Friday, January 25, 2013

Double Life: Taking a Peek


A/N: I think I like this one. I also think it´s longer that the others. And as almost always, if not always, I haven´t proofread and I probably won´t ...
***

“I´m not going to go to the Art Club today” she said when he got to the wall, she´d agreed to eat together. Joshua had gotten both their lunches; she was with her back against the wall. She was drawing some sketches when he arrived.

“You said that already” he hander her both food containers and then he dropped his backpack and sat in front of her Indian style
“I wanted to remind it to you” she grabbed the tea bottle he had taken out of his backpack
“Ok” he grinned. They started eating.

“I have already started my project too” he commented breaking the comfortable silence they had been eating in. Nichole raised both her eyebrows as a way of acknowledgement “this –he grinned as he motioned his fork between both of them- is research” he chuckled a little in the end, she stared at him for a second and then laughed quietly.

“That´s a good one” she nodded
“I´ve known Maya and Jonah are getting together to work on their project”
“She´s making him get together with her, I bet”
“You don´t talk but you know her well”
“I´ve been classmates with her for a while”
“The others are sort of doing the same, just like them”
“I see” one of the corners of her mouth twitched up
“Yeah… we could do it too”
“I don´t want to. The final project is the one that I want to see, with no influence from my part, only what you see”
“I wouldn´t be influenced by you”
“Right…” she smirked
“But it seems that you think that I´d influence you” he said playfully, her face was back to be pretty much expressionless but her eyes were warm.
“No matter what you say, you´re not getting a peek of what I´m doing… You´ll just have to be patient… but –she put her food container on a side and took her drawing pad and pencils- I can do a portrait of you now”
“Really?” his eyes were slightly wider, he seemed to do that when he got excited about something.
“Yeah, just act normal and look at me” she draw one her legs closer to her chest to support the drawing pad, her hand went under to steady it as her right hand started to scratch the paper with the pencil. She occasionally glanced up at him and quickly went back to the paper, at other times she´d stared at him with no expression besides her slightly pursed lips. He smiled at those moments and she for the most part remained the same except that her lips stopped being pursed. She only took her eyes from the paper or him when she took a different pencil.

“Do I look ok?” the boy asked founding increasingly difficult to remain silent as her eyes bored in his, she tilted her head slightly.
“What do you think?”
“I don´t know if you´re doing a cartoon…” a light shade of pink had colored his cheeks, she stared at him with a tiny smile
“I´m not doing a cartoon”
“Ok, good to know –he looked down- Can I take a peek at it?” he looked up as she rolled her eyes
“This is exactly why I don´t want to give you any peek” she shook her head a bit
“Oh, come on! I´ll be good” he smiled and she chuckled
“You are” she winked and then she turned her drawing pad for him to see
“Wow! You´re good” he was about to take the drawing pad
“No touching!” she moved it away
“Why? Oh –he interrupted himself- you have your project in there, don´t you?” he seemed amused
“Ideas”
“Ideas?”
“That´s what I have there”
“So, you do have your project there”
“If that´s what you want to believe”

“Do you think it´ll rain tonight?” he asked looking at the cloudy sky. They had been silent for a while. He had laid down on the grass and she´d continued to draw.
“It´s pretty cloudy but so far I don´t think so” she said looking up
“The sky is really gray” he turned his face to look at her
“At least in the next couple of hours it won´t rain, maybe more” she said absentmindedly going back to her drawing
“How would you know that?” he asked, she briefly took her eyes from her drawings to look at him and shrugged.

“I think we should go, it´ll rain”
“We can go, if you want, but it won´t rain”
“You don´t know that, the sky is gray”
“I know it won´t”
“How?” he inquired, she looked at him and seemed to be debating something within herself but then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“I can feel it”
“Well, of course the wind…”
“No, it´s not just that, everything changes, the sounds vary, the changes in the air are subtle but it´s there… when you feel the wind that´s an imminent rain” she explained, he blinked a few times
“Are you telling me that you can predict rain?”
“No, just that I notice the subtle changes sooner”
“That sounds like the same to me” he rolled to a side and held his head above the ground with his bent arm “How do you do that?”
“I don´t know…” she kept drawing
“How do you know you could do it?”
“I hadn´t really noticed, it was just something that was normal to me but that later I learned that it was one more of the things that make me be further of that mark…” her mouth seemed to go downwards a little
“I think it´s amazing!” there was a smile in his tone and in his eyes, she paused her drawing and stared at him; after a minute a grin appeared on her lips, a slight white color showing itself between her lips

“Does Camille do that too?” he asked when she went back to drawing
“What?”
“Predict the weather?” he explained, her eyes quickly moved to him with a frown, he was about to apologize
“I… I don´t know” her eyes became deep like when she was with her little sister but Josh also noticed the same look she´d given him when he got shot. She was concerned.
“It´s a cool thing if she did” he tried to comfort her, she half-smiled only to show him she appreciated his effort.

