unrequited love • tee higgins

010

MUSE

march 24, 2022

i got ready and made my way over to tee's house, emily wasn't here last night and i assumed she was at jamar's.

i'm not going to confront them about it, because if they wanted to tell me, they would.

anyway, i drove over to tee's house. i was a bit early, but only by 10 minutes.

"hey." he said opening the door for me, i slipped inside. i could tell immediately that something was going on.

"what's wrong?" i ask.

"nothing, i'm good." he replies, i know he's not telling me the truth but i don't push the topic any further.

"i think jamar and emily are dating." i say, trying to make conversation, and i feel like i need to talk to someone about this.

"i wouldn't doubt it," tee replies. "they've been acting, weird lately." he says.

"how do you feel about it?" tee asks.

i shrug my shoulders. "i don't really care." i say, and that's the truth, i don't really care. if anything, i'm happy for them.

"i, uh, i made something for you." tee says. "i'll go grab it."

i furrow by eyebrows, wondering what it is that could be making him so nervous.

i hear him call out from the hallway, "close your eyes." he says.

"you know i hate closing my eyes." i say. i hate doing it because i have a fear of not being able to see.

"please." he asks. "don't you trust me?" he says.

i let out a huff and close my eyes. i hear footsteps and then they stop.

i know that tee is in the room, i can sense that he is. "okay, open." he says.

when i open my eyes, a black cover of some sort is sitting on the table, i know something is under it, but i don't know what.

i look at him, confused and he motions for me to remove the cover.

i notice that a piece of paper is sitting on the cover, so i take off and read it.

painter baby, you could be the muse

i furrow my eyebrows and set the note aside, i pull the black cover off the reveal a painting, of me.

i don't even know what picture he used as a reference, because i don't recognize it, but it's definitely me.

the note makes a lot more sense now, but i also had no clue he paints or that he would paint me, why would he paint me?

i pick the painting up off the table, to get a better look at it and something falls out of the back and on to the table.

i pick it up and read it.

lily,

i hope you like the painting, i spent a really long time on it.