The Art of Love

*Beep* Beep* Beep*

I leaned over and hit the 'off' button on my alarm clock and laid back down to get a much needed 5 more minutes of sleep. Just as my eyelids began to close and drift me back into slumber... My bedroom door slammed into the adjacent wall as it was thrown open, and the lights flicked on, causing me to grab tight to the covers and pull them over my head. I knew this could only mean one thing... Rachel. I held the covers for dear life and braced myself for impact. Rachel jumped onto my bed, and began to bounce up and down on her knees...

"Wakey Wakey Em! You don't want to be late for the first day, do you?"

I groaned... "Oh come on, 5 more minutes...pleaseee?"

"Coffee is ready, and the bathroom is all yours!"

I lowered the covers and squinted as my eyes adjusted to the light.

I rolled my eyes, "You know I hate you, right?"

"You love me." She winked and hopped off the bed. Rachel was already dressed for the day in her favorite pair of distressed blue jeans, and a graphic t-shirt with 'AC/DC' written on the front in bold lettering. Rachel and I had been friends since the awkward middle school years, a time when we both needed someone. Now, 11 years later we are roommates in college, attending Harvard university. Rachel is majoring in romantic literature with a minor in french, while I am studying pre-law.

After I took a shower I wrapped a towel around me and went back into my room to decide on what to wear. Rachel knocked on the door, but came in without waiting for me to answer. She clutched in her hand a large mug filled to the brim with french vanilla coffee.

I slipped into a pair of dark wash jeans, a light blue blouse and my favorite pair of nude-colored flats. I looked at myself in the mirror. I was very average. Average height, average chest, average body shape, everything about me was... just average. I sighed.

"Oh stop. You look great, Em!"

"Whatever. Like always this is as good as it's gonna get!" I forced a smile and laughed out of the corners of my mouth.

"Don't forget, Dean is back in town, so don't wait up tonight!" Dean is Rachel's long-time boyfriend. He graduated from Dartmouth last fall and works as a financial investor in New York City.

"That's right! How long is he staying?"

"He has 3 days off work, so he is here until Wednesday evening".

"That's great, Rach, I'm glad you two get some time together again!" I looked down at my watch, 7:40 am. "Shoot, I have to run! That stupid 'Art enrichment' class they are making me take starts at 8:00".

"Try to enjoy it! I think this will be really good for you. A chance to be creative and let loose!"

I laughed. 'Letting loose' is not something I'm good at. I am a very logical, type-A person. I love things to be black-and-white, no in between. But maybe Rachel was right, this class would definitely get me out of my comfort zone... who knows, maybe it really would be good thing.

I grabbed my backpack, filled my travel mug with coffee and said goodbye to Rachel. This was it, the first day of my senior year.

I loved this campus, especially this time of year. I walked to the southend of campus, where the performing arts buildings were located. I walked up the concrete steps of Stone Hall, pushed open the doors and made my way to room 214. Before entering the classroom I stared at the heavy wooden door as if I was waiting for it to say something.

A husky voice snapped me out of my trance, "Are you going in?"

I looked up and there standing to my right was a tall man with piercing blue eyes smirking at me.

"Your first time?" When he spoke I felt shivers go down my spine.

"Excuse me?" I was stammering like an idiot, and was so flustered I dropped my phone out of my hand, and it hit the tile floor. I turned beat red. "Here ya go," he said with a coy smile. I took the phone, but for a split second my hand touched his. I don't know if he felt it, but his touch sent a sudden shock throughout my entire body. I took a deep breath and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

He chuckled, "First art class? You look a little nervous".

Oh... first art class... my mind was thinking about other things.

"Is it that obvious?" I replied.

He raised his shoulders, "A little".

"I've been putting this class off for 3 years now, but it's a requirement, and this is my last chance".

"Well It's now or never, after you". He reached out with his right hand and opened the door.

I took a deep breath, "Thank you". I walked into the classroom, and noticed the desks were set up in a circle, all facing the center of the room. I took a seat and waited for class to start.

"Hello everyone! I am professor Greene and I will be your instructor for this figure drawing course".

I looked all around the room for the mystery man I encountered moments ago, but I didn't see him anywhere.

"Today we will be learning the basics of lines. Today's assignment will be to sketch the model's outline by the end of the 3 hours. I will be walking around to observe, but I want to see how you take on this first challenge".

"Great," I said under my breath. This day just keeps getting worse.

