The Artist

"Have all these people posed for you?" she asked.

"Not all of them," Toby admitted. "Some are just based on photos from the internet. I don't advertise for models, so it's just word of mouth really. Sometimes I don't have anyone pose for me for ages, so I find a good photo online. It's not the same, though. All my best drawings are people who modelled for me."

Poppy noticed the drawing of Sarah in the corner. The model got a copy, but Toby kept the original, that was the deal. Soon Toby's future models would be looking round and seeing a drawing of Poppy's naked body on the wall. Still, it gave her some comfort to know that, just like she was, they would be stood there naked, waiting to have their whole bodies represented on paper to themselves be added to the gallery.

Toby had put a large rug on the floor, and he asked Poppy to lie on it. It was a little itchy, but comfortable enough. He talked her into the position he wanted, calmly, confidently. He knew what he was doing, and Poppy felt safe, despite being naked for the first time ever in front of a guy, and a stranger at that. She already felt like she was starting to get to know him.

Toby had some rather expensive looking lighting equipment which he positioned expertly, illuminating Poppy's body just how he wanted it, making sure there were no awkward shadows, making sure he could make out all of the detail of her body. He talked to her throughout, explaining what he was doing, making sure she was comfortable, that the light wasn't in her eyes.

Having all of the lighting focussed on her made Poppy feel particularly self conscious. Her body was going to be the centre of attention for the next few hours, which was so strange for her. But she felt strangely relaxed. Toby seemed so in control, so comfortable, so conscientious and caring. He seemed like such a lovely guy, the kind of guy in other circumstances she'd have loved to go on a date with.

Eventually Toby had everything exactly as he wanted it, and sat down in his chair, picking up his pad and pencil, readying himself to start drawing.

"Are you OK for me to start to draw you?" Toby asked, and the tone of his voice let her know she was under no pressure at all.

"Yeah," she smiled.

"OK, just try to stay as still as you can," he smiled, examining the blank sheet of paper then looking back at Poppy's body, before returning his eyes to the paper. Poppy could tell that he was visualising how the drawing was going to look, preparing it in his mind before he applied pencil to paper.

Toby ran his eyes up and down Poppy's body, a thoughtful look on his face. Poppy kept looking at him, not wanting to look down at her own body, not wanting to see what he could see, to know that her bare boobs and her neatly trimmed pubes were completely exposed to him.

"So... erm... do you work full time as an artist, or do you have another job?" Poppy asked, hoping that he wouldn't mind chatting to her.

"I'm an architect," Toby replied, his eyes meeting hers for a few seconds, then returning to her body.

"In the week I draw buildings rather than bodies," he said, holding his pencil slightly more firmly now, ready to apply it to the paper.

"And which do you prefer drawing?" Poppy asked.

"Oh, I just like drawing," Toby said. "Ever since I was a kid. I used to draw cartoons and cars. It great that I get to do what I love doing for a job."

"Do you not... get turned on by life drawing?" Poppy asked, surprised. She was certainly going to enjoy fantasising about this tonight. Surely he was not equally attracted to buildings as he was to naked women?

Toby did not reply immediately. His face was screwed up in concentration. He started to apply pencil to paper, moving it in long, curved lines, clearly capturing her outline.

"When I was at university," he said eventually, "I was in the art society, but too embarrassed to go to their life drawing classes. The idea of having someone sit there naked and having to draw their private parts, I just couldn't imagine doing that."

His eyes ran over Poppy's body again, and it was clear that he had got over these reservations as they hovered around her chest area.

"One day the guy who organised the life drawing classes decided to try to get more members, so he managed to persuade the hottest girl on campus to pose. As you can imagine, there were guys who had never even drawn a doodle who were queuing up to attend."

"I have to admit, I turned up mainly to see her bits."

He blushed.

"I'd never even seen a girl naked in real life then. The idea of getting to stare at a hot girl's boobs and..." his eyes moved down to Poppy's crotch, "crotch for an hour was too exciting to resist."

Poppy could feel herself going red. She may have come partially to give herself material for fantasies, but it felt weird him admitting that it was also part of the reason he drew.

"When she turned up she realised how many guys had turned up just to see her tits, and she refused to pose naked. She eventually agreed to pose in her undies. Most of the guys, including me, were disappointed, and a lot left."

