Chapter Text
Toni is a shit artist.
Scratch that she isn't even allowed to call herself an artist. What she is able to create with a pen and a paper could be used as a weapon to fight off a possible alien invasion. Other than some dope stick figures, she can't draw anything else that is remotely accurate. Even then, she ends up making the legs uneven and the head crooked.
As a shit artist there is absolutely no good reason for Toni to be sitting down in front of a massive easle on a Monday night in Nora's figure drawing class.
Nora is her roommate and could probably be considered a friend, although the two girls have absolutely nothing in common other than enjoying eating worrying amount of takis and sharing a dorm room. Toni is still confused as to how the girl successfully dragged her to this barely lit building in the back of campus, when Toni was perfectly content just chilling in bed looking up some memes on twitter.
Nora is the kind of girl you don’t wanna say no too. Not because she is scary, but because she never ever asks for anything. She is the quiet kind of girl that doesn’t say much unless someone talks to her. Since it was probably the girls first ever attempt at hanging out somewhere else than in their shared room, Toni didn’t have the heart to say no to her. She doesn’t care that much anyway. She was used to being dragged into those shitty kind of class back home with Martha. She'd usually just slouch on a chair in the far back and doze off until it was over. That's what she thought she’d be doing tonight, until she stepped foot in the studio and noted all there was, was a stool. You can’t have a nap on a fucking stool. That, Toni knows out of experience.
She grumpily sits down next to a very excited Nora, in front of her easle and notes there is a short woman in her late fifties animating the class and walking around the circle of artists. Toni huffs dramatically when she realizes she’s gonna have to put her shit talent in full motion tonight, for what Nora informs her to be a two hours class. As the class fills in, Toni’s eyes settle on a blond girl in a flimsy white robe walking toward a wide wooden box in the middle of the room. She graciously sits down and looks around the room analyzing the people around in pure curiosity. Their eyes meet and Toni gulps at how green the girl’s eyes are and at how drop dead goergous the woman staring at her is. The blonde smiles at Toni and Toni thinks that it was actually a great idea to take an art class.
"Nora…What exactly is this class about?" Toni asks looking away from the girl to stare at her roomate.
"I told you. It’s a figure drawing class” Nora answers absentmindedly unpacking her backpack.
“So we’re drawing this girl?” Toni asks giving a quick pointed look in the blonde’s direction.
“Yes.”
"She’s gonna stay in that robe right?" Toni asks, barely hiding the worry in her voice.”Right?” she presses on after getting no answers.
"Of course not! We’re sketching the human anatomy Toni" Nora answers laughing softly at the absurdity of Toni's question. Toni's eyes bulge out of her head.
“What do you mean by that!?”
“I mean that the model will be nude.”
"Nude!?” Toni basically screams in horror which earns her the attention of the whole class and a displeased look from the teacher. “Nora! I can’t do this! we have to leave" Toni continues, now whispering and hiding from praying eyes behind her easel. “Please.” Nora doesn’t move, frowning at Toni as Toni pushes Nora’s backback into her chest.
"What’s wrong?" Nora asks putting her bag pack back down.
“It’s just weird, I’m not about to stare at this naked girl for two hours when I can’t draw for shit” Toni hushes.
“You’ve seen the titanic right?”
“Huh…yes?” Toni narrows her eyes confused as to what this had to do with the whole situation.
“Well just imagine you’re Jack and she’s Rose in that scene where he draws her” Toni really doesn’t feel like that’s a great tip since they end up bagging right after and her face probably shows her confusion because Nora goes on.
“It’s art Toni, just sit down and relax. She's expecting everyone in this room to look at her. That’s the point. It's not like she's gonna start nasturbating" Toni chokes a little on dry air as she stares at an unfazed Nora. The girl could come up with the weirdest most shocking come back sometimes and now was one of those times.
"Okay class let’s get started! “ Says the teacher clapping her hands to get the class' attention. “we are gathered here today to…”
Toni turns back around, deflated, as the teacher goes on and on about art and other shit Toni doesn’t care about. Thanks to Nora, now Toni as a vivid picture of the model masturbating in her mind. This is unfortunate because what Toni actually cares about right now is keeping her eyes as far away from the blonde as possible. Sure it may sound childish that she refuses to actually stare at a naked woman in the name of art, but it’s actually in the hope to not have a full on gay meltdown or to develop a massive and pathetic crush on the girl modeling right now that she is doing this. If she doesn’t look, then she can pretend she’s not there and that the Titanic will stay a nice unaltered memory. When the teacher named Suzan tells them to get to their pencils and let their soul speaks, Toni frowns. How the fuck does she does that exactly?
