Undercover Star

♪ Fifteen ♪

"How's it going?"

I looked up at Summer and frowned. She invited me over Nancy's home to learn how to paint some flowers. Nancy was very eager to teach me, but it wasn't going well. My flowers looked like a cat painted them.

"Jesse, it's amazing," Summer said, leaning over to get a look at my painting herself when I didn't answer.

"Thanks," I said, chuckling. I looked at hers and felt my smile fade. If mine was 'amazing' hers was unreal. It looked like someone went out and took a photo of some real flowers.

"I may just stick to buying paitings," I said, putting my paint brush down.

"That's nonsense," Nancy said, shaking her head. "It looks great. This is your first time, after all."

"You're right," I said, sighing. "I've tried so many new things since I got here."

"Now you can't say you're boring anymore," Summer said, grinning at me.

"Now I'm a boring board with some nails in it."

"You're a wonderful person with a singing talent and a hidden artistic side," she corrected softly.

I smiled back at her. I didn't deserve to be complimented by her. She was the one who was wonderful after all. I was just an actor.

"You just need the finishing touches," Summer said, refocusing on my painting. She stood and pointed to the brush in my hand. "You just need to add some shadows to the petals. You'd be surprised how much it helps."

"I'll mess it up," I declined, shaking my head.

"I'll help," she said. She grabbed onto my hand and lifted the brush to the canvas. I tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach as she guided my hands gently across the petals. When she was finished, she leaned away from me and examined our work. "Now it's perfect."

I pursed my lips as I looked it over, disagreeing with her. Her shadows did help, but they didn't take away from the rest of the hideous art that I created. "It's pretty darn ugly."

"Jesse, it's beautiful," Summer said, sitting back on her stool after releasing my hand. "It even reminds me of you."

"You think I'm an ugly flower?" I asked, feigning hurt.

"No!" she said quickly, shaking her head. "Not at all. It is just that you don't see yourself like others see you. Just like you don't see the beauty in the painting, you don't see the greatness in yourself."

"Well, you are the beautiful flower here," I say with a hint of amusement, but I couldn't tell anything closer to the truth.

She smiled shyly, looking at the ground. "Thank you."

Nancy looked at us and smiled knowingly. I had completely forgotten she was there. "Why don't you go show Jesse your other paintings while I get things cleaned up?" she suggested.

"I'll help clean," I said.

Nancy patted my hand. "Thank you, but I can do it. Cleaning is actually very relaxing for me."

I nodded. "Thanks for teaching me. That was a lot of fun."

"It was the least I could do for all you've done for us," she replied, smiling warmly.

"Would you like to see my other paintings?" Summer asked. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear like she was nervous I wouldn't want to. I noticed she had paint all over her apron and some green on her face. I looked down at my clean apron Nancy forced me into. Maybe the problem was I didn't get messy enough.