Olivia had decided to order a cab to get to the art museum, since it was a new building and also because she had slowly realised that she didn't remember Baltimore quite like she had thought she did. It was quite a disheartening feeling to discover you no longer know something as well as you once did, especially when it once was so important.

As soon as she reached the gallery she was whisked away by a lovely woman with long, curly, red hair called Susan. Susan had been the woman emailing her, she seemed shocked that Olivia had even turned up.

“Honestly, I thought you'd have already booked someone, it was kind of an impulsive decision; me emailing you,” Olivia explained as Susan led her through a bunch of hallways which mostly appeared to be offices. She wondered what kind of office work went on at an art gallery, was it mostly buying stuff? Or did they hire people to paint for them specifically?

“Well, we would've made an intern do it if you hadn't gotten back to us,” Susan muttered, Olivia laughed in response but Susan's silence indicated that she was in fact serious. Suddenly what Olivia was doing had became a good deed, she was saving some poor 20-something year old on minimum wage from having to undergo the embarrassment she would have to in just under thirty minutes.

“Okay, this is your changing room,” Susan had stopped in front of a white door which looked exactly the same as all of the other white doors along the white corridor, “Just get changed into a robe, leave all of your belongings, don't worry, the door will be locked,” she reassured the clearly well-off model before her, “and I'll take you to where we need to go.”

Olivia nodded in response, her throat dry. She wasn't sure what was making her so nervous, she was very confident in her body, in fact she was proud of it – she had worked for it. At home she had a personal trainer who she worked with 5 days a week, every morning. The being naked part wasn't really her issue, maybe it was the idea that not only would people be seeing her naked but they'd be focusing on her naked; they'd be examining every inch of her and copying it down in front of them. She shook the thought away, the more she thought about it, the creepier it became and she really just wanted to get it over with at this point.

Inside the room the theme of white continued and it was completely plain. She realised this was a new establishment but from an art gallery she had expected more. On one wall was a long, rectangular mirror sat above a counter top she imagined would be used when doing hair and make-up, with chairs tucked under it.

Quickly, she slipped out of her clothes and into the white robe hung on the back of the door and took a deep breath. How much was she getting paid for this? That's all she could think about as she left the room and was again whisked away by Susan to the 'stage', as she called it. The 'stage' wasn't actually a stage, it was a very large room which somehow looked older than the rest of the building. The walls were still white but they were covered in artwork. At the very back of the room there was a set-up of white sheets hung as a backdrop in front of a plush, grey ottoman draped with fluffy blankets and surrounded with flowers. Facing the set-up in a half circle were about a dozen easels, all equipped with canvases and tables filled with supplies. More supplies littered the outskirts of the room, it was like being back at high school in art class for Olivia. She had failed art.
-


“Can I come with you?” Jack asked from the passenger seat, his head leaned against the window as he stared into space. Alex was currently driving his friend home and then would be on his way to the art gallery opening where he'd be taking part in a night class, drawing a nude model. He'd been to quite a few events like this before, they weren't so much classes as they were just a bunch of people painting; their capability ranging from I'm-trying-something-new-and-have-never-drawn-before-in-my-life to actually decent. Alex liked to believe he was on the latter end of the scale.

“No,” Alex responded, shaking his head. He imagined taking Jack to a serious art class, with a real naked lady; the thought made him shudder. He could just picture Jack giggling the whole time, trying to get a closer look at all the important parts.

“I think it's unfair that your job allows you to see boobs for free,” Jack sulked, he was still hungover and incredibly fragile.

“First of all, this isn't my job, this is my hobby and secondly, why are you paying to see boobs?” Alex mocked causing Jack to pull a face.

“I wish I could draw,” Jack said quietly, to no one in particular, causing Alex to smile to himself, it was such a pure thing to say, “You get to see free boobs,” he added and Alex's smile dropped.

“Get out of my car,” Alex joked as he pulled up outside of Jack's apartment, turning towards the black hared boy who hadn't moved the entire car ride.

“Can you take pictures when you're in there?” Jack pondered aloud, remaining in his slumped position.

