Gap Year

chapter three

Song for this chapter:

Beautiful Eyes by Taylor Swift

Harry's POV

After coffee, Bella and I decide to run back to our homes to grab our art supplies and to change. Bella drops me off, since Liam had drove Matti with my car. I am supposed to meet back at Bella's to drive to class, using Liam's pick-up truck. It is confusing, yes, but Bella insists on doing it this way.

As of now, I am changing into a black shirt and jeans, my usual attire. I sometimes wear a white shirt, but we are painting today.

I live in a house with three other people, Liam, a guy named Cole, and another named Rob. Cole was a decent guy, I had met him senior year. Rob on the other hand, was a total sleaze bag. Cole had brought him into the house after some party, and we couldn't get rid of him. Rob promised he'd pay a portion of the rent, because he didn't want to go home and face his parents.

As I'm packing up my art bag, a black book bag, Cole walks into my room. I raise my eyebrow, as he takes a seat on my bed.

"I'm about to leave, what do you need?" I ask, adjusting myself in the mirror. I slip on a belt, slinging my bag over my shoulder.

Cole blinks once, and then leaves. I wish I could say that was weird, but it happens on a daily. Cole has quirks, and that is one of his main ones.

I grab my keys, and walk out of my room. In the living room was Rob, who's playing video games on the television in the corner. I give him a wave, but all he does is grunt, so I trot out and into the garage.

In park, was Liam's pickup truck. I really dislike driving this car, with its odds and ends. That being, the radio doesn't play, if you don't the heat on, and vice versa. The torn leather on the seats, the distant scent of ketchup, and the horn's incontrollable habit to beep unexpectedly is something that haunts me in my sleep. But, I have no choice to drive it.

The drive to Bella's apartment (directions via GPS) is short; it's one of those drives where everything is a blur.

I arrive at an apartment complex, and I knock on her door, number 507. It took a moment, but the door opened to reveal Isabella. She had changed into jeans and a blue sweatshirt, her hair now down and straight.

"Hi, are you ready?" I ask, leaning on the doorframe. The only thing I could see past Bella was a coffee table and a few paintings. Some I recognized as ones she painted in art class.

"Yes, let me get my bag," Bella disappeared, only to return with a tan shoulder bag. I smile at her, and she returns it.

We arrive at the recreation building, which is pretty much our township's YMCA. We walk into a small room sectioned off to the right. I immediately was overwhelmed with the smell of paint and bright colors blinding my eyes.

Our teacher, Mr. Man, has a thing about flooding the room with natural light. Apparently it "helps us cleanse our souls," and "deactivates the unwanted demon in our brains." Basically, Mr. Man was a little upside the head. The windows are open and the skylights' curtains lifted.

"Harry! Isabella! Come in, come in!" Mr. Man's Italian accent booms from the front of the room. I can't spot him through the mash of students and easels, but most likely he is at his desk, playing with a Slinky.

"Hello Mr. Man, where are our paintings?" Bella says from next to me, semi shouting over the noise of the other students.

This is why I love art class, everything is a colorful mess. Anything could happen in the sixty minutes you're here, ranging from paint being spilled on your pants to your clay sculpture of Elvis Presley being tangled into your hair. That actually happened to someone before, believe me or not.

"In the closet, my dear," Mr. Man told her, and Bella went to retrieve them. At the same time, I go over to the sink to get the paint and aprons.

It's an unwritten code between the two of us, Bella gets the project we are working on, and I collect the supplies.

The room is set up like any normal classroom, just replaced with easels for desks. Bella and I's easels are set up towards the front, next to the chalkboard.

By the time I chose the paint colors, put them in cups, and returned to our work area, Bella had taken out our brushes and clipped our paintings on the easels.

We are supposed to be painting the eyes of our partner, and we are pretty much finished with the drawing part. We sketched out everything already, and colored in the pupils. Since we agreed for me to use Bella as a model for color first, I had a few strokes of blue inside the circles.

"Here, let me start my base coat before you move on, so we both at least started on painting," Bella says, grabbing a thick brush from her easel tray. I nodded, swiveling to the side on my stool, getting ready to open my eyes for a long period of time.

Bella dips her paint brush in a deep green color, and turns to study my irises. We lock eyes, and her left hand reaches up to my forehead. She starts to swipe a piece of hair from my vision, but she freezes in place.

Her blue-gray eyes spoke something that I couldn't read, as if they were a map written in a foreign language. She cocks her head somewhat, her mouth slightly agape.

I awkwardly clear my throat and Bella quickly turns on her stool, facing the painting yet again. She swiftly fills the oval with the green color she chose.

After a few more strokes, it was my turn to start the details of Bella's eyes.

"You have a pretty shade of color," I say transfixed on running the brush over the paper. I am making rings of her undertone, starting with light blue to a smoky gray.

"Thanks, I get them from my grandmother. Strangely, I'm the only one in my immediate family with blue eyes. Everyone else has brown," Bella answers, watching my painting.

"Bella, you know how we are 'setting up' Liam and Matti?" I ask, whirling to face her once again.

"Yes," She gives a quizzical look.

"What if I host a bonfire at my house? This Friday. It'd be fun, and it gives them more time to bond," I suggest, and Bella nods with each word, like an overeager puppy.

"Totally. Text me what time we are having it, so I can come over earlier to help," She grins, ear to ear.

"So it's a date. Not a real date, obviously, but-" I stutter, as Bella bursts out laughing.

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hey!

thanks for reading.

-julia x