First Crush

Ch 8: Finishing It Off

I just realized the last one was my tenth chapte (well, originally)!! I never thought I'd get that far :D

For danileprincess for following me :)

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Nad's POV

I stood up and looked down on our work. I was almost done. Kennedy had already finished a while back and was leaning back on a love seat. He told us he was gonna help me finish the background as soon as Ciara was done with the ball. I looked at the basketball and my eyes got glued to it. It looked perfect. But without the black lines. She was already painting in the last remaining section of the ball that hadn't been painted yet.

Ciara suddenly looked up to me, biting her bottom lip. "What do you think? Does it look good?" she asks hesitantly.

"Are you kidding me?! It looks so real! But what happened to the black lines?"

"You sure?" she asks, glancing at the ball again.

"Yeah," Kennedy pipes in, surveying her work.

She looks at both of us then sighs. "It's fine, I guess. You guys can continue the background stuff. The orange has to dry first, or else it will mix with the black. I'll wash the brushes." She stands up then stretches high. She's really slender. She reaches for all our used brushes and I hand mine to her. She then asks Kennedy where the bathroom is.

"It's on the left," he replies. Ciara walks off, searching for it.

"She's good at this," I remark quietly, observing Ciara's receding figure.

"Yeah."

"Chats as well," I said, turning to him with a lopsided grin.

"Yeah, seems more carefree out of school," Kennedy says, watching her intently.

We both settled down to wait. I sat on the couch. A soft sound of running water started. I looked up as Ciara comes in.

"You didn't get stained, did you?" she asks us worriedly, eyebrows creased.

"No," I said seriously, looking down on my shirt. Why was she worried?

"Same here," Kennedy replies.

"Good," she lets out a sigh of relief, her shoulders slumping.

"Why, what's up?" I ask.

"When your clothes get stained by oil paint, you can't really get it off."

"Oh." Both Kennedy and I reply.

She went over to her bag and took out a clear bottle then walks off again to the bathroom, her hands dripping a bit of water. She comes back after a few minutes and dries the brushes on a towel.

Kennedy suddenly sits up. "Do you guys know what time it is?" He looks at a clock hung on the wall behind me. "It's past noon already. We should eat lunch."

Ciara and I followed him to the dining room where the table had been set unnoticed. We ate quietly. It wasn't so tense actually. I kind of thought it would be awkward around Ciara since she's a girl plus really quiet and all. Turns out I was wrong on all that.

"Both of you can be really quiet huh," Ciara suddenly comments, looking down on her plate. I noticed she didn't eat much. Why don't girls eat?

"Look up," Kennedy commands. Ciara follows and meets his gaze resolutely. I was sitting beside her and he was opposite us. I quirked my eyebrow unnoticed. I could see the stubborn jut of her chin. I smiled, amused. I looked at Kennedy to see that he was pleased by her reaction. What was that? What's up between those two?