Sweetarts & Cherry Hearts

Chapter Three

The next day, Joseph woke up on his own, which meant he woke up at 1:47 PM, which also meant.... "Well good evening, sleepyhead." Lacy said sarcastically in her normal harsh tone "Doesn't sound like there's anything good about your evening." Joseph shot back, getting the usual eye roll from his roommate "Whatever. Get up and stop lazing around." She said before walking off. Joseph just laid there though, staring up at the ceiling, the only sound to comfort him was the small hum of the ceiling fan. He stayed on his bed for a little longer before forcing himself to get out of bed. He stood up a little too quickly though and he became lightheaded as blood rushed through his head. He stood there like he was completely drunk, his hand on his right temple as he tried to regain his balance and most of his eyesight which was flooded with small and big dots of all colours. He waited for the weird feeling to go away before getting ready for the day, a day that would peobably be as uneventful as all the others. Yesterday was okay though. 

Joseph got ready as he normally did; put on that oversized hoodie, jeans, shoes, brush hair and style it, brush teeth, then the day begins. He went to the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee. Coffee... he wondered why he even needed it. It never did anything. It didn't give him any energy. He was always tired no matter how much candy he ate or how much coffee he chugged. He was always tired. He shook away the thought and tried to think of the happy parts of life. As usual, the first thing that popped up was Mason's awkward smile, which -just like his laugh- looked forced in one way or another. Joseph had noticed that every time Mason showed a sign of happiness, it looked forced, like he had to fake it his whole life. Joseph got a little worried, but shook his head I'm sure he's fine. He thought as he picked up his mug of coffee with shaky hands. He breathed in sharply when his hands got a little burned by the hot mug, making him plop it back onto the countertop "Jesus!" He said quietly, shaking his hands frantically, trying to cool them off. After a little bit of waiting, he could finally pick up the mug and drink the practically useless coffee. He sat down at the table and fiddled with a pen as he slowly got lost in his train of thought.

:::

Mason was pacing about his living room, trying to think of what to draw. After hours of thinking since he woke up, he gave up and just flopped onto the couch "The only thing I can think of is just the same thing I drew yesterday!" He said madly before slamming his face into a pastel blue pillow and groaning in frustration. He then just layed there for a little bit before sitting up and sighing "This sucks." He mumbled, slumping down into the fluffy cushions. He stared up at the ceiling and twiddled his thumbs. The one comforting thing in the room was the quiet buzz of the ceiling fan above as it spun slowly. He hummed quietly to himself, kicking his feet back and forth as he tried to muster up any motivation to draw. He slowly closed his eyes, the thought of sleep not too far back in his mind. He slowly drifted to sleep, but stopped himself midway "No time for sleep. I have work to do." He said before yawning and standing up. He went to the kitchen and poured a glass of sweet tea. He picked up the cold plastic cup and took a sip before returning to the sofa and plopping back down. He crossed his legs and slumped forwards, staring at the little sketchpad he almost always had with him. He gave it a slightly disgusted look "Why can't you just give me ideas? You'd be pretty useful if you did." He said to the sketchpad and obviously getting nothing in response. He leaned back and took another sip of the cold sweet tea.

Soon enought, he got tired of the now annoying buzzing of the fan and turned it off. When he did so, he caught a glimpse of the still-drying roses in his kitchen, the ones that still wore the colour of a cherry. He then started thinking about cherries, how they looked like hearts hanging on strings or how a child would draw a tree. He sat back down on the couch and sank into the cushions once again. He wondered still if his neighbour Joseph would like them. He sat there for a while before getting up to look in the fridge for any cherries. To his disappointment, there were no cherries to be found in the plain white fridge "Dang it. Guess I should go gets some." He mumbled, making a mental note to get some cherries next time he would go shopping. He made another mental note to ask Joseph if he liked cherries. Mason smiled at the thought of Joseph. The boy, unlike Mason, had no forced laughs or smiles. They were all true and adorable, no matter how long it lasted. Without thinking, Mason began pacing back and forth as he thought about his neighbour. After what felt like a long time, Mason flopped onto the couch and picked up his sketchpad and a pencil. He started to sketch out something, his hand flowing in short streeks along the small piece of paper, making outlines of may different things that were soon to be completed. He sketched and sketched, erased and erased until he finally finished the drawing. It had Joseph in the middle of the paper with a small flower crown that had cherries woven into it by the stems. There was a short sentence at the top in all lowercase letters...

"a sweetart with a cherry heart"

A simple sentence that even the artist himself couldn't understand. He simply sat there and gazed down at the drawing before taking a picture of it. He smiled and closed the sketchpad "Finally I've drawn something that I can live with." He said to himself, laughing quietly. He yawned and stretched out his arms. He then stood up and slowly made his way to his room and onto the bed. He curled up in the big fluffy blankets, not caring that it was practically midday, and slowly drifted off to a well deserved rest.