"Parker, we are ready for you now! called Professor Greene.

There he was, the mystery boy from the hall. He was wearing nothing but a white towel... leaving very little to the imagination. I caught myself staring at his muscular arms, those biceps were perfectly sculpted. My wide eyes continued to follow the contours of his muscular arms all the way to his torso. Holy moly. His chest was completely shaved and his abs were very toned. I bit my lower lip and closed my eyes in disbelief. When I opened my eyes I was staring straight into Parker's deep blue eyes. It took me a second to realize that those eyes were also looking right at me. He walked to the center of the room and gave me a wink.

I gasped. This was the second time today my face flushed a bright red, and I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last.

Parker smiled as he stepped up onto the square platform. He looked at me with a devilish grin as he simultaneously dropped the towel from around his waist.

Good. God. He was breathtaking. I had never seen a naked man before and wow... he set the bar pretty high. I noticed a very light patch of hair trailing from his belly button, so I began to follow it with my eyes. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped ever so slightly at the sight of his semi erect penis. I couldn't help but to think how beautiful he was. I suddenly felt like the whole classroom was aware of my staring at him, so I quickly diverted my eyes to the front of the room where professor Greene was standing. Luckily I was wrong, the last thing the class was paying attention to was me. I sighed relief.

Professor Greene walked toward Parker, "Okay everyone, materials are located around the room, please ask if you can't find something". My gaze naturally followed professor Greene as she spoke. When she was done speaking I couldn't help but notice Parker was looking right at me. My eyes briefly met his. His look sent a chill throughout my entire body.

I tried to stay focused on my assignment, but it was really hard when every time I looked at him my heart skipped a beat. He had a strange effect on me, one I didn't even understand myself. Professor Greene walked my direction and stopped directly behind my desk.

"Your lines are too dark dear, try to relax and use lighter strokes". She placed her hand over mine and mimicked the slow, smooth movement she was talking about. She nodded and walked over to the next classmate.

The next 2 hours seemed to drag on forever. Finally the clock read 11:00, and professor Greene dismissed us. I turned in my drawing, and gathered my things. On my way out of the classroom I looked back, but to my disappointment didn't see Parker.

The rest of the day went by very normally, and seemingly uneventful. I attended the rest of my classes: American legal history, sociology of law, and political ethics before heading back to my off-campus apartment. Rachel and I lived in a small 2 bedroom apartment on Arcadia Parkway, which is only a 10 minute walk from campus.

I barely got inside the door when I heard Rachel's voice call out to me from her bedroom. "Hey Em, come here!"

I kicked off my shoes and set my backpack down in the living area. I made my way to Rachel's room, "Whats up? I thought you wouldn't be back tonight?"

"Don't hate me, ok?"

"What did you do this time?" I said sarcastically as I plopped down on her bed.

"So you've heard me talk about Dean's friend, Paul, right?"

"A few times, yes... why?" I had a feeling I knew where this was going... it wouldn't be the first time I had to tag along on one of Rachel and Dean's dates.

"Well... I kinda told Dean you'd come out with us tonight, so Paul has a date..."

I rolled my eyes and stared at Rachel who was giving me puppy dog eyes complete with the pouty bottom lip.

"That's not fair, Rach! You know I can't resist the puppy dog eyes!"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!!"

"You owe me!" I gave Rachel one last 'you're dead' looks and went to my room to get ready.

I put my hair up in a high ponytail, and slipped into one of my favorite sundresses, and completed the ensemble with white wedges and a quick makeup touch-up.

Naturally Rachel looked amazing. She was wearing a form-fitting little black dress and red pumps. To top it off her hair was perfectly curled... she radiated sexiness. I glanced back at myself in the mirror and was suddenly very self conscious of my appearance. I wanted so badly to have guys look at me and lust after me the way they did Rachel...

*Knock* Knock* Knock*

Rachel opened the door and greeted Dean with a soft, but hurried, kiss on the lips while standing on her tiptoes.

Dean grabbed Rachel's hand and nodded towards me, "Hey Em! Thanks for coming out with us tonight! You are really saving me!"

"It's not a problem!" I said as I turned to lock our apartment door behind us.

"We are meeting Paul at the restaurant, I told him to get us a table," said Dean.

I hopped into the back seat of Dean's car and he drove us to the restaurant.

