Sketches of Desire: Prequel to the Art Models Club Series (3 page)

"No problem, dude," Caleb said, patting his duffel bag. "Mom just laundered my workout stuff for the week. You can borrow something."

Hunter looked around at the few people working out, wondering what drove them to choose such insane hours. They all knew Caleb, though, greeting him by name.

Hunter stepped up to the nearest treadmill and started running. While his feet pounded the moving belt, he watched Caleb taking out his own stress on the dumb bells, working up a heavy sweat.

A half hour later, Hunter had switched to a stationary bike. He was just getting up for a water break when his phone buzzed.

Dr. Kendall: Patient stable. If you are still awake, please get some rest.

Hunter trotted over to Caleb.

"She's in stable condition," he said. "Let's get a shower and head home. I'm sure my parents won't go to bed until we get back."

Caleb closed his eyes and heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank God!"

Hunter wasn't sure how he felt about God. But he sent up a quick word of thanks toward heaven anyway.

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2:50 P.M., Monday, Dawson High School

Amber Holloway squeezed out a glob of crimson acrylic paint onto her plastic palette. She added a tinier squirt of yellow and starting mixing with her fingers. She didn't care that most of the students around her were already packing up for the day, laughing and talking about the great parties they had attended over the weekend.

That life simply wasn't one that she could relate to. But here in the open art room, Amber felt relaxed and happy for the first time since the previous Friday when she had last worked on her painting. For Amber, weekends were for working, catching up on homework, and studying. She got far more sleep during the week, even when she stayed up late to complete assignments.

The times she lived for were the precious hours spent huddled over drawings or paintings. Her art teacher happily let her work early in the mornings before school officially started. In evenings, Amber stayed until the janitors chased her out so that they could clean and lock the doors.

"Aren't you coming, Amber?" Hannah asked, her work area already cleared away.

"What?" Amber looked up, blinking as though she had been dreaming.

When she was in the middle of a project, it was if the rest of her crappy life simply melted away.

"I thought we were going shopping at the mall," Hannah said, tapping her foot impatiently.

Her eyes were glued to the classroom clock as it slowly ticked closer to the dismissal bell.

Amber grinned wryly. "Saving every penny for college doesn't let me do anything but drool at all the clothes I can't have."

Hannah popped a piece of gum in her mouth.

"Ugh! I'm so sick of hearing about college. But that reminds me. I have a paper due tomorrow. If you aren't going shopping, then you can edit it for me."

Amber groaned. When Hannah said "edit", she really meant take a rough outline and write the entire paper.

"Seriously, Hannah? I asked you for the rough draft a week ago. I told you that I have a paper due tomorrow as well."

Hannah frowned. "I can't believe you won't help me when Dad got rid of that loser guy this weekend."

Amber's eyes darted around the classroom.

"Hey, keep your voice down," she pleaded, noticing the one cute boy in the whole class staring curiously in their direction.

"And I didn't say that I wouldn't help you," she grumbled. "I just hate when you give me stuff last minute."

Hannah smiled triumphantly. She pulled a notebook from her backpack and ripped out two pages.

"See, it just needs your finishing touches," she said, shoving the pages at Amber as the bell rang. "You can drop it by my house later this evening. Remember. It has to be typed."

Amber watched her best friend hurry out of the class with the rest of the students. Then she looked down at the scribbled pages. Hannah had basically handed her two pages of rough notes without any works cited. To complete the paper, Amber would need to put in at least an hour of research before she even began writing the actual report. 

She wanted to crumple the pages and deposit them in the nearest wastebasket. But Hannah was right and she knew it. She needed Hannah's friendship. Without Frank and Lucy to watch her back, what would happen to her?

Hannah didn't leave her in the lurch like this one purpose, right? Everyone knew the girl was simply a bit scatter-brained. Without Amber bugging her to turn in papers and assignments, she would probably be failing her classes. Hannah was certainly smart enough to do the work. She just had a full schedule that included a full social life.

Sighing, Amber stuffed the papers into her own backpack and then returned her attention to her painting. At least for the next couple of hours, she wasn't going to let anything ruin her enjoyment of painting.

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2:50 P.M., Thornton High School

Hunter stood at an easel sketching furiously. He stopped only when he heard the bell ring. He had promised to drop Caleb off at work right after school.

As he started to leave the room, he heard several girls in the corner giggling. Sneaking a quick look around, he saw that he was alone with them.

"Is it true?" one of the girls asked, laughing as she approached.

"Is what true?" Hunter asked pleasantly, plastering a smile on his face.

"That Bethany got you to go down on her?" another girl said, and then started laughing. "She says you have a special talent. Said she's going to get an extra special charm for her bracelet just for you."

"Maybe. Maybe not," Hunter said, smiling at each girl individually until each blushed in turn.

He slung his backpack across one shoulder and started walking out the door. Then he stopped and casually turned back around. He winked.

"Maybe one of you will find out in person," he said. "If you're lucky."

Turning back around, he sauntered down the hallway.

"Oh my God! I can't believe he just said that!" one of the girls exclaimed.

"He is really hot," another whispered.

"Do you think Bethany was telling the truth?"

"I'd be willing to test the theory," another said.

The whole group erupted into giggles.

Hunter kept walking until he couldn't hear them anymore. He didn't mind Bethany dumping him after one sexual encounter. But he was angry that she treated him like a conquest and then bragged about it. 

