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Opening a single eye and peering at her clock, Hinata quickly squeezed them back shut before turning her head back toward her wall, the fabric of her pillow brushing the frustrated tears from her cheek.
Hinata didn't cry too often. Sure, during the appropriate times she would shed a few tears--funerals, break-ups, that one time she broke her leg from falling down the stairs--but she wasn't very prone to emotional outbursts.
Except for when she got angry; which was another thing that didn't happen often.
But she was stuck, and she was frustrated. And when her frustration grew to a certain point, the tears would start to flow. Then she'd get angry at herself for crying over something so stupid, and then she'd only cry harder.
An embarrassingly awful cycle that Hinata was all-too used to.
It wasn't even that big of a deal. Well, it was, but the reason she was getting so worked-up was almost too mortifying to ever admit to anyone, even her boyfriend.
But she had an art final in twenty minutes and it was worth thirty percent of her grade and no matter how badly she did not want to go, she had to.
The fact that it was a life drawing of a nude model shouldn't have bothered her as much as it was, but at nineteen years old Hinata had never in her life seen anyone naked other than herself and her baby sister. The thought of encountering a complete stranger, and watching them undress before her only to stare at their bare, naked body for a few hours made her anxiety shoot through the roof.
"Hinata," a knocking on her bedroom door roused her from her thoughts as she sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes.
"Hm?"
As the door opened quietly, one of her roommates peeked in, her mousy brown eyes staring at her questioningly. A mess of wet, brown hair sat in a bun on the tippy top of her head. "Don't you have a final in like," she pulled her phone out of her pocket and glanced at the screen, "fifteen minutes?"
Hinata nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat as she swung her legs over the edge of her bed, quickly slipping on her sandals.
"Yeah," she confirmed, clearing her throat when her voice came out scratchy. No doubt she looked like a mess.
"Are you okay?" Her roommate asked, opening the door a little wider and leaning her hip against the door frame. "You've been crying." She stated bluntly, noting the mascara tracks on her face.
Frowning, Hinata turned toward her mirror, quickly using the back of her hand to smear away as much of the ruined make-up as she could. She then nodded her head and forced a smile onto her face as she grabbed her jacket and bag. "I'm alright. Thanks TenTen."
Entirely unconvinced, TenTen merely nodded slowly before backing out of her room and disappearing from sight.
The walk to campus wasn't a long one, but the art building was on the complete opposite of campus; easily ten minutes away. As she walked, she picked at her fingernails, causing a couple of her nail beds to bleed slightly.
It was there, as she was sucking on her fingertips, trying hard not to outwardly act as anxious as she felt, when she nearly jumped out of her skin as someone grabbed her arm.
Gasping, she spun around quickly, roughly yanking her arm back out of the strangers grip. With her opposite arm she grabbed her key chain and without thinking shot pepper spray toward her assailant.
"Woah! Easy there. It's me--ah, GOD, THAT BURNS!"
"Naruto-kun!" Stomach sinking at the sight of her boyfriend, almost keeled over, hand over his left eye, Hinata suddenly was overcome with a potent mixture of embarrassment, shame, and guilt. "I'm so sorry! Oh my god! I didn't mean to--I didn't know that--I'm so sorry!!"
Her boyfriend forced out a laugh, hand still clamped tightly over his eye, as he used his over to hold himself up, gripping his knee tightly. "H-hey Hinata."
"Naruto-kun, I'm so sorry I didn't hear you coming up behind me!"
He forced out another awkward laugh. "I was shouting your name..."
She was sure her face was completely red. "Are you okay?"
"It's okay. Only a little got in my eye. It wasn't a direct hit." Standing up a little straighter, he kept his hand tight against his face, trying hard to play off his girlfriend's painful blunder. "I've gotten hit with pepper spray before." When Hinata raised an eyebrow, her frown turning a bit more confused, he shook his head. "Long story; it was a misunderstanding. I'll tell you about it sometime."
