You Get Me

2-Jennifer

*leahs pov*

"Good, yeah, I'm good." I nod continuously after my dad asks how I am. "Leah...you can be honest with me." He tilts his head and sits up. "Holy shit, do you want me to say I'm sad or depressed??" I force a laugh. "No, I just want you to be honest with me." He says. "Who says I'm not being honest?" I ask.  "Look, I know you haven't been doing all those weird classes like you said you have." He says and I raise my brows.

"What do you mean?? I'm basically like a black belt in karate." I lie. "Ok. Then show me a round house kick." He says. "What the fuck is that?" I throw my hands up. "Exactly." He says and I sigh. "How'd you find out?" I ask. "I saw you at Pizza Hut on Friday when you were supposed to be taking some improve class. Which I knew was bullshit from the start." He says and I smile and shake my head. "You caught me." I shrug.

"Why?...Why trick us into thinking you're improving? Your 21, this is your prime, go have fun a-and get drunk." He shrugs. "I'm not having this conversation right now." I say and stand up to walk away. "What? You gotta ballet class to get to or something??" He asks in a cocky tone. "Do I like look I do ballet?" I ask. "Well it doesn't look like you do karate." He shrugs.

I walk back inside from the back porch, and grab my bag before leaving to get in my car. I start the car before my phone lights up.

"You're distancing yourself again." I read a text from my dad.

"Whatever." I scoff and toss my phone in the passenger seat before driving away. On the way back to my place, I decide I surprisingly don't wanna go home yet. 

So I go through the starbucks driveway and get a drink and a croissant. I park in the parking lot, and eat my food in my car. Then I remember I haven't taken my pills yet that my doctor prescribed me a while ago. I'm supposed to take them every morning, like really early so they can kick in, but sometimes I forget.

I tilt the pill bottle over and 2 fall into my hand. I'm only supposed to take one but oh well. "Fuck it." I shrug and take them both.  They're obviously pills for my mental health, so I guess I can take more than one if I'm feeling extra bad, and I usually am sooo yeah.

I scroll through facebook for a second, then I see an ad that I've been seeing everywhere for the art Gallery downtown.

Well I have nothing else to do, and I love art. Plus it's quiet and calm, so I decide to go there.

It takes me about 15 minutes to get there, which isn't too bad. Then I get out of the car, and head inside.

I start to walk around, and I'm actually enjoying myself. There isn't that many people though. Only about 2 or 3 in each room since this place is literally just a bunch of different rooms with different themed paintings.

I take a couple pictures of the ones I really like. I go through most of the rooms, then I make my way to the last one I haven't been in yet.

I walk in and the pretty details on the ceiling catch my eye. But then something else does..

I realized there was another woman looking at a painting. I could only see her from the back, but something about how her hair flowed down to her upper back, and how her dress was tight at her waist, showing off her figure. I could just tell that she's attractive.

But I continue to mind my business. So I walk over to a painting and admire it. I read the little print beside the painting that explains the inspiration behind the painting.

The painting was a tall, tan woman with dark brown hair, reading a book on an elegant looking couch. But the walls in the painting had all her thoughts written on them, and they were closing in on her. So that's obviously a metaphor for some deep shit. But I don't have the mental capacity to think about it, I think it's time for me to go home.

I turn to the side, and the woman who I was looking at about 7 minutes ago, is standing right beside me, looking at the painting. I make eye contact with her as she continues to observe the art, and she's actually the prettiest woman I've ever seen. And I'm not exaggerating.

"She kind of looks like you.." She says softly and nods her head at the painting. So I look at the painting again and tilt my head. "You think so." I ask and squint my eyes a little. "Yeah. But don't worry, that's a compliment because she's beautiful." She says and I grin.

I look at the painting more in depth, and I don't know if I'm crazy, but the words in the painting started to move. I raised my brows with confusion, then the lady beside me started to say something again, but I couldn't make out what she was saying. The longer I stared at the painting, the more alive it became.

The colors started shifting and I could've sworn I just saw the lady in the painting blink. I turn to the woman again, and she has a concerned look on her face.

My mind took a mental image of her pretty face, and her eyes were the last thing I remember before fainting.

-

"Ma'am...ma'am??" I hear faintly. I flutter my eyes open, and take in reality very slowly. "Ma'am? Should I call someone?" A security guard looking over me asks. Then I realize the woman is still here, squated down beside me, looking in my eyes probably to make sure I'm not dead. "I think she'll be ok, I got her." The lady says.

"Yeah, I'm-I'm ok.." I sit up and put my hand on my head. "Here, lemme help you up." The woman says. She puts her arm around my waist and helps me up. "You good? How do you feel?" She asks. "I'm good, I just haven't been eating much." I admit. "I'm ok sir, thankyou." I say to the guard, and he nods and walks away.

"You haven't ate huh?" She asks. "I did this morning, but I haven't been eating normally." I say and and she slightly bites her lip as she fixes my hair since I was just laying on the floor-

"Well why don't we get you some food?" She asks sweetly. I look at her as she waits for me to give an answer, and I can't help but smile. "Sure." I nod. "Yeah? Ok let's go." She smiles and holds my hand.

We walk outside, hand in hand, and she tells me about a little cafe that she knows about, so we start to walk there.

"I used to come here all the time with my mom." She says as we look through the menu. "So this is a special place to you huh?" I ask and she smiles as she keeps looking at the menu. "Yeah, it is..." She says quietly.

She looks away for a second and I notice that her eyes are a little glossy. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick. Get me a water." She says before standing up and walking away.

The waiter comes over and I order 2 waters for us. He raises one brow since he thinks in the only one here. "Oh- the other one is for my friend, she's in the bathroom." I nod. "Ohh! I'm sorry, I'll get you those waters." He nods.

He walks away, right when she comes out of the bathroom. "Whew, he was a cutie." She says and I giggle. "If you think so." I roll my eyes. "Are you high?! He was a total hunk." She nods. "I don't think so.." I shake my head.

"Mmm..interesting." She says slowly with one brow raised. We get our food eventually, and we actually have a pretty good time. She surprisingly has a really good sense of humor, which I didn't expect.

"Thankyou for taking me out to eat, anddd for making sure I wasn't dead earlier." I laugh and so does she. "Yeah of course, anytime." She smiles. "Shit- I never even got your name.." I say and tilt my head.

She smiles and bites the tip of her nail as she keeps eye contact with me. "It's Jennifer." She says softly. "Jennifer...It's nice to meet you. I'm Leah." I say. "It's nice to meet you too. I'll see you around." She winks at me and walks away.