title: My Hot Muse
author: Guillone, Sedonia
description: Line: Tryst
  Length: 4,603 words
  Genre: Gay; Contemporary; Multi-cultural; short story
  Sean is stressing final exams, but not as much as his hot roommate Raj, who needs a model for his final art project. He thinks Raj might like the boys, but he's never been sure. Offering himself as Raj's art subject seems like the perfect way to find out if his sexy buddy wants to do more than dabble in paint. Can he catch Raj's shy eye?
  Publisher’s note: This story has been previously published elsewhere and revised for re-release with Ai Press.
  Excerpt:
  “I am so going to fail this class.”
  I look up at Raj from my own book and paper strewn desk. The poor guy is pacing back and forth, wading through piles of laundry and books. Our usually neat dorm room is a casualty of the pre-final reading period.
  I slip off my reading glasses, set them on my history book and watch him. I mean to respond to his distress with something useful like, “Of course you’re not going to fail. You already have an index off the books and you’re already accepted to the doctoral program.” But it wouldn’t do any good. Raj has to please his parents who are still back in India, and in any case, I’ve already forgotten about reassuring him because as usual, I’m caught up in simply watching him pace, sketchpad in one hand, charcoal pencil in the other.
  Raj is one of those brainy geeky guys who also happens to be incredibly gorgeous. The fact that he doesn’t seem to understand how fucking hot he really is only adds to his allure. In the background, music plays on his small boom box, a tape he brought with him from Bengal our freshman year. The sinewy exotic music offsets his movements, graceful, like his slim body with its lightly carved muscles, and the fluorescent light of our room shines on his jet-black hair, like droplets of rain off a raven’s wings.
  I chuckle to myself as I watch him. He always inspires me to poetic language even though I’m a math major. I felt this way about him from the very beginning of freshman year when Housing miraculously placed us together. Four years later, the feeling has only gotten stronger and we’re best friends. We’ve even lined up a place together for next year when we start grad school.
  He halts in the middle of the room and turns to me, large chocolate brown eyes pleading. “You’re good with ideas, Sean. Please, tell me what to draw.”
  Holy shit. Is he kidding? My heartbeat raises just enough to make me feel like I’m jogging and I stare back into those incredible eyes of his. Of course I know exactly what he should draw but I’m not sure if I should suggest it, lest I freak him out.