I first met my friend Pete at a job I had back in high school. He was nearly 10 years older than me but we had got on well from our first meeting. In many ways he was my complete opposite physically. Where I was short, pale and skinny, he was tall, tanned and toned. And where I was small and hairless, I suspected he was not.
Pete is an openly gay man and as far as he knew I was a skinny little straight guy with no interest in men. Of course that never stopped him shamelessly flirting with me. For almost as long as I had known him he always cracked jokes about trying to sleep with me or 'turn me'.
I never really minded his advances; actually I'd always kind of liked it. Even before I truly discovered that side of myself, I had enjoyed teasing him, tempting him but never giving in. I took a strange kind of pleasure in knowing how much he wanted me and how much my repeated denial must have frustrated him.
After leaving the job we always kept in touch and tried to make a point of catching up regularly. One night Pete and I were catching up over a few drinks. I was between jobs at that time so I was glad that Pete had picked somewhere cheap and dingy to meet. After a few hours and many drinks bought by Pete, he started telling me about his most recent hobby. For as long as I had known him he had been an incredible artist. Mostly sticking to pencil drawings, he had an innate talent for capturing minute details with startling accuracy. Pete told me that lately he had been attending a life drawing group here at this very bar.
"It's really nice and casual," he told me. "Just a group of about 10 people who get together once a fortnight to practice their drawings. We get a different model in each time so it gives us a nice range of body types to draw. They close off the back room of the bar so it's nice and private, but you can still grab a few drinks between poses."
"Where do you find the models?" I asked.
"All over the place really," Pete explained. "We advertise in local papers and forums. Some of the group even gets their friends to come along. Considering that it pays $300 for the two hour session there's usually someone who's happy to put their name down."
"$300 for two hours?" I stammered. Given how poorly my current job search was going this sounded pretty appealing.
"Well yeh, people don't just strip off in a room full of strangers for nothing," Pete replied with a smirk.
"Oh, that kind of modeling," I replied, feeling kind of stupid that I hadn't picked up on that already.
"Thinking about signing up are you?" Pete laughed, still smirking.
"No, I don't think so," I said laughing off his offer, "as much as I'm sure you'd like to see that, I don't think I'll be joining you for your class."
"Hear me out," replied Pete, holding up his hand to silence me, "it's really easy work. You pretty much sit on a chair, strike a few poses and let a couple of people scribble away. $300 for sitting on a chair for a couple of hours isn't such a bad deal. It's all very tasteful and discrete, and no one's going to recognise you from a drawing."
I sat there silently. I was suddenly aware that my pulse had picked up and my mouth was dry. Fleeting images of myself standing naked in a room full of faceless strangers raced through my head. I shuffled in my seat and cleared my throat, trying to mask my excitement. Pete seemed to take my silence as his cue to go on.
"The next session is supposed to be on Wednesday and we still haven't got a model confirmed," Pete went on. "I think you should consider it, you'd be doing me and the group a massive favour. Darren is the guy who runs the classes, I'm sure I could convince him to up the fee to $500 for the short notice."
My eyes widened slightly at the mention of the additional payment. I'd hoped that Pete might not have noticed, but he grinned back at me, looking like a shark that was zeroing in on its prey.
"Have a think about it," Pete said, his eyes fixed on mine. "We've got until tomorrow to find a model before we need to call off the class. If no one comes forward by then I'll let you know."
"Fine," I replied with a shrug.
Pete got up and walked over to the bar order another round. I was glad he offered as my legs felt weak and I thought he might notice me trembling slightly. I was determined not to give away my excitement to him. I knew deep down that I was probably going to give in and agree to be his model, but I wanted it to look reluctant. After all these years of Pete coming onto me, I wanted him to feel like he'd finally broken me down, like he had won.
We stayed for a while longer but I could barely focus on anything that was being said. Eventually we called it a night and parted ways, but not before Pete reminded me to think over his offer. It was clear he wasn't going to give up easily, and it became much clearer by the time I arrived home. I had barely set foot through my front door when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. The message was from Pete.