Denae and Bill - The Beginning

Bill and Denae (pronounced di nay) both attended Mount William college in western North Carolina. They first met early in the Fall Semester of their senior year when they were both taking Art Appreciation, but they did not initially meet in the classroom. The class was held in a large auditorium because there were nearly 120 students enrolled. Most, like Bill and Denae, were in the class because they assumed it would be an easy A while satisfying an elective requirement.

Early in the course, the professor assigned a short paper in which each student was to critique a particular work of art on display at the campus art gallery. The subject piece, Quiet Interlude, was by a local artist, Archibald Rogers. Rogers had been a sitting judge for many years, but gave up the bench for the easel and brush and found surprising success.

Bill was not serious about the course or the assignment, but found a few minutes to drag himself by the gallery. He had to wander through three of the gallery's rooms before finding the painting in a round room, which was relatively small. It was hanging opposite the doorway in which he stopped. There was a marble bench with no back in the middle of the room and on that bench sat a girl observing the painting, her back to him. She was wearing a pale yellow t-shirt with sleeves that extended just beyond her shoulders. When she became aware of his presence, she turned around and glanced at him. Now that he could see her face, he was stunned. She did not appear to be wearing much make-up yet was breathtakingly beautiful, with the palest blue eyes he had ever seen. She had smooth, olive drab skin and dark shoulder-length hair.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you.", he said in an attempt to act dignified though he was struck by her looks.

She smiled and simultaneously chuckled slightly. He supposed she was used to guys fawning over her.

"No problem. I'm here to fulfill a class requirement.", she replied.

"Dr. Burrellson's? Art 110?", Bill asked in a tone both surprised and hopeful.

"Yes.", she said. "You too? What period?"

"3rd - 10:10 a.m."

"Same as me.", she said. Sliding over to one side of the bench, she added, "Here. Wanna sit while you look?"

He thanked her and sat down next to her on the bench. From his new vantage point, he noticed that not only was she really attractive, she had a fairly athletic looking body, lean and toned; perhaps she was a dancer or gymnast.

They both sat, looking at the painting, not talking other than to exchange an occasional comment about the artist's use of color or how he used the space and other terms they had both heard the professor use in class. Bill used the silences to think of some comment he could make in order to have an excuse to glance at her from time-to-time.

They were there observing the painting for quite a few minutes. The comments between them came more frequently and more easily. As they studied the painting, an older, gray haired gentleman quietly slipped into the room behind them. After a couple of minutes, they both turned to see who it was that had joined them.

"Sir, would you care to sit here?", Bill asked as he stood up to offer his seat. He did this to be polite and respectful of someone who was clearly his elder, but it also gave him a chance to turn so he could have a more straight forward view of the girl on the bench.

The gentleman held his hand up and waved off Bill's gesture. "No, thank you, son. You two please carry on with what you were doing. I was just wandering around the gallery and wondered which piece was in here." After a pause, he added, "I would be interested to know what a couple of young people think of this picture."

The painting was of a very dilapidated old cabin next to a quiet pond. There was bright sunshine streaming down on all the wildflowers that surrounded the cabin and around the pond. It appeared as if there was a gentle breeze blowing as the wildflowers all leaned slightly in the same direction.

Bill obliged and said, "Well, I'm no expert. But I can tell what's in the painting, a shack and a pond. There's a lot of art these days that doesn't look like anything. So, to me, its better than most works. I wouldn't mind fishing in that pond."

The older man nodded and turned his attention to Denae, still seated on the bench and asked for her thoughts.

"Its kinda boring to me.", she stated flatly. "There is nothing much going on. No people. No animals. Nothing moving. Its nice, but...", her voice trailed off.

Just then one of the gallery staff leaned into the room and looked at the older gentleman. "Judge Rogers, the curator was wondering if she might speak to you for a moment in her office." He stated he would be there in just a moment.

"Judge Rogers?", Bill asked. "As in Archibald Rogers? The artist who painted this?"

Judge Rogers smiled and nodded in the affirmative. "Guilty as charged."

The two students looked at one another. Bill raised his eyebrows and Denae closed her eyes, muttered something under her breath and let out a sigh. And then both turned to the Judge, who was still smiling, obviously enjoying Denae's embarrassment.

Denae stood as she began saying, "Us, sir, I'm sorry. I didn't mean boring-"

"Its ok.", the Judge interrupted. "That's perfectly ok, dear. I really don't mind. And actually, I've got to admit it does look a little boring. Maybe I should have put a couple of deer in there somewhere."

