battling a heavy heart * graham

[alaire minnie wilson]

alaire walked quietly down the hallways of the quiet college. she had arrived extra early to try and sketch the quad without people around. alaire had always had a flare for art but not many people knew that she took art classes. her elite status automatically put into the category of people who don't work hard. she was one of the most hardworking people too, she worked long hours in the floral shop with her sister, sophia, who was also an amazing florist. the two worked together side by side and arranged all the bouquets for famous people's weddings. she had an artistic side that thrived among bright colours and bright paints. she was always excited to go to class to learn more about it. alaire always loved school but hated people.. over the years, she's learned her fair share of why people sucked. alaire's oxford shoes clicked and clanked on the white marble floor as she entered the art room.

she went to her sketching spot and saw the familiar faces of people she knew. they greeted her with smiles and alaire waved shyly towards them. she set down her bag and looked up at the blank easel before her. she adjusted her bangs and let them spray across her forehead. a few classmates chatted amongst themselves and alaire never felt the need to speak or join in. she was perfectly comfortable with just being alone and sketching in peace. the professor came in and looked around the room at the art students. he announced they'd be doing a model sketch today and the model would be posing nude. alaire didn't mind nude models, infact, there was something beautiful about a humans body. as the teacher stepped away and the model walked in, alaire got out her pencils. she looked back up to see a naked man's part facing directly infront of her eyes. she also looked up the mans face and alaire nearly jumped out of her seat. it was graham and he was actually naked infront of her. alaire dropped several pencils on the ground spilling them everywhere, drawing more attention to herself.
--
alaire was finishing up her sketch when the teacher called "time" and the model stepped down. alaire looked at her sketch and was quite proud of it. she quickly packed up her things and looked to the ground trying to avoid graham's gaze. when she suddenly bumped into him, spilling her pencils, papers, and pastels everywhere. alaire fell to the floor and started to pick everything up. she couldn't believe she actually slammed into him.. "idiot alaire... always clumsy.

[graham edward rodgers]

<sup>Modeling nude, that didn't seem to hard and it was all part of his job now and he had to get use to it but there was still something about it that seemed so weird. He didn't seem to enjoy the thought of actually posing nude in front of strangers but it was money and that was the one thing that he had to remember when it come down to it. Money is what helped to pay his bills, and his bills always seemed to be piling up lately and it was such an awful thing to happen. He hated being an adult sometimes, he always seemed to remember just how his life was when he was a kid or even a teenager and he just seemed to really miss that. He knew that he wasn’t a kid anymore, he hadn’t been one for many years now and the years of high school was just a memory that he hardly even seemed to remember now.

Sure he remembered aspects of high school, like how he always despised waking up in the morning and walking to school sometimes even in the rain. He refused to take a bus to school and his parents were always working, so walking was really the only method he had and he learned quick to really hate the rain. He always remembered coming to school soaking wet and trying to dry his clothes off in the boy’s restroom using a hand dryer and being late to his first class, he also really hated going to class anyway. Sure he was a popular guy, he was an athlete after all but he just wasn’t all that into it really and thought that school in general was almost boring but he did maintain his good grades. He passed through high school and went on to college another part of his life on top of modeling, it really did take up a decent portion of his life but it paid alright which was a plus. Sitting on the stool as people sketched him was a little weird though, and he tried not to look at anyone’s face. He’d advert his gaze the best he could, in till someone dropped a few of her pencils causing him to look over and just blink. Why did she look so familiar?

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The class went by slowly and by the time it was over Graham just really wanted to leave. In fact he was all set and ready to leave stepping down from the stool he was sitting on running his fingers once through his hear to fix it a little better, it was such a mess since he hardly bothered to fix it this morning. He just woke up and grabbed his things and left, in fact he didn’t even have time to eat anything before actually leaving. He was regretting it now, and as he was making his way to leave it didn’t help that someone ran right into him. “Wow, are you alright?” he asked just now noticing just who she was and just staring at her almost unsure what to say.</sup>

[alaire minnie wilson]

alaire had grown up being bullied, her crush, graham was one of the best and worst people to walk into her life. he had tormented her after alaire's big secret of being madly in love with him got out. she had been betrayed in all the worst ways possible but somehow it had made her stronger. she refused to talk to most people just so she wouldn't have to hear anymore hate. ever since she started faking being a mute, people pitied her when her family or her sister told the story behind her decision. in her mind, being pitied was far better than being ridiculed. she had really low self-esteem when it came to her looks, only when she drew or did something artsy did she feel truly confident. her life had a lot of ups and downs but alaire felt like she had finally come to terms to who she was going to be for the rest of her life --a mute. she would be forever bounded to this label and she didn't mind one bit.