She tries to be mature and nonchalant about it all, but she fails miserably. The second Nora starts drawing, Toni is staring down at the floor counting the number of tiles. Mind over matter. Toni stares at the people around and notice a few guys staring unabashed in the model’s direction. Perverts.
A few minutes later, when Nora hits her in the ribs with her sharp elbow telling her to get to work, Toni wants to whine. Why the fuck would she agree to come here. She trails her eyes back to the white paper in front of her and grabs her pencil with a grimace. Here’s the thing, with her artistic qualification, Toni really has no idea how to draw someone. Even less someone that she does not dare to look at. Not that she would do a better job if she actually looked at her. So she goes for the stick figure. Because that, she could manage. Her tongue pokes out as she draws a circle and five lines. She even goes as far as adding two eyes to the little guy and a pair of awful looking sneakers. She might take her statement back. She’s actually pretty good at this art thing.
After about an hour Toni is bored out of her mind and ready to call it a night. She chances a glance at Nora’s work which is a bad idea, she realizes when she has a mini panic attack at the very detailed sketch. Couldn’t Nora be an awful artist just for once so Toni didn’t have to bleach her eyes with hand sanitizer.
Turning back to her easel now with something to compare it to, she feels like she did the model dirty. Her work is awfull. The worst thing Toni's ever laid her eyes on and knowing she is the one that created this, is really a low point for her.
It looks like a turd that someone has stepped on with some eyes and a smile. She is about to rip it off and throw it in the trash when she feels someone next to her.
"Oh wow" A woman’s voice says from behind her shoulder, barely hiding her amusement as she most likely stares at Toni’s drawing.
Toni turns around annoyed and eyes the girl in question. She freezes in her movement as she comes face to face with the object of her misery.
Fuck. It’s her. And if she had actually been looking at her, maybe she would have noted that they were on a break and then maybe Toni could have prepared herself for the possibility of interacting with the girl. Thank goodness she is back in her robe. Nothing giving away that she had been but naked in front of 30 or so people a minute ago. The model sends Toni a smile and Toni get giddy all over.
«I’m not sure If I should be amused or offended by your drawing" The girl adds, her blond curls dangling over Toni's shoulder as she analyze Toni's work closely. Toni stand still almost scared to move, entranced by the girl's parfum. She has a soft southern accent that rings into Toni's ears and make her chew on her button lips anxiously. Empty. Her brain is full of empty thoughts.
"I... It's ... You don't look like that at all..." Toni says, stumbling over her words as she feels the nerves of having a pretty girl talk to her kick in. Pretty girls made Toni feel like jelly and talk like a 4 years old every damn time.
"Yeah I would hope so... is art a new hobby of yours?" She adds, flashing Toni a bright smile that should be illegal for it is too attractive and Toni is too gay.
"Oh no I've been practicing for many years as you can see" Toni says and blinks in awe as the girl in front of her giggles. She fucking giggles and it’s the cutest shit ever.
"It shows. I love how you drew two huge feet but no actual legs" She says amused, drawing Toni’s attention back to her awful work. Toni frowns down at it.
"I did draw your legs they are actually right there" Toni interjects pointing to the two straight lines covered up by two massive shoes.
"Oh silly me I see it now!”
“Yeah…it’s abstract art or some shit like that” Toni says, trying to fill in the upcoming awkward silence that was bound to happen.
“You can look you know... It's kind of the point of the class to look at the model, and to be honest it could help with the proportion" Toni is staring at the paper because if she keeps staring at the girl she is gonna start hyper ventilating. ‘Did she say she wants me to stare at her naked? Is this a normal request in an art class? Should I be worried I will faint because of my high blood pressure and possible heart failure right now?’ These are all very good question but on a more pressing note there’s a gorgeous girl waiting for you to talk Toni.
"Are you saying my proportions are off?" Toni asks with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm not answering that" Toni lets out a breathy laugh, nervously fidgeting with her pencil.”Well, I better get back over there, good luck!”
“Good luck to you too… with huh… that.” The blond quirks an amused eyebrow. “Sorry,I mean…well… just ignore me please.” Toni gives up refraining from running away and never coming back. The model giggles once again. God. This was the cringiest moment of Toni’s life right there.
Toni lets out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.
" What was that" Nora asks. Toni looks back at her, a similar frown on her face.
“Fuck it was bad wasn’t it? Like pathetic kind of bad?”
"Do I have to be honest?”
“I can’t handle honesty right now,”
“It was great! You looked very confident. I'm actually a bit offended, she walked right past my work and commented on this atrocity" Nora deadpans staring at Toni’s work with a grimace.
"Hey! It's...original" Toni says now feeling protective over her trashy work.
