"I don't know how you can work down here and not get turned on by these things," Donna exclaimed, running her hand across the taut, marble buttocks of the nearest piece.
"You realize they're just statues, don't you, Don?" Julie chuckled, pushing her friend's hand from their newest perch. "How many times do I have to tell you not to touch them?"
"Sorry, Jules, but they look so real, and damn if it hasn't been a while since I had me some nice ass in these hands," she declared, her palms drifting just above the ample buttocks of "Apollo Chasing Daphne."
"C'mon, let's go before you defile any more of the gods," Julie admonished half-heartedly. She turned to pick up her coat and backpack, flipping her desk lamp off before shuffling out of the darkened room behind her giggling friend.
At dinner Donna grilled Julie about life in the city. She asked a million questions and Julie managed to evade actually answering most of them until they go to: "And what about your sex life?"
"What sex life?" Julie mumbled back over a forkful of Cobb salad. She stuffed the lettuce into her mouth before she was forced to elaborate at that very second. She chewed thoughtfully as long as possible, Donna waiting patiently as she sipped her glass of Riesling. Julie rolled her eyes as she swallowed, saying, "What? I have no time for a life least of all a sex life."
"Please, Jules, how long have I known you? Forever?" Donna exaggerated, flipping her hands in the air. "Ever since the day we met you've been saying you're too busy for a little nookie."
Julie flushed red. "Call it something else, Don!"
"Fine, how about the horizontal bop? The good ole slap and tickle? Perhaps-"
"Shhh, someone will hear you," Julie hushed, eyes darting around at the other people in the restaurant. "Just call it sex, for goodness sakes, you've got me use to that word after eight years!"
"One day you're going to do it, you know, Jules, and you're going to love it so much you'll never come up for air," Donna prophesized. "Until then you can hide in your little hole in the basement of the museum. Mark my words, though, someone is going to find you down there and he's going to show you what you've been missing all these years."
"Dear God, I really hope not," Julie groaned. "All I need is one more thing to worry about."
Donna let a great guffaw out as she leaned back in her chair. "Girl, you really are a trip. Sex gets your mind off of things you've been worrying about."
"Well, right now, can we can our minds off of the sex?" Julie beseeched.
The rest of the conversation over dinner consisted of catching up on old college friends, old times, and what they were doing that was new. Donna was now a magazine editor in Chicago after six years of being some dick-head's assistant she had plunged head first into something she really loved. The same could be said about Julie. Having been an assistant researcher at a small museum in California, she had applied for a project manager at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and found herself in the position three months later. It was a dream come true for the Art History major who would rather spend time in the collections than with real people.
When dinner was done, the women promised to keep in touch. Donna handed over her business card and Julie scratched out her newest email address on the back of an old receipt. They hugged and parted ways, Julie rushing to catch a cab that would take her to the tiny apartment she had managed to find for herself.
The next day, down in the basement, scratching pieces of information on the yellow legal pad set before her, Julie could not help but feel a little lonely as she remembered her years spent in college, fruitless in the area of dating. She had been so caught up in getting grades that would provide money for her studies, she really had no time to focus on anything else. Donna had been her outlet to the world beyond the classroom. They had been roommates from the very beginning to the brilliant end, managing to keep in touch even when they graduated and separated to different sides of the continent.
Sighing, Julie shook her head, trying to clear it of the regrets that threatened to overpower her thoughts about plaster and conservation. Pushing away from her low, cherry wood desk, she swiveled her chair toward the statues that loomed behind her. Three of the hundreds of carved majesties had been carted into her basement office for her perusal. She had been trying to decide which pieces to display in the upcoming exhibition.
Her eyes drifted to the statue of Apollo with his rippling muscles, long limbs, and incredibly life like facial features. He really was a beautiful statue, carved from one solid piece, his skin seemed to ripple when the dim light shone down on it.
"If I put you out, we'll have to definitely put Daphne on display," Julie said, breaking the heavy silence of the room. She tapped her finger against her lips, standing to make circles around the figure. "But if I put Daphne out there I have to take Neptune down, won't I?"
