Body Art

1 | i like her eyes

The first time anyone had ever heard Taz speak, it was to me.

Granted, it was just to ask if I had a spare pencil, but the boy had transferred into the school a week earlier and seemed unresponsive to anyone who tried to greet him. We only knew what his name was because of the letters graffitied across his backpack. It simply read: TAZ. Even the attendance sheets have it in place of his real name. He didn't talk to anyone other than a few teachers between classes. After a few days, people began to think he was mute, and just as I was beginning to do the same, he speaks to me!

Of course, I gave him my extra pencil, but it was still kinda weird. The suspected mute randomly asks me for a pencil? Why? I don't even sit beside him in that class, I'm two rows over and three tables up. I'm sure Mindy, his table buddy, would've been more than happy to do it had he just asked.

I know it's stupid to get worked up over it, but it's the way he asked me; it's his voice. It was like liquid gold. All deep and smooth, but on top of that he had this kind of urban accent, kinda Italian-ish. I mean sure the guy was already attractive, but to add a voice like that? Girl.

"Dana."

Crap. I'd been spacing out again. "Yes?"

Connie was sitting to my right looking rather smug. I was so glad Connie was in this class with me. I'd never been too good at art, but she'd convinced me to take it with her to 'express myself better'. She thinks I have anger issues.

Connie nodded to my canvas. "That doesn't really look like the assignment."

"We're supposed to paint what we feel."

"You haven't painted anything."

I looked at my canvas, too. Oh.

Ms. Russo suddenly clapped her hands and called the class to attention. We turned on our stools to face the back of the room where she was standing rather excitedly beside Taz. She was a petite woman with frizzy locks of sunset and large spectacles, but when she stood beside him she might as well be a dwarf.

"I didn't realize he was that tall," I whispered to Connie.

"Neither did I," she replied.

"Kids! Kids, I want you all to look at this. Just look at what this young man has been doing back here!" She held his still wet canvas in her arms for us all to see. While anyone else would've been either proud or embarrassed, Taz's expression was neutral. "Notice how in this top left corner he started with a muted blue - kind of muddy - and then makes it a gradient of grays becoming white that form a halo around the eyes. My word, these eyes!"

As Ms. Russo continued her praise on his piece, I began to tune out. It was a beautiful yet simple piece; just a pair of vivid hazel eyes staring back at us on top of a gradient as Ms. R. had said. There was just something about them that seemed a little too familiar, though...

"He's staring at you," Connie whispered suddenly.

My brows jumped. I was so busy staring at his canvas that I'd failed to notice that he actually was and unapologetically, too. When he noticed my reaction, a grin tugged at his mouth and cracked his neutral expression. A shiver ran down my back.

"I can see that," I told her through tight lips.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say those look like your eyes."

I broke my staring contest with him to give her an incredulous look. "What?"

"I mean look at it," she argued, still whispering. "The skin around those ones crinkle the same way yours do, and then there's the mole next to your left one and the freckles undern--"

"Girls, what are you talking about back there?" Ms. Russo's magnified gaze came to rest on us and I stiffened in my seat. I wasn't big on attention.

Thankfully Connie spoke up. "Sorry Ms. R. I was just telling Dana how I think the eyes Taz painted resemble hers."

"Oh." Our teacher looked from the painting to me a few times. "Wow, she's right. Good eye, Connie! Is that just a coincidence Mr. Taz or did Dana actually inspire this piece?"

The entire class waited in a tense silence, awaiting his answer. No way the mute would use her as a muse, is probably what they were all thinking. Hell, it's what I've been thinking. It had to have just been coincidence. He couldn't think so highly of me already, I'd just given him a damn pencil for cryin' out loud!

He simply said, "I like her eyes."

For a second, it made my ears hot and teeth clench with pure embarrassment because who the hell is this guy? What's with that intense look and why was it turning me into a flustered ball of hot air? For a second, being put on the spot like that, being fixed under his unabashed gaze, knocked the air right out my poor lungs.

Until someone farted and ruined the moment.