“Dude, just go on google, there's plenty of boobs,” Alex said bewildered by his friends stupidity.

“Oh shit, you're right,” Jack suddenly perked up, hopping out of the car and waving Alex off as he made his way up the stairs into his apartment.
-


Olivia was now stood in her robe in front of the set-up, she had been instructed on exactly how they wanted her to pose – with her hands in her hair and her head tilted back slightly. She was told that she'd have to remain still for around an hour and a half to two hours, depending, she was also told that a man named James would be at her side the whole time in case anything were to happen to her. James was well over 6 foot and incredibly well built with a completely expressionless, stern face, even though his job was to protect her, even Olivia was scared of him. A bunch of other employees would also be present, simply to observe the artists, chat, give criticism/praise – not on Olivia's job.

“Are we okay to come through?” a young brunette popped her head round the door, Olivia guessed that this woman was probably the poor intern she had saved tonight.

“Yes, we're ready,” Susan smiled back, gesturing with her hand for everyone to make their way through. As people began to file in, Susan turned to Olivia and gave her a small nod which meant for her to drop her robe.

Olivia took a deep breath and gulped hard before peeling the robe off and handing it over to Susan who quickly began making sure everyone was at their correct station and had what they need, and just as Olivia began getting into position, her eyes locked with a familiar pair of hazel eyes.

There stood Alex, frozen in shock, his face bright red, holding up the queue of people waiting to get to their stations. Susan immediately rushed over to him and ushered him over to his place, only his legs moving as his eyes stayed locked with Olivia's. Olivia quickly pulled herself together, she had to be professional about this. This was just a job. This was just his hobby. If it was the intern stood up here nobody would've batted an eyelid. Actually, she was fairly certain Alex actually hadn't batted an eyelid since he caught a glimpse of her. She had to look away, she wasn't sure whether to smile or maybe wave, but she decided against it and simply got into her position. Hands in hair, head back, hair cascading down her bare back.

Susan made some kind of announcement about where materials were and how long we'd be here for and then people were drawing Olivia. It was oddly thrilling; being naked in front of all these strangers – bar one. The thought that in a couple of hours she would be reimagined as art by a bunch of people who didn't know her was flattering and kind of crazy.

She imagined what Derek would say if he could see her now, he'd have her marched straight out of the room and never let her forget what a stupid thing she had done, and anything that Derek would disapprove of was something worth doing – as a rule.
-


Alex's POV
I stepped into the room, surrounded by people who I'd never met, ready to paint someone else I'd never met before but would soon know every inch of. it was always quite a weird feeling. You never know what kind of model you're going to be fronted with, what kind of inspiration you're going to have to draw from. However, this was a first. And completely unexpected.

There stood Olivia, completely naked at the front of the room. It was a glorious sight, which felt perverted to even think. Her tanned skin exposed and prominent against the white backdrop; her legs so long it seemed impossible that in actuality she was so petite; her long blonde hair a waterfall of curls down her back. Her piercing blue eyes locked with mine and I felt my whole body flush crimson; I stopped dead. How was I going to get through this? I couldn't bring myself to even look below her neck, it felt like I was intruding on her privacy. I had painted naked women and men plenty of times before, it's just the human form, it's natural, but when you know the person it reaches a different level of intimacy and all I could think was that if she had known I would be here she would not be doing this right now.

I was ushered to my easel by a ginger lady, she whispered a joke about me having never seen a naked lady before and I felt like Jack was right there with me. Olivia had broken our gaze by now and was now posed with her hands in her hair. She looked beautiful, she was moving art and to capture her would be incredibly difficult, but I was up to the challenge.

Notes

olivia's outfit


i made this chapter a little longer and also i wrote in POV for once, so let me know what you guys think!
also, if there are any typos in this chapter or any of the other ones i'm sorry, i usually write late at night and i don't really proof read tbh, and this website crashes every time i try to go in and edit anything, so i'd have to delete the whole chapter and republish it, which would be too annoying, so if you could just ignore any little typos, thank you

- emily xo