Page 6 of A Daddy for Christmas 3: August
“We’re going to do standing today, general relaxed pose, please.”
“Sure.” Auggie let the robe drop off and stood on the dais, one hip slightly cocked out, which Thor knew was more comfortable than standing straight on, his arms by his side, and staring at Thor’s painting behind the desk.
Thor deliberately refrained from checking Auggie out or making any judgments when he did look—he was going to be professional while Auggie was working. Anything else would have been creepy and pervy.
When he called for a break, Auggie slipped back into the robe, rolling his neck from side to side before bending a few times, no doubt stretching the kinks out.
“You good to keep the same pose for the second half of the class?”
“Sure. I’ll just go to the bathroom.” Auggie went and put his shoes on, but stayed in the robe when he trotted off to find the bathrooms.
The second half of the class passed as uneventfully as the first and Thor put his stuff together, then waited for Auggie to come out of the alcove.
“Thanks.” Auggie handed him the robe, which Thor put back into his bag.
Then he grabbed ten twenties from his wallet and passed them over. “Thanks for today. You did much better than last time. Stillness-wise. And it was a harder pose to maintain, too!”
Auggie rolled his eyes. “I didn’t have a bunch of caffeine right before doing it this time.”
“Ah, it affects you hard, does it?”
“On an empty stomach, yeah.”
Well, there was the perfect segue for him. “Speaking of empty stomachs, would you like to have dinner with me?”
“It’s okay, I ate lunch today and had a snack before class, too. I won’t pass out on the way home, I promise.”
“I was actually asking because I’d like to spend some time with you, and there’s a lovely pub restaurant just around the corner.”
Surprise lit up on Auggie’s face. “You would?”
“Is that really so hard to believe?”
“Well, yeah… I mean, I’m just a skinny guy and you’re h—you’re an artist and all.”
“I think you’re lovely, and the word you were looking for was slender.” Willowy would work too. At any rate, Auggie was somuch more than justskinny. “Besides, I’d like to get to know you better.”
Auggie continued to look surprised, but then he nodded. “Okay, sure. As long as it’s not too ritzy a place. I don’t want to spend my entire sitting fee in one shot.”
That had been very well done, Auggie letting him know he’d be paying his own way this time.
“I’ve never been there, but it’s a pub, not anything fancy, so I can’t imagine it’ll cost top dollar.”
“Okay, sure.”
“Excellent.” He held the door to the classroom open for Auggie and they made their way down the hall toward the elevator. “So what do you do?”
“Life class modeling,” Auggie told him.
Thor chuckled. “I did know that. I guess I assumed you didn’t make your entire living doing that.”
“No, but ‘I’m a cashier’ doesn’t have the same ring to it.” Auggie shrugged. “It pays the bills, barely, but sitting for three classes a week earns me a nice bit of extra cash, and I try to save as much of that as possible.”
“Oh? Is it interesting?” It didn’t sound like a lifetime job, and it surprised him a little.
“It’s not bad actually. It’s a mom-and-pop corner store. Literally. And the Kostas are good people.”
“Yeah? So many of the corner stores these days are chains.”
