Cracking Zeenath

October 9th, 2015: I'm A Mess

       A/N: Damian's picture (more or less) is posted above.

       I walked into that blasted art class on Tuesday, and dropped my bag down in my seat with a thump. Damian looked up sharply, then seeing it was me, nodded and went back to working on his drawing. I sat down and took out my pencil. Then I tipped my head back and closed my eyes, waiting for class to start. This was going to take a while. I tended to come to class pretty early.

        After the introduction to our new subject --We were painting! Oh Joy!-- we sat in silence, working on our individual drawings. Dr. Talin wanted us to sketch it out before we applied paint to our work. She specifically looked at me when she said this. Message received, you tyrant.

       I worked hard today, surprising even myself. I didn't want to suck so badly, not really.I just wasn't "artistically-inclined," as Clara had so helpfully put it the other day. Engrossed in my chicken scratch, I didn't notice Damian watching me until he spoke. He had stopped drawing and turned towards me instead, his elbow on the table as he cocked his head sideways, resting his cheek on his hand.

"Let's meet up."

I looked up startled, making a sharp line across my paper and scowled.

"What'd you say?"

No "When are you free?" or "Do you want to meet up?". But that's Mr. Mad Hatter for you.

He pursed his lips. "You need to work on your drawing skills. That," he motioned with his chin towards my paper. "Isn't gonna cut it."

I sighed and set it down. "I like my doodle, thank you."

His mouth twitched. "Where?"

I rolled my eyes. "I see there's no way out of this, is there?"

He shook his head once. Only once.

I slid down in my chair and closed my eyes, thinking. "Anna's Coffee?"

He shook his head again. "Too loud."

"My dorm?"

He raised an eyebrow. Like we'd gonna concentrate there. Not a chance, with Clara and the others goofing around. 

      I huffed out another breath and hesitated. This was probably going to be something I regretted. I closed my eyes. "What about that tree in the park?" I asked, opening one eye to look at him.

He watched me for a second. "The oak?"

I nodded, surprised that he actually knew about it.

"'Kay. It works. Friday, after class."

I pouted and rested my head against the desk. I'd gone and done it now. There's no way out.

       I dragged myself back to the tree this afternoon with a notepad and some pencils. When I arrived, he wasn't there yet so I plugged in my headphones and curled up at the base of the tree, ready to wait it out. I glanced up at the eggs again, out of habit. One, two, three, four, five. Five. Good.

I rested my head against the tree bark and closed my eyes, still facing the sky.

I only opened them when I heard some rustling and looked down to see Damian setting his bag down a few feet from me. He took out his notepad and sat down next to me.

"Hello."

He jumped, cursing. Then he looked at me and blinked.

"You're awake."

I grinned despite myself, proud of getting under his skin. "Yup!"

He looked tired already. He drew a deep breath and handed me his pencil. "Draw."