Excerpt of the story:
"My uncle used to say Hades left the Underworld for Persephone, and I thought how stupid was that, like why would he leave for a girl? And I think I finally got why he did it." His eyebrows furrow, making him appear deep in his...
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τατουάζ (Tattoo)
Bella and I were silent as we continued to work on our individual tasks. I saw her sitting cross-legged on the chair, with her book in front of her, writing and erasing occasionally. But, I also caught her spacing out like now.
"Bella? You okay?"
She looked up from her book, "Huh? Yeah, yeah, I'm alright." She shakes her head. There's an expression of worry etched on her face and I can't help but think that suggesting for her to follow me in my car wouldn't be such a good idea.
"Having second thoughts?" I ask jokingly.
She doesn't answer right away, and I was prepared for her to say yes, but she shook her head again, "No. Just thinking about going back to Spain."
"Why?"
"I just found out my friend's in the hospital." She quietly says, but doesn't explain further. A part of me was curious who this friend was, but from her body language, I could see she didn't want to talk about it, so I changed the topic.
"How's your poem coming on?"
She touches the page of the book subconsciously, then says, "Good, but you don't get to read it yet. I'll let you read it two weeks before we have to present it."
I scoff, "So precise, why two weeks before?"
"So you'd be able to tell me if you like it or not. If you do, then we'll leave it as it is. And if you don't...then I'll whip something new to your liking as fast as I can." She explains.
"Why not just let me read it now?"
"I don't like people reading my unfinished works. I feel like it gives them a chance to judge my work before even knowing what the full version looks like, and I'm not saying you do, that's just the way I do things." She quickly adds, "I hope it's okay with you though. If you really need to—"
I cut her off, "I understand, Bella. I'll see it two weeks before then."
She nods then continues writing, as I finish the base for the sculptures' bodies.
An hour later, we walk side by side to my car in silence. It wasn't uncomfortable but there was definitely some tension. I take in the short white dress she's wearing that fit her perfectly, and seeing her up close like this, she was even more beautiful as the streetlights shone on us.
When we reach my car, she doesn't look at me, her head slightly downwards as she fidgets with the sleeve of her pastel blue cardigan.
I open the backseat door for her, and she finally looks up, meeting my eyes, "Thank you." I nod, and she gets in. I get in the driver's seat, adjusting the rear view mirror so I could see her. I didn't know if it were just tight spaces that could cause her to have an episode, and I wanted to make sure I didn't do anything to trigger them.
