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He takes it with a smile. “Thanks.”
I try not to stare too hard as he pats his face and hair dry. Afterward, he tosses it over his shoulders, holding an end in each hand as he continues smiling.
“So, are you an art major?” I ask.
“Me? No.” He shakes his head. “I just do the modeling gigs for extra cash. I’m a business major.”
“Oh, cool. That’s smart. Much smarter than mine.”
He laughs. “You never know. You could make it big someday.”
I scoff. “Doubtful.”
“No, really.” He steps closer to the board. “You’re talented. They’re so lifelike.”
“I’m…” I hesitate, far too modest to agree. “I’m learning. I can’t really do anything except for faces.”
My cheeks burn brighter as he looks up again.
“What’s a vision board?” he asks.
I flinch. “Uh…”
Before I can answer, he reaches for the small letter-sized canvas balanced on the edge of my desk decorated with pictures and letters cut out of old magazines.
“Oh, that’s—” I wince. “Nothing.”
“Five Goals for a Perfect Freshman Year,” he reads aloud.
“That’s just something my roommate made me do,” I blurt. “It’s dumb, I don’t even?—”
“Learn a new life skill,” he continues.
“Super dumb...”
He smirks. “Get a tattoo?”
“Another wonderful roommate suggestion. She’s been begging me to get matching tattoos since we were fourteen.”
“Pay off my car.”
“Not going to happen on my salary,” I say, cracking a joke to keep from dying.
“Enter the Art Fest. Win.”
I squeeze my clammy palms. “Again, not happening.”
He looks at me again, his lips curling into a quick smile. “Fall in love with a stranger?”
My breath hitches. “I couldn’t think of a fifth one. And I’m not even sure that qualifies as a goal. I mean, it’s not exactly measurable or at all within my control. I should just get rid of that thing. It’s dumb.”
“No, it’s cool,” he says. “It’s good that you’re so organized. If I had made goals like these my freshman year, I probably wouldn’t have had to retake Algebra.”
I chuckle. “Algebra? Really?”
“I’m not a numbers guy,” he says. “I’m more of an idea man.”
“My dad is a mathematician, so I could count to a thousand before I knew my ABCs.”
