Cameron Black here. About a year after Miss White (I later learned that her name is Mara) and I had sex in the boys' locker room at my old high school, I was taking a photography class at the local community college. I had changed jobs and my new boss insinuated that learning how to handle a camera might open up possibilities for advancement. Two years or so out of college and I was looking at a salary that made me think I could live on my own. It's not that my roommates were bad guys, just that everyone wants their own space, eventually.
So, I was taking that class. The projects had been fairly simple things and I had an easy A. But there was one problem: All of the partner projects left me in the cold. Most of the kids and the handful of adults (other than me) taking the class had enrolled with a partner ready-to-hand. I had not. So I was always scrambling to find someone to help me out with the assignments. Family and friends had stepped up to the plate, but I figured that no one was going to help me out on the final: artistic nude.
Now Mara and I still got together every morning and evening for our runs (this was between her 5K and 10K) and I lamented the sorry response I was receiving to my pleas for help with my photography final. Mara laughed and teased the whole morning run. She had gotten to me so much that I almost skipped our evening run. Turned out I was glad I showed up.
"Any takers on your offer to let them strip for you and have that documented?" She was teasing again, I could hear it in her voice.
"No. I might just have to do like that guy did on that one old TV show."
"Which?"
"The one where the guy just snaps a pic of himself in the nude. I don't remember the show's name."
She laughed, a contagious sound that had me joining her, and our laughter devolved into panting as we worked through a rough run.
When we got back to her house, she asked if I wanted some water. I check my bottle, realized it had gone empty, and thanked her for the offer. She motioned for me to follow and we went through a back door into her kitchen. The room was simple. A plain wooden table in a neutral shade with chairs that pretty much matched sat near the window. Solid colored curtains that were more for decoration than function were gathered to the sides. Stainless steel refrigerator and stove kept immaculate. There was nothing descript about that room. It could have been a model home, for all the personality that it seemed to have. Mara took my water bottle and filled it at the refrigerator door, then passed me another bottle of water from inside the frig.
"You haven't asked me."
Her comment came out of nowhere. I had been wondering about the lack of magnets on her frig when she spoke, so it took me a minute to parse what she had said.
"Asked you what?" One day, my mouth will wait for my brain. It will be a glorious day. That day was not it.
"To pose for your nudes."
Having seen her nude, I knew that what was under her running clothes was well to my liking. But that could be problematic, since I liked what was under there so much, I might have trouble focusing on posing her or even pressing the shutter button. I just was not sure that I could complete my assignment while looking at her in a state of deshabille. Apparently, my brain and mouth had conspired together to let all of those thoughts slip out without my notice ... until it was too late.