy headed to class and made it just in time. She took her seat at the table and waited for Mr. Rolando to begin class.

"Hello everyone. Before we begin I just want to let everyone know that if you missed a portrait of a model, you can make it up. The only difference is that you have to find your own model. You must pair up with someone else that has missed an assignment and take turns arting each other."

Ivy rolled her eyes and chuckled. Mr. Rolando was very eccentric. He talked with a weird fake accent. He was from Canada but sounded like he spent equal amounts of time in England, Texas and France. He also talked a lot of the time with his teeth clenched together as if his jaw was wired shut.

He made up his own words to describe things that nobody else would ever need to describe. Like 'arting'. Arting as defined by Mr. Rolando was creating some kind of art whether it was sculpting, painting, drawing or whatever.

"If I call your name that means you have missed an assignment and you need to see me after class to find out the assignments which I need by next Friday."

He began calling out names and eventually called Ivy's.

"Ivy Micheaux. You are actually missing three. Be sure to talk to me after class. We need to discuss."

Ivy nodded, confused. She didn't remember missing three assignments. Two maybe, but definitely not three.

"So, on to other matters. Next week, we will begin doing flesh portraits of models. We have four models coming in. Two male and two female. Monday will be female, Wednesday will be male and Friday will be a male and a female. It is in your best interest not to miss these classes," he said looking directly at Ivy, "because doing so will make it nearly impossible to make up unless you find a classmate that is willing to bare it all for the sake of art. Now, let's begin."

After class was over, Ivy went to talk to Mr. Rolando. She was told to email him later to find a partner because there were 4 other people that missed assignments and they had already paired off to work together. Mr. Rolando said that he would pair her with someone from another class; she hoped it would be Hilari.

When she got back to her dorm room, she emailed the professor and then went for a jog. After her jog she stopped to get some hot chocolate and donuts - which completely defeated the purpose of exercising, she thought laughing - and then headed back to take a shower and study.

Before she went to bed she checked her email and saw that she received an email back from Mr. Rolando. It said that there was someone else from another class that also missed three assignments and that they could work together for all three of them. He also sent Ivy's partner's email address and told her to have it done by the following Friday.

That gave her one week to get all three portraits done. She sighed and thought about where in her day she had room for make-up work. Between dance practice, the school Newspaper Chronicles, her part time job at Barnes & Noble and the rest of her schoolwork, she barely had any time left to do anything, not to mention sleep.

She emailed her partner and said that tomorrow would be a good day because she had nothing planned but dance practice, which wasn't until 4:30 anyway. After turning off her computer, she climbed into bed and called her friend from home, Veronika.

"Hey, what's up?" Veronika said answering the phone.

"Nothing, bout to go to bed. What are you doing?"

"Sitting here with Joaquin. What are you doing?"

"Laying here with Dyson," Ivy laughed. That was their on-going joke. Veronika liked movie star, Joaquin Phoenix and Ivy obviously liked Dyson. They talked for a while and whined and joked and finally hung up when Ivy started to fall asleep.

Early the next morning she went to eat breakfast, came back and checked her email; her partner had emailed her back. They were supposed to meet in their classroom at 10am. She looked at the clock, and saw that it was 8:37am. She decided to go for a quick run and then take a shower and head over to meet her partner.

When she arrived at the building it was 9:57am. She barely made it on time. She had her sketchbook and pencils in her black messenger bag. The building was pretty much deserted since it was Saturday so she knew she would recognize her partner pretty easily. As she waited, she looked at her reflection in a mural which was made of different shaped mirrors, in the hallway.

She was often told that she could be a runway model with her lean 5'9" frame. Her moss green eyes and demure grin paired with her reserved yet friendly personality made her the object of many people's affection: men and women alike which she discovered once starting college two years prior. She took her cellphone out of her book bag to make sure she hadn't missed any calls and as she was reading a text message from Veronika and laughing to herself, her partner walked up.

"Hey."

Ivy gave a start of surprise as she looked toward the voice. It was all she could do to keep her jaw from dropping to the floor. There was a sudden burst of adrenaline running through her veins. It was Dyson.