She stopped in front of the sculpture, hands settled firmly on her slight hips. Her eyes roamed over the finely carved piece of marble, tracing the curve of Apollo's ankle as it met his shin and bulging calves, moving higher to his well defined thighs, even higher to the flaccid manhood that dangled between his legs. Her eyes fixated on that piece of marble as she felt a flush steal over her cheeks.
Her assistant came trudging into the large office space, banging the door loudly as he stumbled down the low steps. "Morning, Julie."
Julie rushed back to her desk, trying to hide her flushed face as she scribbled things down on her legal pad. "Good morning, Ben, how's it going?"
"Terrible," was the answer. "My dad got in a bad car accident this morning. I was wondering if we don't have too much to do today, maybe I can go home a little early?"
"Oh my goodness, Ben," Julie exclaimed, forgetting about her flush, she jumped from her chair. "Just go. I can take care of things here today . You need to be with your family right now."
"Are you sure, Julie?" he asked, already slipping back into the jacket he had just took off. "I really appreciate this. I'll check in with you and let you know how things are going."
"Yes, please. Now, go," she ordered, pushing him out the door. Leaning back against the door, she muttered, "Christ, Jules, you idiot, you're not Superwoman."
She looked up at the stacks of papers and groaned at the thought of having to make sense of all of that by the end of the evening. If she was going to get anything done she needed to file all of those horrid yellow files and then do some research. Dreading the task, she left the filing for later as she made her way to the computer and began her research.
Half way through the day she decided to take a break, pinching the bridge of her nose she went to stand in front of Apollo again. Her vision was hazy from staring at the computer monitor, but she knew exactly where to settle her gaze when they began to clear.
"Get a hold of yourself, Jules," she ordered, arching her back as she stretched and headed toward the files.
It was nearly six o' clock when she stopped for another break, making her way to the lounge where she pillaged the vending machine for a Diet Coke, Snickers Bar, and a bag of chips. She was stuffing the end of the Snickers in her mouth when she opened the door into her now dark office. Julie squinted into the darkness and flipped the light switch next to the open door. The fluorescent lights flickered and popped as Julie cursed and stepped down into the darkness, the door closing silently behind her.
She stumbled toward her desk and the small lamp. "Oomph." She stubbed her foot on the marble pedestal of one of the statues and went down on one knee, the candy bar still wedged between her teeth. "Dammit, who put that there?"
Chuckling at her own little joke, she got back to her feet and shuffled in the darkness toward the general vicinity of her desk. She was carefully making her way in the pitch black when she came across another sculpture, her toe bumping against it just in time to keep her from slamming into the cold marble.
She backed away from it and then scooted to the right to get around it. Moving forward again she found she had misjudged the width as it was still in her way. Julie moved her foot around the piece, dragging her body around it, her foot caught when she thought she was free to move.
A chill went up her spine as her mind drew the room and all its contents. The Snickers Bar fell from her between her lips as the picture and what she was feeling in front of her did not match up. Her feet hurriedly moved away, shuffling her backwards in the dark.
Her back hit the desk and she fumbled with the small lamp, knocking it over in her haste. The dim light flooded the room, casting deep shadows in the corners of the office as it illuminated the sculpture that was standing directly in front of her desk.
"Holy Christ," she whispered to herself, eyeing the figure that seemed to tower over her even off of its pedestal. Reaching behind her, she lifted the receiver on her phone, noting that there was no dial tone.
Julie's mind raced for a logical explanation but it came up empty as she stared at the piece of solid marble carved into the likeness of a man. Holding her hand out, she said, "Just stay there while I go get someone to make sure I'm not nuts."
His head moved to the side, cocked as if questioning her. Julie fainted, her knees buckling from under her. She would have hit the ground hard if he had not lunged toward her and caught her in his arms.
It was a dream. She had been working far too hard lately. She hadn't had a thing to eat all day and her mind had played an incredibly cruel trick on her. Julie opened her eyes and wished she hadn't. The marble face she had seen every day for the past week was staring down at her, only it wasn't the hard, unfeeling marble that she had grown use to. It was a kinder, warmer face that stared down at her with concern.
"Am I dreaming?" she asked.
