I draw the people I hate at school. I hear the gossip, I hear the lies but I draw what my own eyes see. And I see the embarrassing, devastating, beautiful secrets my peers all try to hide. I have quite the collection of their paradoxes; a sketchbook...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"La belle dame sans merci" oil painting by Mark Fishman
⊱➵➵➵➵➵➵➵⊱❂⊰➵➵➵➵➵➵➵⊰
At first, I was too stunned to think. Hayden's lips moved firmly over mine. He had pushed me back down on the bed and held a hand steadily above my head. He deepened the kiss with advantage at my lack of refusal, his other hand tightening at the back of my neck. For a moment, I almost kissed back- I don't know why. The roaring heartbeat? The smile he had shown earlier still lodge in my head, playing over and over again? The fact that kissing him felt betrayingly good.
But I wouldn't let those telling thoughts win. I snapped away from the stupor almost as instantly as I bit his lip. Hard. He pulled back rapidly in response, molten metal eyes glaring down at me.
"What the fuck was that for?" He ran a tongue over the red gouge. I was pleased to note he was as breathless as I was so I wouldn't look like such fool.
"What was that for?! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?! You're kissing me!!!"
He seemed unaffected by such logic, "And?"
I must have looked ready to blow a fuse for he instantly cut me off. "You already said, there has to be a partial truth to it and that means getting used to my contact. I'm also not going to pretend to date a girl who doesn't even know how to kiss without tearing out the skin of the other person."
"I didn't agree to dating!" I practically yelled, finally realizing he was still over me on the bed, mere inches away as he glared at me like I was some tedious hindrance.
"Alys. Shut up. Kiss me back and I'll show you how to make it look real."
"No!" I groaned. He titled his head watching me with a bland expression. I mentally jabbed out those eyes that seemed to say Why are you so flustered? Your kiss was pathetic.
"Alys," Hayden gazed down at me, "Will Doctor Augustine know the moment I kiss you in front of her, we have never truly kissed before?"
I gaped at his words, "Why do you just keep disregarding my statement that WE ARE NOT DATING."
"Because we have to." He snapped coldly, "You see, I didn't know going into this that a State Certified Physiatrist, who was with CHILD FUCKING SERVICES and who has connections to many parts of the government, would be suddenly deciding to monitor this mural! And according to you, she can tell when you lie."
I quieted guiltily. "I didn't know either. I'm... I'm sorry."
His jaw clenched a little tighter but then he finally sighed. "She was right, before, when she enquired about why I was doing this mural. I HAD to have a reason. And what is it, Alys?"
