Strokes

♥Chapter 1♥

''Art is never finished, only abandoned.''- Leonardo da Vinci

Iris was greeted by wet kisses from her Yorkshire Terrier when she walked through her front door. She lifted him up and kissed him back. Cookie, was her only sibling and possibly her bestest friend. He was always with her through the bad times and never told her to walk in his footsteps like the other two beings that lived in that same house.

''Iris, come here. Your father and I need to talk to you,'' Norma, Iris's mum called from the kitchen. Iris rolled her blue eyes and walked to the kitchen with Cookie still in her arms.

''Hi, mum, dad,'' Her smile faltered when she saw the frowns on their faces. ''Is something wrong?''

''Iris, we received your exam marks today and you barely managed to pass. What's going on with you? You are our daughter. Law is in your blood! Tell her, John!'' Norma said in a high pitched voice.

''Mum you know I-''

''Iris, listen to your mother and I. It's very important that you pay attention at school right now. If you don't we all know that your future will be ruined and you will end up being some prostitute in Soho with no qualifications to show. So please do us a favor and do your best,'' John told her with a disappointed look in his blue eyes, the eyes that Iris had inherited.

''But dad, how can I do my best when law isn't even the subject I want to study?! I don't want to become a bloody lawyer and defend guilty people and try to make it look like they are innocent!''

''Watch your tongue young lady! Don't start this nonsense again, you know art won't get you anywhere. Look at your aunt Rita, she studied art at university and now she's a waitress at some bar in Wales. Do you want to end up like her?'' Her mother said.

''Mum, that's not the point. Look at Leonardo da Vinci for example, he didn't end up being some waiter in Italy! If I just work hard enough, I will succeed, and I can make a name for myself.'' Iris tried to reason with them for the hundredth time.

''You are only eighteen years old, you don't know what you are talking about. You are always thinking about things that only happen in dreams. Listen to me for once, honey, and you won't regret it when you are thirty, a successful lawyer and married to some other lawyer. Just like your mum and I,'' Her father told her in a calmer voice.

''You're right, my dreams are only childish dreams, I don't know what I'm talking about. Goodnight, mum, dad,'' She told them as she gave them a kiss on the cheek and went upstairs to her bedroom, with her dog trailing behind her.

She lay on her king size bed and fought back the angry tears. Her parents never understood her, they didn't understand that she wasn't their carbon copy, but an individual.

Iris got off her bed and opened her money bank to count how much money she had managed to save in the past five years or so in case of an emergency. In this case going to Florence might be an emergency, her own personal emergency.

♥

Pierce Black walked into his little apartment carrying all his art supplies. He put them all on the floor and went into the kitchen to heat a microwave pizza since he wasn't in the mood to cook at ten o'clock at night.

While his food was being heated, he grabbed his phone and decided to call his friend in Florence. They hadn't spoken in a while since he had had the baby and he was always busy with his art classes.

He picked up his phone after six rings. 

''Pierce, how are you mate? It's good to hear from you,'' Richard told him cheerfully, Pierce could hear the crying of his baby and his wife screaming in the background.

''I'm good mate, how are you? Is that baby of yours fine?'' 

''You won't believe how fucking tired I am! She's keeping me and Emily up all night! All I can draw lately is crying babies! But she's wonderful when she isn't crying. It's true what they say, children really do change your life. When are you going to have your own child, Pierce?'' Richard jokingly asked him.

''Never, I don't want to be able to draw crying babies only and besides I have to find my future wife first,'' Pierce joked.

''I can't believe you still haven't found a girl after Isabelle! You are hot, single and living in London. How can you not have found your future baby mama yet?''

''I don't know. Any ways I didn't call for you  to lecture me about settling down. A lot of my students who attend the evening classes are talented, especially this girl, and I thought it would be a great idea if , I don't know.Maybe you held some competition and whoever won would have the chance to come study in Florence. What do you say?''

''I'll have to talk to my co-worker first, but it's totally possible. Three French students just came here last week because they won the competition that they had at their school. Now, tell me more about this girl you mentioned,'' Richard told him just as his microwave beeped, signalling that his pizza was ready.

''Opps, I have to go my dinner is ready, I'll e-mail you about the competition later on this week.''

''You son of a bitc-'' 

Pierce hung up and placed the phone on the counter as he walked back to the kitchen, thoughts of Florence filling his mind. He definitely needed a holiday and he needed to get out of London. The bad memories need to escape there as soon as possible.

A/n: Hi readers! So this is the first chapter, I hope that you like it. Please let me know what you think in the comments below or vote to show that you enjoyed it. Thanks!