ASHER

THE CAMPUS ART STUDIO IS ON THE NORTH EDGE OF TAFT AND I NEVER GO THERE.

Nonetheless, I find my way easier than I thought I would. Given never being here before, people seem to know me. Guys pulling me into bro hugs and congratulating me on our last game and girls greeting me in high pitched tones. I'm not sure if I have something plastered on my forehead saying 'free hugs' because that's what happens whenever someone sees me, they throw their arms around my shoulders and greet me as if we're best friends from kindergarten. Not that it's out of the ordinary, it happens all the time. I just thought no one would be into sports or anything athletic because they're more creative and artistic over here. I was wrong.

I see Riley before she sees me. Her eyebrows are drawn in concentration. She's wearing black jeans overalls and a green sweater underneath with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. In the couple of days that I've seen her, if I remember correctly, her hair's been in ponytails and now it's pinned back with a black hair clip. It's no use because some strands of hair escape around the sides of her face.

She seems so into whatever she's doing that I feel like a prick since I'm going to disturb her. No. Scratch that. I like when she's fired up. There's something about her attitude when she's annoyed or pissed that I like. Damn I sound like a psychopath. Yeah, I guess that's where I am in life now.

"Hey,"I greet her, lowering my bag from around my shoulder. "Whatcha doing?"

When she looks up at me, there's her eyeliner again. This time, there's green also over her eyelids. I don't know what the look is but she's killing it. "I was wondering if I needed to hunt you down."

"Like I said I keep my promises..."I pause, registering some type of music. Was that always playing? Riley is completely unbothered so I guess so. "What type of music is that? It sounds like something's gonna jump out of nowhere and scare."

Now Riley just looks offended, so much so that she puts her paintbrush down. "Don't disrespect Tchaikovsky like that."

"T-who?" The name doesn't click at all. Am I supposed to know who that is? The look on Riley's face tells me that I should. Jeez, I'm uneducated huh? "These days I'm more into rap and house music so I'm sorry I don't know who that is."

"It's fine. It's classical music."She responds lightly, refraining from putting me on blast like I thought she would've. "One you'd hear at a ballet performance sort of."

I don't know anyone who listens to classical music. I would've never guessed that about her. "And you listen to it while painting?" I mean, it's obvious as hell but also very surprising. "Is this an all-the-time thing?"

"Yeah, it helps me focus."She answers, reaching for her paintbrush again. Hopefully the paint didn't dry in the five seconds she let the brush sit.

I nod, "Very interesting."

It's not a sound I would dance to or anything, I'm no ballet dancer but if Riley likes it and it brings her a sense of tranquility to paint then that's a good thing, right?

The same paintbrush points directly at my bag. "Yeah, what do you have there?"

"This?" I tug on the straps, the sides of the bag clearly expose what I'm carrying. Riley just hasn't seen it. "I think the question is did you eat today?"

"No,"She grumbles a honest tune. "And I don't want you to lecture me about it. I've had plenty to serve a lifetime."

"This is a judgment free zone." I'm the last person to judge anyone. If Riley doesn't eat, I would hope she didn't think I would scold her or anything like that. I'm not her parents. I'm just a guy trying to help if needed.

"Yeah, appreciate it."She sighs and lifts a long leg on the wooden stool that she's been sitting on since I got here. "I know they mean well and I know they're not judging me. Sometimes I just unintentionally skip meals."

Unintentionally?

Shit. I didn't think I would walk into this moments ago. Is this her opening up? If it is, I get her reasoning. I don't know much about her so I can't place judgment(at least that's how it might look in her head) and maybe she thinks I would understand a little bit more. When someone doesn't know you, it's easier to tell them your deepest secrets especially when you think you'd never see them again. Is that what's happening here? After this exchange, we're going back to the way things were?

I'm working with her saying unintentionally and I won't assume anything else. All in all, I suggest, "How about setting a reminder on your phone?" I'm sure she's a busy girl. Probably does a thousand things a day, of course sometimes she won't remember to eat. She's definitely not the first person I've heard say that.

"That's a good idea."She mumbles, the sound of the brush against the canvas echoes throughout the studio.

I'm not dragging out the fact that I got both of us hot chocolate and honestly if I knew she didn't eat anything all day, I would've gotten her food. "Looks like this will cure your grumpy mood then?"

Riley shifts on the stool, eyeing the cups I'm holding. "What is it?"

I stare at both coffee cups in my hands. "Hot chocolate. From Dan's diner. I thought you liked it."

"For a minute I thought it was from Sippers."She says, referring to the on campus coffeehouse. "Before you ask, yeah, I like Sippers. It's not poisoned?"

"Cole would murder me and revive me just to murder me again."I point out and she guffaws. "Glad you find my death hilariously funny. No poison here."

Her eyes flicker to me when her body stops shaking from laugher. "And the hearts?"

Yup. She's right. Neatly drawn hearts are on both cups from a black sharpie. I scan for a phone number, normally that's what happens whenever I get a sharpie written on cups. This time around, there's no number, nothing, nada. Just the hearts. The server just went ahead and did that. Awesome.

I look up from the cups. "Yeah, I didn't notice. We have the server to thank for that."

Riley presses her glossed lips together. "And you're sure this isn't your foreplay tactic?"

I arch a brow at her accusingly. "Are you feeling anything? Don't tell me you're feeling something when I haven't even started yet."

Amusement damn near backflips in her eyes. "No. You're gonna have to try a little bit harder than that."

