Rock Candy

by Giselle Fox

  CHAPTER SIX

  “That should do it,” I said as we lowered the last of the folding tables into position.

  “I’ll grab one more chair,” Shep said.

  “Right, for Candy.”

  Shep grinned at me. “As if you forgot Candy.”

  I couldn’t keep myself from smiling.

  “Ah-ha!” Shep pointed. “You’ve been positively effervescent today. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you chat with customers the way you were.”

  “Stop,” I groaned.

  Shep smiled gently at me. “Hey, I’m only teasing. It looks good on you.”

  “It’s... yeah. I should probably go unlock the front door,” I said shyly. It was 6:15 and the class would be starting soon. I propped open the big steel doors and walked to the front. Shep followed behind with his clipboard.

  “Do you want to do another one of these before Christmas or hold off until the new year?”

  “Aren’t we booked until March?”

  “Yes but there’s enough on the waiting list now for another full session.”

  I considered it. The workshops had been Shep’s idea in the beginning but I’d actually grown to like teaching. “Sure, why don’t you contact the list and see if they’re available.”

  “Already done, they’re on board if you are.”

  “Okay then, let’s do it.”

  A couple of students pushed through the door. “Here goes,” Shep said and stood up to greet them.

  He was great with people. When I’d first set up my shop in Vancouver, he moved out from Calgary to work for me. The day he sat down in my office with a full business proposal, I was blown away. I took him on as a partner and the business had been growing steadily ever since. The workshops were just a grass roots way to interact with the community. It got us into high schools and colleges and in front of young business owners. Before Shep, I was only known to a very particular segment of the music industry. Shep had turned my style and reputation into a brand. Christa had always tried to get me to look more professional; Shep insisted that I be myself. Now that all the management stuff was taken care of, I could sit back and do what I did best. Life was almost perfect.

  I stood up and shook hands with the new arrivals. “It’s almost 6:30,” I said to Shep quietly. All ten of the students had arrived and were waiting.

  “I’ll take them in,” Shep said. “You wait out here and lock up when she gets here.”

  “Okay.” I felt nervous. I never feel nervous.

  Shep must have read my mind. “She’ll show, don’t worry.”

  “I’m not worried,” I said.

  He smiled gently. “Well then, while you’re pacing up here by yourself, just keep up the not-worrying.”

  He gathered the group and led them down the hall while I waited by the front window. Skip huffed and then lifted his head suddenly and peered outside.

  “Do you see something?” I asked him.

  He craned his neck and his tail began to thump steadily against the cushions. I opened the front door and saw Candy hurrying down the sidewalk. She was wearing a pink and black plaid miniskirt, black knee socks and high black leather boots that hugged her calves. On top, she wore a short black leather bomber with slash zip pockets.

  “Hi,” she called and hurried toward the door.

  “Hi,” I said trying to sound cool. Skip brushed past me and started to whine.

  “Hello handsome,” she said. “Am I late? I had wardrobe indecision, I’m so sorry.”

  “You look great. Come in,” I said and held the door open for her. “The class is already getting settled. We set up an extra table for you on the left… sort of near where I sit,” I said.

  Candy’s eyes sparkled.

  “I’ll begin with an introduction and then we’ll get started on the figure-drawing part, okay?”

  “Sounds good,” she said.

  I looked down at her. “I just wanted to tell you again how much we appreciate you doing this.”

  She smiled up at me. “I’m actually really excited. You’re going to draw me. That’s kind of a big deal.”

  We walked to the back. Skip hopped back onto his couch at the front and sighed. “Be good,” I said back to him.

  “Does he just hang out up there the whole time?”

  “Pretty much. He’s happy at break time. He likes the attention.”

  “Oh. So it’s not just me he likes?”

  “Well, he actually seems to like you more than most,” I smiled.

  “Good,” she said.

  We walked into the lab where everyone had already sat down. “Okay,” I said to Shep. “We’re all here.” Shep motioned for Candy to take the desk beside the rest of the group while I walked to the front.

  “Welcome everyone, it’s great to have you all here. My name is Rocky Hayes. I’ve been a graphic artist for a long time. The first twenty or so years of my career were focused on album and poster graphics for the music industry. In the last few years, with the help of my business partner, Shep, we’ve branched into corporate branding, graphics for sports equipment, and pretty soon, we’ll be launching a clothing line.

  “Technology has definitely made a lot of what we do easier and faster, but I still like to get my hands dirty with the basics since I’m an illustrator at heart. I love cutting stencils and screen-printing, but I also love the color and depth that can be achieved with digital printing.

  “We’re going to start with figure-drawing. Depending on your level of training, this may or may not be fun for you, but rather than drop a photograph straight into our graphics programs and break out tones, I’d like to see how all of your eyes and hands translate a common 3D image.

  “In the second half of the class, we’ll be scanning our drawings into our graphics programs. We’ll block out colors and create layers. In tomorrow night’s class, we’ll start laying out our text and expose our screens. On day three, we’ll start to print and in the second half, we’ll hopefully have some time to discuss our work. Shep and I will be here for guidance, so I encourage you to ask questions and get help whenever you need it.”