“Nic?”
“Mmmh?” she had kept drawing, the concern still somehow visible in her eyes
“Maybe you should rest” he had gone back to look up the sky, only stealing glances at her
“I´m resting” she mumbled
“No, I mean it”
“I mean it, as well”
“You seem like you haven´t slept well…” he spoke quietly
“I can see the dark rings under your eyes too” she said startling him, she was kneeling right next to him, one of her fingers tracing the marks of his lack of sleep. He looked up at her.
“I´ve had troubles sleeping” he said to her who was still following the patterns under his eyes with a finger, it was like being touched by a feather.
“Why?”
“Err.. I don´t know If I´m comfortable talking about it”
“Why?” she showed him a crooked smile
“It´s silly”
“It´s not if it keeps you awake” she lightly tapped the tip of his nose

“I… I think the sound of the rain makes me remember… my accident… it gives me nightmares” he sighed
“It does sound like being surrounded by water… What about sleeping pills?”
“I still get the nightmares with the difference that I can´t wake up”
“Oh” she was tracing his eyebrows very slowly; she stopped when her finger touched the small, almost invisible mole at the end of his eyebrow. He closed his eyes slowly. Her fingers went back to touch under his closed eyes and then off his skin. He opened his eyes.

“You can go to sleep now… I´ll wake you up later” she offered
“That´s not a good way to keep you company”
“You´re not even supposed to be here” she smirked
“But since I am, I´m doing it properly”
“It might benefit me, project wise, to have you asleep” she lightly passed her hand over his face making him close his eyes, he grinned.
“You don´t want me to see you?” he kept his eyes closed, the grin was evident in his voice
“On the contrary, those green eyes are pretty easy on the eye” she spoke honestly making his eyes snap open “it´s a nice shade of green” she said making him close his eyes again
“You should rest too” this time he kept his eyes closed
“I told you, I´m resting” she spoke quietly, he sighed
“I mean that you should sleep too”
“I plan to do that tonight”
“Why haven´t you been sleeping? I hope it´s not because of the project”
“It´s not”
“Then?”
“My nights are nightmares sometimes too”
“What are they about?”
“Death” she said softly, he opened his eyes again and reached for her hand
“I’m sorry”
“It´s not your fault”
“Still… What triggers them?” he asked, she didn´t answer but stared at the trees for a long while.

1 comment:

  1. Cliffhanger?!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ugh!

    Awww I really really like this one. I love how as the days, weeks, etc. roll on how much they talk to each other. At first it was just them being quiet, than he started talking a lot and now they're having full on conversations. It's so wonderful to witness it all unfolding.

    Her tracing his eyes was so lovely. It made me imagine what the scene looked like. With him laying down and her leaned over. It's nice imagery.

    Ok here I go. I love Josh. He's so kind and friendly. The way he came to his classmates defense was cute. It was his gentleman qualities showing themselves again. He's always thinking of others. And then the way he asks questions is so cute too. He's so straightforward in his asking. He just speaks his mind and I find that so endearing. It makes me like him more that he thinks it's natural to be that way. Poor boy doesn't get that somethings just aren't meant for conversations. haha cutie

    Nic is so cute here! She's trying to do the things he wants. That's so nice. It makes me think of contrasting sides. How she could easily say no to him or even ignore him but then the other side where she wants to be his friend enables her to stay when she doesn't want to. Probably reading too much in again but it's nice to think his efforts aren't going ignored. That seems too cruel

    Aw he's so cute. I love that his fear of rain isn't fake like on/in other stories/movies/shows if someone is scared of something it'll only be for like that scene and then it will be over and will never be heard of again. I love that he is still struggling with this. It's so interesting to me. And it sets him apart from a lot of other people. Sigh oh Josh...

    That picture is creepy. But it's still pretty. Not making me close my eyes like that other one! Lol

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