Art in Reality Ch. 07-10

'I can call later?' Katie asked.

'No it's fine,' Peter started saying before he suddenly exclaimed, 'oh shit the fish cakes are burning. Hang on.'

There was a loud clatter as he dumped the phone down. Katie smiled and waited for him to pick it back up.

'Sorry Katie. Sorry,' Peter said after a minute.

'I'll call you back later.'

'No. Well, could you?' he said. 'I really want to talk to you. It's just I asked them round ages ago and we hardly ever...'

'It's fine Peter,' Katie interrupted. 'Why don't you call me later when you're ready?'

'Okay,' he said. 'Katie I'm really sorry, I've been an idiot. I hope you can forgive me.'

'I'm sorry too,' she replied. 'For everything that's gone wrong. But let's talk later.'

'Okay. Thanks for calling.'

'Speak to you later.'

'Okay, bye.'

'Bye.'

'Bye.'

~

It was quite late in the evening when Katie's phone rang. She answered it quickly.

'Hello Peter.'

'Hi, I haven't woken you have I? Sorry it's late.'

'No no. I'm watching a trashy film,' Katie smiled. 'There's half a bottle of wine left and the greasy remains of a take away pizza in front of me. It was good, but a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.'

'Don't be daft,' Peter said. 'There's not an ounce of fat on you.'

'Sweet. But not true.'

'Okay, well it's all in the right places.'

'Are you saying I'm fat?'

'No, of course not, not at,' he paused. 'You're winding me up.'

'To easy,' said Katie smiling. 'And cute. Have your guests gone?'

'Yes, yep couple of minutes ago.'

'Nice time?'

'Yeah. Susan is an old friend. Went to Uni with her.'

'Thank you for the flowers.'

'You're welcome,' he said and took a deep breath. 'Katie I'm really sorry about...'

'Peter,' she interrupted.

'No please, let me finish. I have behaved like a complete fool, over and again. Gavin saying we were just a holiday fling really hurt me, because you mean a lot more to me than that.'

'Gavin is a dickhead.'

'So?' Peter let it hang.

'You mean a lot to me too. I really wanted you to come with me, to meet Lancour. It was a horrible misunderstanding on my part. When I saw Gavin, earlier that day, I told him about you, not any details though. We then went on to talk about dinner and I thought it was clear with Gavin that you were going to go with me, but he obviously didn't get that. He was unbearably rude to you, I'm sorry. With all the stress I completely panicked at the restaurant, and I'm so sorry you felt...'

'Let's stop,' Peter interrupted. 'Can we forget about it, can we? Can we just pretend I went home after that wonderful night at your place?'

'Oh yes let's. Let's do that.'

'It's a deal.'

Neither of them said anything for several long moments.

'Can I come and see you?' Katie asked eventually.

Peter sighed. 'I would like nothing more. But I'm going away tomorrow.'

'Away?'

'I'm flying to New York in the morning.'

'Oh you mentioned you were going. That's tomorrow?' she said with a crushing weight of disappointment settling on her.

'Yeah,' he replied.

'Oh bollocks. Sorry; I know you've been looking forward to it.'

'It's somewhat lost its shine now. I want to see you.'

They both hover in silence.

'What time's your flight?' Katie asked.

'Ridiculously early. Six fifty from Heathrow.'

'Ouch. That's; hang on, you're at home, how are you going to get there in time for that?'

'Drive, and leave ridiculously early.'

'You'd have to leave like now.'

'Not quite, but in a couple of hours.'

'Surely you should have stayed in London tonight?'

'That was the original plan,' Peter explained. 'But today was the only day Susan and Daniel could make, and we so rarely manage to get together, this became the plan. I hope I can catch up sleep on the plane.'

'You should get to bed now.'

'Should really.'

They both pause.

'No you hang up,' Katie said in a childish voice.

'Ha, yeah,' Peter grinned. 'Are you going to watch the end of your film?'

'Yeah, there's not a lot left.'

'What are you wearing?'

'Why?'

'I want to fall asleep with a picture of you.'

'I'm in a big baggy T-shirt with a picture of Snoopy on it,' Katie said. 'I sometimes wear it for bed, like a nightie. I've had it since I was a kid. And a pair of silly, fluffy wooly, multicoloured socks, to keep my feet warm.'

'I'd noticed you have cold feet in bed.' Peter said then paused. 'So; apart from the T-shirt?'

'Nothing,' she said slowly. 'Apart from the socks.'

'Apart from socks.'

'Ah ha.'

'So, under the T-shirt; and apart from the socks; you're, essentially, naked?'

'You could think of it like that.'

'Oh I am.'

Katie smiled. 'Cheeky.'

'Just painting a picture,' Peter responded with mock innocence.