"Hi, hey," she said her voice barely above a whisper.

"You're my partner for Rolando's class?" Dyson asked. His voice was like butter and Ivy was melting inside.

"Yeah, how are you?" Ivy forced out clearing her throat.

"Good, you?" Dyson asked.

"I'm okay," Ivy said trying to will her heart to stop beating so hard and fast. She could have sworn that Dyson could hear it.

"Well Rolando left the door open for us so I guess we can get set up," he said walking into the classroom. "Okay," was all Ivy could muster.

She followed Dyson into the classroom filled with shock and disbelief. Her palms were sweaty and her heart was beating triple time. The butterflies in her stomach seemed to be fighting each other to get out. "So you missed three assignments too?" Dyson asked setting his book bag down. "Yeah. I thought it was only two but he says I missed three."

"How do you like the class?" Dyson said taking his coat off.

"It's okay. Mr. Rolando is a little strange but it's not too bad. How about you?" Ivy said standing as stiff as a board. "I think Rolando needs to lay off the fumes," he joked. "The class is pretty easy though. It's an easy GPA booster if you need it."

"Yeah, that's true."

"What other classes are you taking? Obviously Spanish."

"Statistics, a photography class and another English class. Oh and piano."

"That's a full load. What's your major?"

"Art education with a minor in photography," Ivy answered praying her heart rate would return to normal, "What's yours?"

"Undecided for now. Maybe psychology."

"Oh okay," Ivy said. There was an awkward silence.

"Well do you want to pose first or do you want me to?" Dyson asked finally.

"It doesn't matter. You can if you want."

"Alright. I'll go first," Dyson said as he jumped up on the pedestal in the middle of the room. Ivy finally took her coat off and sat at a table. She took out her pencils and pad and tried to calm down enough to draw.

"How should I pose?" Dyson asked.

"I don't know," Ivy replied.

"Hm."

He thought for a minute then struck a few different poses and finally settled on one. He had his arms crossed and resting partly on his head and his right heel resting on his left foot.

"How's this one?"

"Can you hold it long enough?" Ivy asked.

"We'll see," Dyson laughed.

Ivy smiled and began to draw. When she was done she looked up at Dyson, half-smiling.

"Done," she said, "Finally."

"Damn!" Dyson sighed and stretched. "I have no blood left in my body."

He stepped carefully down to the floor and collapsed. Ivy laughed.

"This feels so much better. How long was that?" Dyson asked.

"About 45 minutes. Sorry."

"Ah that's nothing. Just make sure you're comfortable when you pose 'cause I'm a perfectionist."

"Alright," Ivy said putting her pencils down. "What time did you say your practice was?" he asked as he pulled out his sketchpad and pencils.

"Four-thirty."

He looked at his watch.

"Oh okay, good. We have plenty of time." Ivy stood next to the pedestal and looked at Dyson.

"How do you want me to pose?" Ivy asked.

"Do what you want, I'll pose you for the next drawing," Dyson said not looking up.

She got up on the pedestal and tried to come up with something she could hold for as long as Dyson needed her to. She was having trouble coming up with something and Dyson could tell. He chuckled to himself as he watched her.

"You okay?" Dyson asked.

"Huh? Oh. I um... I'm not really sure what to do," she said slightly embarrassed. "Here," he said getting up and walking over to the pedestal. "Sit down."

Ivy sat down and Dyson directed her to a pose that was not only comfortable but also easy to hold for as long as he needed. Dyson sat down and stared at Ivy for an unnerving amount of time. Finally, Ivy spoke up.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

Dyson didn't respond. He just continued to stare at Ivy, which made her even more uneasy. At last he stuck his pencil in his mouth, got up and walked over to her. He grabbed her hand and reposed it then cocked his head to the side and took a step back. He stared at her for a moment then reached toward her face and cupped her chin and tilted it upward slightly.

"Okay. You look good now," he said walking backwards toward the table. When he began to draw, Ivy couldn't help but daydream about making love to Dyson right on the pedestal. That's all she could think about; she was so into her daydreams that she didn't even hear Dyson say he was finished more than an hour later.

