RAVEN
Dog fur. That's something I always see on the floor at work, especially during the spring and fall months. What I saw instead was smashed glass and pieces of drywall scattered along the white tiled floor. Curtis sent me the image and assured me that the mess had been 'diligently and carefully cleaned', like he's formally answering a survey for a vacation hotel. I had one question racing through my head: who the fuck would rob a boarding kennel? Then I heard a rumour spinning around the coworkers that made me want to bash my head against a wall.
Forget it, I don't want to go into the details right now.
Before the next model session with Atlas, Curtis offered to take me to a new cafe, since he also has his day off today. Its menu has heaps of bubble tea, cakes and coffees with extra zing. The bubble tea is tempting, but I need something else to wake me up. While I'm sitting down waiting for Curtis to get his cake slice order, I take in the cafe's atmosphere. It has a pop art flare; Pulp Fiction posters, single panel art of glamorous women and men, and a retro patterned wallpaper. The speakers are playing old classics, but it's hard to hear the songs clearly with people talking. The couches are occupied, so we chose an awkward corner where there's a table for two. Shit, I wish I brought my extra sketchbook.
After a minute of my eyes growing sore from dancing around the interior without blinking, Curtis finally sits across. I get an immediate waft of cookies and cream mixed with a faint caramel.
"Latte again?"
His eyes squint at my slight offence while he tears open a packaging with a plastic fork in it. "Coffee again?"
"Hmm, well," I tap the edge of the porcelain plate holding the cake slice, "share."
He pulls the plate closer to him with a smirk. "Only if you let me show you a comic I just bought."
I roll my eyes. Curtis is the comic book nerd friend, while also the annoying coworker. No wonder he was excited about visiting this cafe.
"Deal?" He raises an eyebrow.
I hold in a sigh. "Deal."
He takes out his phone with an excited motion. All the while I catch myself drifting off to a couple sitting a few tables over. The phone screen is shoved in my face.
"Look."
He hands me the phone. It's a picture of the comic book cover: Joker's face with his chilling grin, bold red and yellow of his name. The graphics look old-fashioned.
"Huh."
"'Huh'?" He's tight-lipped. "Scroll right, there's more."
I do, and surprise-surprise, it's more of the green-haired menace.
"It took me ages to find that one," he says impatiently. "There's only a few left on the market. I'm trying to collect every part of that series."
I hand back the phone with a grin.
"You're sure you didn't buy this just for the cover?"
His eyes read 'caught red-handed', but of course here comes his excuse. "No..."
"Oh, Curtis," I lightly take his hands in mine and bat my eyes to enhance the awkwardness. "You're cheating on me with the Joker? That's so like you."
"So funny." He rolls his eyes at me.
Good enough revenge for hiding an alarm in the break room while I was taking a nap.
"Fine," I exaggerate a pout, then pull the cake slice to me. "Cake now."
He lets out a small 'hmph', then shoves the phone back in his pocket while I take the fork and try the first bite. As expected, the superior flavour melts in the mouth. Pure heavenly bliss. I couldn't help but let out an 'mmm'.
YOU ARE READING
Canvas
Romance"Do you ever notice how much the world sees in black and white?" Atlas, a retiring model, takes one last shot in his dwindling career to pose as a model for an art class. He soon realizes one of his elementary school friends, Raven, is in that class...