'Ah ha.'

'It's a very nice picture,' he added.

Katie giggled.

Peter sighed and then said, 'I really should try and get a bit of sleep, otherwise I'll be in no fit state to drive. Sorry.'

'Off you go then.'

'Okay.'

'Sweet dreams.'

'They will be now. I have a picture.'

'Night night.'

'Good night.'

'I've missed you,' she quickly adds.

'I've missed you too. Sleep well.'

'Night. Bye.'

'Bye.'

~

Chapter Nine

~

Katie glanced quickly down, checking the time on her phone again. She let loose a wide yawn as she looked back up. The Heathrow airport terminal was very busy, despite it being so early. She had been there for two hours already; but was still determined to surprise Peter.

She had asked two different airport staff if this was definitely where someone would need to check in for the 06:50 flight to New York, which they had confirmed. He had twenty minutes to go before check-in closed; she was getting very twitchy that she had missed him. She supposed it would not be a disaster, given he was not expecting her; he would never know, but she desperately wanted to see him. The second member of staff she had asked had said he could not tell her whether a given person had already checked in or not, for security reasons.

Katie was pacing up and down, trying to cover the two sets of elevators, the stairs and the escalator where Peter could possibly approach from. Trying to scan every face in the crowd was tough. The only advantage she had was knowing he would be arriving alone, so she could dismiss people who were clearly travelling with company.

~

Suddenly she spotted him coming out of an elevator. He was pulling a wheeled bag and had a small carry-on bag over one shoulder. He had clearly had very little sleep and looked worse for the long drive. He took two dozen steps forward and then stopped, looking around to try and discern where he needed to go. Katie surged forwards, taking a curved path so as not to approach him directly.

He set off towards the check-in desk.

As he walked towards it Katie quickly circled round and approached from slightly behind him.

She fell into step alongside him and said, 'good morning sir, can I help with your bag?'

'No, I'm okay thanks,' he said, then turned his head to smile, assuming he had been asked by a member of airport staff.

His head turned and looked straight into her eyes.

He dropped the handle of the bag he was pulling along. It fell to the floor between them. They both stooped down to reach for it. Her hand caught the handle first. His hand landed on top of hers, a fraction of a second later. The both slowly stood up and rested the bag upright.

They looked into each other's eyes, hand in hand.

~

He lurched forward and grabbed her in a fierce embrace. Her face was buried in his chest; his arms wrapped over the top of hers and around her torso, holding her tight.

~

'I need to breath,' her voice was muffled through his coat.

He let her pull back and looked down at the huge, radiant grin on her face. She looked up at his dumbstruck eyes.

He lifted and placed each of his hands around her head, just below and behind each of her ears, sliding his fingers through the hair on the back of her neck, and kissed her.

Her hands jumped up and grabbed the lapels of his coat. She hung on to him to steady herself. Her legs were struggling to keep her standing.

The kiss was a shared tidal wave of love. It washed away all the residual hurt of their angry separation and filled them both with passion and care and desire and hope.

'What are you doing here?' he asked, still holding her beautiful face between his hands.

'I came,' she struggled to catch her breath, 'to see you off.'.

He leant in and kissed her again, then wrapped his arms back around her body and held her tight.

'Haven't you got a flight to catch?' she asked after a minute.

'Oh bugger,' he loosened his grip and looked at her.

'You've got,' she pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time, 'fourteen minutes to check-in.'

He looked around, completely lost.

'Over there,' she pointed and pushed him in the right direction.

He walked over and joined the queue. It took only a few minutes to reach the front, check-in and hand over his bag for the hold.

He took his boarding pass and trotted back to Katie.

He took hold of her hand.

'I don't want to go now.'

'Don't be daft,' she said. 'It'll be great.'

'But you're not coming.'

'I'll be right here when you get back.'

'Really?'

'Well perhaps not right here. I'll go to the arrivals gate. Might make more sense,' she grinned.

'You'll come and meet me here?'

'Yep.'

An idea suddenly popped into his head. He reached into his pocket and took out his phone.

'What you doing?' Katie asked.

'I want a picture of you,' he replied and held the phone up.

'Oh no,' she placed her hand over the phone. 'Not under this light. And not at this time of day; I must have bags like balloons under my eyes.'

He tried to wriggle the phone free of her grasp, but she adamantly held on.

'No, not with this hideous fluorescent light,' she said.

'You bloody artists and your light,' he sighed. 'Will you send me a photo then?'

'What?'

'I can't go two weeks without seeing you. Please? Will you send me a photo? Or I'll wrestle you to the ground, pin you down and take one now.'

'Hmmm, I wouldn't mind you pinning me down,' she said coyly. 'But you should probably go now. You never know how long security will take, and you're pushing time a bit.'