"She's into you" Nora adds simply, grabbing her pencil and looking ahead at a, no doubt very naked and very hot blonde. Toni laughs. This was actually hilarious.
“There’s absolutely no way this girl is into me, did you not see her?"
"Of course I've seen her, I've been drawing her for an hour now" She says impassive, her eyes still fix on her subject.
"Exactly my point, a girl like that isn't into me, it’s simple physics" Toni explains adding a baseball hat to her stick figure.
"Well actually, The Law of Attraction teaches that we attract into our lives whatever we focus on. Quantum Physics teaches that nothing is fixed, that there are no limitations, everything is vibrating Energy. So she could actually be into you"
"It's annoying to have a conversation with you Nora" Toni huffs bitting the tip of her pencil which Suzan didn’t seem to appreciate if the deathly glare she received was any indication. Sheepishly Toni takes it out from her mouth and waves at the woman in hope that she’ll go bother someone else.
“Of course it is.” Nora says leaning into Toni and bumping her shoulder. “My sister says I’m like an actual walking dictionary. What’s not fun about that.”
"Guys there’s only 50 minutes left to this class, I would like you all to concentrate on giving less strokes, but more meaningful ones. Analyze your work and how you could simplify it without taking away the purpose of the form"
Toni stares down at her work, a crease developing between her eyebrows as her frown intensify. What? The teacher’s loud steps let’s Toni know she is now getting closer to her and she feels the sudden need to hide her sketch from the very scary teacher coming her way.
"Some people may want to start over and that's okay" The older woman says with a pinched voice.
Toni looks over her shoulder, offended but then again it's not like what she drew was worth being offended for. She hears a soft giggle and as her eyes follow the sound she realize her mistake. Her eyes settles on the model who is looking directly at her trying to hide her amusement. Toni quirks an eyebrow, keeping her eyes dead center on her face. Toni’s pretty sure cold sweat forms on her forehead. Sure she doesn’t dare to let her eyes linger to any dangerous territory but her peripheral vision is tempting her.
The blonde stares back now, one raised eyebrow almost as if she was daring Toni to grow balls and look down. Biting the inside of her cheeks, Toni quickly looks down at her drawing like the little scardy cat that she is and rips her drawing. She crumbles it and throws it in the trash can in the back of the class.
Toni wishes she had the balls to do it, but knowing the girl's attention is actually on her makes it even more nerve racking. She knows she is gonna blush like crazy and probably get all weird and then she'll have to be hyper aware of everything she does to try and look collected and it's just gonna be too much work.
So she decides to settle on drawing the girl's face.
That is already a masterpiece in itself and if she has the slightest talent when it comes to art she was gonna use it to draw her face. But then again even though she does her best to recreate her face it ends up looking all too much like Mrs. Potato in Toy's Story.
“ How do you actually do this” Toni groans.
"Maybe try to recreate lines and shadows and not care as much about her actual face. People get too caught up by the result and don’t actually look at what makes the face and the body what it is." Nora says.
"I don't understand shit of what you just said" Toni dead pans picking at her nails in an attempt to keep herself busy. If she stares one more time at her drawing, she’s knocking the whole thing over. Out of sexual frustration mostly because god fucking help her the prettiest girl ever is standing in front of Toni naked and Toni has too much respect to look. Her respect is sadly getting thinner by the minute.
So what if she just takes a small little peak it’s not like she wasn’t invited to do so by the girl herself. This could actually count as some form of practice in keeping her cool in front of naked woman. Toni trails tentative eyes back to the blondes face and with a final heart failure she trails them down.
She doesn't even make it halfway down that she is freaking out. Nope nope nope. Why did she actually think she could do this. Toni jerks her hand away from the paper and in her hurry, makes the bowl of pencils fall on the floor.
"Fuck shit I'm sorry" Toni stutters, jumping out from her seat to go grab the pencils, her face is burning and her brain is short circuting as all she can now picture is the blonde model sitting down absolutely naked. How is no one not actually freaking out right now? Clearly there wasn’t a lot of useless lesbian around campus.
Toni swears mentally at the attention she had now gathered from the whole class, as she’s mentally fighting her brain trying to not replay what she had just seen. As much as the girl is gorgeous and fucking hot, Toni did not need to go any deeper shade of red. She’s pretty sure she’s already matching with the red carpet right now. As she gathers the pencils she can feel the girl's eyes on her which is not helping at all.
“Are you okay?” Nora asks worried.
“Oh I’m just dandy”
“Respectfully, You need to get laid.”
“ I know” Toni groans hiding back behind her easel.
