Energizer

seven

Early in the afternoon today, I received a call from Kat. She said that she wants the painting delivered Tuesday, and that Maya was very excited to see it and meet me, the artist. Over the past few days, since dinner with Marcus, we have been talking between yards and texting non stop. I think he really likes me, but I don't want to rush anything. We've only known each other for a few days, but somehow his smile makes me feel alive and his voice calms me down. It's odd that his voice, out of everything, appeals to me, but I sort of liked it. I really wanted to go out soon with him again.

The coffee machine in my kitchen started hissing and I sat down on the counter, waiting. It was 7 at night and I desperately needed the energy to pull through at least one more painting. Business at the mom and pop shop, called AJ and Lisa's decorations, was fairly slow and I wasn't making as much profit as I used to. Could it be the unappealing name? The ripping wallpaper? The old, moldy smell inside? Either way, I made enough money to keep myself afloat and that's all that matters to me. The two paintings I was working on didn't mean too much to me. One was a sunflower with a ladybug crawling across the leaves - this was a request by Lisa. I hate this one because you could find it anywhere. The other one was a dark alley, with a lone man smoking a cigarette, an abandoned tattoo shop in the background. I kind of wondered if anyone who walked into AJ and Lisa's would want to buy this. The only type of people I see enter are old and smell like cat pee, but who am I to judge. The second painting reflected myself, in a way. I'm sure some people would disagree, but I sketched the man with a very distraught look, similar to how I feel most days. He has many visible flaws, and his surroundings are vacant. Once I get it on canvas it will look more mirrored to myself.

My coffee mug sat under the machine's spout, waiting to be filled with dark and delicious caffeinated liquid. This was the pick me up I needed. Coffee was my favorite beverage, for any time of day. Finally, after 4 more hours of painting and sketching, I was off to bed. My hand had a dull ache, similar to the way my head felt. The covers engulfed me in warm comfort. I gazed up at the ceiling, my eyelids heavy. I yawned once, pulling the covers up to my chin. I couldn't stop thinking about Marcus. The way he spoke, the way he walked, the way he looked at me. These thoughts made me happy, and I soon started to imagine what it would be like if we were actually an item (as my mom says). My mind churned, even though the rest of my body was exhausted. My mind was always running. It probably completed a million triathlons by now.
The next morning, the sound of my doorbell woke me up.

"Who the hell -- it's 9 AM," I sighed while I spoke, stretching for a brief moment. The doorbell rang again and I sleepily waddled to the front door, running into almost everything in sight. My eyes were blurry and it took every ounce of energy to keep them open.
I unlocked the door, and pulled it open in one slow movement.
Marcus.
"Ari! Hey! Uh.." Marcus backed away slightly. His arms were tucked behind his back. He must have been put off by my appearance.
"You look really tired," Marcus chuckled, leaning in towards me again. He extended one arm, a skinny finger brushing some of my hair back.
"Yeah, It's so early and I just... I'm not a morning person."
By this point, my speech was probably similar to a drunk 50 year old. I leaned against the door-frame, a weak smile curling my lips upwards as I felt his finger gently brush my forehead.
"I just wanted to give you this container back, sorry it's kind of early," He shrugged and extended his other arm, revealing the container Elana gave me which once held the fruit salad.
"It was delicious," Marcus smiled. I took the container, setting it on the end table next to my door.
"You can come in, if you want to," My voice was still sleepy and I shuffled to the side to let Marcus in.
After I saw him come in, he shut the door and I sat down on my couch, bringing my legs up. I was the dizzy and uncomfortable type of tired, the type of tired that haunts you even after you've slept for 12 hours.
"I'm just so tired," I groggily said, and a yawn immediately followed my slow speech.
Marcus stood in the same spot, his right arm extending over his chest to grab the back of his left shoulder. He soon made his way over to the couch. His eyes looked down at me and he blinked before sitting down. I lifted my legs, setting them on his lap. A small smile curved my lips, but I was still half asleep so who knows if it was really a smile or not. My eyes shut, and that's the last thing I remember from the morning.

"Good morning, princess," A familiar voice trailed from the kitchen to the living room where I was situated, "I'm making you some eggs and a bagel."
I sat up while stretching my arms, moving my hands to my eyes afterwards. They were sleepy and hard to keep open.
"You stayed this whole time?"I fell back down onto the sofa, one arm hanging off.
"Of course. It's only been two hours. You're cute when you sleep, ya know," Marcus turned his attention from the stove, wiggling his eyebrows at me. He quickly turned back.
"I thought I'd be nice and make you some, er, brunch."

"Well, that's very kind of you," I said in a thankful tone. If this was anyone else, I'd probably kick them out of my house. Besides Elana.
My back hurt from the firm couch cushions and the uncomfortable position I fell asleep in, so I decided to get up earlier than planed. My hair was sticking up in random places and one sweat-pant leg was rolled up to my knee. The air felt awfully cold against the bare skin on my chest.
"Aw, look at you," Marcus laughed as I walked into the kitchen. He turned away from the stove and walked over to meet me halfway in the kitchen. His body leaned in close to mine, and he whispered softly into my ear, "You look sexy in the morning."
I didn't know whether to smile or not. This was just a weird situation, because I obviously was not looking attractive in any way, shape, or form. I didn't know whether to feel flattered or embarrassed.
"No I don't," My words mumbled.
"I think you do," He softly said.
Marcus was still whispering, but he slowly started to move away from me. His teeth clamped his bottom lip while he slid the eggs onto a plate.
I stood in awe, periodically rubbing my eyes to make sure this was all real. Why is he acting so weird?
I turned around, briefly walking to the kitchen table where I happily sat down since I was still pretty tired. My eyes scanned my kitchen as Marcus put cream cheese on the bagels. I noticed a navy colored book bag slumped against my fridge. The front pocket was half open, but I could still make out the contents inside due to the slump slightly facing my way.
Crisp and green 100 dollar bills peeked from the un-zipped section of the book bag.

Wow, this kid is loaded, I thought while my eyebrows wrinkled towards each other, remembering the wad of cash he also had in his wallet during our dinner the other day. My thought was soon disrupted, and I jumped in my seat as I heard Marcus begin to speak.

"Hey, HEY. What are you looking at?" He tried to cock his head to get in front of my line of sight, by my eyes were fixated at this point.