Why was it that every girl he met ended up trying to hurt him? A few weeks earlier, there was Jillian Swanson, a girl in his art class. He thought he had found someone who understood what made him tick. But then he found out that she was simply trying to get a prom date after her boyfriend dumped her. As for the art, she was taking it because she thought it would be an easy "A."

His senior year should have been a happy time. But Hunter was wondering if he was simply destined to have a lousy year when it came to girls.

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8:20 P.M., Friday night, Town of Dawson, local burger joint

Amber slammed her money drawer shut and twisted to her left, nearly knocking over one of her fellow employees. She had hoped that Ethan Spencer would get assigned to help her out in the drive-thru. Instead, her manager had saddled her with one of the slowest employees of all. Randy was a nice guy. But he was painfully slow, carefully measuring each cup with the exact amount of ice before carefully sitting each cup beneath the drink dispenser.

Randy was supposed to be her runner, but by the time he finished making the drinks for one order, she had already collected the money and packaged the order herself. While the extra work made the night fly by, she was already getting tired only three hours into her shift. Business wouldn't slow for at least another hour. This burger joint was a gold mine for the owner because there were only two fast food joints in the whole town.

Normally, Amber wouldn't have minded as much. But to make things worse, they were short handed tonight and she hadn't been allowed a dinner break. If she didn't eat soon, her low blood sugar was going to trigger a blackout. Every chance she got, Amber squatted down in the grill section gulped down a few swallows of sugary soda. For now, it was keeping her dizziness at bay.

"Randy, I know what the video says about filling the drink cups to the proper mark," she finally snapped. "But we have a huge line right now. I can't wait forever for those drinks."

"I'll go faster," Randy said, looking anxious.

Amber felt like a bitch, but the next time she saw Mitch, she complained.

"Seriously, Mitch," she said. "There's just Randy and me in there and I'm having to do most of the work because he's so slow."

Mitch held up his hands and started backing away.

"Sorry, Amber," he said, "But I can't spare anyone else. We're training Ethan on the grill and I'm already taking orders at the front counter myself."

"Stick Ethan out front," she hissed.

Mitch had the nerve to look alarmed at the idea. Ugh! He knew how slow Randy was.

Sighing, Amber hurried back to serve the next customer. So much for working closely with Ethan. Mitch seemed determined to keep him on the back grill. Amber's only consolation was that gorgeous grin in her direction every time she sneaked back there for a rushed soda break. Hm . . . She supposed that was still a step in the right direction.

♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠

8:20, Friday night, Thornton suburbs

Hunter should have been having a great Friday night. The Porsche was an early graduation present from his parents and driving it around with a pretty date normally made him happy. His date for the night, Savannah Watson, sat in the passenger seat. Savannah, a raven-haired junior easily counted as one of Thornton High School's most beautiful and popular students.

Unfortunately, Savannah's beauty didn't extend to either her intellect or her personality. She cared nothing about art or current events, leaving Hunter hopelessly trying to come up with safe topics for conversation. Further, Hunter discovered that the girl kept a constant wad of gum in her mouth that she noisily smacked. He was beginning to wonder if a night alone would have been preferable.

"Do you mind if I crack the window?" Hunter asked, his eyes watering from Savannah's overpowering perfume.

"Not if we're going through the square," Savannah replied, eagerly chomping her gum.

"So you don't want to see the movie?" Hunter asked, surprised.

Savannah's parents had been adamant about knowing where he was taking their daughter that night. Hunter realized that he knew very little about the girl at all. Was there a particular reason that Mr. Watson, who had given Hunter tennis lessons in middle school, had seemed particularly gruff that evening?

Savannah's laugh came out like a little snort.

"Are you kidding me? See some boring movie when one of the hottest parties is happening? That's why I suggested such a late movie. Mom and Dad won't expect me back until nearly one o'clock."

With an inward groan, Hunter remembered Jason Hadley's party. Not surprisingly, Hunter hadn't been invited himself. But then again, he and Jason mutually hated each other.

"Jason's party?" he asked, even though the question was pointless. No one in their right mind would have scheduled another party on the same evening.

"Of course," Savannah said.

She tapped her heavy handbag. "That's why we need to make a little stop at Karen's house. I need to change clothes there."

Too late, Hunter realized he was being used. Unfortunately, it wasn't a new feeling.

"Look, Savannah," he said, his voice firm. "I told your dad I was taking you to the movies. This was supposed to be a date for just the two of us."

"Don't be some damn uppity!" Savannah said, sighing. "Bethany said you would be worth hanging out with for some good times. Said you were amazingly good on going down on a girl. But she didn't say you were so uptight."

Hunter sighed. So this was all a setup by Bethany. Savannah had flirted with him for nearly three weeks before he broke down and asked her out.

Hunter's first reaction was to immediately turn the car around and take the girl home. Too late, however, he realized that he was already stuck in the ridiculous traffic around the square. Around him, girls hung out of cars and screamed at their friends. This was what passed for early evening entertainment on a Friday night in Thornton. Teens gathered there and simply drove in a huge circle for hours on end before finding house parties with booze or drugs.

The fastest way out was to cut through the drive-thru of one of the local fast food restaurants. Of course that would take a while as there was a huge line of cars already. While some kids feasted on burgers and fries, the real lure was ice. Kids ordered cups of ice to cool down liquor that passed from car to car in the darkened streets.

When he reached the ordering board, he asked Savannah if she wanted anything.