The Smirking Jerk (Blake's POV)

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The first drawing I made that I was ever proud of—it was a silly thing, just our family house in England—my brother put it in a frame. He actually took one of our father's many diplomas out of the frame and put my drawing in it instead. Our father was kind of pissed to say the least, but he didn't ground Jayden. What was the point? My father always encouraged art and this was Jayden. Jayden could have invited fifty hobos to come live in my parents' room and they would have just asked "Do we need to serve them breakfast too?"

My brother always teased me about the music that I liked and the artist that I admired but he always encouraged me. He would always say "my brother is going to be an artist and I'm going to be an astronaut," or "my brother is going to be an artist and I'm going to be a race car drive" or "my brother is going to be an artist and I'm going to be Indiana Jones."

I stopped being an artist when my brother died. Can't finish a painting. It hurts my chest to play the piano. It pains me because I know my brother will never see any of it now, he'll never hear me play. He'll never disgrace my father by rumpling on of his Oxford diplomas to make room for my silly drawings.

I love my parents, but they never understood me, they never supported me the way my brother did. Josh kind of does, but it's different somehow. With Jayden it was just... it was my brother, my big brother and... and that's not the point.

The point is, even if I'm not an artist anymore, I value art.

I value art and I value what Lexi's drawn in her notepads.

I was always kind of ashamed of my drawings when I was younger, comparing them to better people than me, but when my brother forced me to show him the family house one, when he put it in a frame and kept showing it to everyone visiting us, that's the first time I ever felt proud.

My brother made me proud of my drawings.

And so I figured, I could do for Lexi what my brother did for me.

So I pressed, even if she treated to hurt the family jewels. "Then what's under there?"

She tried to shoo me away with her hand protecting her art. It was adorable. "It's a drawing, alright Mister Pompous-Ass! Now back off, because I'm dead serious about the pocket knife thing!"

The smirk was the only thing that could stop me from laughing. "Oh I have no worries for my balls girly, because the minutes you'll drop my pants you're going to all but savagely attack me."

Yeah right.

I think Lexi thought the same thought because she pretended to puke for my sake for a good minute.

When she was finally over with her little theatrics she said, "Yeah, right. I'm sure I'm gonna get all excited over your multiple STDs."

That amused me greatly. "If you can name them all I'll give you a cookie," I joked and laughed.

I just got an eye roll. Figures. I knew my reputation and I guess sure, two years ago when I was drinking my pain away and partying I made a few bad decisions. None of them resulted in STDs thought. As Josh would say "Encase that torch before you paint her porch".

Enough about my previous mishaps though and back to the drawings. "You're going to show me that, you know," I told her. I might never ever date her, but she could still show me her drawings. In my wildest, maybe slightly realisable dreams, one day we would actually be friends and she would want to share things with me.