Toby was sketching again, his pencil caressing the paper, his eyes moving from her body to the sketchpad in front of him.

"But like I say, I like drawing. So I drew her. And it didn't matter that her private parts were covered up, not that much. Her whole body was beautiful. I'd never really looked at a woman like that before - like most guys, if I looked at porn, my eyes went straight to boobs and pussies."

Poppy watched him looking at her. Sure, he was spending plenty of time looking at her chest and crotch, but his eyes roamed all over her body, down her legs, over her stomach, to her face. He followed the curve of her body with his gaze, drawing then erasing then drawing again, a true perfectionist.

"I had an hour to just admire her, to try to make something as beautiful as she was. To capture her curves, her light freckles across her chest, a little scar she had on her side. To really look at her face, her expression, capture the shape of her eyes, her nose, her mouth. She was trying so hard to look neutral, but you could tell, when you really looked, that she was a little bit nervous, presumably about all of us looking at her so closely. It was so subtle, but I knew I had to capture it."

Toby's voice was almost hypnotic, his words drawing a picture just as expertly as his hand did, Poppy transported back to that room, to that hot young woman, modesty protected by her underwear but feeling completely exposed under the eyes of the artists. She wondered what Toby saw when he looked at her; what did her expression tell him about what she was thinking? What imperfections might he be noticing?

"She came round and looked at all of the pictures when they were done," Toby continued, smiling at the memory. "She loved mine, and asked if she could keep it. I was so shy round her, felt so awkward that I'd just been staring at her body for an hour, I couldn't say anything, I just nodded."

"She came and found me later and asked if she could pose for me again, in private. Of course I agreed. She came round to my apartment and went into the bathroom. I thought she was just stripping to her undies again, but she came out totally naked. I couldn't believe it. The hottest girl on campus, and she was totally naked in front of me."

"I couldn't believe my luck. I got her to lie on the sofa and I started to sketch her. At first I was too shy to even look at her boobs, never mind draw them. I left her chest and her crotch 'til last, plucking up the nerve to look, hoping she wouldn't mind. It was silly, I know. But when I finally did, finally started to draw the curves of her breasts, the shape of them, her soft nipples, I saw them in a different way to when I looked at porn. Saw her true beauty."

"So... did you two end up together?" Poppy asked, the romantic in her hoping for a happy end to the story.

"Together?" Toby asked, surprised.

"You know, she's coming round to your apartment, taking all her clothes off...?"

"Oh... oh no," Toby said, quickly. "I finished the drawing, gave it to her, and she left."

Poppy suddenly remembered what Toby had told her before, that he was still a virgin. Having heard that story, she was hardly surprised. What kind of guy has a beautiful naked girl in his apartment and doesn't try anything on with her, doesn't even think to ask her out on a date?

"Do you not think... maybe... she was interested in you? You know, in dating?" Poppy asked, intrigued.

"No, why would she be?" Toby asked, confused, looking up at her face and stopping drawing for a second.

"Well... she's coming round to your apartment, taking all her clothes off for you, why would she do that if she didn't want to sleep with you?" Poppy asked, raising an eyebrow. How could he not understand that?

Toby held his hands out in front of him, gesturing at her body. It suddenly hit her that this is exactly what she had done. And now she'd told him that any girl who came round to his apartment and took all her clothes off for him wanted to sleep with him.

"Erm... I didn't... I mean... it's different!" she protested, desperately trying to think how. She didn't want to sleep with him - did she?

He raised an eyebrow again, then burst out laughing.

"It's OK Poppy, I know what you mean," he smiled. "Yeah, OK, I got a bit excited drawing her, kept hoping she wouldn't look down at my crotch, realise just how much I was enjoying it."

Poppy looked down at Toby's crotch. There was no obvious bulge on this occasion.

Toby laughed again.

"I don't get an erection over drawing a naked body anymore," he said, reading her mind. "It's just a mindset; you've come here for me to draw you, not for me to have sex with you."

"So... you don't fantasise about having sex with the girls who model for you?" Poppy asked, surprised. She didn't know much about guys, but she'd have thought that if a guy had spent hours staring at a naked woman, she would be certain to feature somewhere in his fantasies.

