The Eye Of The Ankh #Wattys2016

Chapter Thirty-Three

"So, what do you do for a living, Liddi?" Anna asked pouring herself more water from the pitcher.

"Oh, I work at the art museum. I'm in charge of new exhibits." Liddi said, putting some asparagus on her plate. "What about you?"

"Oh. I used to do musicals and plays. That must be fun, though, working at a museum?"

I rolled my eyes to Hugo. He laughed.

Once dinner was over, and desert was served, Hugo and I excused ourselves. Anna raised an eyebrow. "Your bedroom door stays open," She said, taking a sip of wine.

"Or just stay out of the room," Liddi added, then smiled at Anna.

I took Hugo's hand and pulled him back inside. We went up to the attic were the box of art supplies sat on a dusty table. "Well, Anna and Liddi seem to like each other, I guess that's good." I sat down on an old couch.

"Yeah, I guess." Hugo sat down on a wooden chair. He stood up and sat down beside me. "Dinner was great. But asparagus?"

"Right? That's what I told her but Anna refused to listen." I smiled. "I want to paint your portrait again sometime. But uh, I'll have to make my own canvas."

"That big?"

"Huge."

Hugo smiled, leaning in closer. "I, uh, uh," Hugo leaned in even closer. He tilted his head and I tilted mine. Our noses bumped.

I pulled back a little, chuckling. Hugo looked down, his face red. "That uh, wasn't supposed to happen."

I took his head in my hands and pulled him to my lips.

"I think it went well," Anna said after Hugo and Liddi left the house. "What do you think?"

"Yeah, it went fine."

"What'd you do with Hugo after dinner?" Anna scrubbed a pan.

I smiled. "Do you want to know?"

Anna sighed. "Whatever. You're eighteen and I can't stop you from doing whatever you want to do."

"What are you suggesting? All we did was kiss, Anna. Besides... Hugo's only seventeen. He won't be eighteen until after graduation."

"That hasn't stopped everyone."

"Besides," I said, leaning on the counter beside Anna. "Hugo's old school, probably would want to wait until he's married."

Anna smiled. "You guys are cute together."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever, Anna,"

Hello

My phone buzzed from the new text. It was from an unknown number. I picked up my cell and texted back, cautiously, Who's this?

Looool! It's Halle. Alice right id hope Hugo didnt give me the wrong #

Shit. She's one of those texters. Abbreviate everything. Hugo gave you my number? Kind of rude not to ask.

Oh yea he said that if u r mad yell at me lol

I rolled my eyes just as another text arrived. So howd the dinner date go?

It wasn't a date.

Mmmhmmmm whatever u say

I laughed. I'll see you Monday Halle

Lol ok c u then

I clicked off my phone after saving Halle's number to my contacts.

Come over today, I texted Hugo.

Okay. I will. See you soon.

I smiled.

Once Hugo came over, I brought him up to the attic. I made the custom canvas—took me forever, couldn't even get the angles right so the canvas is crooked—and stapled an old sheet to it.

"Stand there." I pointed to a painter's tape X on the canvas. He stood in front of it, smiling. "Okay, let me pour my paint and I'll get started." I squeezed tubes of blues and whites and black together on my tray. I took my brush—the biggest in my set of one hundred—and painted around Hugo, creating a silhouette of light blue-gray. I took the brush and extended all of the lines outwards, so it was like a flame around Hugo. He was laughing the whole time.

Then I added more blue to the blue-gray and extended that over the first line. I added more and more blue until the whole thing was covered—except for where Hugo still stood—and the edge was vibrant blue.

Then, working fast before the paint dried, I took the wooden end of a paint brush and scraped out the blues so there were lines where the canvas shown through. I made a few lines before having to wipe the tip and continue. Once I was finished, I let Hugo step back and take a look.

In the center was a silhouette of Hugo, white as the canvas, surrounded by shades of blue. The scraped part was to the left of Hugo. It were dozens of my favorite Zentangle designs.

Hugo smiled. "Alice, this is... this is great."

I smiled. "You like it?"

"I love it. But, uh... How will we move it?"

The canvas is bigger than the door. I've already thought about this. When it comes to move it, we'll take apart the framing and carefully take the sheet to its new location, then reconstruct the frame there. For now, though, Hugo doesn't need to worry.

He turned to me, kissing my cheek and wrapping his arms around my shoulders. "I love it so much, Alice."

Hugo looked at me, his face serious. "Listen to me, Alice. If anything ever happens to me, and I'm... I'm gone, I need you to understand how much you mean to me. No matter what happens, understand that you mean the world to me. I'd trade everything, a million jewels and all the riches in the world for homelessness and being poor to still see you."

"Hugo, what are you saying? Nothing's going to happen to you. You're here. And you're safe."

Hugo shook his head. "I'm not safe." He put hishead to mine.