Repainted {Camila/You}

3

 

I could've sworn I heard Camila snort as the two made their way onto the platform. Zacari's smooth vocals filtered through the speaker, filling the room with sound from the concrete floor to the high ceiling.
I thought for a moment it was hot in the room, but as I noticed the comfortable looks on everyone else's faces, I realized it was my own nervousness making me hot. As Kehlani set everything up, I tried to occupy my eyes for as long as I could, focusing on anything else but my curiosity was entirely too strong.
Since Nate was closest to me, his body caught my eyes first. I knew my eyes were darkening as I stared at his bare chest in utter awe. It wasn't like he was built like Superman, but his shoulders were wide and his waist was small, something I admired in men. And his arms... I had to bite my lip to stifle an unconscious moan. It's art, focus, I reminded myself, trying my hardest to shun the less than pure thoughts I was entertaining. His pants were off in one fluent movement, and I had to look up to keep from gasping.
Wrong move.
While Nate stripped with quick, tasteful movements, Camila took her time. The flannel was off at once, then the shirt, her jeans. Socks, even. Until piece my piece she, too was completely uncovered.
She's done this before.
"If you like anything that you see over here, feel free." Nate called suggestively, waggling his eyebrows at me. I turned a deeper shade of red, silently begging Camila wouldn't look at me. It wasn't even sexual attraction I was experiencing. I, like all great artists, wanted nothing more than to capture what I was seeing. I wanted her immortalized in stone, I wanted to shape her body in clay, to paint her eyes with the intensity I saw before me.
The hour crept by slower than usual, I picked at my fingernails to avoid staring or peeking at something I wasn't sure I was ready to see.
"YN?"
Kehlani's voice roused me from my seemingly indifferent state; when I glanced up she looked at me horrified.
"Yeah? What's wrong?"
"I think I messed up.." she whispered, "Can you come look?"
I nodded, pushing myself off the ground and walking behind the easel. She didn't step aside, so I stood behind her, gazing at the painting. It was acrylic and oil, the line work beautiful. I could tell she was working to capture the mutuality between the two, focusing on feeling. But she had made the mistake of drawing certain parts wildly out of proportion. I squinted.
"I think your scale is off by a little."
"Fu... ugh. I have a swear jar, I'm working on it," she looked at me, "is it really that bad?"
"No, no! It's good, amazing actually. It took me a while to learn scale too." I sent her a reassuring smile.
"Amazing? You think it's good?" She beamed with pride as I nodded eagerly. She turned to her models, "I think we're done for the day guys. I hope it wasn't too boring for y'all." She shrugged as the two on the platform came to life again, moving from their still positions.
"It wasn't boring. There's nothing more interesting than watching YN squirm; you've never seen anyone naked before?" Nate joked. His constant teasing was both insanely annoying and incredibly endearing. I couldn't decide whether I loved or hated it. However, in this instant I hated it, because I noticed the same teasing smile on Camila's face as she dressed herself.
"I definitely have. Not saying that it was anything memorable... or that I see naked people on a regular!" I blurted, immediately trying to save face. I realized I was only making it worse, and opted to shut up.
Kehlani laughed, "You'll get used to it, I promise." Just as I was about to reply to her comment, my phone buzzed, the notification signaling it was time for my first class of the day.
"Ugh, I have class," I shrugged sheepishly, "I'll catch up with you all later? Thanks for having me, Keh."
She held her arms out for a hug, which I accepted, noticing that her curly hair smelled like strawberries.
"Anytime, love."
"See you, Nate. Bye, Camila." I said quickly grabbing my things. I walked to my next class a bit quicker than usual, eager to just sit and process what had just happened. Abnormal Psychology was one of my favorite classes that I only had twice a week, Child Development following it at a close second. If being a police officer didn't work out, I certainly wanted to work with autistic children. The class was in a building at the far edge of campus, and I passed by waves of students before I finally arrived. Climbing the stairs to the class was a chore, but I made it on time and sat down in the first row. As time went on, a few more people gathered in the classroom until all of the seats were full. I glanced at the clock, rolling my eyes when I realized the professor was late by 4 minutes.
If he goes past fifteen, I'm leaving. I reminded myself, taking out my laptop and setting myself up. Time ticked on, and before I knew it, it was 11: 29. One more minute. I was just about to power my laptop down and prepare to leave when the professor stumbled in, a large cardboard box nearly causing him to topple over. I raised my eyebrow, both in confusion and annoyance at his lateness.
"Sorry I'm late, guys," he huffed, setting the box down as gently as possible, "My kid was sick and then I had to pick up these from storage."
He gestured at the box before wiping his sweaty brow and turning to the board. He was a funny looking guy, maybe about 5 foot 9, with black hair and a chubby frame, but I learned the most in his class .
I watched on as he scribbled on the board in barely legible chicken scratch, 'DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY'.
"So, who can tell me what we've been discussing in class for the past week?" He asked suddenly clapping his hands together. The class sat in awkward silence, glancing awkwardly at each other.
"Alycia!" He called, choosing one girl who sat at the back of the classroom. I had seen her around before, but we'd never spoken before. Her eyes were almost the color of the forest in the spring, and her lips were pouty and pink.
"Yeah?" She responded, hardly looking up from her phone, "We've been talking about how parent's behavior influences a child."