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To say you were excited would have been an understatement. Not only did you get the topic you wanted, but the professor was lenient with the examples you could use. And the best part, you get to design your own exhibition and discuss where the artworks would go. Of all the classes you were taking, this was definitely going to be your favorite this quarter.
“Oh yes thank you for reminding me,” the professor pointed at a man sitting in the last row of the class. You didn’t bother turning around, putting away your stuff and standing up, waiting at the door to hear the announcement.
“We’re testing out something new this quarter. We had problems last quarter because students didn’t know about the rules of the books on reserve and other stuff. It was a mess basically. So, the Arts Library’s very own Senior Library Specialist will be helping us out this quarter. Please introduce yourself.”
“Thank you Dr. Johnson. Hey everyone. My name is James Barnes but feel free to call me Bucky. Just to get an idea, raise your hand if you’re a freshman.” Most students raised their hands and he nodded.
“Cool. Okay well you know where I am. Feel free to come anytime and ask me whatever you want. Remember no question is stupid and I will be happy to help anyone.” He was about to walk away when the professor told him to wait.
“Just so you guys know, Dr. Barnes has several degrees, one of which is in art history so he’s familiar with many of the concepts and periods we’ll be going over. And because I know how some of you won’t bother to use his expertise, but will go to him if there’s extra credit involved, I asked him to write down the names of you who are smart enough and actually go to him. That extra credit can help bump your grade from an A- to an A so please…bother him.” He laughed at the last bit and nodded her way, mumbling ‘excuse me’ before walking past you and exiting.
You left after the professor finished her extra credit rant, a little bothered because even though you knew you won’t need extra credit, you were going to do it just in case you needed to miss class once or something.
Grabbing some coffee, you walked to the Arts Library and went straight to the third floor lounge. No one ever sat there and it was quiet and warm and the couch felt amazing. Setting your stuff down, you turned on your laptop and researched the topic, bookmarking any book that seemed relevant and looking it up in the library’s catalog to see where it was.
Knowing you weren’t going to take check out more than five books, you wrote down their shelf numbers and shut your laptop, going back downstairs to look for them. Walking through the shelves, you found them in no time, making sure they were the right books before heading back upstairs. You were heading towards the stairs when someone backed up and hit you, the books flying out of your hand and landing with a loud thud on the floor. Some students looked at you before going back to their tasks, the reason of your clumsiness apologizing profusely before picking up the books and handing them to you.
“Sorry I didn’t see you.” You knew that voice, turning around and freezing in place. You weren’t able to take a good look at him in the morning but damn.
He was drop-dead gorgeous.
You still said nothing, shaking your head to snap out of your little world.
“Oh hey you’re in AH 30, Johnson’s class right?”
“H-how did you know?”
“It’s not every day a student asks to write about a complicated topic such as war.”
You weren’t sure what surprised you more, the fact that he remembered what class you were in or what topic you wanted.
“Looks like you started already. Mind if I asked which artworks you chose?”
“Yeah sorry, let me just put these upstairs. My arm is killing me.” Before you walked around him, he was already grabbing the books and walking towards the stairs. “Here let me help. Lead the way.” You walked past him and went up the stairs, Bucky tried so hard to look anywhere but your exposed legs.
What the hell was wrong with him?
He placed the books down and sat next to you, waiting until you turned on your laptop and told him your ideas.
“Well I had two ideas. I wanted them connected by one style. I thought about Greek sculptures first but I’m not so sure. I found these five paintings and they seem like a better option. They’re all-”
“From the Romanticism period of art yes.” He cut you off, looking through the few notes you had written about them in your notebook.
“Napoleon in Jaffa by Gros is propaganda so that’s one way to look at war and its disasters. Death of Sardanapalus leans towards the more erotic side and you’d have a lot to write about that…same goes with Liberty Leading the People. Oh yes Goya one of my favorites…The Third of May was a wake-up call to a lot of people during that period and you can’t go wrong with The Raft of Medusa….Gericault loved his gruesome bodies and it sent a message as well. These are all great Y/N.”
You felt proud about his compliment, not that it mattered to you of course.
“But there’s just one problem.”
The smile dropped immediately.
“What?”
“Looking at these, I can’t help but notice how they can fit in other topics as well. Also, they’re really famous artworks and I’m pretty sure other students will include them in their research papers. I think you should pick other ones.”
For some reason, you felt offended by what he was saying and completely shut off.
“I don’t understand.”
“Well, as great as these pieces are, I can tell you studied them before. Did you take art history classes before?”
“Just in high school. I changed majors and this is my first official art history class.”
“I see. All I’m saying is, you clearly have a good enough memory to remember these from before. Don’t take this the wrong way but, you won’t learn anything if you research familiar pieces. You should pick something you never learned about before.”
When you said nothing, he took a piece of paper and grabbed your pencil, writing some names down for you and handing you back the paper.
“Here. I remember Dr. Johnson saying she will skim through Latin American art. These artists are among the best of their time and their style connects with more individuals. They definitely focused on war in their works. Since you’ll be presenting this, I think it’ll benefit, not just you when you’re researching and writing this paper, but also your classmates because they’ll learn about Latin American art as well.” He stood up and placed his hands in his pockets, smiling at you before pointing to the paper again.
“Give it a thought. And I’ll be more than happy to help you out if anything comes up. Good luck Y/N. See you around.” He walked away, knocking on the shelves before descending the steps and disappearing.
You called your friend after, fuming and complaining about him. Who the hell did he think he was, telling you what to research and what not to research? You almost hung up when your friend took his side, telling you he wasn’t completely wrong and that you’d learn more if you listened to him.
Before you left, you humored yourself, searching the artists he wrote down and suddenly feeling betrayed by your mind. Their artwork was completely different from ones you’ve seen before and he was right. You would learn more, not just about the artists and the families they came from but also the struggles people went through in countries you’ve barely even studied.
You made sure to avoid him when you were leaving, giving the books to one of the students working there and excusing yourself.