A Friendly Experiment

A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words

BELLEN:

"I know we just met and all, but I feel like we have a real connection." I told Teneson.  As always he didn't respond to me, but I'll save all of those observations for the journal. "I mean, look at us.  A pair of crazy kids in this crazy world.  I think we could be real friends.  And when I say real friends, I mean it!  If we were friends, I'd never stab you in the back, or steal your stuff, or trash talk you, and I definitely would never steal your girlfriend." I laughed to myself. "Oh! And we could go shopping together!  Wouldn't that be fun?

I mean, I know you probably wouldn't want to go into Victoria's Secret, but we could definitely do American Apparel and J. Crew.  J. Crew is so expensive, but it's my favorite store!  So many pieces!  And, of course, I would never forget about consignment shops!  They're the best too!  Oh! And we cold dress each other up in crazy outfits and post them to Instagram!" I laughed to myself; that'd be so cute if it were realistic.  

I looked back at Teneson, but he just had his headphones in.  I wondered what he was listening to.  I got up off my bed and climbed onto his to find out, but he just glared at me and got up.  He went into the bathroom and closed the door.  I sighed and stayed on his bed; eventually he would have to come out and deal with me.  Until then, I was going to sit here.

--

Realistically, me siting on a bed was never going to work.  I always get really antsy and can never sit still, so instead I decided to snoop.  I mean, it was the only thing to do.  I went into his sock drawer first, because that's where all the fun stuff is hidden.  I pushed all of his socks and underwear off to the sides, but didn't find anything right away.  However, just as I was closing the drawer, I spotted a piece of paper in the corner.  It wasn't a piece of paper, though; it was a picture.  A miraculous picture.  Teneson was smiling in it.  It was him and a really pretty girl.  And when I say pretty, I mean spectacularly gorgeous in every way.  She had long brown hair and piercing blue eyes.

"What the fuck?" I heard from behind me.  I looked back and saw Teneson walking towards me angrily.  He snatched the picture and shoved me to the side.  He put it into the drawer and shut it. "Why are you always going through my shit?  No one gave you fucking permission!" His yelling rang in my ears and made me so nervous. 

"I..."I stuttered, not knowing what to say.

"You...you?" He mocked my stutter. I just sat there, still in awe that he shoved me.  I always thought that his 'tough guy' routine was just swearing and brooding, but now he was actually mad and scary.

"I'm sorry." I said quietly.  I was getting really nervous and scared of hi,, as he kept glaring at me.

"Fuck you!" He yelled, slamming his fist against the dresser.  I'm an emotional person, so I couldn't help put start to cry.  I ran passed him and into the bathroom, where I slammed the door and locked it.  I cried.

Yes, it was wrong of me to go through his things, but he has barely said one thing to me.  I wanted to know about him, and maybe know him.  I'm a people person; I can't just sit silent in a room with someone, especially for three weeks.  He didn't have to yell!  He didn't have to get upset with me!  He didn't have to be such a...a...jerk.  He'd never gotten this mad, before, even when he caught me snooping earlier.  There must be a reason.  I hope there's a reason that he made me cry.  I don't want to give up hope on him.  He's too special.

I wiped my face and took a deep breath.  I walked out confidently and sat down in my bed.  I pulled out my own sketch book and began to draw, like I always did when I was upset.  I drew another flower, this time a Carnation.  However, it didn't take me long.  I glanced up at Teneson, who, like usual, was not acknowledging my existence.  He looked different though; he looked sad.  I noticed that he was looking at the picture.  I put my sketch book aside and pulled out the journal.  I dated the page and underneath I wrote: Sketch of Subject Looking at Important Picture.  I began to draw Teneson's face.

I've always been kinda good a drawing, and I'd done a lot of good sketches of my friends and family, but this one took the cake. Maybe it was, because I was emotionally connected to the situation, and not just drawing from on outside view.  Whatever the reason was, I ended up with a great sketch.  I capture something that I'd never captured before, though I couldn't quite place what that something was.  I admired my sketch a bit more and then closed the journal.  Teneson's face was almost the exact same as when I'd begun the sketch, which was a while ago.

"Who is she?" I dared to ask.  He looked up at me, this time without any anger; it felt like he wanted to tell me.

"None of your business." He said quietly.  He put the picture on his bedside table and laid down on his bed.  He closed his eyes and looked at the clock; it was only 5:45.  I shrugged and pulled out the journal; this time I was going to express my feeling, because Lord knows I had a lot of them.

--

TENESON:

I woke up when I heard a knock at the door.  I slowly opened my eyes, and thankfully the room wasn't that bright anymore.  I rolled over and watched Bellen answer the door.  She opened it and David was standing there with the two trays of food. 

"Here's your food." He said, handing her the trays. "Is Teneson eating?" He asked, looking in my direction.

"I'm not sure, he's sleeping right now, but I can take it anyways." Bellen shrugged, not noticing that I was awake.  Bellen took the tray and set it down on my dresser, then walked back to David. "What is it?" She asked, observing the food in David's hands.

"Grilled chicken with a mushroom cream sauce." David answered, trying to give her the tray; she didn't take it though.

"Sounds yummy!" She said enthusiastically. "Did you try it?" She asked.

"Not yet, sorry." He said, realizing that he might be feeding us total shit.

"Well you should!" Bellen said, running her peeling a bit of the chicken on and  holding it up to David's mouth.  It was obvious to me that he wasn't comfortable with this, but Bellen pushed in closer and closer. "Oh, come on!  It won't bite." She teased.  Surprisingly, David ate the piece.  He seemed pleased with how it tasted.

"It's actually good." He smiled.  Bellen laughed a little at that and took the tray.

"Good, but I think I should be the judge.  I've always been told that I have a spectacular pallet." She smiled, taking a bit. "Yummy!" She mused, setting the tray down. "You're a real gourmet chef! I mean, if this whole science thing doesn't work out, I could totally see you making a living from this."

"Thanks, but I'm good with the science thing." He said.  Bellen smiled at him and hugged him.

"Thank you for the food, though." She smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  I could see David blushing all the way from my bed. "Thanks for letting me be a part of this too.  It's been amazing so far; I love it here."

After Bellen said that, I didn't even pay attention anymore.  How could she possibly say that she loved it here?  It was obviously a lie.   I mean, it's not like she's made it easy on me, but I didn't exactly make it easy for her either.  We weren't a good match.  But if lying to David and herself about how she felt, then all the best to her.  I wasn't going to change just to make her happy though.  I mean, I really don't have to change.  She went through my stuff!  She won't do it again.  I don't have to change.  Maybe I won't yell as much though.  Not because I feel bad or anything, but just so David doesn't think I'm gonna kill her.  

I snapped back into reality and noticed that Bellen was messing with my food.  I was going to sit up and yell, but I stayed down and just watched for a little.  She was rearranging my tray.  Not only was she doing that, but something else.  I just rolled my eyes and ignored her weirdness.  I went back to sleep.  When I woke up it was 9:03 and Bellen was asleep.  I felt my stomach rumbling and decided that I should eat something.  My food was still there, so I got up and grabbed the tray.  On it was a paper flower with a message attached.  The message read:

"I think we're all afraid to reveal our hearts. It's not at all in fashion" -Paul Simon.