YouTube University

Chapter 6

I began to lightly sketch on a piece of paper with a pencil my picture of the bench for our class assignment. I began with light strokes, then when I had what looked like a simple bench, I began to add detail to it. I added the lines in the wood, and traced over the metal parts so they appeared to be different from other parts of the bench. Once I had the main details done, I began to mess around with the background. I placed in grass, a lizard that was in the shot, and a tree in the distance. My sketch was turning out great, for I was always great at drawing small things. But painting on a canvas was going to be different, because I was not skilled in drawing big things.

I got some pastels and rubbed a light brown color on my index finger. I began to finger paint the bench, leaving out certain spots for darker brown colors and places for gray to highlight the metal. As I was about to dip my finger in the gray, Mike announced that class was out and we could leave our sketches on our desk. I followed his directions and left my drawing right where it was. I quickly cleaned up, using a tissue and hand sanitizer, and grabbed my things to leave. Joe was being a gentleman, as he usually was, and waited for me. We walked out of class together.

"It's break time!" Joe shouted. "You know what that means?"

"Uh," I paused. "It's almost dinner time?"

"No!" He said, seeming disappointed in me. "You told me we could go to the cafe!"

"Oh!" I yelled. "That's right." I looked at Joe for a moment and he awkwardly stood in place, waiting for me to say something. "Well, let's go! Don't keep me waiting."

Joe laughed and we headed to the cafe. It was in sight, honestly it wasn't far from our class. I looked to the sky and it was still very blue, very beautiful. I thought of how later, it would be orange and it made me smile. It was incredible how the simple things in life could make you smile.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Joe looking at me. I looked back down and turned my head. He smiled at me and faced forward, and before I knew what was happening, he opened the cafe door for me.

"Thank you." I whispered and stepped inside. The cafe produced a breeze that made me shiver, but I quickly adjusted.

"I can get the drinks, if you'd like." Joe offered.

"That would be great, thank you." I replied. We ordered our drinks, which Joe ended up paying for, and decided to sit outside. It wasn't everyday you'd get to watch the blue sky turn orange and purple. As I sipped my coffee, I watched the clouds dance and slowly disappear. Soon, the sky was nothing but an orange canvas and the shining sun was it's picture.

"It's beautiful," Joe started. "Isn't it?"

"Yeah," I said and sipped my coffee. "I wish I had time like this every day to watch the sunset."

"The crazy part is that it's so early, too." Joe added. "Eventually, it's going to be so dark it will feel like midnight when it's nearly nine o'clock."

"I know," I said. I didn't feel like many words needed to be said in this moment. I just took another sip of my coffee and looked over at Joe. He was already looking at me. "What?" I asked. Joe seemed confused. I added, "Why do you keep looking at me?" I smiled at the end of my sentance to make it seem like it wasn't a bad thing.

"Is there something wrong with looking at you?" He said. "I'll stop if it makes you uncomfortable."

"No, no." I said. "It's fine, I've just never had a boy stare at me the way you're doing so."

"Oh." Joe said and looked back at the sky. "Is it a good thing?" His eyes were still focused in the air.

"I want it to be a good thing, but only my feelings can decide what's good and bad." As I spoke, Joe looked back down.