'Please,' he persisted. 'Will you send me a photo?'

'Okay.'

'Promise?'

'I promise. I hate to say it but you really should get going.'

She pulled him to herself and they kissed several times.

'This is not fair,' he complained.

'No.'

They kissed again.

'See you soon. It's not that long,' she said, and pushed against his chest.

He took her hands together between his own and kissed them.

'Bye,' he said and kissed her hands again.

'Bye,' she said and gently pulled her hands out from his. She flicked her hand and pointed to the security gate with a playfully stern expression.

He smiled, then turned and walked away. She watched him go.

Just before he moved out of sight, he turned and waved. She waved back.

Just as he stepped out of sight, she could not hold her eyes open any longer. She blinked, and a tear shot down each cheek.

~

Chapter Ten

~

Katie swung her front door open.

'There was some old bloke hanging around out here. Bailey; Donald, Derik, David, something like that. I told him to piss off,' Lucy said from the doorstep.

'Good work,' Katie replied.

'Nice holiday?'

'Not bad. Cut short though.'

'Oh?'

'Yeah. Had to pop back for dinner with Pierre Lancour.'

'Excuse me?'

'Yeah. Just sorting out the details for my upcoming exhibition at his little gallery. You heard of it?'

'You serious?'

'Yep.'

Lucy screeched as she jumped through the doorway and grabbed Katie into a hug.

~

'So you want a new photo for the exhibition biog?'

'Ah, no,' Katie said. 'This is for something else. Someone else.'

'Oh,' Lucy said surprised, and then archly added, 'someone else?'

'A guy I met.'

'A guy you met is getting a bespoke photograph of you.'

'Sounds crazy.'

'Depends,' Lucy said. 'What's he like?'

'He's; nice,' Katie hesitated.

'Nice?'

'Yes.'

'That word does not match the look on your face,' Lucy smirked.

'What look on my face?'

'That look of dreamy, floaty, gushyness that I've never seen on your face before. You're in love.'

'Shut up. I'm not gushy.'

'Oh dear. You've fallen for a man. Did you hear that cracking sound? My heart just broke,' Lucy sighed melodramatically.

'Shut up,' Katie retorted.

'I was sure I could bring you over to our team.'

'Not a chance.'

'I came close.'

'No you didn't.'

'Liar.'

'I was, on that one incident, I was pissed out of my head.'

'Ah yes, but drunkenness brings out a persons true nature. You're a lesbian at heart.'

Katie changed tactic. 'But the feel of his manhood inside me was...' she said in an overtly exaggerated, dreamy tone.

'Stop! Spare me your revolting heterosexual shenanigans,' Lucy interrupted. 'Come on, I've got a photo to take.'

She swept up her bags and paced over to the centre of the room. She unzipped one and started pulling camera equipment out.

'What's the brief then boss?' she asked.

'He asked me to send him a picture,' Katie replied.

'Right. Strip off then.'

'You have a one track mind.'

'No I don't. He's a man.'

'And?'

'All men think about only one thing.'

'You're wrong about this one.'

Lucy raised her eyebrows.

'He's gone away for a bit. Just before he left he asked me to send him a picture. I think it's sweet.'

'So; a portrait then?'

'Yeah.'

Lucy rummaged around in her bag. She selected a roll of film and started loading it into her Hasselblad.

'I get film? I'm honoured,' Katie said. She stepped forward and looked over Lucy's shoulder.

'Colour?' she questioned.

'Yep,' Lucy nodded.

'I thought you always say people look better in black and white?'

'Ugly people look better in black and white. Gorgeous people,' she looked up, 'like you; look good in anything.'

'You never give up,' Katie rolled her eyes.

'I'm not flattering you. This time. I'm speaking factually. With my purely professional eye.'

She finished loading the camera and then asked, 'why did you ask me to take a picture? Me specifically?'

'Because; apart from the relentless sexual harassment you subject me to, you are the best photographer I know. And, well apart from insisting I'm gay, you understand me.'

'Oh,' Lucy stopped. Suddenly with genuine concern she asked, 'you know I'm only winding you up don't you?'

Katie smiled.

'I mean I do fancy the pants off you; because you are gorgeous. But you're a dear friend,' Lucy continued. 'I'm really pleased for you. I mean about finding; what's his name?'

'Peter.'

'Peter. Right; lets make him a decent pic then shall we?'

'Where do you want me?' Katie asked.

'First things first. Go and open a bottle of wine.'

'Piss head,' Katie accused.

'No,' Lucy feigned offence. 'A portrait shoot is nicer with a nice something to drink.'

