“Thank god! Made it in time,” Jim thought, as he pulled into the parking lot five minutes early. It was closer than he would have liked, but the photography session that afternoon was worth it.

            Jim hurried into the building, carrying his camera. He was hoping he could stay after class a bit and develop the pictures he had taken. He was so lost in thought that he ran into his instructor.

            “Oh, crap, sorry Nick. I didn’t see you.”

            “Jim, its good to see you. Have you been working with exposures?” Nick asked.

            “Yeah, a bit. Its hard trying to find times though.”

            “Ah, but its worth it when you get it though.”

            From down the hall, a voice called out, “Nick! I need to ask you about something.”

            Both Nick and Jim turned to the voice.

            “Crap!” Jim thought.

            The shock on her face was apparent as well. “What is he doing here?”

            Pam had just finished her drawing class. It had gone well, Pam could tell she was making improvements every day. Today was a tough assignment; draw an object without using lines. Pam had chosen a leaf, it had seemed like an easy enough choice. Once she started drawing however, it turned difficult. How can you draw without using lines? She spent the night shading and smudging and trying to get it right. At the end, it resembled a leaf, and that was a start. She was going to work on it more during the week (mostly at work, it wasn’t as if she had anything to do there), and it would be turned in next class.

            As she was leaving, she noticed Nick standing in the hall, talking to someone. She needed to ask him about the experimental medium class he was teaching. Pam really wanted to take it, but it overlapped a bit with a watercolors course she also was interested in taking. Hopefully, she could be a bit late to the one class, or leave the other early. These classes were taking up so much of her time, but she loved every second. Besides, it wasn’t as if she had an exciting life that she was missing out on.

            “Nick! I need to ask you about something!” she called out.

            “Wha? What is he doing here? Talking to Nick?” Pam was shocked as she saw the faces turned towards her.

            “Oh, Pam. Hey.” Nick said, not noticing the shock and discomfort on their faces. “What can I do for you?”

            “Um… um…. Oh, the experimental mediums class…” Pam fumbled around for the right words.

            “Yeah, are you interested? I think you would really enjoy it, you did a great collage last year.”

            “Oh yeah. I am. Its just that…” Pam kept looking at Jim, trying to figure out what he was doing there. “Well, its just that I also want to take the watercolors class, and they overlap by like 10 minutes, so, is that going to be okay if some days I am late?”

            “Oh sure. Who’s leading that? Krista, right? We can work something out,” Nick replied. Noticing the glances going on between Pam and Jim, “Oh, Pam, this is Jim. Jim, Pam. Actually, know what. You two both deal with really different mediums, but your styles are similar. I think you could do a really cool project, sort of combining your passions.”

            “Oh, um, I don’t know…” Jim broke eye contact with Pam and was busy studying his shoes. “Oh, crap, that lace is loose. Oh yeah, that’s what I should be concentrating on. A loose shoelace.”

            “Um… yeah, I mean…” Pam stared at anything that wasn’t Jim. “Interesting texture on that wall, hum, maybe I could use that. Great. Distract myself.”

            “Do you two know each other or something?” Nick asked, picking up on the tension that was surrounding them.