There was another pause before Toby answered.

"I don't have that many girls my age pose for me," he said eventually. "It's usually guys or older women. And even when it is girls my age, it doesn't necessarily mean I fancy them."

He was avoiding the question.

"So you don't fancy me?" Poppy asked, realising she was pushing it but eager to find out.

"I didn't say that," Toby said evasively.

"So you're going to fantasise about me tonight, then?" she asked, starting to feel embarrassed about how the conversation was going, but wanting to find out. As far as she was aware, no guy had ever fantasised about her before. She realised that she was totally comfortable about Toby fantasising about her. She wanted him to.

"Are you going to fantasise about this tonight?" Toby replied, still not prepared to answer the question.

"I asked you first," she shot back.

"I have a rule not to fantasise about girls I draw," Toby admitted eventually. "It would make it awkward if I was drawing you now, knowing I was going to be jacking off over my drawing of you tonight."

Although this should have reassured her, Poppy felt disappointed.

"Couldn't you... make an exception?" she said, barely able to believe she was actually asking a guy to fantasise about it. "I... I wouldn't mind - it would be OK."

Toby didn't reply, just kept sketching.

"It would be kind of a thank you for drawing me," Poppy said, hoping to convince him.

"Are you going to fantasise about posing for me?" Toby asked again.

"I will if you will," Poppy replied. She could feel herself starting to get aroused. She'd never spoken to a guy about fantasising before. She was so glad that her cooch was hidden between her legs so he couldn't see it starting to moisten. But then she realised that her whole body was on display to him; even if her skin started to redden, or her nipples started to harden, he'd know. She looked back at his crotch. Was there a hint of a bulge in his pants?

"OK, deal," he said.

The conversation ended there, both clearly too shy to push it any further. He continued to sketch her, and their conversation moved on to more mundane small talk. To her relief, her body started to calm down, and didn't seem to have betrayed any hint of her arousal to him.

They talked about life, their jobs, their families. Toby seemed like a great guy, and had this been a date, Poppy would have been very keen to see him again. But it wasn't a date; the agreement was that she would pose for him and he would draw her, and he had already made it clear that he didn't like getting involved with his models.

They had agreed that she would pose for two hours, and the time flew by. Eventually Toby looked at his watch and said, "wow, the two hours are nearly up, I have to let you go and get dressed in a few minutes!"

"It's OK," Poppy said, "take as long as you need. I'm in no rush."

She didn't really want this session to end. She was having such a great time with him, felt so relaxed in his company, she was more than happy to stay. She no longer felt any embarrassment about the fact he could see her body. They chatted about TV as he stared at her breasts, carefully reproducing them on the paper in front of him. She told him about her holiday in America as he focussed on her crotch, applying plenty of dark pencil to paper to illustrate those dark, thick, curly pubic hairs.

Toby accepted her invite and took another half an hour drawing and redrawing, adding details and flourishes, not moving on until he was absolutely happy with what he had drawn. He refused to show her the picture until it was finished.

Eventually, after a lot of looking back and forth from Poppy to the sketch pad, some frowning and a last mark or two, he was done. He signed his initials in the corner.

"OK, I'm done!" he smiled. "There's a clean dressing gown over in the corner if you want to cover yourself up now."

"Oh no, it's fine!" Poppy said. "You probably know my body better than I do. I'm not going to get shy about you seeing it now! Just let me see the drawing."

Poppy walked over to Toby, not feeling remotely bothered about the fact she was naked even though she was now standing close to him.

It was stunning. Poppy was convinced Toby must have used vast amounts of artistic licence in drawing her. She couldn't possibly be that slim and well shaped. Her boobs weren't that round, weren't that firm, her nipples not quite that central, surely? Toby had drawn her smiling, and she realised she must have been, given how much she was enjoying his company.

Her hair fell just perfectly, and she was so glad she had spent so much time on it this morning. He had captured every mole, every mark, but not in a way that made them look like imperfections, but in a way that made them look like part of who she was, that made her look real.

"It's perfect," she breathed.

Toby smiled.

"You're OK with me keeping the original and displaying it in here?" he asked.

That was the deal. Poppy looked round at all the other drawings. She'd be in good company.

"Sure," she smiled. "As long as I can have a copy."