  I looked over at Candy and she smiled back at me. “Whenever you’re ready,” I said to her. She walked to the front and Shep helped her climb up onto the tables that we’d pushed together.

  “This is the perspective I tend to use, with the model above the viewer so their eye is looking down. It gives an iconic vibe to the composition and it places the subject in a position of power since her head is above ours. I sometimes play with foreshortening or elongation of the limbs or I’ll add in additional details around the piece, but I want you to do whatever feels right.”

  Everyone around the room nodded. I looked back up to Candy who was smiling down at us. I smiled back at her.

  “Candice has graciously agreed to model for us today since Glo, our regular model, has the plague. The time is… five after seven. Let’s go for forty-five minutes and see where we end up. Everybody ready?”

  People nodded and picked up their pencils. When I looked back at Candy she’d already struck a defiant pose. Her foot was up on one of the blocks and her hands were on her hips. One shoulder was thrust forward and angled down. Her head angled downward.

  “That looks great, Candy,” I said. “Now don’t move for forty-five minutes.”

  The class laughed and everybody began to scribble away. I looked at Shep who was watching from the back of the room. He grinned at me and looked back to Candy.

  I sat in my chair and balanced my drawing pad on my knees. I leaned back and looked up at Candy. Her eyes locked with mine. I nodded to her and began. I blocked out her lines quickly, stretching her proportions a little to give an elongation to her front leg. Her pose was regal and sexual. Her blue-gray eyes were smoldering. The more I transferred her image onto the page in front of me, the faster my pencil flew until it felt like there was no interruption between my hand and my eye. It sometimes happened when I worked, the impulses and information flowed on
a continuous and uninterrupted track until each line was delivered onto the page exactly as I saw it.

  I could hear Shep move around the room from station to station, but I was in the zone and couldn’t stop. The air buzzed and crackled with energy around me. The blood in my hands felt like liquid heat rising up my arms until it enveloped my chest and curled behind my neck. I put the pad down and pulled my sweater over my head because I’d begun to sweat. I resumed my position and kept drawing. And then, as I gazed at her, I saw blue and pink flowers roll under her feet like ivy and curl up the length of her legs. I sketched them as more flashes of color, vines, birds and a fiery red sun rose and shone brilliantly behind her. Everything, every vision went onto the page until at last I took a deep breath and put my pencil down.

  I drank deeply from my bottle of water and watched the room for a moment. My eyes focused on the drawing boards of the other artists. Some had gotten it. Some hadn’t. One or two had even done it well. I went back to my drawing. Now that the visions were gone I could see it for what it was.

  When forty-five minutes was up, the class agreed they’d had enough. Candy stretched and climbed down from the table.

  “Okay, fifteen-minute break and then we’ll get back at it,” I announced.

  People pushed their chairs back and stretched. The room was filled with chatter and chuckles. Students compared their drawings nervously. Some looked downright dejected. Figure drawing was one of my specialties but it wasn’t for everyone.

  “I’m dying to see.” Candy said as she walked toward me. I handed her the pad.

  Her eyes opened wide and then she swallowed. I watched her eye roam around the page, along the vines, the beams of the sun, and up her elongated legs.

  “This is incredible,” she whispered.

  “Thank you,” I said. “It’s yours now.”

  She held her hand to her chest. “I’m honored.”

  “It’s just a sketch,” I said. “Thank you for posing. I got... in the zone. It hasn’t happened for awhile.”

  “I felt it. Your energy was radiating from the back of the room.” She looked around the room and then back at me again. “It feels weird,” she said softly.

  “What does?”

  “Not posing for you anymore. It’s like... I don’t know what to do with my body now.” She laughed nervously. “Maybe I need some air.”

  “Of course. Go have a break. You’re off duty now.”

  “No, I didn’t mean... I just wondered if you would you like to come outside with me?”

  “Uh...”

  She smiled at me again. “Maybe air will do us both some good.”

  I laughed at myself. I’d never been as tongue-tied around a woman as I had been around Candy.

  “I don’t want to leave this anywhere,” she said as she held the drawing protectively.

  “I could always draw you again,” I said and then realized that was probably ridiculous. “I just meant…”

  “I would pose for you anytime. I had no idea it could be so fun. I usually can’t sit still for more than five minutes.”

  We walked through the big metal doors and down the corridor. Most of the students were standing out front on the sidewalk in the cool night air.

  “Would you like a soda?” I asked.

  “I couldn’t drink a whole one and I don’t want to waste it.”

  “Why don’t we share one then?”

  Candy flashed a smile at me. “Okay.” I stepped into the staff room and pulled a can from the fridge. I popped the top and handed it to her and then grabbed a glass. “Here, pour as much as you want. I’ll finish the rest.”

  She poured half of the can into the tumbler and handed it back to me. Our fingers grazed. Her eyes shot up to mine again.

  “Um, I don’t know if you have plans after class,” I said trying to sound as nonchalant as I could about what I was going to say next. “But if you need a ride home tonight.”

  Candy smiled and pursed her lips. “Jeff is picking me up after class.”

