Maybe This Is Love, |✔️

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: This chapter will be written in the third person. I thought I'd try something different.

He waits patiently, pacing up and down the space between his bed and his wall. He'd been awake painting for hours, the nerves creeping up his spine wouldn't allow him to sleep. His excitement for Harley coming over was practically bouncing off the walls.

Instead of just waiting around in his bedroom, Parker decides to do distract himself for the time being and enters his drawing room positioned in the attic. It's the only room in the house where he can get alone time, away from his mum, away from Rose, away from his thoughts, away from the world.

Last night, he had been on the phone to Harley- Blair for hours.
He was so surprised when he answered the phone and heard her voice especially seeing as she was just on his mind seconds before.
Her voice enchanted him so much that he couldn't help but sketch her from memory as she spoke.

He let his hands guide him across the sheet of drawing paper, it came so easy to him. It was like he was in a different world when he drew, time had no meaning when his stencil hit the page. He liked this feeling. He loved this feeling.

His drawing-room was littered with sketches and drawings of people, scenic landscapes and an array of Marvel characters especially his childhood favourite Spider-man. Zachy loved to call him childish whenever he caught Parker in the common room sketching little cartoon-style drawings of Spider-man fighting his villains.
Parker would always argue that Spider-man was far from childish but Zacchias would never hear him out. Parker didn't care though, Spider-man had a whole different meaning to him and not just because they had the same name.
A few were of friends from school who had requested self-portraits like Zachy and Cassie but the ones that stood out the most were of Harley-Blair.

He spent time drawing her with such precision, making sure every detail was perfect. He'd always start with her eyes.

He'd master getting that perfect cat-like shape of her eyes and those excessively long, curly eyelashes she had. Then he'd move on to the wide nose she hated but he found so beautiful. He spent hours making sure every stroke of his brush was precise as he painted the curves of her jaw. He'd then fill out the fullness of her face capturing the childlike essence of her chubby cheeks. The smoothness of her dark brown skin, radiating the room with her smile. Finally, he'd end the portrait with that smile.

Oh... her smile.

It made him melt with pleasure, thinking about it now.
It was flawed but perfect in a peculiar way and everything about it made Parker crush harder for Harley.

His Art teacher, Miss McCarthy had always compared him to other Italian artists and had frequently told him that he had the potential to become the next Michelangelo Buonarotti or Giovanni Bellini. She knew about his plans to attend Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in Florence, Italy after completing his A-levels. One of the greatest fine art universities in the world and it would give him the opportunity to get closer to his culture. Maybe, he'll find out more about his dad and his family. The only downside to getting a scholarship to another country was leaving his ma and sister here. Who was going to take care of them when he was gone?
He was constantly fighting that battle in his head. Should he focus on his future or their future? He didn't know which one was more important to him.

He thought about clearing up the mess in the room but decided against it. He wanted Harley to see him in his true, raw form. To let her see for herself that he wasn't perfect either. That he was also flawed.

He runs down the stairs, bare feet slapping against the wooden floorboards and checks on his sister, Rose. Rose has cerebral palsy so her speaking abilities are limited and she has to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair even though she's only 20. Doctors said she wouldn't live past the age of 15 but she's exceeded their expectations. She's a strong girl just like her mamma.