***
“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.