  I felt like an idiot. “Right. Of course, I just thought since...”

  “But thanks. That would have been nice. Maybe another time.”

  “Yeah, okay,” I said and leaned my back against the wall.

  Candy watched me for a moment. “Do you still want to go outside?”

  “Um... you know, I think I’ll stay in. I have some stuff I need to prep for the second half. You go ahead.”

  Candy frowned. “Oh,” she said and looked out toward the street. “Okay then.”

  “See you back there,” I said and walked back down the hall.

  Candy didn’t move but I did. I walked as casually back to the studio as I could and when the big steel doors shut behind me I leaned my back against them.

  “Fucking fuck,” I muttered to myself. “Idiot. What were you thinking?”

  ***

  When the second half of the class was done, I went back to my office without lingering or chatting with the others. Candy had tried to make eye contact a number of times but I still felt like a fool and didn’t want her to think I was hitting on her. Whatever energy I’d felt between us, I was obviously off base. She was young and straight and had a boyfriend, a boyfriend that came to pick her up after class like clockwork. When it was all over, Shep came into my office.

  “So.... that went well,” he said.

  “Yeah,” I mumbled.

  “Candy was great.”

  “Yeah.”

  “You’re moping.”

  I looked up at him and sighed. I knew I was moping, I just couldn’t help myself.

  “Is it because of the guy?” he asked.

  I sat up in my chair and shook my head. “No.”

  “Because it seems like you’re moping because she didn’t let you give her a ride home.”

  “How do you know I wanted to give her a ride home?”

  “I was in my office when you asked her. Just because her friend picked her up doesn’t take away the fact that sparks were flying between you all night.”

  I groaned. “She’s way too young and she has a boyfriend. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  “She didn’t kiss him.”

  I looked up at him. “Really?”

  Shep shook his head. “I watched them walk all the way out to his car. They never touched once. He’s a friend.”

  “You really think so?”

  “Either that or there is zero chemistry between them. Unlike you two, which if there was any more chemistry there’d be an explosion.”

  “Shit! I’m an idiot.”

  “No argument there. You were obviously sulking for the whole second half.”

  I groaned. “What is wrong with me?!”

  “You were disappointed. She could have made it clear who this guy was to her. Maybe she’s testing you.”

  “I had this sensation when I was drawing her that...” I shook my head.

  “What?”

  “It was like a déjà vu. And yesterday, when she came in and I saw her hair...”

  “What? You’re speaking in riddles right now.”

  “I think it’s her.”

  “Who?”

  “The mystery woman.”

  Shep’s mouth dropped. “No!”

  I nodded. “Fucking crazy sounding, right?”

  “Completely,” he said. “But so, so... interesting.”

  “It’s kind of blowing me away.”

  “No kidding. Well, get your shit together for tomorrow. You have a second chance and if you balls that up, you have a third chance on Friday but I wouldn’t wait that long.”

  “Okay.”

  “Cheer up,” he said. “Go take your dog for a walk.”

  “Roger that,” I said and stood up.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  On Thursday evening, Shep and I locked up the shop and went for a quick bite of sushi before the workshop. When we got back, I saw Candy from a distance waiting outside the front door.

  “Eager beaver,�
� Shep grinned.

  I felt a little jump of excitement at seeing her again. “Do I have food in my teeth?” I asked him quickly. He gave me the okay as I flashed him my pearls.

  “Do I?” he asked.

  “No, you’re good.” Shep had that look he gave me when he thought he knew something I didn’t.

  “What?” I asked, trying to seem as normal as possible even though I was feeling way weirder than normal. Was it nerves? Nerves weren’t something I usually suffered from… except for when I was around Candy.

  “You’re blushing,” Shep said quietly.

  “I am not!” I said and then reconsidered. “Am I actually blushing?”

  “Well either that or you’re having a hot flash,” he muttered, so I slapped his arm.

  “I’m kidding. You have a youthful pinkness to your cheeks. It matches Candy’s hair.”

  “Shush,” I said as we drew closer. Candy hadn’t seen us yet. She was trying to discretely fix her bangs in the reflection of the shop window. When she looked up and saw us, she beamed. Her smile blasted down the sidewalk and smacked me right in the chest. There was that feeling in my stomach again.

  “I’m early,” she called. “I was excited.” A twinkle flashed in her eye as if someone had CGI’d it. It took me a few seconds to clue in that I wasn’t actually watching a movie and that I should probably say something but “Uh...,” was all that came out. Shep turned and shot me a puzzled look.

  I tried to pull myself together. “Err... want to come inside and wait with us?” I asked.

  “I’d love to, thanks,” she said enthusiastically.

  “We just went for sushi down at Hiro’s. Have you been?” Shep asked.

  “No,” she said. “I haven’t explored the area much. Maybe I’ll go there for lunch sometime.” She looked directly at me.

  “Uh...,” I heard myself say again but I stopped myself. “It’s worth a visit. Some of the best in the city, if you like raw fish.”

  I heard Shep snort as he went to hang his coat up in the back.

  Candy looked at me again and smiled. “Love it,” she said and I swore I detected a slight arch in her brow.