Collide

two

I almost dropped my paintbrush as I spotted him amidst the crowd – Sufficient to say, I hadn't been expecting to see Brooklyn at a pottery class. He caught my gaze as I was still staring at him and his face broke into a smile. I dropped my eyes back down to the clay elephant that I was working on painting as he started walking over to me, hoping that he didn't think I was some creepy stalker girl who enjoyed staring at him...Although he was pretty nice to look at.

            Focus, Elisa, focus! I reminded myself.

            "Hey." My ears were greeted by his lovely accent, and I looked up to see him standing across the table from me.

            "Hi," I grinned back up at him.

            "Mind if I sit here?" He gestured to the seat right in front of him. I shook my head, and he plopped down, splaying his hands out on the table. "Nice elephant," He said, pulling through with the conversation starter of complimenting my art once again.

            "Thanks." I held it up, examining it in the light. It was currently half white, half grey as I worked on the first layer of glaze. "I made it myself."

            "Wow." He whistled, impressed, even though it wasn't one of my best works. Painting was my area of expertise, but I liked to dabble with other types of art, as well.

            "I tried to make a bowl out of clay once when I was in primary school, and, let's just say, it didn't turn out too well. And then it ended up exploding in the kiln, anyways." He grimaced as he thought back on it.

            "So, what you are doing here, then?" I giggled, motioning to the many people working no their clay around us. My particular favorite was a castle made by the guy a few tables across from us – The workshop was open once a week, and I'd been watching him progress as the time elapsed. The miniscule details he added to it were amazing, and the colors he was adding now made it even more realistic. If I were younger, it would've been something that I'd have wanted for my dolls. Now that I was older, though, I simply admired his technique and skill.

            "Oh." Brooklyn looked down and cleared his throat. "My aunt brought me along so I could, and I quote, 'See more of the city and socialize.'" He paused for a moment before adding, "And she said you'd be here," almost as if it was an afterthought.

            "That's nice," I said, smirking at him, wondering if Marcy had forced him here at all, or if he had simply gone because of me. I didn't think that I was snobbish about it, but I knew that I was pretty. I had hazel eyes, and I loved the layers of colors that they had in them. My hair was long and brown and, especially after I'd just washed it, it seemed to shimmer. My body shape was satisfactory, as well – A healthy weight, with curves in all of the right places. I knew that some people viewed confidence as being stuck up, but I found nothing wrong with loving yourself.         

            "It's true, I swear!" Brooklyn's cheeks flushed as he turned around in his chair, looking for his aunt and waving wildly when he found her. He turned back around, relieved that he could support his claim.

            "Don't worry," I giggled. "I don't mind speaking with you."

            "Phew." He pretended to wipe his forehead. "As much as I'm sure they're all lovely, my aunt's friends were trying to rope me into speaking about university. That was when I booked it."

            "Ah, yes," I said, joining in with him in his pain. "What is it with adults and speaking about college?"

            "I know, right?" We were silent for a moment as I went back to work and he tried to think of a conversation topic. Eventually, he went with the easiest one – "I'm guessing you like art, huh?"

            "Yup. What about you?"

            "I've never been very good at art."

            "Lemme guess: You can barely draw a stick man." He looked at me from under a raised eyebrow.

            "How did you know?"

            "Well, it's the most common thing that people say when they see me paint. Either that or, 'Can you draw me?' Anyways, that's not what I meant. What I was trying to say was, what are you passionate about?" He rested his head on his hands.

            "Uhm...Hmm. I like to sing, I guess." This time it was my turn to raise my eyebrows at him.

            "You guess? Is that why you came here? To chase the American dream?" He shook his head no. "Well, are you any good?" He shrugged.

            "I mean, I can't really say, can I?" I leaned back, crossing my arms over my chest.

            "Sing for me then, and I can tell you."

            "I can't do that now," He said in a hushed tone, looking around him.

            "Why not?" I pushed.

            "People," He said, as if it was obvious, and I decided to let it go. Even though I was fully comfortable in front of large crowds, I knew that not everyone felt the same.

            "Some other time, then. Promise me I'll get to hear you sing sometime before you leave?" I asked, genuinely curious as to whether he was good or not.

            "Okay," He mumbled.

            "That's not a promise."

            "I promise," He said grudgingly, putting extra emphasis on the word to please me. "Are you happy now?"

            "Very." I flashed him a grin. "So," I said, and he visibly relaxed at the indication that we were switching the topic of conversation. "Are you enjoying Maine so far?"

            "I've not seen very much of it yet, but yeah. Is there anything to do here?" I shot him an incredulous look.

            "You can do everything here. Is there anything you're thinking of, specifically?"

            "Well, what do you recommend?" I had to think about that for a minute before replying.

            "Personally, I like going to Kittery. It's about an hour from here -  A little touristy, but you can get the best fudge there, and there's a couple of really beautiful beaches in the area."

            "Sounds great," He said wistfully.

            "Would you like to go?" I asked him.

            "With you?" He questioned.

            "Marcy and Richard love me, so they'd probably let me take you. Only if you're down for that, of course."

            "I'd love to." He said enthusiastically. "I could go ask-" I cut him off.

            "It would have to be tomorrow. Just because it's kind of an all day thing." I explained.

            "Ohhh." I put the finishing touches on my elephant before starting to pack up.

            "See you tomorrow, then." I smiled at him, and he gave me one back in return.

            "See you!" He called out as I walked away, and I gave him a thumbs-up without looking back. I was playing hard to get, but the truth was, I thought that he was pretty cute – it was a shame that he lived in another country. Ah, well, a story of a summer fling with a hot foreign guy would be just as impressive of a story for my friends.

            As I walked out of the community room, I was almost certain that I had this guy in the palm of my hands.