I like this thing between us. It's almost comfortable. Like we're flirty friends but not exactly. Maybe we won't go back to barely ever speaking after this. I mean, I am still getting to know her if she'll let me.

"Then no." My voice is deeper than before. "If I knew you didn't eat I would've gotten some food though."

"I'm going to ask you a very important question."

"Shoot." I encourage, all ears.

A serious look plasters on her face,  I take two steps closer and lean in to hear whatever she's going to tell me. "Does it have whip cream?"

She does love whipped cream doesn't she? "Come on, you know it does. I got you. Extra."I wink, giving the cup a short shake to emphasize.

Riley grins, stretching out a slender hand. "I'm impressed. Thank you."

"I'm going have to get use to you thanking me,"I tease, handing over the hot beverage. "And that smile."

My brain doesn't know any better alright. Someone needs to slap me upside the head. I know Riley's a pretty girl and I can't help but flirt with her especially when she normally says something right back. I can't turn that part of myself off and it's going to land me in trouble.

"Don't start expecting them a lot."She supplies, and I watch her take a little sip of the hot chocolate.

"That's a damn shame because your smile is gorgeous."Riley doesn't smile often, she's right about that. I never understood why girls with the prettiest smiles, smile less.

"How long did it take you to come up with that one?"She asks, with a head tilt.

"One second. Are you not used to being told that your smile is pretty?"I prompt.

"Oh, absolutely," She says. Expected.

I direct a hand to her drink. "Is it good?"

"Very,"She licks her lips, sets the cup aside and turns back to her painting.

That's when I finally get the opportunity to see what she's working on. It looks to me like a portrait.

"I think you're missing some dark colored paint, you know, since you're painting your soul and all."

She shoots me a deathly glare. "You're funny," She says, "the only thing that will be painted is your lips if you keep talking." I'm not surprised she's actively threatening that.

It wouldn't be Riley if she didn't throw out ten threats in the span of ten minutes. "Is that yet another threat? Damn, I should really be taking you seriously huh?"I brush my finger against my chin as if I'm considering. "I would if you could reach my mouth... but you can't."

Her eyes scan my whole body. The very crown of my head to the toe tip of my shoes. "How tall are you anyway?"Genuine curiosity laces her voice.

"Taller than you." I muse.

"Duh,"She lifts her hand for emphasis, "I know you're fucking with me but I still want to know your height."

"Curious, are we?" I ask.

"Asher."

"Riley."

Unsatisfied with what I said, she rolls her eyes. "Fine. Choke on it."

And I do. I gag. That makes her snort. "All jokes aside, I'm 6 foot 2."

"Figures." She says like she could've guessed my height or it matched up with whatever she thought.

"You're a tall girl too."

She knows where I'm going with this. "Yup I would always be the tallest girl in most of my classes. 5 foot 9."

"Perfect height." She would be in between Rihanna and Zendaya.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," I sip the hot chocolate. Mine whipped cream free. "What is the painting for?"

"It's for an art show but it's actually called the book show."She says, then she gets into explaining the whole thing.

By the end of it, I grasp the gravity. "Sounds important,"As I'm sure it is to her. "Good luck."

I set my drink down. "I'll start cleaning the mess."

"Yeah. I get to use it if I clean it up."Riley says.

I can't help but look at her. "You mean, if I clean it up. I'm the one that's going to do all the work here."

She laughs at that. "Today you are."

Beside her where she has her stuff for easy access, half a cigarette dangles from an ashtray.

"You really do smoke, is that allowed here?"

She answers with a shake of the head. "No, but who's gonna tell? You?"

"I just might expose you." I joke. "Nah, you're good."

Silence follows and I start cleaning up the studio. Either I'm quick because of always running behind Tommy when he makes messes or there wasn't much cleaning to do. I'm done before you can blink.

Riley's just about finish too. She stopped painting. "So now... it should dry." She sounds relieved.

"When do you submit?"

"Before 12am." She replies, fishing her phone from the pocket of her overalls. "It's staying here. Professor Grimshaw will see it. I'll shoot her an email."

While Riley takes her apron off, I scan the painting. "You're really good." I'm not a huge fan of art but I think I would know when someone's good at what they do. This... this is fucking incredible. The colors blending. How realistic it looks.

The corners of Riley's lips lifts. "Do you think it'll have a chance at getting picked for the art show? Be honest."

"Are you kidding? They'd be foolish not to." I mean, look at it. Who wouldn't want to show it off for others to see?

"You're saying if you saw this in a gallery or somewhere, you'd stop and look at it? Like it's worth showcasing?" She looks at me like she really wants to know. Needs to know.

"Of course. Why not?" I'm honest. I wouldn't lie about that. "It's no Mona Lisa—

She rises from the stool so fast, the foot of it scrapes the floor. "Now about your lips being painted."

"Keep your paintbrush to yourself and everything should be good." But she doesn't. She tries to really paint my mouth by sketching her arms and I duck my head, both of us laughing like fools because she misses.

"Too slow." I rub a hand over my face. "I'll see you for breakfast tomorrow, right?" It's the only way I'd know if she eats breakfast tomorrow and she found it in her heart to confess that to me so I'm taking it and doing something about it. Frankly, I care if she eats or not.

She pauses and I lift my head. "Like what?"

"Like friends, acquaintances, whatever you want." I just want her to grow the habit of eating breakfast or eating when she could. In general.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hey guys! Happy Friday! I didn't forget about y'all. January was super busy for me.  Had my birthday and did some traveling 🙌 so now I'm back to regular schedule. I want to know where are you guys from?