The Artist's Amour (BWWM) ✓

Chapter 7: More Awkward Interactions

If anyone knows what movie that image is from, give yourself the most gracious pat on the back that you can muster. You've succeeded in life, my dear.

"I'm sorry."

"If it's broken, I'm going to kill you."

"It doesn't look that bad."

"Are you serious right now?!" Chris yelled, pointing to his bruised nose that was now starting to swell. It currently had a tampon stuck up its nostril since I hadn't bought any first aid supplies such as gauze in the few days I had been here. At first he was completely against the idea, but after basically bleeding out all over my floor, he snatched the tampon from my grasps and complied.

"My beautiful face." He whimpered as he sat on the kitchen counter while I cleaned up the blood that had dropped onto the floor. His shirt was stained with droplets of the red liquid that had escaped.

"I feel like I'm cleaning up a murder scene." I frowned, spraying the disinfectant over the blood splatter as it fizzled, the chemicals breaking down the stain.

"You very well could have been!" He shot back, before pinching the brim of his nose again to minimize the blood flow.

"Oh, get over it." I replied, rolling my eyes dramatically at the man-child that stood in my kitchen. We had stopped painting after I accidentally head butted him in the face. In my defense, I didn't know that his face was in the direct line of fire as my head snapped back up. So really, this was more so his fault than mine.

Yeah. That sounds about right.

I wasn't sure if we were even going to bring up the earlier actions that had occurred before I headbutted him but if we were, now probably wasn't the time. "Is it still bleeding?" I asked after I tossed out the bloodied towel.

"You know? Last time I checked, which was about 15 seconds ago, it was still going at it." He shot back, his face contorting into a twisted smile.

"Should we take you to the ER?" I asked, already reaching for my keys.

"No no," he sighed, finally letting up on some of his snarky replies, "I'll be fine." He nodded, getting up to move out of the kitchen. I followed quietly behind him as he went back out to our painting supplies so continue working.

"S-so you said to lightly load the brush?" I asked, a bit embarrassed that after all this, I finally decided to ask for some help.

"Not too much paint." He instructed as he dipped his roller into the paint holder and loaded a small bit of the grey onto the roller. I imitated his actions with my roller as I loaded less paint onto the roller than I had been for the past few hours and watched as the paint spread against the walls evenly. "How's the teacher gig going so far?" Chris asked.

"So far, I haven't killed any children. So, I'd say pretty well thanks." I replied, nodding to myself as if I had just been awarded an achievement.

"Right. How's Nick doing?" Chris asked as he moved his tray and paint roller to the opposite side of me to get started on the next wall.

"Very well, actually," I replied, "I think I see more passion in him for art than I see in myself most days. He really is a blessing." I spoke lightly, unaware I was even speaking my mind freely.

Even though I totally tend to do that most days.

Chris didn't reply and I glanced over to see what's up. He was looking at me with an U recognizable expression on his face as his lips slowly curled up into a smile.

"What?" I asked, smiling slightly by the warm fuzzy feeling that was spreading throughout me.

"Nothing." He replied, shaking his head slightly with his smile still tugging at his lips before going back to painting.

"You're one weird guy." I replied, turning back to my wall.

We worked quietly for a while, finding comfort in the silence  as we moved from wall to wall with our paint trays and rollers. The house was beginning to look more lovely and beautiful with each wall we painted, as if, this totally wasn't the Adam's Family household a couple hours ago. As we worked, I continued to contemplate what to do with the flooring.

It was wooden on the first floor but the wood looked like it had been put through a woodchipper. I was still too hesitant to walk around with bare feet from fear of getting a splinter. I wanted to maybe sand it down but I would have to rent a sander which would have to be ordered from Pete.

As I stole glances between Chris and Pete, I started to see the resemblance a tad. But what was striking, was the resemblance between Chris and Nick. They looked practically identical at times although Chris was obviously aged some years... And picked up weights...

...lots and lots of weights.

I was snapped back to reality by Chris saying something. I didn't quite make it out as I turned to him and asked him to repeat it.

"I asked if you were getting hungry. We could order some pizza." He replied, setting the painting supplies back down on the tarp.

"I could go for some food." I nodded, setting my supplies down as I pulled out my phone to call Dominos.

~

It was about 20 minutes before we heard the delivery car pull out into the gravel driveway. Chris set down his stuff as he reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet. Before he could pull out any bills, I whipped out a $20 from my back pocket and handed it to him.

"Let me cover this." He insisted, but I folded the bill into his palm.

"Free labor, free food." I replied, chuckling lightly as I got back to work. The doorbell ring from the entrance of the house and Chris went to grab it.

My eyes got large with realization as I dropped the dripping paintbrush onto the tarp.

"Chris!" I practically screamed as I ran towards the door. But I was too late.

There, standing in front of us was a young Asian man, no older than 18, holding our pizza in his one hand and the $20 dollar bill in the other as he stood frozen at my murderous steps.

Chris's body completely froze in realization as he finally understood what the man was staring at...

... The bloodied tampon stuck up his right nostril.