Work of Art

Chapter 45

Nick sat on her bed with her head buried in her hands, groaning as she replayed the end of her encounter with the doctor two hours before.

The drive home had settled her mind. The further she got away from the hospital, and the doctor inside, the clearer she was able to think.

And that's why she was groaning.

Her bold words echoed over and over in her mind. You know, I think a mural would look great in here. Why had she said that?! What was she thinking?!

She groaned again then flopped down onto her back. Her eyes stared blankly at the ceiling as she started to replay their whole encounter over again from the beginning. The embarrassment was making her physically cringe.

The realization that the reason she loved the bracelet she wore daily was because it matched the exact shade of his eyes was bad enough. But her verbal acknowledgment of this fact was even worse. What had possessed her to speak that realization out loud?

The moments that followed that however, left her feeling very different emotions than embarrassment. Even just thinking about his large hand on her face made her heart race. She reached her one arm up to position her hand just how his had been. She trailed her thumb up and down, replaying his actions and imagining it was his.

A fresh wave of embarrassment washed over her again as she realized what she was doing.

With another grunt, she rolled over onto her stomach and buried her face into her pillow. That way, at least, she couldn't touch her face. Hell, maybe if she got lucky, she'd smother herself and not wake up in the morning. That way she'd never have to face the consequences of her hopeless crush... and precalc.

She'd been so distracted by the way her heart raced for the doctor that she hadn't studied for her precalc quiz tomorrow. She just hoped that by the time she woke up, her mind would be righted enough that she could at least focus on it.

...

The quiz didn't go great, but then again, Nick never passed with flying colors when it came to math. She was, however, able to focus to at least attempt the logs that were on the printed-out page.

When it came later to ceramics, Nick practically avoided Alice like the plague. She just couldn't face her friend after she had been so close to her father the night prior. It just felt wrong. So, she pretended to be very, very immersed in the work she was doing on the wheel today.

She didn't want to raise any suspicion, so she made sure to still give Alice a cheery hello before running off to the other side of the room to hide.

She did the same the next day as well, and the day after. By the following Monday, however, she had suppressed the memory well enough that she waved Alice over to join her friends at lunch. Her and Alice even spent all of their time in ceramics chatting while they worked on glazing. With Alice's cheerful chatter, the doctor never once crossed Nick's mind.

"Do you want to come over after school today?" Alice asked. "The boys and Rose just got a new video game so I could really use some company."

"I'd love to," Nick replied with a smile. She had missed Alice's company over the past few days that she had distanced herself. "I don't think I've been to yours since New Year's."

Alice groaned at the memory. "I'm never touching alcohol again."

Nick laughed.

Alice sent a playful glare ger way. "I thought I was dying! And that's impossible!" At the second statement, Alice shot a worried glance at Nick, afraid she had said too much. Nick, however, was still just laughing away at Alice's woes. So, Alice joined in her laughter, brushing off her faux pas.