Page 26 of Who's Playing You
I gave her a gentle smile to alleviate some of the tension that I didn’t want between us. I reached out and cupped her elbow.“Don’t apologize,” I had to hold myself back so I didn’t lean into her and put my forehead to hers.
Not yet.
She wasn’t there yet.
I needed to let her catch up to me.
“I’m an open book - for you,” I tacked on that last part on an exhale. “I just really hate when people assume things. It’s a pet peeve of mine. And, to be honest, I’m really excited for today. With you.” To this she visibly relaxed and gave me a tentative smile in return.
“Me too,” she breathed out on an exhale like I’d done before, and her smile grew.
I couldn’t help the shit-eating grin that took over my face at her response. “That’s why I wanted to clear that up, I didn’t want you to assume something about me that isn’t true. I’d prefer to just tell you, or you ask me.” She looked at me a little curiously.
Shit! I needed to remind myself that she didn’t really know me. For all she knew, this was the first time we’d met.
I had to backpedal a little, “I just mean, I’m so excited for today and the remainder of our workshops. So we’ll be spending a lot of time together. And so I’d just hate that you thought something of me that wasn’t true.”
She nodded in understanding. “You’ll learn, Nicholas, that I’m not a particularly judgemental person. And I do apologize for jumping to conclusions and assuming… well, anything. But I mean…” she trailed off as she looked me up and down and I fucking loved the fact that she was obviously checking me out, which also meant she was attracted to me.
Obviously.
I waited for her to finish her perusal and sentence, “... well, I’m sorry but I’m not blind…” her eyes snapped to mine and they were about to bug out of her head. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” She covered her face in embarrassment. “That issounprofessional of me, and I just objectified you…I. Am. So. Sorry!That wasn’t supposed to leave my brain, but apparently my mouth didn’t get the memo.”
She was adorable. And I loved that her body and brain knew to just spill everything to me. All her secrets. Her desires. Her thoughts. This would come in handy that she had no filter around me.
I rendered her totally into putty in my hands.
I let out a loud full-belly laugh. I couldn’t help it. She was just too cute. My hand stroked up her arm from where it had been at her elbow this whole time. “I like honest, no filter Scottie. Maybe that’ll be our thing. So in the spirit of that, what I was saying earlier as to why I wasn’t exactly ‘artsy’ in school is because I was busy with sports, and desperately trying to get the attention of one girl.”
She gave me a slight smile, one of understanding.
“You do look like the sporty type,” she chuckled. “Were you good?”
I let out a loud laugh. “Umm, yeah I guess you could say that.”
“Oh, good. That’s nice for you. I hope all the time you spent on those extracurricular sports paid off for you in the end then.”
“Oh, you could say that,” I honestly stated.
“And I hope all the time you spent on trying to get that one girl’s attention also panned out how you liked,” she said, not realizing that she held all the power on that one.
I let out a low chuckle that, to me, spoke of the irony. “Yeah, well, I always end up getting what I want, especially when I put my all in it.” I bookended that statement with a playful grin to play it off, but little did she know how dead serious I was.
Soon though. Soon enough she’d understand the full weight of that statement.
13
SCOTTIE ANDERSON
After Nicholas and I got through our somewhat rocky introductions, I had him take a look at my materials. I also showed him examples of each medium and what could be achieved with it by showing him work from two of my sketchbooks that I always carry with me.
He seemed to gravitate towards the charcoal pencils and watercolors, which made it easier for us to collect the materials, package them up in appropriate carrying cases to carry with us on the near four mile hike.
I hit any number of trails around New Hope multiple times a week so I was a pretty seasoned hiker. As I had totally judged Nicholas on his physique (sue me), I gathered he probably wouldn’t have any issue carrying a few pounds of art supplies while hiking to our destination.
By the time we reached the lookout, my favorite lookout in this park, I peeked over at Nicholas and he hadn’t even broken a sweat. Meanwhile I hadn’t just broken a sweat but I wasglisteningquite nicely. So not the most attractive look, which was just my luck…
As soon as we walked through the opening of the woods, onto the various boulders that made up the side of the mountain and the overlook, Nicholas’s face lit up.
