Dandelion

7. "FCUK FEAR..."

Rain fell like God's own poetry; each drop was a single letter in a song that took eons to sing. The sound came from every direction except down and the storm drained with grey-brown run-off. When the patter of the drops tumbled from gray skies the melody brought serenity no matter the chaos in life.

Tallulah's teeth were digging into her lower lips as she concentrated on painting the portrait of Lauren Hill. Her clothes were so casual, the ubiquitous look of an artist: one of AJ's shirts, a headscarf and knee length socks.

When her hand moved over the canvas, it was almost like her mind was directing her hand without her, odd perhaps but she looked so out of the world. She was spread across the carpet on the floor, lost in that fantastical world where she saw reflections of her own mind, the way she thought. AJ was on her bed, just watching her work her magic.

"What?" Tallulah looked over at him and asked.

"You're going to tear your lower lip, stop biting it that hard."

She smiled at him, releasing her lower lip. "Your music isn't giving me inspiration."

"What music inspires you?"

She thought about it, sinking her teeth into her lip again. "Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Sza and Lauryn Hills, of course."

"Anything else less depressing?" AJ said with a straight face.

"I'm appalled by the fact that you consider such artistic mastery boring." There was sunshine in her smile and her voice went right to his brain like a shot of single malt.

Anthony laughed. "Joe has been teaching you some English I see."

Tallulah put her brush down. "That child uses that word all the time. I'm appalled that you have never used the internet before, I am appalled that you don't know who Young Thug is... He gets so worked up about it that I had to learn the meaning of the word."

"My son is very serious when it comes to the things that he loves."

Tallulah crossed her legs together, discarding her work. "I know."

"And he really adores you," Anthony said.

She turned suddenly to the closed door to check, before answering, blushing slightly. "I like him very much too."

She glanced downward as if to check her charm bracelet. With a slow exhale she turned to face forwards again. Tallulah considered how to start another conversation. "Don't you have things to do today?"

"Watching you work is me doing something."

Tallulah laughed. "I don't think I have it in me to paint anymore."

"What do you want to do?" AJ asked, throwing his phone on the bed.

"Teach you a thing or two about why soul music is the best thing mankind ever invented." Pulling her feet together, Tallulah hugged herself to her chest.

"I like grime music."

Her brows furrowed together. "What is that?"

"Similar to hip hop."

"Right, the songs that call women names and degrade them?"

Anthony shrugged. "Hardly..."

Tallulah grabbed a handful of her hair. "I grew up to my father playing old Africa Negra records, sipping on his drink while my mother was in the kitchen making us food. I grew up with my mother dancing to records of Otis Redding that she was able to get from a shop she had to travel to get to, just because she loved his songs."