Chapter 14: Anne

I walked into the Union and sat down next to Alex. Tom came in right behind me. I realized I didn't have my earrings on, and I started to put them back in my ears.

"Hope you don't mind if I get dressed again, guys. I really feel naked without them."

"Where you been?" Tom asked.

"I do figure modeling at the Art School. It's been twice this week, now. This was supposed to be Mary's day, but she had to go out to the riding stables."

"So, you've been sitting around bare ass since history class?" said Alex.

"I suppose you could say that. Is that a problem for you?"

"Of course not, Anne, don't be touchy. I wish I could look at your body for an hour or so and get credit for it."

"These are third-year art students, and they work real hard. I'm the one who sits there. Look, here comes Mary."

Mary and Will walked into the Union together, Will turning away immediately, without appearing to be with her. Mary came toward us. In her hat, jacket, jeans and boots, her slim figure was like a genuine cowhand; as though she had tied her horse outside. Nothing phony about her. When she took off her jacket and sat down, her breasts filled out the pockets of the tight old cowboy shirt, lifting the flaps slightly.

"Hope I'm not late."

"No. Everything all right out there?"

"Yes. Sarah had a visit from a banker, didn't tell me because she didn't want to pressure me into coming. Teaching the class was okay, not exciting. But I got a saddle on The Bay and rode him around a little."

"Wow! Fellas, wait till you see the picture of this horse. They used to call him Killer. You mean you can ride him now?"

"I did today. I think he's going to be all right... Can we get some food? I'm starving."

We loaded up trays and ate. Then we walked back to North. Alex ran to his room and came back with a big bag of bran muffins.

Upstairs, the guys took in the picture gallery.

"This the horse you mentioned? Sure looks mean," Tom said.

"He was," Mary said. "I think he'd been whipped. I can see some marks on his haunches."

"Figure modeling, eh," said Alex. "Both of you? These are good. They look like Will Spector's work."

"They are. He's the one got us to sign up as models."

Mary said, "Well you've modeled; I haven't yet. I'd like to, though."

They hung jackets on the door, began to get organized for study. The room was warm despite the brisk wind outside.

"Alex, why don't you be the leader? We need to organize, so why don't you assign what we each should do to cover the material for the exam?"

Alex began to outline what was going to be covered in the exam, and we each took a piece. Then we settled down to read and discuss the material. He started with his subject and we each talked about what we knew about it. Sometimes he disagreed, or we did, and then we had to look things up and get them straight.

After an hour, I was pretty warm. "Excuse me, guys, I'm going to change into my study outfit."

I went into the bedroom and stripped. The place was plenty warm, so I just went back in the other room again.