Joy Argento - Carrie and Hope by Joy Argento

house, yard work, small repairs and things like that. He was so much help to me when Tom was sick. I’m not sure I could have gotten through it without my dad.” She smiled at the thought of her father. “My mother drives me a little crazy. She has a tendency to treat me like I’m still a little kid.”
    “That can’t be easy,” Carrie said.
    “It’s not, but I do my best to ignore her constant “suggestions ” , as she calls them.” Hope finished up the last of the food on her plate and wiped a spot of tomato sauce from her mouth with her napkin.          
    “Would you like more lasagna or bread?” Carrie asked.
    “No, thank you. I’m stuffed. That was delicious. You’ll have to give me your secret online recipe.”
    Carrie laughed. “I’ll give you the copy I printed. But I have to warn you that I got a few drops of sauce on it while I was making this.”
    The women carried on a comfortable conversation while they cleared the table and loaded the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. Carrie took a couple of Tupperware containers from her cupboard and made up a take-home package of leftovers for Hope to take with her. “ I’m trusting you with my good Tupperware. That means I get to see you again when you return it.”
    “ Or it means you’ll lose some good containers,” Hope said with a chuckle.
    Carrie was sure she would see Hope and the containers again. She smiled at the thought. She put the Tupperware in a plastic grocery bag and put it on the counter.
    When the last of the food was packaged and put away Carrie asked, “Would you like to see my art room and the drawings I was telling you about?”
    “That would be great. Lead the way.” Hope followed Carrie down a small hallway to the room on the end. A slight smell of oil paints and turpentine greeted them as Carrie opened the door.
    “Here they are,” Carrie said as she led Hope over to the pile of drawings that she had sorted through earlier. She spread them out on the small table so that Hope could get a better look at each one.
    “These are great,” Hope said. “May I?” she asked before picking one up.
    “Oh sure, go ahead.”
    “Carrie, I am really impressed. Did you use a model for these or are they out of your head?”
    “These are just rough sketches out of my head. They are just to get an idea of how I want the poses to be. But if you decide you want to pose for me, this is basically what I would want you to do. See how I drew in the material here.” She pointed to a drawing on the table. “The material covers up the breasts. There isn’t any actual nudity. Not that I’m against nudity,” Carrie laughed. “I just want these to be really sensual without being sexual. Does that make sense?”
    “Yes, and I would love to pose for you.” She smiled at Carrie.
    Carrie couldn’t help but smile back. “Really? Oh that would be so great. I am so excited about this.”
    “Well, you haven’t seen me with my clothes off yet so you may change your mind when you do,” Hope teased.
    “Oh, stop it.” Carrie playfully slapped at her arm. “I think you are going to be perfect for this. It will be great.” Carrie’s enthusiasm bubbled to the surface and spread across her face in a big grin.
    Hope finished looking through the drawings and glanced around the room. “Can I look at what you are working on?” She pointed at the painting on the easel.
    “Feel free to look at whatever you want.” Carrie stepped back to give Hope more room to move around. Hope spent a moment looking at Carrie before walking to the easel. She bent over to get a better look at the painting.
    Carrie found herself looking directly at Hope’s butt. She forced her eyes away and shook her head. But her eyes found their way back to the sight. I’m just checking out the model from an artistic angle, she reasoned. Okay, now stop it. What would she think if she saw you ogling her? And why are you ogling her anyway? You don’t ogle. You especially