It was a typical Friday night for Maya and Erin. They were following their usual method for getting through a weekend night with a minimal outlay of scarce cash, trying to enjoy an off-campus house party in the small town where their college was located. Free drinks and good people watching generally made it worth having to put up with cheesy pickup lines from the usual collection of drunk guys they knew slightly from seeing them around the campus or having been in a class together.
Maya was the older of the two by a year or so, in her third year at the college, but with way, way fewer credit hours completed than her time on campus should have resulted in. She had a history of starting a semester all psyched about her classes, only to flame out of half of them by mid-term. Short and curvy, she made up for not being a classic beauty with an outgoing and quick-witted personality. The other thing she had going for her was having a classic beauty as a best friend. She and Erin were an odd pair, but each had strengths and weaknesses complementing those of the other.
Where Maya was decidedly average looking by college guy standards, Erin was a stunner, tall and fit with a classic hourglass figure, a pretty face, blue eyes, and light strawberry blonde hair. While Erin would generally rather stay home and read a novel, Maya loved a party and could usually coax Erin to come along with her. When guys hit on Erin, she usually would gently brush their advances off, leading some to redirect their attention towards Maya. Maya ended up having more hookups than would have been likely without Erin quite unintentionally drawing in a pool of guys for Maya to pick from.
Erin had a few dates here and there, but no long-term relationships. The few guys she was interested in weren't willing to put up with dating even a beauty like Erin for as long as she thought was appropriate before having sex. She had arrived on campus a virgin, and that was still her condition over a year and a half later
Lately, she'd begun to question whether her refusal to have at least a few random flings during her college years still made sense. Even though she was beginning to think her continued virginity was becoming a bigger deal than it ought to be, she couldn't let go of the idea that her first time should be memorable, not just drunken fumbling with some random guy.
Maya was a Fine Arts major, which fit her "try anything once" personality; Erin's choice to be a Theatre Arts major seemed less like a good fit with her personality. Erin certainly worked hard, but after nearly three semesters she had yet to get beyond the first-round audition for any Theatre department production.
Erin did well in theatre history, writing exercises, and many other required classes, but in her acting classes she barely got by, never seeming to fully inhabit the characters she was asked to portray. She was constantly being told by her instructors that she needed to commit to her character, to live in their skin, think their thoughts, and experience their feelings, good, bad, passionate, or reserved. To the constant frustration of her instructors, Erin seemed stuck in reserved mode.
This particular Friday night, Maya and Erin were both feeling tired and a little cranky following a rough day. To make matters worse, the party was dull as these things went. They hung in, eating some pizza and working up a little buzz from the plentiful and varied alcohol the hosts had stocked for the party. Slightly drunk and pretty tired, their conversation was less focused than usual, with each talking more to themselves than engaging with what the other had to say.
"I can't believe that bitch Ella Bixby backed out of modeling for my final photography class project'" Maya said.
If Erin heard what her friend said, she didn't react to it, saying, "I blew another audition this afternoon, the third one this month. The professor directing the show told me I needed to do more than stand around looking pretty."
Maya grumbled, "Ella claimed she didn't have the time, that she was in danger of failing her English Lit class but I only needed her for a couple of hours. If she wasn't willing to pose nude, she should have just told me that instead of saying that she would do it, then backing out this late in the semester. Not wanting to be photographed naked, that I can understand, but leaving me in the lurch like this is just shitty behavior."
Erin continued with her wholly unrelated tale of woe, "He actually told me I might be wasting my time here, that I should take a leave of absence to get more life experiences. He told me to go try being a bus driver, a bartender, a nanny, anything but a student until I learn enough about how other people think and feel to really get into a character's head."
"If I cant find someone willing to pose naked, I'm sure to fail the class, and I've already dropped two other classes this semester. My folks can't keep paying for me to fuck up this way, this might be the last straw," Maya continued, "I know it's a lot to ask, but is there any chance at all you'd be willing to do it?"
"Sorry, do what now?" Erin replied, having caught only the tail end of Maya's rant.
"Let me photograph you for my class, weren't you listening?" Maya asked, sounding annoyed.
"Of course I was listening," Erin replied, either not wanting to admit she had in fact not been listening to her friend, or simply unaware she had missed most of what Maya had said. Erin hadn't picked up on how desperate Maya's situation was, and remembered posing for a head and shoulders portrait the previous semester, for Maya's entire class. Sitting in one spot for 2 1/2 hours while people she didn't know discussed her qualities as a model had been no fun at all. She turned Maya down, telling her, "I think my career as a model is over, I need to concentrate on portraying a character, not just outward appearances."
"I understand, I didn't think you'd be willing, just thought I'd ask," Maya said, and dropped the subject.
Ten days later, May and Erin were having breakfast together in their usual corner of the college's dining hall. Erin casually asked Maya about her Photography class, "So, have you found a model for your class yet?" She was shocked when Maya nearly broke out in tears.
"No, I haven't been able to get anyone to commit, and there's no way I pass the course without turning in this assignment. Unless I get into the studio with a model in the next week, I'm screwed." Thinking her best friend was worth one more try, Maya asked quietly, "Any possibility at all you'll change your mind? You could treat it as an exercise in inhabiting a character! I may have forgotten to mention, there's a $150 stipend for a student who poses for this class if that makes any difference."
Seeing how important this was to Maya, she decided sitting for a portrait for a few hours as she had before wasn't such a big deal. Besides helping Maya out, the $150 she'd get for posing could cover some of her Christmas shopping. "Okay, why not, if it helps you out, I guess I'm in," Erin said, and was shocked when Maya jumped up and ran around the table to hug her! They compared schedules and found they both had nothing going on Wednesday night; Maya thanked Erin one more time and headed straight for the Photography department to reserve a block of time in a studio. There weren't many time slots left open so close to the end of the semester, but she was able to reserve a space from 9 to 11 PM Wednesday.
Running her usual 10 minutes late, Erin arrived at the studio Maya had texted her directions to, pulling a large wheeled suitcase behind her. She was dressed comfortably, ready for a long stretch sitting on a stool being directed where to look and what kind of expression to show; she was wearing a baggy flannel boyfriend shirt, black sweatpants, and open-toed sandals. "Sorry to be late. One thing I forgot to ask about the other day," she said before Maya even had said hello, "As long as we're here, can you take a few photos for me to send out as headshots?"
