On the last Tuesday in January I was walking back to class from the cafeteria when a tall guy in jeans and t-shirt fell into step beside me. From the corner of my eye I saw him glance at me, and I waited to see what he wanted. It happened, now and then - people had heard of Ali or me and were curious, or worse. Sometimes is was OK, sometimes it was a pain in the ass. I couldn't decide which this guy was - he didn't look dangerous, a couple of inches taller than me, broad shoulders, dark hair cut short. He seemed too ordinary to be ordinary.
After fifty paces he still hadn't said a word so I slowed and then stopped.
"Do you want something?" I asked.
"You're Tom Graham, right?"
I nodded.
He hesitated.
"Can I do something for you?"
"It's... well, a bit awkward. My girlfriend said I should talk to you, but now I'm here it feels weird, man."
"Is it about what we do?" I said. "The website?"
"I guess so," he said. He looked away from me, obviously nervous. I didn't really have time for this, I was due back in class in five minutes.
"We're pretty much covered for artists at the moment," I said. "But if you give me your name I'll keep you on file and get back if anything comes up."
"It's not that," he said, and took a deep breath to calm himself. I could see the decision form in his eyes. "Sandy - she's my girlfriend - told me what you do. She knows Ali from a few years back. She thought..." He breathed deep again. "She wondered if you had any use for models."
"Models?" I said, taken aback. "What kind of models?" I looked him up and down quickly. He was well built, broad shouldered and slim waisted. But I wasn't sure we were into taking on models yet.
"Sandy and me, we're saving up to get married, money's real tight, and she thought if you needed models to - you know - do stuff so you could draw them, take photographs, movies, whatever - she said she was up for it and I guess I am too, so..." He tailed off, his face coloring at this speech, and looked at me.
"Wow," I said, then, "I don't know, man." I held my hand up as his face fell. "No, I don't mean no, it's just I'd need to discuss something like this with Ali, you know? And I guess we'd need to meet you and your girlfriend, see how we got on. What we do is not something everyone is into, know what I mean?"
He nodded. "We've looked at your site. We both have a pretty good idea what might be involved, but we're cool with that... Cool," he added.
"I tell you what. I'll talk to Ali tonight and see what she says. Have you got a number I can call you on?"
"Only a shared one. We live in this like really shit house, but the rent's cheap and we're trying to save everything we can."
He gave me his number and I wrote it on my arm.
"I'll call," I said, and held my hand out. He gripped mine and shook it, looked shy again and then turned back up the corridor. I smiled as he walked away - he had a good back as well as a good front. I realized he hadn't told me his name, so I called after, "Hey, man, what's your name?"
He stopped and turned back. "Jack," he said, and walked on. I wrote the name under his number and turned to go to my own class.
By the time I got home it was after seven and I had forgotten all about the earlier conversation. Ali made salad, and as I always did when she produced food I told her I really was going to start cooking as well and after she'd punched me on the chest we sat at the big kitchen table, cross wise on one corner so we weren't too far apart, and talked as we ate.
Afterwards we cleared the table and I rolled my sleeves up to do the dishes. As Ali did all the cooking, I always washed up. As I ran water into the sink I rolled my sleeves back and Ali said, "Got a hot date then, Tom?"
"A date?"
"The number, on your arm," she pointed.
I looked down and remembered. "Oh yeah, that. No, not a date. Weird conversation at lunchtime."
I told Ali about Jack and Sandy. When I had filled her in I finished by saying. "I'd completely forgotten about him, but you know, I think it might not be a bad idea. We can't let ourselves get stale, and some new models will keep us sharp."
Ali seemed to be mulling it over.
"What are they like?"
"He seems okay. I think he'd draw well. I've not met his girlfriend."
"What if she's a real dog?"
I shrugged. "I've not promised him anything, Al. We just say no thanks."
She sighed. "God Tom, I'm not cut out for these kind of decisions. This is like Personnel stuff, you know? I just wanted to draw dirty pictures and sell them."
She looked so forlorn I put my arms out and hugged her to me and she crossed her arms over her chest and let me hold her.
"I tell you what, " I said. "Let's get them both over tomorrow night. We'll give them dinner - I got the impression they'd be glad of a free meal - and then we'll see what they're like. If we don't like them, they're weird, or she's too ugly we'll send them on their way. There's no more to it than that, Al."
I felt her nod her head.
"So I'll call him?" I said.
