Page 5 of Paint Eater
Logan’s expression wasn’t awed, exactly, but it was a soft kind of intense, drinking the sight in. Even the building itself was beautiful in that light, the crumbled brick strewed across the floor, the flakes of rust, the high ceilings like a yawning mouth with chipped teeth.
Logan looked at him, eyes catching the ethereal light. “Yeah. Good.”
Jay grinned and then stood back. He’d been aware enough of Logan during high school to know he didn’t like to be the centre of attention.
Jay entertained himself. The building was large, wide, and this whole floor was devoid of internal walls, interrupted only by metal columns, the bared bones of a still creature. Jay hopped on the debris, drew a winged something on the floor with his foot, scraping the heavy layer of dust away to leave streaking lines. He jumped on a plank balanced on one of the bigger pieces of lumped brick so that the other end sprung up, kicking tiny particles into the air that shimmered with the awakened light, now turning rich and golden. The whole space was starting to glitter with streams of honeycomb, little, floating flecks that would swirl and shudder when Jay passed his hands through them.
By the time Jay sat down where the outer wall used to be, dangling his legs over the edge, the sun had awoken entirely.
“Okay,” Jay finally heard behind him, and he turned to see Logan, standing there, camera back to hanging around his neck, one hand cradling it protectively.
“Did you get what you wanted?” Jay asked, moving to stand up and then stilling when Logan joined him instead.
“Yeah. Do you know about any other places like this? Not exactly like this, but places that are, you know…”
“Enchanted?” Jay whispered teasingly, although he wasn’t fully joking.
Logan rolled his eyes, but Jay could see the slight tilt in his lips.
“Sure, yeah. You want me to take you to more places?”
“If you don’t mind.” It was said a little roughly, as if to counteract the obvious politeness of his request.
Jay smiled. “Sure. Can I see the pics you took?”
At that, Logan instantly clutched the camera tighter, pressing it against his chest.
Jay waved the request away. “Don’t worry about it, be secretive.” He laughed. “You know the first person to be photographed didn’t even know it? It was supposed to be of like a city landscape, taken from a window or something, looking down at what seemed like a deserted street, but a person, I think it’s ’cause they were having their shoes shined or whatever, stood still for long enough that they were photographed. So…photography is full of secrets.” Jay whispered the last bit, trying to get Logan to relax.
Logan gave him an odd look, assessing, but he’d unclenched his hold on the camera. “Nisha didn’t tell me you were so into photography. She told me you were an artist or something.”
“Oooh, do you and Nisha talk about me?” Jay teased, laughing when Logan huffed and turned away. “I’m not really an artist. I mean, I like to paint and stuff and draw and all that, but I work at a tattoo shop. Well, I’m an apprentice, although I get paid, obviously. Have you heard of Sunja?”
Logan shook his head slowly.
“She’s, like, this amazing tattoo artist, and I meanamazing.Do you have Insta?”
“No.”
“Damn, okay. Still, you can look her up. Anyway, yeah, I’ve been following her for ages and managed to get an apprenticeship with her which is, like, fucking amazing.”
“Oh yeah? You watch people tattoo, or, what?”
“Sometimes, yeah, but you can’t learn by just watching, you know? First I was tattooing on pig hide, but I’m doing people now.”
“How long have you been at it?”
“Two years, but I’m still learning loads. Like, I can’t just do my own stuff all the time, you know? I had to start with American Traditional, which is really simple without loads of details, but it’s got a limited palette and lining issuperimportant, so it’s a good place to start.”
“Lining?”
“Like the lines you do, keeping them smooth and the same width and stuff, and not having them be crazy and wonky.”
“Ah.”
“Anyway, yeah, that’s what I do,” Jay finished, realising that he’d once again talked for too long in response to a simple question. Logan hadn’t told him to shut up, though, didn’t even look annoyed, which was good at least.
“That’s cool. Get any weird requests?”
