Bobcat

Skittles

Chapter Songs:
Love Someone -Jason Mraz
Mona Lisa - Nat King Cole

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Cole's POV:

Her dark lipstick was still partially on my lips as I watched her walk up the the small stage under her main masterpiece. The artwork was covered by a large white sheet, waiting for its reveal. She was standing at the front with her hands together in front of her chest. She got the first speech since she was the opening exhibit for the main. We would slowly all congregate upstairs for my speech when she was done. Her hand moved to the top of her head as she grinned down at the audience, the champagne glass still in her hand. The crowd grew silent as Jordan slid her hand to my shoulder, waiting for her to talk. Lyel on the other side of her and Dylan and Nova on the other side of me.

"We know you're proud of her, man. Calm down. I can hear your heartbeat from here. Eat a skittle," Dylan whispered in my ear as he handed me a small bag of them.

"How did you get these in here? You're not supposed to br-" I started, but Delia's voice had gently echoed around the room.

"Welcome, everybody, to the Sprouse-Marin gallery. I wrote this speech over and over and couldn't find the right words., but I would like to start by thanking Anne for giving me this chance. It means the absolute world for me. I've been struggling as an artist in New York for a few years now, and it's so hard to find someone that will simply give someone off the street a chance without seeing any of their work. I know she had convincing though. I would honestly just really like to thank Cole Sprouse himself for even telling her about me to begin with. I've dreamed of this moment since I was ten, but I never dreamed I would truly make it. A dream is something that you strive for, something that you don't expect to happen without a large amount of effort and hard work and time. A lot of dreams for me died when I didn't get into Juliard for Musical Theatre but I really believe that God denies you certain experiences for a reason. I ended up at NYU, and if I hadn't ever been denied to Juliard, I wouldn't have ever met the amazing Cole Sprouse. I owe him so much."

I could see her starting to tear up. I started to tear up with her. Her hand moved to her cheek as Dylan started to slowly take the skittles away from me, but my hand tightened around the package. He was absolutely not allowed to have them in here. He wasn't going to ruin her moment.

"He's the best friend I could have only dreamed of, and I spend every waking moment thinking of how fortunate I am to even have him look at me, let alone be my best friend and boyfriend. He hasn't seen my final piece. I wouldn't let him see the out come of it. He knew it was happening. I mean, I used his camera."

She nodded to the man behind her, giving him full permission to reveal it. The white curtain dropped, and it was one of the largest, purest HD photos I had ever seen. I was staring into the camera, almost with a smolder, but my hand was the main focal point. I could feel the chills on my spine and the hair standing up on my arms as her voice echoed.

"He's such a strong character, and he talks about world peace and social justice constantly. I asked him if all the words he had ever said were written on his body, would he still be beautiful? I was on his twitter, but I would have been writing words on him like 'dank' and 'meme' and 'Pokémon' and everything else that was misspelled." She got a few laughs and wiped her face as she let out a gentle laugh herself. Dylan reached for the bag of skittles again. I tightened my grip. He was trying to ruin the moment as I smiled up at the beautiful girl in front of me. "But instead, I listened to him rant for hours and watched him pull together a protest against the up-digging of a native American burial ground for a sewage pipe that would take away water for millions. I listened to him spread not a word of hate but of love and peace and social justice. He stood up for the Black Lives Matter movement in a public setting. He stands up for the LGBT community every day. He has nothing but good to say to make the world a better place, and I wish people would see that side of him instead of things like Marsh NY posts of him. He is beautiful in every way possible and continually shows that by standing up to society itself." The room was quiet at the awe of her small speech. My grip on the bag weakened and Dylan managed to get a hold of the corner and pulled. The silence was broken by the sound of every skittle in the pack hitting the floor. Every individual plink hit the floor and echoed. Everyone slowly turned around and looked at me as Dylan backed away. This asshole was pointing at me like it was all my fault. I just stood there as the crowd parted slightly. She raised her hands and looked at me devastated.