Toby went off to make a copy for her, and Poppy disappeared to the bathroom to get dressed again. It was weird to think that a few hours ago she'd been in here taking her undies off, so nervous about him seeing her body, but now her clothes just seemed unnecessary. What did she have to hide from him?

Once she was dressed again she went to join Toby in his office, where he had printed off a copy of the drawing as promised. He turned to look at her.

"You look fantastic wearing clothes as well," he smiled.

"Thanks," Poppy said.

He handed her the drawing.

Would he take his chance now? Invite her over again on the pretext of drawing her dressed? Ask her out for a coffee? She'd say yes in a heartbeat.

"I'll walk you to the door," he said.

"You could make me another cup of tea first," Poppy said. She was helping him. She wasn't going to outright ask him out on a date, but she'd give him as much opportunity as she could.

"Erm, yeah, OK," he said, seeming surprised, but doing as he was asked.

Poppy looked around his office. As he came back in carrying two mugs of tea, she was looking through a sketchbook she had found, drawings of landscapes. Was there nothing he couldn't draw?

Toby looked nervous when he saw what she was doing, but relieved when he noticed it was landscapes she was looking at.

He handed Poppy her drink, then picked up two other sketch books and went to put them in a drawer.

"What's in those?" Poppy asked, suspiciously.

"Nothing," Toby replied, unconvincingly.

"Let's see then," Poppy said.

Toby looked like he was going to refuse, but eventually he relented. He passed them to Poppy.

Poppy started to look through, and was amazed by what she saw. Page after page of what were clearly cooches. All different shapes and sizes; big lips, small lips, dark lips, light lips, surrounded by hair and bare. Poppy had never even really looked at her own. She'd seen diagrams of them in text books at school, but had never realised how varied they could be.

She'd always thought girls' genitals were ugly and should stay hidden between their legs where they belonged, but somehow Toby had made them look beautiful. She hadn't realised how different they could be, and started to wonder what her own looked like; she'd have to have a proper look when she got home.

"Do girls... actually pose for you like this? With their legs open?" Poppy asked, surprised.

Toby laughed.

"No, of course not. I can't imagine there are many women who'd sit there with their legs spread in front of a guy they didn't know and let him draw their bits," Toby replied.

"So... you've never actually seen a real cooch?" Poppy asked.

Toby went a bit red.

"Well, no. I just get the pictures off the internet. Not off porn sites; there are sites where ordinary women post photos of their vaginas anonymously."

"But you don't show anyone these?"

"No, I've never shown anyone," Toby said. "People would think I was a perv, sitting in here, drawing pussies. But I think they're beautiful. I don't know why women are so embarrassed about them."

"Would you like to draw one for real?" Poppy asked. She couldn't believe what she was saying, still not sure exactly where she was going with this.

"Well yeah, I suppose," Toby said. "But I could hardly ask a girl to pose her pussy for me."

"Can you say cooch? I don't like the word 'pussy'," Poppy said.

"OK," Toby smiled. "I can't ask a girl to pose her cooch for me."

"Would you like me to pose my cooch for you?" Poppy asked before she could stop herself.

"Really?" Toby asked. "I wasn't... I mean..."

"I know you weren't asking," Poppy said. "I was offering."

"I'd... I'd love that... if... you want to," Toby said.

"Same time next week?" Poppy offered.

Toby nodded.

The two finished their drinks as Poppy flicked through his sketches, then Toby showed her to the door.

"Remember you're fantasising about me tonight?" Poppy said as she left.

"Yep."

"But only my body, not my cooch. That's next week," Poppy said, turning and walking away before she could see his reaction.

***

Poppy waited until that evening before she was finally ready to relive that day in her mind. Her body was aching for satisfaction all day, but they'd agreed to fantasise about it tonight.

At 10pm, her phone chimed. It was a text message from Toby.

"About to fantasise about you now."

Poppy turned the TV off and raced upstairs. As she did she replied:

"Wait 5 so we can do it at same time. Remember, no cooch."

As she got into the bedroom, another text came in.

"OK, deal, cooch next week."

Poppy still couldn't believe that she'd actually offered to model her cooch for him. It was one thing being naked, quite another having her legs wide apart and him looking right between them. Still, that was something to worry about later.