Crossing Paths~

Day2~

"Fancy meetin' you here." He grinned with a slight chuckle following afterwards. I groaned and sat down in the empty hard wooden chair next to him.

"What are you doing here?" I said bitterly.

"What's it look like I'm doing here?" He muttered, gesturing to everyone dancing around stupidly in costumes, "Just watchin' the show."

"I mean...why are you in the theater club?"

"Why wouldnt I be?" He grinned over at me.

"Well...you just dont seem like the type...?"

"And what 'type' is that, Stella?"

The way he said my name. The way other said it when they called me, they made my name sound fragile and weak. But my name just flowed out of his mouth without a care in the world, unafriad, and free.

I shrugged. "I dont know..." And without thinking, i turned in my chair to face him. "Are you following me?"

He laughed. "What?"

"I've been seeing you in almost every class...are you following me?"

"Nope. You must be paranoid. Unless, you're te one following me."

I scoffed. "Please, I have no reason too."

"What? My lifes not intresting enough for you?"

"I bet all you so is smoke, drink, and have a good laugh that only lasts for a few seconds, before you back to your lonely, cold world."

That shut him up for a minute. "You know, Stella, maybe I was wrong with what I said earlier...Maybe you are diffrent from other girls..." He looked at me in thought, curious of something.

"Like what...?" I asked uncomfortable, "Quit staring at me..."

"Im not," He said firmly, then I realized he was looking over my shoulder, past me. I followed his gaze behind me, at the wall. I tried to find what he was staring at, but there wasnt anything, just a blank wall.

"What...are you staring at?" I was starting to think he was going crazy from all the smoke he was breathing in...

"The picture frame."

"What picure frame?"

Man, this guy is really losing it...

"You dont see it?"

"Charlie...it's just a blank wall..."

"To you, then. You really need to open your mind a little."

"Hey! I have an open mind!"

"Then just imagine the picture frame..."

At first, I thought this was crazy, that he was crazy. But I looked back at the wall, stared at the blank blackness for a second, shut my eyes, breathed in deply, felt Charlie stare at me, and opened my eyes again.

There it was.

It was beautiful.

The picture was of a sailboat on a large ocean. The ocean was beautiful, it moved slowly across the canvas, the tides gently rocking the small boat foward. The sun melted over the ocean, refelcting a beautiful shimmer off the surface water. The sky was a magical firery red and orange, with a mix of pink and yellow.

"Wow..." I was all I managed to say, I was awestruck.

"You see it too..." He said, and I fet him grin. "I thought it was just me..."

"No, I see it...the ocean, and the sailboat..."

Was I going crazy, too? What is wrong with me? There is nothing there! Snap out of it!

I cleared my throat and shook my head. "But theres nothng there, Charlie."

"There is if you believe there is."

"Well its unrealistic."

"But you saw it." He grinned.

"Maybe..." I admitted, "But it was just my imagination...you got me all working up over nothing..."

"It wasnt nothing."

RING

Awakwardly, we sat and waited untill everyone else left.

Just then, Charlie got up, grinned at me, and walked to the door. "The offer still stands, you know!" He called back to me.

"What offer?"

"If you want to go out with me..."

What...

"Cya later, Stella." He walked out the door.

The rest of the day I spent thinking of the sailboat on the wall, and how I'd never even seen it before...