explain why you just screamed?” He is laughing now, too.
“It’s just, I’ve never had Starbucks before as I said, and it’s just so good that the yell just slipped out!”
“Jesus woman, you are going to give me a heart attack and kill us both.”
“Sorry.” I giggle.
In a flash he leans over and kisses me. It only lasts a second, but that’s all it takes for my heart to start beating out of my chest again.
“Alright, young lady, I better get you to school before I decide to just run away with you,” he says as he pulls the car back onto the road.
With the words young lady, I am slammed back into reality once again, and the ride the rest of the way to school is pretty quiet.
We arrive at school and like a true gentlemen, once again, he walks around the car and opens my door for me. He grabs my backpack from the backseat and hands it to me once I am out of the car. I find it a little odd at first that he doesn’t just carry it since he is making such a visible effort to be chivalrous, but before I can wonder too much, he goes to the trunk and pulls out his art supplies. Between the art stuff, his backpack and his coffee, it is like watching a clown try to juggle.
I offered to help, but he declined. “I’m used to carrying all of this stuff on my own. I take it almost everywhere. We have a little while before school starts. Do you mind walking to the art room with me, just so I can drop this stuff off?”
“No, not at all.” I’m not trying to be short with him, but it’s so hard for me to allow myself to be happy with him. I know I don’t deserve him. Nor do I deserve to be happy. I still don’t understand why I’m here, but I do know that if I allow myself to be too comfortable with him, that everything is going to come crashing down. I have been hurt enough in my sixteen years to know that I can’t count on anyone. Even though I know this, I can’t help but feel a pull towards him. I feel like he truly would do anything for me, and we have only known each other a few days.
“Tenley?”
I look up at him and realize that I have stopped walking in the middle of the hallway. “Sorry, I just zoned out for a minute. Not a morning person.” I smile, and once again I can feel my face heating up.
“Hence the coffee.” He smiles.
Continuing down the hallway, we arrive at the art room, and he heads to the back of the room where there are some lockers. While he gets his belongings organized in his locker, I notice that there are paintings, drawings, sculptures, and other art projects around, so I begin looking at each one. I have never paid attention to any kind of art other than photography, but each of these pieces spoke right to my soul. A black and white sketch of a tree losing its leaves and a small silhouette of a child in the background. The child seems so dejected , even though her face isn’t visible.
My eyes move to the right, and I am struck silent and frozen when I notice a giant watercolor painting of a girl sitting up against a wall with her nose in a book. Chase must have finished putting his schoolbooks and art equipment in his locker at the exact moment I notice the painting, because he too, is silent and frozen. After a moment, I am able to slowly put one foot in front of the other and step closer to the painting to see if it is who I think it is, and the closer I get, the more I see it.
It is me, only beautiful. I am sitting with my knees up, my favorite book on my lap, my glasses on, and my hair down but all swept over my right shoulder, and it doesn’t look like the mousy brown I know it. It looks, different. I have jean shorts on with a gray shirt, my favorite hoodie and my green scarf. It is a position I sit in several times a day, whenever I am not in class, so it is definitely me. I take another step closer and that is when I notice her eyes, well, my eyes. They are so filled with sadness. Based on the way that he has painted them, every detail, every reflection, it
“It’s just, I’ve never had Starbucks before as I said, and it’s just so good that the yell just slipped out!”
“Jesus woman, you are going to give me a heart attack and kill us both.”
“Sorry.” I giggle.
In a flash he leans over and kisses me. It only lasts a second, but that’s all it takes for my heart to start beating out of my chest again.
“Alright, young lady, I better get you to school before I decide to just run away with you,” he says as he pulls the car back onto the road.
With the words young lady, I am slammed back into reality once again, and the ride the rest of the way to school is pretty quiet.
We arrive at school and like a true gentlemen, once again, he walks around the car and opens my door for me. He grabs my backpack from the backseat and hands it to me once I am out of the car. I find it a little odd at first that he doesn’t just carry it since he is making such a visible effort to be chivalrous, but before I can wonder too much, he goes to the trunk and pulls out his art supplies. Between the art stuff, his backpack and his coffee, it is like watching a clown try to juggle.
I offered to help, but he declined. “I’m used to carrying all of this stuff on my own. I take it almost everywhere. We have a little while before school starts. Do you mind walking to the art room with me, just so I can drop this stuff off?”
“No, not at all.” I’m not trying to be short with him, but it’s so hard for me to allow myself to be happy with him. I know I don’t deserve him. Nor do I deserve to be happy. I still don’t understand why I’m here, but I do know that if I allow myself to be too comfortable with him, that everything is going to come crashing down. I have been hurt enough in my sixteen years to know that I can’t count on anyone. Even though I know this, I can’t help but feel a pull towards him. I feel like he truly would do anything for me, and we have only known each other a few days.
“Tenley?”
I look up at him and realize that I have stopped walking in the middle of the hallway. “Sorry, I just zoned out for a minute. Not a morning person.” I smile, and once again I can feel my face heating up.
“Hence the coffee.” He smiles.
Continuing down the hallway, we arrive at the art room, and he heads to the back of the room where there are some lockers. While he gets his belongings organized in his locker, I notice that there are paintings, drawings, sculptures, and other art projects around, so I begin looking at each one. I have never paid attention to any kind of art other than photography, but each of these pieces spoke right to my soul. A black and white sketch of a tree losing its leaves and a small silhouette of a child in the background. The child seems so dejected , even though her face isn’t visible.
My eyes move to the right, and I am struck silent and frozen when I notice a giant watercolor painting of a girl sitting up against a wall with her nose in a book. Chase must have finished putting his schoolbooks and art equipment in his locker at the exact moment I notice the painting, because he too, is silent and frozen. After a moment, I am able to slowly put one foot in front of the other and step closer to the painting to see if it is who I think it is, and the closer I get, the more I see it.
It is me, only beautiful. I am sitting with my knees up, my favorite book on my lap, my glasses on, and my hair down but all swept over my right shoulder, and it doesn’t look like the mousy brown I know it. It looks, different. I have jean shorts on with a gray shirt, my favorite hoodie and my green scarf. It is a position I sit in several times a day, whenever I am not in class, so it is definitely me. I take another step closer and that is when I notice her eyes, well, my eyes. They are so filled with sadness. Based on the way that he has painted them, every detail, every reflection, it
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