We got to the restaurant and made our way to a table at the back, where Paul was waiting for us. Paul was dressed in a nice button-up shirt with khaki shorts and brown loafers. Paul was a good-looking guy. He was tall, probably about 5'11 (a little shorter than Dean), athletic-build, and great hair, and perfect smile. I walked to the side of the table Paul was on and took my seat on his right.

Dean Looked me up and down, "I'm Paul, you must be Emily".

I reached my hand out to shake his, "Nice to finally meet you Paul!"

The next several hours consisted of listening to Paul talk about...Paul. What he was studying, why his major was better than mine, how many girls he's slept with, and on and on...

To top it off, Paul had "forgotten" his wallet at home, so I had to pay for his meal as well. Just as I was about to say goodbye to Paul, Rachel said, "Let's go to that new nightclub downtown!! It'll be fun!"

My eyes got wide, pleading Rachel to take it back!

"Hell yeah!" hollered Paul and Dean together.

Paul put his arm around my waist and whispered in my ear, "This night is just getting started!"

"Great..." I said under my breath. But I put on a smile and followed Rachel and Dean out of the restaurant. They owed me BIG time.

"I'll drive my car to the club, but we can leave it there and Uber back later," Dean said as we jumped in the backseat of the jeep.

When we got to the club paul leaned over to me and asked if I could get him a beer and to get myself something.

I rolled my eyes, "Of course, I'll be right back," I said through gritted teeth.

I walked up to the crowed bar and pushed my way to the counter.

"What can I get you?" stated the woman behind the counter.

"I'll get a Budweiser and a gin and tonic, thanks," I replied.

"Coming right up!"

I scanned my room while I waited on the drinks. The club was very packed, and as I looked around my eyes caught something familiar. It was a guy standing at the other end of the bar counter. He had a strong, athletic build and was wearing a form-fitting black t-shirt with dark-wash jeans. He was standing with his back toward me, but all of a sudden he turned around and his eyes met mine. Crap. It was Parker, I knew he looked familiar! I was feeling quite flushed again and quickly looked away. I'm sure he didn't recognize me, right? He looked busy talking to his friends anyway he might not have even seen me.

"Here are your drinks, that'll be 7.50," said the bartender, pulling me out of my trance and back to reality.

I quickly tried filing through my purse and dropped my phone and wallet on the ground.

"Great, this is just great..." I sighed under my breath.

I kneeled down to pick up the contents of my purse and as I reached for my phone someone was handing it to me.

"We have got to stop meeting like this," Parker said with a smile, as he handed me my phone.

I forced a smile (internally freaking out) and went to take the phone from Parker, but he pulled his hand back and stood up. I stood up and held my hand out for my phone.

"Not so fast, what's your name?" he asked.

I swallowed hard, "Emily".

"Just Emily?"

I tried to say as confidently as possible, "Reynolds. Emily Reynolds."

"That wasn't so hard," he said as he simultaneously handed me my phone. "I'm Parker Phillips.

"Excuse me, you still need to pay," called the bartender.

"Oh I'm so sorry," I nervously pulled out 9 dollars and told the bartender to keep the change.

"Are both of these drinks for you, because I would be impressed," Parker inquired as he led me away from the bar counter.

"No, one of them is for my friend, Paul." Speaking of Paul I couldn't find him anywhere. Then all of a sudden I spotted him making out with some blond girl against the wall.

I rolled my eyes, "I guess both of these drinks are for me," I laughed and sat down in the nearest booth.

Parker followed my gaze, saw Paul, and looked back at me with one eyebrow raised, "That guy, really?" he said as he sat down across from me.

"Well, it's actually a long story," I said.

"I like long stories"

I pushed the beer toward Parker and said he could have it if he wanted, beer wasn't really my thing. I proceeded to tell him about my best friend Rachel and her boyfriend and the whole "Paul" thing. As I was telling the story I realized he looked surprisingly interested, his blue eyes were looking deep into mine and his brow creased ever so slightly as he was concentrating.

"So, long story short... Rachel owes me!" I said as I picked up my gin and tonic for another sip.

"No kidding, that guy looks like a tool!" He said. "I still can't believe he made you pay for dinner!"

"So, what did you think of art class this morning?"

I nearly choked on my drink, but managed to get out, "Oh yeah... um, it was different than I expected." Suddenly my mind began to recall images of his beautiful naked body...

"So, how did you get the art model gig?" I couldn't believe I had asked him that, but it was out there before I could retract my words.

