Blank Canvas

Chapter 12 - The Room

Chapter 12 - The Room

I seemed to be building up a reputation as the one to go to for anything art related in the home, because only a week later, I was called into the office again, this time by Julie.

"So, basically, we want you to help us with a project we are working on," Julie said, perching on the edge of her desk.

"Anthony's room is tiny, much smaller than anyone else's, and as it's his birthday next week, we've decided to move him into a bigger room, because, well a 17 year old needs space. So, we were wondering if you could paint the walls for us, like you did with your room?"

I smiled happily. They actually trusted me to do this, and that meant a lot to me.

"Of course I could!" I replied, excitement bubbling up in me at the mention of a new project for me.

"Great!" Julie said, getting up and hugging me gratefully. "We have picked the room next door to yours so that you can slip in and paint when you can, or want to, without being noticed as you ferry paints through the corridors!"

Something paused within me at that. Anthony was moving into the room next door to me? I couldn't quite decide if that was good or bad. I guess I might get a chance to find the real him. Which I couldn't deny, I was dying to do. I had a feeling that a decent guy might actually be hiding under all of his acts, if only I looked hard enough.

I quickly pushed that thought to the back of my mind, focusing on the task in hand.

"So what does he like?" I asked, almost curious for myself.

"He's quite into music, so I had an idea of maybe a kind of club setting thing." I smiled, an idea quickly forming in my head.

"Yeah, I can see that working." I already knew what paints I was going for the project too, some that I barely ever used, but loved when I did use them.

Julie beamed at me.

"Thanks so much, Sylvia, you're saving us a fortune as we don't have to get in a professional decorator, we have our own!"

I blushed at that. I wouldn't say professional...

"His birthday is next Wednesday, and he's going out for the day, with sone friends I think, so we're going to move his stuff for his return. That means we need you to have all the painting done, and the walls to be dry for Wednesday."

I nodded, before leaving the office and shutting the door behind me.

This was going to be fun.

******

Going back to my room, I grabbed a soft pencil and quickly pulled my thoughts together.

I had a clear picture in my mind of what I wanted, and I was just about to go next door and start sketching, when Louis walked in.

"You look like you're on another mission," he said as soon as he saw me, closing the door behind him.

"You know me too well!" I said laughing softly. "I've been roped into decorating Anthony's new room!"

He smiled to himself.

"I'm not surprised to hear that!" he replied.

I laughed before grabbing his hand and taking him next door to Anthony's room to be. Closed the door behind us carefully, I started looking round.

It was much like mine, with a window showing almost exactly the same view, just a little further along, and a wardrobe in the same corner. The walls were just white.

"Good potential," I murmured, before walking up to the wall and running my hand over it.

"Don't you get just a little bit daunted by a blank canvas?" Louis asked, his voice echoing round the room.

I walked over to him slowly.

"No," I replied simply. "A blank canvas isn't daunting if you look at it the way I do. I see it as a new chance to portray your thoughts and feelings to someone else, and where you see plain white, I can already see my plan. So it's not actually blank at all to me, therefore not daunting in the slightest. Think of it like life. You have a huge number of years ahead of you, aren't you daunted by it?"

He shook his head slowly.

"Exactly," I smiled at him. "My mum always used to say that life is a blank canvas, it's what you do with the blank canvas that counts."

With my philosophical lecture over, I turned to the wall and began to draw.

Soon enough, I was looking at a sketch of a club. On one wall was a DJ behind his deck, moving some sliders with one hand, and waving the other in the air. There was a big crowd of people dancing, but only their outlines, because they were only going to be silhouettes in the end. Then there was a bar on the wall opposite the DJ, with a man shaking a cocktail. There were 2 bouncers sketched either side of the door, and I had even drawn on the door, showing the queue of people waiting to get in, and on the cupboard door, giving a glimpse into another room of the club. Right at the bottom, there was a border of sound bars, at the moment just rectangles, but they would come to life in time.

Louis looked around, gobsmacked at what I had produced from my vivid imagination.

"Anthony is going to love this!" He said, beaming at me when he finally managed to produce some words in response to my drawing.

"Good, that was the intention," I said, beaming back. "And you wait until I paint it, I have such a cool trick up my sleeve!"

I took one last look round the room, before walking to the door. Looking over my shoulder, I could see Louis still staring at my drawing.

"Life's a blank canvas," I said softly, "If I could do this with this blank canvas, imagine what you can do with yours."

With that final philosophical thought, I smiled softly at him, before heading back to my room, leaving him to take in the drawing.

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Hi everyone :)

It's Wednesday so enjoy your update! I've been excited about this one, so I hope it lives up to your expectation :)

Had my first exam yesterday... Which went well! 1 down, 19 to go :/

So yeah, next update on Sunday, and please vote comment and share :)

Have a great day!

Catherine xxx