Falling All The Way

chapter 12

Chapter 12

Here's another thing about me, I RELIGOUSLY HATE COFFEE. I hate the bitter after taste, the intoxicating smell of coffee beans getting crashed in the machine, I hate the long line of sad tired and over worked citizens who are paid barely enough to spare for the purchase of the overpriced addictive beverage. But after a long previous day of teenage wretchedness, I was surviving on the sheer goodness of mother earth; I had a crush on a gorgeous girl who didn't like me back, a stalker who happened to be a lot more thoughtful than I had imagined, a dad who might or might not be lying to his family and a mother who I can't talk to about any of these, so I made an exception; I sneaked to the teacher's cafeteria and grabbed a strong coffee and then continued to the studio where my art project was sitting alone sad and almost forgotten.

At the studio, Stephanie wasn't there when I arrived but her canvas was uncovered, which meant that she was lurking somewhere around the studio and was probably watching me from wherever she might have been, but that didn't stop me from snooping around her workspace. I was trying to find evidence that she was my sneaky secret admirer but what I found was even more exciting.

On Stephanie's canvas, there was a sketch of a feminine nude, the face was covered by a fabric having a picture of many scared faces, the hands were covering what appeared to be tits, legs were crossed and yet a neatly trimmed V-shaped pubic could be seen. The sex appeal was evident and so was the shame. Her incomplete sketch had me glued on the spot; I couldn't look away even if I tried. While my love for women and my over the top libido had me appreciating the sex appeal, my passion for art saw beyond what my hormones were showing me and was impressed by the master piece that was in the making on Stephanie's canvas.

"Seen something you like Mrs. Stalker?" Stephanie said behind my ear.

"You don't even know half of it_ pervert"

"Ew, there's a child the room, keep your voice down" she ran her hands through my hair to make her point about me being the child she was talking about.

"I don't doubt that, but does 'waterproof Jordan sneakers' ring a bell?" I didn't expect her to come clean about being my stalker, but if was the one, I was hoping to catch her blushing or acting embarrassed. But I got nothing, she was completely green

"Apart from the fact that, they are good for fishing, no bell at all"

"So neither does gold paint brushes?" I asked just to be sure.

"Nope. And you are so freaking gonna tell me what's gotten into you" Stephanie said evidently confused.

"Nothing, not in a while anyway, considering my body count is a..." I started to say but she cut me off at the best part. "I wasn't referring to your panties_" she said, a tad of harshness sipping through her words. It was insensitive of me to bring up my body count hours after she had just told me that she liked me. "sorry" I said sincerely, and that's rare for me.

"No, sorry, we are supposed to be friends_ it should be easy" she fixed her gloomy face instantly and I knew better than to question its truthfulness. Let alone push her into vulnerability.

There was a slight awkwardness between us that I was dying to get rid of, the shy sad smile on her face touched my most fragile parts in the most intimate ways, I wanted her to know that I wasn't just friend zoning her, that I was being her friend in all honesty, but there were no words that could convince her the way I wanted her to get it, then I got I got an idea; as friends, we were always talking about my problems, so I gave it a shot "The person who stealthily put a note in my bag yesterday, has been sending me anonymous gifts, and I could only trace them back to you, because the gifts looked like things you would buy" I told her tentatively. She eyed my coffee then goose bumps rose up on her arms and it had nothing to do with the chilly weather. She knew I hated coffee and was probably blaming herself for my unusual caffeine intoxication. I soothed her fears with a promise that I would tell her if it got weird and uncomfortable for me.