Aquarelle [h.s]

sixteen

About a week had gone by since the exhibition, and I was in my studio, alone. It was already past eight in the evening and Harry had gone home an hour before, leaving me on my own to finish the last touchups before finally going home.

Nicholas had already called me twice, and I'd told him that I would've come back home a bit later than usual. I didn't dare to tell him that my delay was mostly due to the fact that Harry and I had spent the whole afternoon chatting instead of doing what we should've done, which resulted in him having to pose for pictures last minute and me having to stay around until well past eight to tidy everything up.

It took me way longer than I'd anticipated and so, by the time I made it inside my car, it was already almost nine. I knew my boyfriend wouldn't have been pleased. I probably shouldn't have spent so long talking to Harry about the weather. Thinking about it, I just shouldn't have talked about the weather for that long in general, it was a quite stupid topic. But I'd just discovered that during the weekend we would've seen the first sun of March, and the news was too great not to tell someone else.

What I wouldn't have told Harry, though, was that I really would've liked to take some pictures of him under the sun. I could've never asked him to help me out even during his weekend, that just wasn't right. For that reason, I'd spent the last half an hour trying to come up with a way to ask Nicholas to pose for me instead. I knew he didn't like it, but maybe I would've managed to change his mind - even if only temporarily. Maybe he would've said yes if I'd offered to do it on the seaside, it was bound to be funnier in that way, wasn't it? We could've just had a fun day out, and taken some pictures in the meantime. It didn't seem like a bad idea at all, I just had to see what he would've said about that.

There was a bit of traffic on that day, so by the time I made it back home it was half past nine. I locked the car and entered the building, going upstairs and stopping in front of the door to my flat, taking a deep breath before unlocking it, hoping that Nicholas wasn't too upset about me getting back home so late. It wasn't like I'd ever done it before, anyway.

When I entered the apartment I saw Nicholas sitting down on the couch, a book on his crossed legs. He looked up at me as I closed the door, but looked back down just as quickly, not even a single word leaving his mouth.

I sighed, taking off the coat and hanging it next to the door before taking some hesitant steps towards him. "Hi" I said, putting my hands on the cushion of the couch as I stared at him, that was sitting on the armchair next to it, waiting for him to say something.

"Hey" he finally said after he let some seconds go by, closing the book but leaving a finger in between the pages, the action making me wonder if he was planning to go back to ignoring me as soon as our small exchange would've ended.

I gave him a little smile, trying my best to prevent the argument I could already feel in the air from coming. "I'm sorry for being late."

He hummed. "It's fine."

I nodded slowly, pursing my lips and glancing around the room nervously. "Have you already had dinner?" I asked, feeling a bit guilty for having left him to it.

"Yeah. I left something for you in the fridge if you want" he said in reply, not waiting for me to say something before opening the book again and going back to reading.

I cleared my throat, and he looked up at me. "I was wondering if you want to come to the seaside with me?" I said questioningly.

"When?"

"This weekend. It's sunny."

He shook his head. "Sorry, I'm busy."

I gave him a little nod. "I guess I'll just ask someone else then" I offered, and he nodded.