Delicate Pulse | Violentine

L𝐨𝐚𝐭𝐡e

She pulls the chair quite far from the table and takes a seat. She coughs into her elbow. "So, um, what is this about?"

Sophie clutches her hands together into a ball. She bites her lip. "Some time....maybe a few weeks ago....I made my proposal to Mr. Ericson about painting a wall in the school. A mural thing."

The discussion comes back into tuition. It seems like a million sleeps ago.

"He's giving us a green light," she squeaks.

I glare at her. "Us?"

"I may have asked if we could do it together as a team," she admits. "It is a big wall."

Not a single sound is made. Clementine looks dead again, staring mindlessly into the background abyss . I want to throw myself off a building.

Sophie inhales, twiddling her thumbs. "This is awkward."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I kick a chip of a rock. It skids across the concrete and tumbles."She's not coming," I sigh, booting another rock.

"She has too," Sophie says, calmly. We've been waiting so long she had to put all the painting equipment down already.

I wouldn't have shown up, if I was her. I would have thrown my ass over the school fence and ran into the forest. I groan, pulling the skin under my eyes. "Why, why, why did you have to make it a team activity?"

"Because! I can't paint a big ass wall by myself. I thought it would be nice to hang out, play music and paint together," she snaps. "Then you two had to go jiggle forks in each other's outlets,"

A tinge of heat rests on my cheeks. "What the shit, Sophie?!"

"What? I'm not wrong, am I?"

"Sorry I'm late," a tired voice speaks. "Had trouble finding rags we could use."

Clementine halts a generous amount of feet away from us. She's strangling two handfuls of blue material.

"That's okay," Sophie nods. "It gave me time to sketch out the plan on the wall, anyways."

We take a moment to set up the paint, paint brushes, rollers and buckets. Once the tarp was secured onto the ground, Sophie gathered us together.

"I hope you're not wearing your best clothes," she jokes, attempting to lighten the dreadful cold atmosphere. "I'll start working on the top, you two can start painting the bottom," she instructs, making her way to a stepping ladder.

Now hold the fucking phone.

Before I can protest, Clementine beats me to it. "Maybe we should swap-"

"This is my project, I call the shots," Sophie snaps, taking us by surprise. She threatens a paint roller in our direction. "And if I hear a smidge of bickering, arguing or cursing, I'll use your heads as paint brushes, comprehend?"

We nod a little too frantically. She abandons us, settling above us.

Dead silence.

We reluctantly submerge brushes into a pan of color, careful not to accidentally bump into each other like idiots. We begin painting within the thin remnants of pencil lines. We keep our distance from each other, working metres apart.

I hear her yawn. She arches back, her tone arms stretching apart to open her rib cage.

Not with any intent to, I start mumbling some stupid shit. "You didn't sleep again, did you?"

She freezes, surprised. "Did you know it's not very polite to watch people while they're trying to sleep?"

"It's hard not too, you sleep like a fish out of water."