Work of Art

Chapter 42

"So you're telling me you got coffee with Doctor Cullen and you're JUST NOW telling me?!" Maggie exclaimed loudly from where she sat on Nick's bed. "I cannot believe you."

Nick shrugged from where she stood in front of her easel, "It didn't seem that important."

"That important?!" Maggie practically yelled making Nick glad her mom wasn't home. "First of all, you getting paid for a commissioned painting is kind of a big deal, but more importantly it's Doctor Fucking Cullen!"

Nick laughed. "The doctor's actually pretty cool, too."

"Cool and smoking? What more could a girl want?"

"MAGGIE!" Nick yelled at her friend.

A cheeky grin split across Maggie's face. "Oh come on, you were practically drooling over him last semester."

Nick looked back at the canvas she was currently sketching on, not wanting to meet Maggie's eye when she replied. "I was not."

"Do I need to remind you again of the time you burst into my room losing it because he gave you butterflies?"

"They were not butterflies," Nick grumbled. "My chest legitimately felt weird." She decided not to mention that she still gets the feeling when he's around.

"Whatever you say, sweetie."

Nick turned from her canvas to glare at her friend.

Maggie just stared back with a devilish grin, urging Nick to attempt to defend herself. Nick, however, did not oblige. With a roll of her eyes, she turned back around and resumed working.

Maggie flipped open the book she was reading for English and flopped onto her stomach, getting comfortable to force her way through the pages.

They existed in silence for a while, both working on their own tasks but enjoying each other's company.

They ended up passing a lot of time together like this over the coming weeks. Joining Maggie, the four friends would laze around Nick's room working on various assignments and chatting while Nick either painted or worked on homework as well.

On days they weren't at Nick's, they were usually at Jonah's. He had gotten a new stereo system for Christmas, which they frequently took advantage of.

A few weeks later, an old swing song from the thirties was echoing around the room. The five of them were settled into the couches and chairs in Jonah's basement. Nick sat with her legs curled beneath her, leaning on the arm of the couch.

Suddenly, Jonah hopped up. He walked over to Maggie and held out his hand.

"Dance with me," he said to his friend.

Maggie groaned, pretending to be exasperated, as she took his hand and stood, but Nick could see the smile in the girl's eyes.

Jonah pulled Maggie in close and then raised one arm to twirl her around. Maggie's ringing laugh echoed around the room as she stumbled into him. With something that Nick could only describe as clumsy agility, Jonah immediately pulled Maggie into a dip, which caused her to let out another surprised laugh.

Nick grinned at her friends, but her amusement quickly dropped as Jonah turned to her and held out his hand.

"I'll leave the dancing to you two," Nick joked, shrinking further into her spot on the couch.

"Oh no, you're dancing," Jonah said as he grabbed her hand and forced her from her spot but a tug.

"Gotta practice for prom," Jonah said as he danced Nick over to where Maggie was still standing.

"Prom isn't for months still!" Nick exclaimed.

"You need that much practice sweetie," Maggie teased as she took in Nick's exasperated state.

Nick rolled her eyes. "Like you're any better than me," Nick poked back.

"Guess I need to practice with you both then!" Jonah exclaimed as he removed one hand from Nick and reached out to grab Maggie once again.

Soon, they were in some sort of triangle shape dancing to the music in laughable ways. Jonah held one of each of their hands and kept moving the girls around the room. After taking a moment to sneak a photo, Nora stood as well. With a laugh, her and Henry joined in the festivities, although they soon broke off to dance together.

After a couple of songs, all five friends slumped back down onto the couches.

"I'm seriously out of shape," Nick complained as she heaved a breath.

"Yet another reason to practice dancing more!" Jonah exclaimed, causing both Maggie and Nick to groan.

Nick's phone dinged, drawing her attention away from her friends.

Her eyes widened at the sight of the number on the screen.

She had made the decision not to save his number in her phone. It seemed too personal, too permanent. Plus, she didn't want to have to explain to anyone who may see his contact. But, the lack of name didn't stop her from recognizing the strand of digits that flashed across her screen.

Nick tried to keep her composure as to not alert her friends, but her heart was racing. What had prompted him to message her?

Hands shaking, she unlocked her phone. Her brain was running wild with all the possibilities he could have messaged her. Is he backing out? Does he want to get coffee again? Does he miss me?

Nick shot that last thought down as she internally scoffed at herself. Without another thought, she slid the message open so she wouldn't;t be able to overthink anymore.

"Just wanted to check in. How's it going?"

She glanced up to make sure all her friends were still preoccupied then hastily typed a reply: "Good, I can send you a picture later tonight if you'd like"

His reply came faster than she'd expected. "That would be lovely."

Knowing that Carlisle was not waiting on her to send a photo, Nick was antsy to get home so she could update Carlisle on her progress. Maybe she would even try to get in a little more work, maybe even some details, to make the piece look more impressive. She couldn't help but want to impress him.

Blaming her hasty departure on sudden tiredness, Nick was soon heading back to her house.

After a brief hello with her mom, she headed straight for the easel in the corner of her room. Nick admired the progress she had made so far. The sky was a hazy purplish-blue littered with white clouds and some of the rolling hills in the background had begun to take shape. All of the trees in the foreground, however, were still just sketches. It would do for now.

After looking her work over one final time, Nick took out her phone and snapped a photo to send to the doctor. She hit send and closed her eyes, anticipating as speedy of a reply as before. However, her phone didn't vibrate in her hands.

Nick couldn't decide if she felt relieved or disappointed at the lack of communication. He's probably just busy, she reasoned as she squeezed some fresh acrylic paint onto her palette. Seeing as she was home for the night, she may as well work more on the painting.

Paintbrush in hand, Nick decided to tackle some of the hills closer to the foreground. As she worked, their forms came more and more into focus, the deep greens standing in contrast to the desaturated background. While her hands worked, her mind continued to overthink as her phone remained silent-- and Nick slowly came to admit that she was definitely more disappointed than relieved.