"I can't believe I didn't hear you..." hooking her arm with his, she started moving forward, heading toward the closest on-campus cafe. As they walked she wracked her brain with ways to help pepper-sprayed eyes; was it soda you were supposed to use to ease the burning? Or milk?
"Really? I was yelling pretty loud... what's stressing you out?"
She faltered, flustered at his ability to read her so well. "Nothing much."
He raised an eyebrow. "Sure," he eyed her carefully, showing her that he simply didn't believe her. "But I was excited to see you, I just didn't think..." he gestured to his closed eye that was bright red and a little swollen.
"What are you doing on campus?" She asked, trying to change the subject. "You aren't starting until next semester, right?"
"Nope!" He said, popping the 'p', "But I got a little gig making some extra money."
"Oh?" She asked, more concerned about his swollen eye than his side-job he'd just picked up. But she didn't want him to question her intense anxiety.
"Yeah, I get to model for this art class! I do it once tonight and then again tomorrow night, and I make like three hundred bucks for it!"
As he spoke, he hardly noticed the way she stiffened beside him, her grip on his arm tightening as her words hit her.
"Where are you headed?" She asked quietly, begging for her voice to remain steady, but she didn't know why she asked in the first place, she already knew the answer...
She watched as Naruto took a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. "Uh, I'm going to the art building... and it's room... 209."
Hinata completely stopped moving at that moment.
Shit.
"You're modelling for my class' final."
Naruto turned toward her, watching her with confusion at her look of concern. Raising an eyebrow at her odd reaction he laughed nervously, shooting her a smile that she was sure was supposed to be reassuring. "Yeah? Cool! That means you get to spend your last couple of hours of your class looking at me." He winked at her before letting out a light-hearted laugh. "That's pretty cool, I wish I'd known so I'd told you before hand. That way we could've walked together and you wouldn't've maced me--!"
"Naruto-kun," she cut him off, her voice loud. "You do know what this is... right?" She knew she was starting to blush fiercely, the thought of seeing her new boyfriend naked already making her feel all sorts of conflicting emotions...
He laughed. "Hinata. I might not be as smart as you or your college friends, but I know what modelling is. Everyone does."
And that's when she realized that he had no idea what he was getting himself into.
"Naruto." The lack of a suffix appeared to get his attention. He looked at her blankly, blinking a few times as he waited for her to continue. "It's nude modelling."
His reaction was instant. "I--wait--what?!"
Hinata paled, almost unbelieving. "You're kidding me. How did you not know!"
Now, Naruto was the one blushing, rubbing the back of his neck as he nervously shifted from one foot to the next. "I didn't think it was that kind of modelling! I was just talking to someone about a week ago--your professor I think? And she mentioned teaching here and I mentioned the fact that I was enrolling and she asked me if I'd ever modeled and--well, I may have lied a little bit and said yes, but I didn't think she meant this type of modelling!!"
Before she could help herself, Hinata was laughing. Starting off with light giggles and soon transforming into full-blown hysterical laughter. Soon enough, Naruto seemed to overcome his humiliation and was laughing right along with her.
"Is that why you were so antsy?" He laughed as all the pieces fell in place, grinning widely down at her.
"Maybe," she admitted, her giggles quieting down as the situation at hand seemed to hit her. Her eyes widened, "Shoot. What time is it?"
He check his watch. "We're late." Then he shrugged. "But I'm not going anymore, so I guess your final is cancelled." She stared at him, as if shocked with his decision to skip out on his new 'gig'. "What? I'm not about to go strip naked for a buncha strangers. Not for me." Holding out his arm, "Come on, lets go get food somewhere."
Despite the fact that she was still anxious about the entire situation, her hands shaking with leftover anxiety and her sides aching from the after-affects of her laughter, she still managed to smile at him and take his arm.
He was right after all. No model meant no final. And she wasn't complaining.