White Cloud

25- The Only Girl is You

"Art dealer?"

I shake my head in the negative.

"Art director?"

I shake my head again.

"Okay, you've got to help me out here, Bea."

I look over at my boyfriend with a dull look. "Why do you keep suggesting art types of careers? And why are you suggesting careers at all? You're my boyfriend, not my advisor."

"I know but your dad said that you should start thinking about going into the real world and it's not a bad idea to start thinking about what you want to do," He says with a small shrug. We're in his apartment, on his couch, facing each other and Catzilla is sleeping on my lap as we watch stupid sitcoms on TV. "And I think you'd like something in art, you seem like an artist."

"You don't have to do everything that my dad says," I remind him with a small laugh. "Not when it comes to me, at least. I appreciate your effort but I'll take care of it."

"Have you thought about where you're going though?" He asks me with raised eyebrows and I wonder if he's just curious or if this is his way of asking me if I intend on staying here on the beach with him next year. I didn't think that we've been together long enough to start talking about our future so I'm going to pretend like that's not why he's asking me.

"I haven't thought about it," I lie to him. Of course, I've been weighing the options and I'm thinking that if we do get really serious, I definitely will stay here for school to be with Vincent. "I could just do school online so that I can go wherever whenever I want."

"You could," He confirms with a nod. "If you're going to get some art degree though, you'll probably need labs and stuff like that. Going to an actual university is just better, you know?"

"I never said anything about an art degree," I say with a small laugh.

"I know I just think that's what you'll do. Call it boyfriend's intuition," Vincent explains. "And, I mean, being a model is kind of an art so in a way, you're already an artist."

"I'm not showing you my old portfolio," I tell him, laughing again because I know that it's the reason he's bringing up my modeling career that's just about dead now. Since I broke it to my mom that I didn't want to model anymore, she hasn't brought it up at all. She even stopped getting on my case about my eating habits which is nice. I don't know if she's really hurt and hiding it really well or if she really wasn't as invested in it as I thought that she was.

"What if I say please?" He gives me a childish grin and then starts scooting toward me on the couch.

"You can't try to seduce me right now, Zilla is sleeping," I argue against him when I can recognize that pervy grin on his face. His hand goes to my naked thigh since I'm wearing jean cutoffs and they're pretty short. "And you shouldn't worry about my modeling pictures, you'll see me in my underwear in person soon enough."

"You did underwear shoots?" He asks me and as the words come out of his mouth, I can practically hear his throat going dry.

It makes me laugh but I also blush a little bit. "Yeah, sometimes. I was kind of like a knockoff Victoria Secret model. A lingerie company just not as famous or widespread."

"Lingerie," He repeats. "Bea, I need to see this portfolio. Please."

"Wouldn't you rather have the real thing?" I raise my eyebrows at him. The cat is still sleeping but I'm sure that Catzilla will forgive me eventually if I wake her up to go into the next room with Vincent. He's really funny about keeping Catzilla away from our making out, he really doesn't want her to see us like that and corrupt her, so we have to go into the bedroom and shut the door to keep her out. It's adorable but mostly weird.