I can see his mind working again.
And I’d give anything to know what he’s thinking right now. But it is enough to have his hand
wrapped around my waist. His skin against mine. Our hearts breathing in rhythm as they calm.
“Hand me the drawing,” he tells me.
I reach across the desk and pass the paper to him. It’s not perfect. It’s half grace and half chaos. But
it looks better than I expected. And he likes it too.
Rellek.
“I’m keeping this,” he says.
He sets it aside and we fall into a comfortable silence. The only sound in the room is our breathing.
Until he’s had some time to gather his thoughts and tell me what’s on his mind.
“There’s a part of me, Chloe,” he says, “that wants to tell you to follow your heart. To tell you what
you need to hear. That you are a natural born artist and that you could do great things.”
My heart swells at his words. His honesty and his praise. The thing I have been searching for my
whole life. But I know there’s a but coming, and he tells me with a single look in his eyes.
“The other part of me wants to protect you. To keep you from that world. The dangers of it.”
“It isn’t always dangerous,” I tell him in a gentle voice. “What happened to you wasn’t normal.”
“You don’t understand.” He shakes his head. “You are young and beautiful. Magnetic. Your art has
the potential to attract a huge following, Chloe. And with that comes the unknown. That world will
suck you in. And I worry it also has the potential to destroy you.”
I understand what he’s saying. I can see the fear in his eyes. That he wouldn’t be able to protect me.
The way he thinks he needs to.
He doesn’t understand that it isn’t protection I need from him. Not at all.
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” I tell him. “By the end of the semester, it won’t even be an option for
me.”
He frowns, but doesn’t argue.
And my chest tightens as another realization hits me hard and fast.
That it isn’t just art I don’t have the time to explore anymore. It’s him too.
There’s a giant hourglass above our hands. Depleting the time we have left together.
I know how he sees me.
I’m a student, and he’s a professor. I’m going to be dancing, wherever I get a position. Which could