118 - The chapter where Rose convinces Christian

Rose

I used the spatula to work on the wet clay, separating the legs of the male model I was sculpting for my work, starting to work on the muscles of the thighs, trying to make the model as realistic as possible.

" Rose, I swear, if anyone finds out about this…”

I raised my face, smiling as I admired Christian completely naked in the middle of the room, looking a little uncomfortable with the situation in general.

" Chris, no one will know it's you, and even if they do, would it be so bad? I promise to be very generous." I winked at him, teasing him.

He approached the desk that I had lined with newspaper to work without much dirt, resting his hand on the wood, leaning towards me, making me put the sculpture aside for a moment.

" Don't you get tired of manipulating me to get everything you want? " he asked with his face just inches from mine.

I reached up, giving my boyfriend a brief kiss, catching his bottom lip with my teeth, tugging lightly before pulling away.

" The point is, I didn't manipulate you, from the beginning we both knew you would do what I was asking. you can't say no to me " I retorted with a petulant smile on my face " Now go back to your place, I need to finish my work before the clay dries.”

Christian did as I asked, crossing his arms as he stared at me with amusement, I stretched, bringing my arms above my head before taking a deep breath, feeling a breeze hit my nipples, since the only piece of clothing I was wearing at that moment was a tiny pair of thong panties Christian had picked out for me.

"At least I have a good view from here, and Van Derr Waal has given up on using me as a model,” he commented.

" You have to admit it was a good deal," I smiled at him, returning my focus to my task, detailing the muscles in his abdomen, not resisting the temptation to get the tattoo on his chest, "Can you turn on your back, please?"

" How did you manage to get Van Derr Waal to give up the idea of participating in this?" Christian asked, doing as I asked.

" It was easy, I sent him a picture of you shirtless,” I shrugged.

Christian turned towards me with both eyebrows raised and his ice-colored eyes fixed on me.

" You did what?”

" He was still wanting a good photo for his painting, and I had a nice one I took of you in the shower as soon as we got back and found the villa practically deserted. Can you turn around again? I love seeing that birthmark you have on your ass.”

" ROSE!”

" What? I'm just trying to be as realistic as possible in my sculpture!”

" Did you send a naked picture of me to Liam? I didn't even know you had that picture! " He approached the desk again, but this time I didn't take my attention away from the sculpture.

" I edited the photo, there's nothing from your chest down, don't worry " I reassured him.

" Rose, that's not the point!”

" Would you rather I let him insist until he convinces you to be totally naked in front of him then? Because we both know he'd end up beating you through exhaustion too." I stared at him.

He lowered his eyes to the sculpture in my hand, taking a deep breath as he noticed the molecule engraved on the clay breastplate.

" No one will know it's me, really?”

" Well, I know that the girls in my class have never seen your tattoo…”

" You took care of that when you told them all I was dating Peterson " he leaned back on the table, “I'm thinking this is just another ploy of yours to show I'm unavailable.”

" Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. You'll never know," I smiled as I looked into his eyes.

I couldn't believe that we were finally okay after everything that happened in the last week.

" Don't you think there are simpler ways to do this? “

I shook my head in a smile, going back to focusing on my sculpture.

" If I liked simple things, I wouldn't be with you, Christian,” I returned, “Now let me finish this once and for all.”

" Go soon, our lunch break will be over soon," he warned.

" I'm working as fast as I can, it's not as easy as it looks," I said, "The girls are getting ready for the party after school, where are you getting ready?"

It was Wayne Simons' birthday and he was having a big and exclusive party at his parents' country house in a town near the Canadian border, and obviously he wouldn't leave Liam out. It was going to be a big party, after all it would be the first party that we would officially take Cam to, and I must admit I was looking forward to that night.

" I've already sorted some clothes to change in Van Derr Waal's room. Theoretically, we share a room,” he warned.

It's been a while since we've been to a good party, and the last time we went out together, it was a complete fiasco.

" Are we going on the Harley or the Brigitte? " I asked as I finished the last details on the sculpture.

" We can go on the Brigitte, if you let me drive. I think it will be more comfortable. We're talking about almost an hour's drive, and it might snow at night. But we're not giving anyone a lift! " He said.

" Why not? Any special plans for the way? " I teased him.

" You never know " he winked at me.

I made the final touches to the sculpture, showing the result to my boyfriend.

" What did you think?”

" Did you really need to make so many details? " He complained.

" What are you talking about? It's perfect! What I'm terrible at painting human figures, I'm great at sculpting." I pointed.

" Rose, if I wanted people to see me like this, I'd go to class naked," Christian returned.

" No one will know it's you," I tried to reassure him.

Christian gave me a weary look before he spoke up again.

" Do you think you're the only one who will recognize my birthmark? Not to mention the tattoo!”

I stood up and walked over to where he was, wrapping my arms around his neck, careful not to touch him with my clay-dirty hands as I stretched up to kiss him.

" As you said yourself, no one but our friends and my classmates will see, and I made sure none of them could recognize anything about you." I smiled against his lips, receiving a laugh in return.

" You don't even try to disguise that you're a jealous freak." He wrapped his arm around my waist, gluing every inch of my exposed body to his.

" I'm not jealous, but I'm not going to deny the crazy part," I scoffed, giving him one last kiss before pulling away, "Now we better get dressed, lunch time is ending.”

We enjoyed the last few minutes of our free time before heading back for a few more hours of class. I hated walking away from Christian as he left the room, after all, we still hadn't made a public commitment, and because of everything that had happened, I preferred to keep it that way, at least until I felt a bit more secure with myself.

After school, Christian would get ready in Liam's room while Skyller and Camille would get ready in my room. I couldn't wait to be able to move into our house, we would have so much more space for that kind of thing, even with all the spirits that surely live there.