Call her ZADDY

Ch. 14. - Nick's Muse

               Mick peeked up from behind his sketchbook to peer into Gabrielle's eyes then quickly looked back down at his sketch pad. Her solemn  expression caught him off guard, and caused  him to suddenly start worrying if she would approve of his drawing. Studying his drawing carefully, he checked for any small mistakes, and then began violently erasing away all the smudges.

      Mick cocked his head to the side to admire his work. There was a charming sort of sadness to the drawing that made him feel both heavy and curious all at the same time. Her expression was so unexpectedly soulful.

Mick looked up, back into her eyes, when all at once he felt a strange rush of adrenalin charge through his body, creating goose bumps on the hairs of his arms. He got back to his work with a shiver before that electric pulse came back again, sweeping through his fingers and onto his page. Out of nowhere his hand seemed to be moving at its own free will without the instruction of his logical brain. Mick shivered again. What the hell had gotten into him? Whatever it was, it was somehow aiding his artistic processes and guiding him as he drew!

        As he scribbled away , he couldn't believe his good luck. Mick couldn't recall having felt like this in years. He was an artist! He racked his brain, trying to remember if he had done drugs recently, or if he was maybe already drunk —.

Feeling a tingle of adrenaline course through his chest, he glanced down at the long waves of her hair while the swoosh of his pencil followed down the page in a downward motion. His heart was  pounding. Holy shit, Mick gulped, This girl just managed to fucking inspire me! "She wasn't just sea glass after all," he thought with a chill. The girl was legit.

——

After the drawing was finished, Mick blew away the last of his eraser shavings, where a strange version of his date was revealed on the page. There, her long nose and sad eyes, were perfectly captured in nervous choppy pencil lines, along with her wavy hair rendered sweepingly to the side. Although the piece was made with a shaky hand, there was a natural sweetness to the drawing that gave it raw depth.

Suddenly both shy, each stayed quiet, while recognizing the unspoken awareness that had taken place between them.

Mick sensed he should say something. But what? Anything he tried to say would have sounded cliche. How could he explain how amazing the drawing had made him feel? Or how deeply connected he felt? How transitory. Not only to her, but to his sense of belonging in real time.

As corny as it sounded he felt truly moved. Mick kicked at the ground feeling vulnerable not knowing what to say. It was as if he had accidentally revealed the size of his dick in freezing cold water and wasn't quite sure if he wanted to get out of the pool. To be fair, he reasoned, there was something revealed of her in the sketch too. Although sadly she wasn't naked, he thought with a smirk.  Ha, that would have been cool.

Mick laughed out loud to himself out of nervousness deciding it was time to simmer down.  "Ha. I think we just shared a moment," he joked.

—————

To lighten things up the two started drinking wine and began sharing stories about their lives. As always with her, Mick noticed it was mostly him doing the talking. Mixed in with heartfelt stories about growing up poor he tried entertaining her with horror stories of the time he shot a family coyote  pet, accounts of banning people he detested from bars, or the times he cheated on girlfriends where he later "dirty dicked" them in the morning.

The stories continued to flow with every additional glass of red wine. Once finished, Mick felt a pang of relief and then looked up for her reaction, feeling strangely atoned.

It was dead quiet for several moments before Gabrielle at last spoke. "Well, at least you're incredibly self aware," she said finally.

Mick felt dismayed to see that Gabrielle looked slightly put off. Almost judgmental. But she had complimented him, he reminded himself.

While he realized Gabrielle's kindness was probably only some sort of sad little attempt at manners, Mick decided to go ahead and allowed himself to bask in her praises all the same. It was the first vote of confidence she had ever given him and he decided he'd take it , no matter how backhanded. He was a dog, sure, but a dog with a bone was better than being thirsty.

💋💋💋 thanks for reading - !