masterpiece || matthew espinosa

III

Chasing all the stars - fleurie

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He was beautiful. That sounds disturbing. He would smile at me, when he would walk down the hall with friends, or alone. I wasn't the type to have friends. Art is my friend, and that's all I care about. I had like, one of two friends. Like, Mrs. Van or Mr. Lapal the janitor.

Nobody really acknowledged me, and I was fine with that. I had grown to it, and it was fine. I minded my own business. That's just always how it had been. It was different a few years ago, but not anymore. That all changed.

Matthew hadn't talked to me since the little fling in the art room a few days ago, but I didn't put much thought to it. I looked at his art work he did. The drawing of me. I looked at his other drawings he did in class. He seemed to be an observer more then a object to an observer.

Mrs. Van had mentioned that he doubted his talent, but once he found some inspiration, he blossomed.

Matthew should know of his talent, it would be hard not too. He doesn't seem much like a jock although he is a football player and lacrosse. So, I can tell that he doesn't self indulge.

I headed to my locker from my quiet lunch fest. I put my number in, letting the door un-lock. Just as I was about to stack my books in, a paper flew out. I grabbed it before anyone else did.

art room after school? - matthew

It's not like I could say I'm busy because I wasn't so, why not. I folded the piece of paper, putting it on my holder in my locker. I took the other books I needed and headed down to my English Class.

After a few more hours, I headed down to the dark, small art room. The art room was my home. My actual home was like an art room. My mom is an artist of some sort. She likes to do paper art. Make a messy collage, but everything she does is beautiful. My dad thinks art is idiotic.

He says, "it's not going to make you smarter."

He doesn't care, he just wants a smart kid. I have all A's in all my classes but that doesn't seem to be enough.

The art room was a little chilly, the walls made of brick, didn't help. I was a little early, so I sat down in a chair, pulling out my sketch pad. I worked a little bit on my drawing I was working on earlier.

The girl was staring at a beautiful ocean, her hair blowing in the wind. You could on see the left profile of her delicate face. My sky hung was interrupted when Matthew clambered into the room, a little mad from the way he moved. "Hey is everything okay-" I stopped when he sat down, and I saw his full face. "What happened?" I asked, moving to his side. "I got in a fight." His whole left eye was pitch black and swollen.

"Oh my god, this looks horrible." I moved quick, to get to the sink and get a new sponge for them plastic wrap, that they came in. I soaked it under the rusty sink. I squeezed it brining the damp object over to Matt, who was slumped in his chair. He looked winded.

I pulled the chair that was next to his, right in front of him and sat down. I moved his chair to sit in front of me. I leaned forward making a bold move. I put my thumb on his cheek, and my other four fingers on the back of his neck. I dabbed the sponge on his full looking face.

He closed his deep chocolate colored eyes, as I patted his face. I gave him a small smile, as his eyes opened back up. His bottom lip was split. "They gave you no mercy, huh?" My thumb brushed over the bleeding part of his skin.

I applied the yellow sponge on the lip. "I didn't deserve mercy." He mumbled, "You think you deserved this?" His nose was turning a deep shade of red. I dark colored blood dribbled out of his disheveled nose. "Oh dear," I stood up heading to Mrs. Vans desk, grabbing a Kleenex. "Your nose is bleeding." I formally handed the Kleenex to him.

He wiped his nose, groaning in pain, "U-Uh I think you broke your nose, Matt."

I patted my butt looking for my phone. My fingers brushed the tip, and I pulled it out. I opened Google looking for what broken noses looked like. I quickly shut the phone when I saw how disturbingly vial and gory the images were. From the quick peek I saw Matt's nose was definitely broken. "Why do you think you deserved this?"

"I didn't start the fight but, I asked a girl out that was taken by one of the more viscous football players." I frowned, "Did you know?" He didn't speak for a minute, "Possibly. . . But before I knew I'd get a swing for Jeb, I asked you to come meet me here, I was wondering if you'd teach me how to watercolor."

I raised my eyebrows, surprised of the words that came out of his bruised lips. "Watercolor? Why has that grabbed your attention?"

"Mrs. Van gave me a few magazines too look at, and there was a few beautiful watercolor paintings in there. I have always sketched and haven't had enough practice with regular paint to say I have had experience."

I nodded, "Yeah, sure." I moved to the filing cabinet of art paper and grabbed some watercolor paper. I got a few easy paintbrushes to use and the paint.

I drew the best pansy I could quickly, and opened the paint. "So if you want a darker outside, you use a dark color, of either the same color that would be the lighter color, or entirely different one."

I took a dark purple color, and did the rip of one petal. I went from the the outside to partly in the middle. "Why you have the second color, you can go over the darker color, if that makes sense." Matt seemed to understand, so I handed him the brush to let him do it. I got a cup and filled it with the usual clouded water and put it on the table. "That looks great." I mumbled sitting next to him.

His phone buzzed after ten minutes. He pulled it out frowning. "I actually have to go. Can we meet here on Wednesday? I don't have practice then."

I was feeling bad about myself not having any plans, always being available for him. I'll ask my mom to do something with me. "Wednesday doesn't work for me next week. How about Tuesday?"

"Oh. . ." He cleared his throat, "Yeah, that should work." He already thought I was a loser.

My cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "Uh, Matt?  Are you enjoying art?"

He turned his head giving me a smile, the best that he could. His face looked in pain. "You and Art are my favorites things, right now." I was surprised. We had some these art lessons a couple of times, but surely not enough to start flirting or start developing feeling for each other.

We barely know each other.

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so, i am just going to say sorry ahead of time, but i probably will take more time to write these updates.
i try to make them good quality, and have them up fast so you can enjoy more.
but, i feel like i am not putting up my best doing these quick.
please bare with me.
much love