Gifts Of A Bluejay

Chapter 3

The day flew by in the blink of an eye, and before I knew it, I was getting ready to go out to dinner with Greg. Putting on the only formal dress I had in my closet, my hands began shaking at the thought of telling my boyfriend the good news.

I just knew he wouldn't care about it. It was obvious he was only dating me because he wanted to impress everyone around him. For someone who was an "art freak", my soft, delicate features and thin frame always found a lot of attraction from the men and women in my town. Angela is constantly joking around about how I should be in movies and on magazine covers.

"You may be an incredibly talent painter, love... but your beauty is going to waste with these small town people. They don't deserve you."

Her words echoed through my head as I unsuccessfully tied my frizzy curls into a high bun. As nice as Angela's compliments were, I couldn't help but feel unworthy of them; my self esteem suffering more than my blistered hands after a full day of painting.

"Lilah?" I heard Greg call out as he walked into our apartment.

"In here!" I yelled back from our sparkling white bathroom.

I always hated how white the entire bathroom was. It made my eyes burn whenever I turned on the lights. There were a few attempts I had made to break up the white with a splash of color, but Greg always removed the colorful objects saying it "destroyed the cleanliness of the bathroom."

My brain could never understand what he meant by that with a simple picture hanging on the wall or a small abstract decoration that I placed on the shelf. After a while I gave in and just learned to live with the brightness, as much as it hurt my head.

"You ready to go?" Greg poked his head in the bathroom, not even acknowledging the fact that I was dressed up.

Most girls experience having their partners swoon over them each time they dress up. But Greg always acted like it was just another day whenever I put on my black, lace dress that hung in my closet only for special occasions.

There was more of a silent expression of relief at the sight of me dressed up, than a sight of lust and attraction. It was as if I finally looked presentable in his eyes but he didn't want to be rude by making that known.

Honestly... I had no idea why I was still with Greg. He didn't make me feel loved or accepted. I was more of an eccentric piece of arm candy to him.

But it was the first relationship I had had in years, and I was afraid to let it go.

Because, let's face it, who else would want my weird self?

"Just finishing my hair." I responded.

"All right. Well our reservation is in twenty minutes so I'll meet you in the car."

Before I could reply, Greg had already walked out the front door again.

"Of course, master." I said softly to myself while rolling my eyes.

I finished tucking away the little stray hairs along my face as best I could and headed out of the bathroom to grab my purse.

It was then that I heard a small tapping on the bedroom window. Surprisingly, I wasn't nervous. Most people would freak out if they heard tapping on their window on the third floor of an apartment building. But I knew who it was without even turning around.

My small feathered friend was perched outside the bedroom window, a small jade colored pebble hanging from its beak.

Quickly cracking open the window, I waited for the blue jay to hop his way inside and place the pebble in the palm of my hand. I stared at the pebble in amazement wondering if the bird had known that this particular shade of green was my favorite color.