Katie went over to the kitchen and uncorked a bottle of wine. She returned to Lucy with two glasses, who filled one glass a third full and put it down on a table. She filled the other glass ostentatiously full and handed it to Katie.

'I see. Relax the subject,' Katie smiled.

'So what's so special about this man then?' Lucy asked.

'I don't know,' Katie replied and thought for a moment. 'Actually I do know. He's caring; we have lots in common; intelligent; good looking; charming...'

'Steady on,' Lucy interrupted. 'You'll be turning me straight, just to steal him off you.'

'Yeah right,' Katie said and took a sip of wine. 'I've never met anyone like him. We just hit it off. He's so easy to talk to.'

'So you leapt straight into bed with him and now you're going to send him saucy pictures.'

'I did not leap straight into bed,' Katie said indignantly.

'Oh no?'

'No. We slept on the sofa,' Katie giggled. 'But there was no sex.' She paused for dramatic effect. 'Until the day after.'

'Hah. Slut.'

'Yeah yeah.'

'Grab one of those stools and sit by the window. You can't beat natural daylight through a window.'

~

Lucy proceeded to create pictures. She was a natural photographer; directing Katie effortlessly, to draw out natural expressions and poses.

Katie went through the usual anxieties at first; make-up okay, hair okay, outfit okay. Lucy was utterly reassuring and chatty; so Katie quickly relaxed, to a point where she almost forgot she was being photographed.

Two rolls of film and forty five minutes later, Lucy said, 'I'm very happy with what I've got.'

'Great. Thank you,' Katie said and then paused, clearly trying to think of how to say something.

'What?' Lucy questioned.

'Could we,' Katie hesitated, 'shoot a few more?'

'Yeah, course,' Lucy replied. 'Did you have something particular in mind?'

'Erm. Something a bit more,' Katie hesitated again.

'You do want to strip off don't you,' Lucy grinned.

'No,' Katie said quickly. 'But; can you think of something we could do that's a bit; sexier?'

'I certainly can,' Lucy's grin got bigger.

'Tasteful though,' Katie said, wondering if this was such a good idea.

Lucy took in a sharp breath and pressed her hand to her breast. 'I'm hurt. As if I would create anything that wasn't tasteful,' she feigned mock offence.

'Alright, alright,' Katie apologised. 'What do you think then? I want something to not let him forget about me.'

'Hmmm,' Lucy pondered, rolling her eyes around the air and then around the apartment. 'I think we should send him a few shots. A little series. Of you doing normal stuff; but looking drop dead gorgeous as you're doing it.'

'What sort of stuff?' Katie asked.

'Oh, like, reading a book, brushing your hair, that sort of thing.'

'And that'll be sexy?' Katie asked dubiously.

'Oooh yes,' Lucy replied confidently. 'Now; take me to you wardrobe.'

'What?'

'I'm picking your outfits. I need to see what I've got to work with.'

Slightly reluctantly, Katie led her up the spiral staircase to her mezzanine bedroom and gestured towards the wardrobe and drawers.

Lucy had a rummage around for a good five minutes, before pulling out a pair of plain grey boy short knickers and a baggy white T-shirt.

'Put these on,' Lucy stated. 'Nothing else. No bra. I'm going down to set up some lights.'

Lucy then marched off down the steps before Katie could utter a word. Resignedly, she stripped off her clothes and put on the selected outfit.

~

As she crept down the steps, somewhat self consciously, Katie noticed that Lucy had set up several flash lights on stands and had dragged the big Chesterfield leather armchair over to sit in front of a plain area of brick wall.

'First shot; reading,' Lucy declared. 'Park your bum,' she instructed to Katie, pointing to the armchair.

Katie obeyed without question. The leather was cold on her bare legs.

Lucy moved around her, businesslike, for a few minutes, setting up a light and a couple of reflectors. She fired a couple of test flashes and took readings on a hand held meter. When she was happy with the setup she handed Katie a book and began directing her.

'Lean back. Slide your bum forward a touch. Put your left arm on the arm of the chair. Lift you legs up, put your feet on the chair and push your heels into your bum...'

'I'm not sure this was a good idea...' Katie said, feeling exposed.

'It's a great idea. You look gorgeous,' Lucy interrupted.

'Remember these photos aren't for your personal collection, miss,' Katie interjected.

'The thought hadn't even crossed my mind,' Lucy said, grinning.

Katie dropped her feet back to the floor.

'Now Lucy I'm serious...' Katie began.

'Wow,' Lucy suddenly said loudly and firmly. 'So am I. I am serious. Yes, okay, I've had a small crush on you since the academy, because you're hot. But I am a professional. And I'm doing my job here. The photos will be for you. To give to whoever you want. I will do my best to make you look great. But you have to trust me.'