Work of Art

Chapter 14

As the days progressed, daily trips to the coffee kiosk became habitual. It was usually around four that Carlisle ventured across the small hospital to retrieve his coffee. He'd decided on trying out a variety of new drinks, attempting to find his favorite from the smells that emanated from the daily cardboard cups.

The first couple of days was innocent enough. Some days the young girl wasn't present in front of her wall near the stand. When she was there, her headphones were always in and her attention was elsewhere in her painting, leaving all attention off of Carlisle.

Still, everyday he would walk up at four, order his drink, then walk back to his office, only letting himself spare a quick glance at the girl's painting form.

It was a Tuesday after school and Nick was trying to make up for lost time. There had been a lull in time required for set design, auditions and casting were starting weeks later than originally anticipated, something that Maggie complained endlessly about. Nick in the other hand was great full, it gave her a little bit of extra time to work more in the mural.

While Nick had been practically begging Mrs. Cottan for the name of the musical so she could start preparing specifics, her teacher was assument in making Nick wait with the rest of her peers. But to Nick's, and Maggie's, great excitement, the title would be coming out the next day.

So as she painted the last fish accessible without a ladder, Nick allowed herself to be fully lost in her art, knowing that she wouldn't have another day where she could put her sole focus into it for a while.

The painting was going well and the young artist was quite proud of her work. She smiled as she stretched her arm upwards to illustrate the fins on the top part of the orange fish.

With her arm raised, she sighed in annoyance as she felt a pull in her chest. The strange sensation annoyed her to no end. To her bewilderment, it usually occurred whenever she was painting at the hospital. The first few times that it happened she had shook it off as positioning that her body didn't like, but the sensation had been growing in intensity over the past couple of days.

Still annoyed, she lowered her hand in defeat waiting for the sensation to pass. Nick set her paintbrush down and glanced around the waiting room. It was a quiet day. The only people she could spot were an elderly couple sitting in a pair of adjoining chairs along the back wall, Grace at the receptionist desk, and the worker at the kiosk that she had still yet to learn their name, something she felt guilty about after their close proximity for so many weeks.

The pull started to grow a bit stronger and she rubbed the palm of her hand against her chest as she glanced around once more. Nick just barely saw Dr. Carlisle's form rounding the corner before she abruptly turned back towards the wall. As she heard footsteps grow nearer, she had to dig the palm of her hand further into her chest to stop herself from turning around and confronting the man.

Nick stared at the wall, forcing herself to pretend to paint. It wasn't until she heard footsteps pass by once more that she realized that she didn't even have a paintbrush in her hand.

As soon as the footsteps were quiet enough to no longer be heard, Nick quickly stood and shoved all of her belongings into her bag. She didn't even take the time to wash her brushes as she sped out of the waiting room.

"Are you all right dear?" Grace asked concerned as Nick sped by.

"Quite alright," Nick replied out of breath, "I just remembered I was supposed to meet her friend."

The lie had slipped easily from her lips as Nick sped out the main doors towards her car. As she sat down to drive, the idea of meeting her friend seemed to drive her and she decided to show up to Maggie's house, gaping that she was home.

As she sped away, Nick couldn't help but feel guilty for leaving so abruptly and not depending more time working on the painting. She knew her time would be limited in the future, but she had to get the hell out of the hospital.

Faster than she should have, Nick found herself in front of Maggie's house. She pulled out her phone and dialed Maggie in her contacts. The call went straight to voicemail, so she tried again.

Once more Nick was faced with Maggie's voicemail message and she but her knuckle in annoyance. Without thinking she got out of her car and walked across the lawn. Luckily the house was a ranch style and Nick was blessed with direct access to Maggie's bedroom window. With urgent taps, she knocked on the glass.

It wasn't long until the curtains were roughly pulled apart and an annoyed Maggie showed her face.

"Can I come in?" Nick mouthed from the outside of the window.

Maggie rolled her eyes then nodded, guestering in the general direction of the front door.

Nick practically sprinted over and was panting on the doorstep as Maggie swung the door open.

"What the fuck do you want," Maggie complained.

"Can I come in?"  Nick asked again, still gasping for breath. Running was never her strong point.

Maggie stepped aside and nodded Nick in. She made a beeline for her friend's room and flopped down onto her bed. Maggie trailed behind her, her annoyance of being interrupted from her studying dying as she took in her friend's state.

"There's something wrong with me," Nick groaned with her face buried in Maggie's bed spread.

"You're going to have to be more specific," Maggie jabbed as she sat down next to Nick.

As the mattress shifted, Nick housed herself into a seated position.

"My chest hurts," she complained, once again pushing the palm of her hand against it to add pressure.

Maggie looked concerned for the first time since Nick had showed up. "Maybe you should go to the doctor," she reasoned.

"No!" Nick practically screamed, that's the last place I want to go.

"What do you want me to do then?" Maggie sighed.

"Listen to me complain?" asked Nick with a crooked smile.

Maggie scoffed then returned the smile. "As long as I can study while you ramble on." She stood from the bed, shoving Nick's shoulder. Unprepared for the attack, Nick slid off the bed.

"Ow," she exclaimed.

Maggie grinned at the girl on the floor. "Just returning the favor and giving you a pain in the ass too."

Nick laughed and resettled herself on Maggie's comforter as Maggie reopened her textbook and took a seat at her desk chair.

"Okay," she concluded, "complain away."