She nodded and pushed away from me. "Okay. I'm just being stupid, Tom. This was all my idea in the first place. It's no good complaining about it now."
"And the money's coming in," I said.
"I've been thinking about that," Ali replied. "We've made over $50,000 now since we started. This feels like it's turning into a business. I think we need help with that as well."
I nodded. "Sounds good to me. I hate the business side, you know that."
"I'll ask around," she said. "There's bound to be someone in the Business School who'd like a little extra cash."
"I've been thinking about the IT side as well, Al," I said. "I've about reached the limit of my knowledge now, and I don't want to learn any more, it's just not what I'm into. How about we ask around and see if there's someone wants to help out there as well?"
She nodded and turned away. "I'm going to do some sketching."
I watched her walk across the room and down into the work area, admiring the way her ass moved inside her jeans, then shook the inappropriate thoughts out of my mind and called Jack.
They arrived early, keen and shy, and I shook Jack's hand and then hesitated, not sure what to do with Sandy, then she offered her cheek and I planted a kiss there. Ali was still working over in the kitchen and she half turned and called "Hi," and went back to her preparations.
"Drink?" I asked, walking them across to the big kitchen table. "Beer, wine, I don't think we've got anything stronger."
"Beer sounds good," Jack said.
I looked at Sandy. It was very easy to look at Sandy.
"Wine?" She sounded uncertain, asking me if it was okay.
"Red or White? We might even have some Rose."
"White?"
I got their drinks, poured a glass for myself and put one down beside Ali, making sure she knew it was there, then sat at the table.
Jack pulled on his beer and sat back in his chair, seeming relaxed. Sandy gripped her glass between both hands, leaning forward and looked nervous. I tried to make small talk, but I'm not really too good at it, and after a while I got up and put some music on. Van Morrison, something pretty old, background music.
When I sat back at the table Sandy had taken a sip from her drink and her shoulders seemed to have unbunched some.
I looked her in the eyes, waiting until hers lifted to meet mine, and said, "Are you OK with all this, Sandy? Jack said it would be alright, but we want to know you're fine with it as well."
She gave a half smile. "I am," she said, "It's just I'm nervous, I guess."
"There's no pressure here, just so you know that."
She nodded and sipped from her glass. I watched her for a moment, amazed at how she looked. She was one of the sexiest creatures I had ever seen. Very occasionally you come across someone like Sandy - they are completely unaware of the vibe they give out, but she broadcast sex appeal. She was shorter than Ali by maybe an inch or two, making her about five-six. Her hair was ice-white blonde and cut short to show her ears, longer on the top but trimmed hard at the neckline.
Her eyes were large, a bright ice blue, with long pale lashes. Her brows were also white, thin and curved. A small nose set above a wide, full lipped mouth. Her cheekbones were shadows high beside her eyes, and her chin framed it all beautifully.
She had a long graceful neck that swept down inside her sweatshirt.
It was difficult to tell what her figure was like because the sweatshirt was baggy and loose. There were definite curves, but it was impossible to tell what they might be like. She wore faded blue jeans which hugged her hips and legs.
Overall she shouted sensuality, but I was sure she didn't know that, and her ignorance of the effect she had made her even sexier. Jack, I thought, was an extremely lucky man.
"This was kind of Sandy's idea," Jack said, and I realized I had been staring for too long and jumped.
"We were messing around a while ago now. Six months, maybe, yeah?" He looked at Sandy for confirmation and she nodded. "And I said to Sand that she was too gorgeous to keep to myself and we ought to screw out on the landing so everyone could see. I thought she was going to punch me out, but she said something really wild. Tell Tom what you said to me, Sand."
She looked down into her glass and I thought she wasn't going to speak, then she said, very quietly. "I said I'd find it a real turn on if someone was watching."
Jack laughed and emptied his beer. I got up and opened another bottle for him.
"I thought she was pulling my chain," he continued, "But she said no she really did get turned on at the thought of someone watching. So we talked about it a bit, worked away around the edges of what she meant, but we haven't done anything about it before now. Then when I heard about you, well..." he shrugged.
Ali had finished cooking and started piling food on the table in large white bowls. Salad, chicken, noodles, various sauces. She put the half empty bottle of wine on the table together with an unopened bottle.
"Help yourself," she said. They did and started eating.
After we had filled out plates, Ali said, "So you really wouldn't mind us taking pictures?"