Bill, attempting to relieve Denae's stress, or at least move past it, asked, "If you don't mind, sir, what is the message of this painting?"

As he moved toward the door, the Judge chuckled and said, "Hell. There's no message. I was just in that spot and thought I should paint it before some developer comes along and puts a bunch of condos there and ruins the nature." He continued smiling to himself as he exited the room.

Bill and Denae looked at each other in silence for a moment and then both started laughing out loud. Bill noticed that even through her olive complexion, Denae was blushing quite a bit. It somehow made her even more beautiful.

"Well, I'm impressed. I've never met anyone who would tell an artist his work stinks right to his face.", Bill said grinning as he offered a round of quiet applause.

Still blushing and giggling, Denae replied, "Yeah, that's me. Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies."

For the next couple of seconds neither spoke, Bill finally said, "I'm Bill, by the way."

"Hi Bill, I'm Denae. Amateur art critic."

The two chatted for a couple of minutes more before they both decided they had spent enough time trying to interpret the Judge's painting. Bill offered to walk Denae out and as they made their way to the exit, they agreed they would look for one another at class the next day.

They did. And they sat together that day. And again the day after that...

There were several major benchmarks in the progress of their relationship such as their first real date. This came about 3 weeks after they first met. In that time, they had sat next to each other in class every day, gotten coffee a few times and talked on the phone several times. All of these interactions started with conversation related to class but then wandered into other areas unrelated to ART 110.

Bill really enjoyed being around Denae and Denae really enjoyed being around Bill. But Bill was hesitant to ask her out and put it off a few times when there were perfectly good opportunities. Eventually, one afternoon while they were together at a coffee shop near campus, she casually said, "Ya know, Bill? We've seen each other a lot and you haven't even asked me out on a proper date."

Bill was both phased and relieved. She was way out of his league and he knew it. She was a solid 11 on a scale of 1 to 10 and he generously rated himself a 6. True, he did not have model looks, but he certainly was not what women would consider homely. He was decent looking, with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. It was also helpful that he was fairly tall and in pretty good shape.

He was overjoyed that she was practically asking him out but managed to keep his composure. He tilted his head as if he were searching for memories in his head. After a few seconds, he looked at her and said, "Wow. I guess you're right." And straightening up in his chair to give the moment its due regard, he said, "Denae, would you have dinner with me?"

That dinner a few nights later was a major turning point for them. Bill dressed in nice slacks and a dress shirt, a departure from his typical shorts and golf shirt look, and picked Denae up at her apartment. She was wearing a flowered wrap dress with wedge heeled shoes that showed off her toned legs really well. He was nervous but tried not to show it. Once seated at the table, Bill was trying to come up with things to say. He finally gave up and said, "Look. I'm sorry. I'm just pretty nervous. I know I'm blowing this."

"Nervous?", Denae replied, conveying her genuine surprise. "Why would you be nervous? We've seen each other a lot and had some great conversations and a lot of laughs. You've never had to reach for things to talk about and neither have I."

Bill put down the fork he had been nervously twiddling in his hands. "Ok. I'll just say it. You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. Ever. And it kinda freaks me out. And I just can't figure out why you agreed to go out with someone like me. What are we really doing here?" Now finished, he leaned back in his chair, expecting her to ask to be taken home.

Denae blushed slightly and after a second crosser her arms on the table and leaned in. "I've had people tell me I'm pretty. I guess if I'm totally honest and objective, I would say I can go along with that. But c'mon. Its me. The girl from art class. The girl you study with. The girl who rags on you for listening to country music. The girl who knows how you like your coffee with 2 creams and 2 sugars. I'm the same girl who told a fuckin' judge his painting was boring when we met! I've had fun hanging out with you. And I thought you've had fun hanging out with me. You're hung up on my looks? Get over it. I wanted to have a nice dinner with a guy that I like and was looking forward to a kiss at the end of the evening. "

Bill took all that in for a couple of seconds while she glared at him. Slowly a smile started spreading across his face. Soon it became a laugh. She started to smile as well. His laugh grew more robust.

"Yeah. You told a freakin' judge his painting was boring." He admitted while still laughing, "That was awesome."

From that point on, their relationship was easy. There was no pressure applied or felt by either one of them to get together, participate in any activity, share meals or even sleep together. They just took things as they came.