"Ivy? Did you fall asleep?" Dyson asked chuckling.

Ivy finally snapped out of it and looked over at Dyson who was grinning at her.

"I'm sorry?" Ivy asked.

"I'm done. It took forever but I finally finished."

"Oh! Right, yeah. Great," Ivy said stepping down off of the pedestal.

"So do you wanna get some lunch before we start our next portraits?" Dyson asked.

"Sure," Ivy agreed.

"We can just grab a sandwich or something and come back up here to eat. Is that cool?"

"Yeah, sounds good."

They went down to the Subway shop on the corner and picked up subs and headed back up to the classroom. They spread their sandwiches out on the table and began to eat.

"So what do you do for fun Ivy? I know you have a lot of work to do but what do you do with your free time?" Dyson asked.

"Watch movies, listen to music, I go to clubs every now and then and I write."

"Oh really? You're the jack of all trades I see. What kind of stuff do you write?"

"Poems, stories, random things. You know..."

"Well I write a little here and there. We should trade stuff sometime if you want. I've really been itching to get a students opinion on my stuff."

"Yeah, that would be great," Ivy grinned. "So you don't have a boyfriend or anything?" Dyson asked.

Ivy's heart sunk. Why would he assume she didn't have a boyfriend? Was it because he didn't find her attractive? She felt as if all the signs she'd been thinking she read from Dyson were misinterpreted, as if she'd been projecting the whole time.

"No, I... No," Ivy said.

"Girlfriend?" Dyson smirked at her. Ivy couldn't help but blush at his obvious thought process. Maybe she wasn't projecting after all.

"No," she said looking at him, "What about you?"

"Single," was all Dyson replied as he stood and up balled up his trash. "I'll be right back. Bathroom," he said his mouth still half-full of sandwich.

"Alright," Ivy replied.

He left and came back and Ivy was sitting ready to begin the next portrait.

"Okay. Your turn. Pose me," Dyson said jumping up onto the pedestal.

"Alright. I want you to pose doing something--"

Dyson plopped down on the pedestal.

"No, no. You pose me," he said looking directly into her eyes. Her insides trembled.

"Oh. Okay well..."

She got up and walked over to Dyson and looked up at him.

"Well you can stay sitting. It looks good."

"Really?" Dyson asked quietly.

"Yes. Just..."

Ivy grabbed Dyson's hand; it was a little sweaty and rough. Not callused, just the hands of a workingman. Ivy imagined him running those hands up her naked body. She quickly let go and tried to just give Dyson directions instead.

"Prop your arm up and lean your chin on your hand," Ivy said as Dyson looked down at her.

"Show me," Dyson said holding his hands palm side up on his thighs. She slowly reached for his hands again and began to pose him and he leaned down and kissed her lips. Although it was no daydream this time, Ivy felt her knees go weak. Dyson quickly recoiled. "I'm so sorry... I--"

"It's-- It's okay," Ivy said looking up at Dyson.

"Is it?" Dyson asked.

Ivy just nodded. Dyson slid slowly off of the pedestal and was nose to nose with Ivy.

"Are you sure? Because I can stop."

Ivy looked at Dyson and shook her head slowly then he cupped Ivy's chin in his hand, leaned in and kissed her again; this time more passionately. Ivy put her hands on Dyson's waist and fell into the moment. It was just as Ivy had pictured it. Dyson's hands felt so good on her skin and his lips were like moist pillows catching her kisses.

At last, he pulled away and looked into her eyes.

"So pose me," he said pulling himself back up onto the pedestal. She smiled and began to pose him again. When she grasped his hand, he held onto it and lifted it to his lips and kissed the back of her hand softly before letting her continue to pose him.

When he was posed Ivy went back to the table and sat down and began to draw. Dyson had a different look in his eyes now; they had a different air about them.

Ivy was more than excited about what had happened. She couldn't believe it. She knew Hilari was wrong. She could barely concentrate enough to make the portrait look the way she wanted it. As she began to draw Dyson's face, she realized the look that now occupied his eyes. It was desire. Dyson was looking at Ivy as if he was going to eat her; as if he were a panther and she was his pray.