when the nude model stepped up she couldn't help but find herself staring at him. alaire just couldn't believe it was graham rodgers standing before her. she felt every emotion from the first time she ever saw him.. at graduation, she had cried because she realized she would never see him again. but, those were mostly of tears of joy that she didn't have to deal with anyone any longer. when she had got off her art stool, she thought she could smoothly exit but she couldn't. she had slammed right into graham who was just wearing a pair of boxers to cover up. alaire quickly gather her pencils and got up on her feet. she just kinda stared at him, she blushed as their eyes met. he asked if she was alright, she nodded sharply twice. she wished she could speak but she realized she had no desire to reveal her secret. she smiled through her blush and waved, she scribbled on a stray piece of art paper that was ontop of her closed sketchpad. "hi graham, long time no see." she wrote before showing it to him. she gulped and smiled weakly, she felt like her knees were ready to buckle at any time. she took the paper back, "i didn't know you were a model." she scribbled before showing him.

[graham edward rodgers]

Graham knew that back in high school he was a bit of a jerk, he was an athlete and he was known to really pick on people that seemed to be under him because everyone was doing it. He was such a bully back in high school and sometimes he really did feel so awful for it when he thought back on it now, he made so many people feel so awful about themselves and he knew that he did. He was so horrible to people, he would go and call people names even though he didn't want to and people just seemed to think that he was a jerk when he really wasn't that horrible. In fact he hated the way that he was back in high school, he even regretted it now because he knew that if he was a lot nicer people would have liked him a lot more than they did. In fact perhaps if he was nice he would have been one of the more well liked students instead of just being a popular one. Being popular didn't make you liked, and Graham knew that he really wasn't well liked by a lot of people and he knew there was a lot of reasons for it.

He grew up a lot in the few years after he had graduated and he came to realize just how awful he was in high school and he decided he never wanted to be that way again, and he even changed his old group of friends for a different group of friends. He actually didn't even know where his old friends were now since everyone grew up and went their separate ways, some of his friends even left the state for college and Graham stayed here and got into modeling on top of going to college. He liked modeling and he enjoyed what he was learning in college but there were times when he really seemed to wonder just what he was actually doing with his life, because he always seemed to wonder if he should be doing more. When Alaire wrote on a piece of paper instead of talking he was honestly a little bit confused, he seemed to wonder if she couldn't speak. "Oh yeah, agreed. I haven't seen you in a pretty long time" he said almost in his confusion, "and oh yeah. It is just something I started doing about a year or two ago, it's just something I do to make money" he shrugged. Everyone had to make money after all, and modeling was just one of his ways.

[alaire minnie wilson]

alaire never understood why she could love a bully like graham. he had always been so cruel to her but no matter how hard she tried, she could never get him off her mind. there were points where alaire could swear she could see a glimmer of shame in his eyes when he would ridicule her. that split second he would look into her eyes was well worth the hours of humiliation she went through. when she first laid eyes on graham, she never expected that her feelings would grow to become what they are today. they hadn't seen each other in a two years, highschool was long behind them. she had made it clear that she never wanted to see anyone from her past ever again. alaire reinvented herself and was perfectly content with her life, just the way it was. she was scared that maybe if she stayed in contact with those from highschool, she would be in another deep depression. the one person she wished she could have been closer with was the man standing naked right infront of her. the simple act of drawing what was infront of her was hard enough most days, mix that in with a childhood crush and it was the most daunting task she was ever ask to do. she was an art freak in highschool and most of her graduating class knew that. after her parents had revealed her mental stage in freshmen year, some kids stopped making fun of her. there was still the main chunk of people who decided it would be even funnier now that she couldn't stick up for herself. the human race was sick.

after graduation, alaire had pushed herself into the floral business. her mother had been in the industry for years and alaire always had a knack for it. she joined the family business, along with her sister sophie and the two were an unstoppable team. her mother even allowed them to have a joint company and a separate shop for their creations. not only did she have an amazing flower business but she enrolled in art school. her life was starting to bloom and she was actually growing into a better person. alaire was blushing so hard right now but hiding it with her sketch book. even if she could speak, she would be at a lost for words. alaire quickly scribbled a reply on the paper, "i bet, i heard the naked model business pays a lot." alaire smiled and put a hand up to her mouth to signal laughter, "so.. do you still talk to the whole gang from highschool?" alaire scribbled and showed to graham, they were all so close in highschool.. there was no doubt he would still talk to them. she looked up at graham and awaited his response, he sure looked a heck a lot more mature than before.