Parker smiled, this time showing his perfect, pearly white teeth." Honestly, I get pretty embarrassed up there, but the art department pays me well and I need the money to help with med school," he said, never once taking his eyes off of me.

"Harvard med school?" I asked.

"Yep! You're looking at a second year Harvard med student. It's hard to keep a job and be a full-time grad student, then I found out about the modeling job for the art department last year, and I've been doing it ever since."

"Oh wow! Well you don't need to be embarrassed, you're really good at it!" Crap. More word vomit.

Parker blushed a little and ran his hand through his thick brown hair. I bit my bottom lip. Did he not know how sexy he was?

"Thanks, but tell me about you, what's your major?"

"Well, this is my senior year and I am working on getting into Harvard's law program."

"A lawyer huh?, Parker smiled, What do you do for fun?"

"I love to go running, and I volunteer at the animal shelter once a week as a dog walker, but honestly I'm pretty boring... I study a lot," I replied as I looked down at my now empty drink.

There was a moment of silence, so I looked up at Parker and found him staring at me. His hand resting behind his neck and his head cocked to one side.

"What are you looking at?" I asked him, now feeling more flushed than ever.

"You are most definitely not boring," Parker said, his eyes seemed to look me up and down.

"Emily!! We found you!" Rachel exclaimed as she hugged me from behind.

"Dean and I are going to go back to his place ok?" "Can you find a ride back to the apartment?"

"Yeah sure, I'll just Uber back, no big deal,"

"Where's Paul? and who is this?" Rachel said looking at me and giving me her best drunk impression of her flirty eyes,"

"Sorry, this is Parker, we had a class together today and I ran into him at the bar," I said while making my eyes really big in hopes Rachel would stop talking.

"Well you two be safe!" Rachel winked at us as Dean pulled her from the table.

"Oh my gosh, I'm going to kill her," I said quietly.

"She seems nice," Parker laughed.

"She is pretty great, we've been friends since middle school," I replied as I looked down at my watch, "Wow, it's getting late, I think I'm going to call an Uber and head home."

"I could drive you if you want, I only had one beer tonight, so I promise you're in good hands."

If only he knew what I wanted those hands to do to me... Caress my body, touch my breasts, pull my hair, finger me, hold me... The thought got me hot and bothered. I licked my lips and slightly bit my bottom lip thinking about the wonderful things his hands could do to me.

"So, what'll it be?" Parker asked looking at me with confusion.

"Oh sorry, um... sure, actually a drive home would be great, thanks!"

We got up from the table and Parker led me out of the bar. Once outside, Parker said, "I'm parked this way, follow me." He took my hand and led me down the street to the nearest parking lot. His hand felt perfect in mine. His skin was rough, but his warmth made me feel safe.

He stopped in front of a back Mustang GT, and opened the passenger side for me.

"Nice car, you don't see these too often out here in Massachusetts."

"Well I'm originally from Sacramento, California and we don't have to worry about snow and ice!" he laughed as he turned the key to start the car. "So where am I headed Miss Reynolds?" He looked at me with a smirk. "I live in the apartment complex off Arcadia Parkway."

"Okay perfect, I live close to there," he said as he started driving.

We arrived to my apartment complex and he parked the car. "So, I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me tomorrow night for dinner," Parker asked hopefully.

"With me?" I responded so naturally, clearly confused as to why a guy like Parker would be even remotely interested in me.

Parker unbuckled his seat belt and leaned over to me, "You can't be serious. You you drive me crazy!" Parker was now only a few inches from my face, I could feel his breath on my skin. His breath smelled slightly of beer, but it was mostly covered up by the intoxicating smell of musk and evergreen cologne.

"Wha..." I tried to respond, but before I could finish what I was going to say Parker's lips found mine. His wet lips softly kissed me as he brought a hand to cup the back of my neck. He pulled back and looked at me, "Is this ok?" I was of course more than ok with what just happened, but I couldn't manage to find the words to say. I simply nodded. He smiled and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. He leaned in and brought his lips to mine once more. This kiss was different, full of passion. He parted his lips and soon his tongue was exploring my mouth. Parker moved his hands down my body with the lightest touch, he sent electricity through my entire body. My hands found his chest and rested there as he continued to kiss me passionately. I had never experienced a kiss with such passion or lust before. All I could think was that this must be a dream, no way was this happening to me!