Toni tears her paper once again and crumbles it into a ball that she throws in the trash. Someone even dares to huff as the paper fall down next to the trash. Toni has the urge to flip the person off and scream at him ‘we can't all be da Vinci’s lost child and have great aim after staring at a naked woman’ but she's too busy staying shielded behind her easel and will not risk having any kind of social interaction right now.
"Do you want me to help you out I'm done anyways" Nora asks after Toni as been staring at her blank paper for a few minutes.
"No you don't wanna have to go through that. I think I’m just gonna cringe at myself for the remaining of the class but thank you”
" Alright then Stud, Would you like some water? You seem very thirsty.”Toni turns her eyes to her friend and sends her an unamused glare.
“ Make fun of me while you’re at it "
" She’s looking at you" Nora points out.
“Who?” Toni groans. Everyone is basically looking at her.
“The nude model” Toni groans once again.
“You don’t have to mention that she is nude, I know she is nude Nora”
“God alright you’re very sensitive”
“Can we not bring up how horny I am? Thank you.”
“Horny? I didn't even say that“
"Oh god, I'm never coming with you again" Nora snorts.
"Sure"
Toni looks at her, ready to actually commit murder and then catch a glance of Nora's drawing. Oh god. Bad idea. Very bad idea.
"So what do you think?"
"Good. It’s good" Toni's voice is raspier then usual and she wishes she had control over that because Nora's smirk is painful to stare at. “Is the class over already I’m tired”
“Actually it’s-“
"Alright class, time is up, please clean up your easel and bring your pencils up to my desk. Thank you once again to Shelby our beautiful model. You can put your robe back on honey" The teacher says cutting Nora off and becoming Toni’s best friend by ending her misery. Toni's ears perks up at learning the models name. Shelby. The name was fitting.
Toni stands up grabbing her pencils and walking up to the teachers desk, settling the mug on the left side.
"Thank you dear, will you be coming to the next class on Friday? You could use some more practice" Susan asks with a pointed look.
"Huh actually... I can't... I have stuff to do" Toni answers, not planning on ever coming back.
"Oh well that's unfortunate. Have a good night sweetie" Toni nods and turns back around just to walk right into a tall blond.
Fucking hell that’s just about her luck. Thankfully this time the girl was fully clothes and wearing some deep blue skinny jeans and one of the forest green university hoodies.
“Sorry about that “ Toni says quickly eagered to walk away.
"Don’t worry about it. I was hoping you'd come back. did you not like it?" Toni stops in her track turning back to stare at the blond.
"Oh I huh no it was great... You're great at doing your job" Toni says moving her hand around.
"At being naked and standing still? Thank you. although it’s not actually my job I was just helping out" Shelby smiles an award winning smile like she hadn't been butt naked in front of everyone two minutes ago.
"Oh"
"If it makes you feel better I won't be the model on Friday it will be my friend Matt. I'll actually be drawing this time"
"Naked man does not make it better at all actually " Toni grimace to the thought of going through two hours of staring at some naked guy.
"Mmm well, I could help you get through the trauma?" Shelby proposés, with an amused smirk. How exactly is she planning to help her, Toni has no idea but she's all for it.
“I mean I guess I could go through another session of torture" Toni agrees, not putting much of a fight for apparent reasons.
"Wow that’s what you classify tonight as huh?" Shelby asks with a perfectly raised eyebrow.
" Well, Today was a different kind of torture" Toni admits.
“Yeah... I did see you struggling a little bit there. Next time be more careful with your pencils.” The girl suggest with a wink.
“Ha Ha yeah” Toni says awkwardly scratching at the back of her neck." Anyways, I better head out my friend is waiting” Toni says pointing to a very noisy Nora sending a thumbs up at Toni like a supportive soccer mom watching her kid play like shit.
" Since Nora clearly approves, I should get your number to make sure you don't back off on Friday"
"Okay yeah sure" Toni says in a high pitch voice. Shelby takes her phone out of her back pocket and opens it up just to let Toni have it. Toni forgets her number for a second as her Brain stress over the fact a goergous girl is asking for her phone number.
“Do you need help?” Shelby wonders after a moment.
“No sorry here you go!” Toni says quickly putting her number in and handing it back to Shelby.
"Okay well, bye. See you soon!" She smiles while backing away and leaves the class after a final wave in Toni's dorection. Toni stares at her as she leaves the room and can't get her mind to wrap arround what just happened.
"I don't understand how you get all these girls number when you can barely put a word in front of the other." Nora wonders aloud.
"I'm a bit offended but I’m also wondering the same thing" Toni admits as they walk out into the cold night.
"Here I got a gift for you "
"A gift? What is-" Toni groans out as she unfolds Nora's drawing. God. She hids her blush with her free hand.
“ Nora!”