When Sweet Meets Sour

Chapter - 7

Leanne's POV

~ And I was like, Baby, baby, baby oooh
Like, Baby baby baby nooo ~

“The heck.. Hailey..!” I whined.

I could hear her booming laughter.

“Why do you do this to me? What have I done to deserve this torture?” I groaned as though I was in pain.

“Get up, you lazy bum. You have to go to work and so do I,” she said.

“B-b-but ‘Baby’ really??” I asked incredulously. I don't have a problem with Justin Bieber but that song is sooooooo annoying.

“What? It was the only way to wake you up. Now get your lazy a*s off the bed. Come on, up, up!” she ordered as though I was a 2 year old.

“I don't know why I'm still friends with you,” I grumbled under my breath but as usual..

“ 'Cause I'm the only person who can handle your a*s,” she said, smacking my butt as I tried dragged myself to the washroom.

I turned back and glared at her, “Don't touch my tooshie, ever.” then I walked over to the washroom and did all my daily morning rituals.

I put on a flared skirt that reached an inch above my knee and a cute white top. I put on some bangles and a skull pendant that Hailey had gifted me for my birthday.

I took a ragged cloth bag and put my casual clothes inside for when I'll be painting. I hired a cab and reached with just five minutes to spare.

I speed-walked inside and saw the elevator was about to close. I ran and shouted, “Wait..! Stop the elevator!” Someone put their hand between the doors just as it was about to close.

I ran inside, thankful to have caught the elevator in time.

“You're a lifesaver. Thank you, thank y... Mr. Angel???” The man I was drooling over was right here next to me and I had just called him Mr. Angel. Can I just facepalm at my idiocy? And I just had a conversation with myself while I was staring at him. He probably thinks I'm a loony.  And.... he's smirking. Viola! Perfecto!

“Leanne? Leanne, you okay?”

What a funny voice! His voice seems just like Gabriella's.

“Huh? How do you know my name?” I asked

“Over here,” the voice said behind me.

I turned, “Gabriella? Oh I didn't see you there.”

I blushed so hard, I'm sure I resembled a cherry. I was so busy staring at him and patronizing myself that I forgot that there were other three more people other than him. Oh Ground, now would be a good time to swallow me. Like literally now.

“For a second I thought you were um.. not here,” said Gabriella controlling her smile.

And some guy standing next to her disguised his laugh as cough.

I blushed harder. I probably looked like fiery red paint.

‘Why, oh why, does this always happen with me?’ I thought to myself. 

Phew, thank goodness. Maybe she saw that the embarrassment was enough, Gabriella spoke again, “So Leanne, now that you're back to Earth..”

...or maybe not.

“..this is Adam Brown, Gregory Fletcher, Hunter Wayne and last but not the least this is Zachary D'Arcy.”

Then she came close and whispered, only for me to hear, “Not Mr. Angel.” Then she spoke out louder, “He's the owner of this gallery.”

I said meek hi's and hello's to everyone.

So Mr. Angel is called Zachary D'Arcy. Sweet! Now I can stalk him on Facebook.

“I'm not on Facebook, if you're thinking about stalking.”

Wow, such velvety voice. Like smoothly whipped cream or like eating a red velvet cupcake.

Wait, what did he say? How did he know?

“Why would I stalk you? You're nothing special.” That came out so confident. I'm so proud of myself.

Gabriella laughed and said something to which Mr. Ang– I mean Mr. D'Arcy just grunted.

Finally after, what seemed like a eternity, the elevator doors opened and I rushed out.

I glanced my watch. And stopped dead on my tracks. It had been a five minute elevator ride. Only five!

Gabriella came up behind me and said, “Something wrong?”

“Uh.. No. Um..”

“Well then, I suppose you know where your assigned room is, right?” Gabriella asked.

I gave her a confused look. She replied, “The basement. You'd have to take the elevator again.”

“Oh.. Right. Yes. I forgot,” I gave her a sheepish smile. She smiled in reply and started walking down the hall.

“Gabriella, wait!” I called after her.

She turned around, “Yes?”

“Can I ask you uh.. a question?” I know I'm gonna sound funny. Gosh, I hope she doesn't think I'm some kind of stalker.

“Yes, sure. Why not?”

“Um.. Uh..  Why doesn't Mr. D'Arcy um.. have a Facebook account?” Okay so I'm not a big fan of myself.

She laughed, “He claims that he doesn't have time to spare doing teenage things anymore.”

She smiled sadly as though reminiscing an old thought.

Then continued, “He grew up way to fast for his age.”

“Um.. Oh. Okay.. Don't tell him I asked that. I was just curious is all and –”

“You don't have to explain. I understand everything. And I think you're something else,” she said, winking at me and then turned around and walked away.

I stood there thinking what did she mean by I was something else. ‘Maybe she thinks I'm a loony toon. Well, who doesn't?’

I walked towards the elevator and as it opened I entered. Thankfully this time there was no one else.

The five minutes passed quickly and I reached the basement. I entered the room assigned for me. I felt as though my whole life just turned around.

I changed into the clothes I wanted to paint in.

Then with a deep breath I dipped the brush in the midnight blue paint can.

I knew it then that I was going have a beautiful time here. And I hoped it never ended.

This is just the beginning, Leanne - Fate.

***********
Hey guys. Its been a really long time since my last update. I apologize for that. I had a lot of things going on in my life.

Either way I hope you guys like it.

Please comment, share and fan.

Hugs for all,
Sharon.