The Artist, The Canvas and The Subject

Chapter 6

It was Thursday today and that meant Lauren had only today and tomorrow to either come up with a whole new collection or a single extraordinary painting that would blow everyone away....as of about an hour and a half ago she still had nothing. Truly she hadn't expected the week to go by so quickly, but when it came to spending time with two certain brunettes with brown eyes, Lauren couldn't find it in herself to say no. If it hadn't been for Dinah putting her foot down and actually locking Lauren in the apartment she would probably be with them right now - Well actually, no she wouldn't. It was four in the morning and she doubted they would be awake.

Lauren had tried to get to sleep but the pressure to create something made her hate closing her eyes because all she saw was black. So instead Lauren had spent the whole night and now morning sitting on the floor in the middle of her living room torturing herself. Dinah did this thing where when she was done dropping subtle hints that Lauren should hurry up and paint something, she would buy a whole bunch of canvases differing in size and place them all over the apartment. Right now Lauren was staring at the biggest one that took up the whole length of a wall, both in length and height - how the hell Dinah actually got it into the room will remain a mystery and Lauren realised it was way too early for her to even try understand the workings of Dinah's mind.

With a sigh she figured she may as well do something and dusted her overalls as she stood up and walked to her supply closet. She looked at all the tins of paint and realised Dinah had also decided to buy her a million more. Lauren already had a colour in mind and quickly grabbed two tins of black paint and a massive piece of material to protect the floor, dropping them ungracefully as they slipped out of her hand. Once she had taped the material down and the borders of the canvas against the wall, she tipped some of the black paint out so she could begin to roll it onto the canvas. Lauren walked back into her room, putting her hair into a messy bun and grabbing her phone and earphones. With one last look at the emptiness in front of her she put her earphones in and brought the roller onto the canvas, letting Lana Del Rey distract her from the pain she would soon be feeling in her arms.

"Blue hydrangea, cold cash, divine,

Cashmere, cologne and white sunshine.

Red racing cars, Sunset and Vine,

The kids were young and pretty.

Where have you been? Where did you go?

Those summer nights seem long ago,

And so is the girl you use to call,

The Queen of New York City.

But if you send for me you know I'll come,

And if you call for me you know I'll run.

I'll run to you, I'll run to you, I'll run, run, run.

I'll come to you, I'll come to you, I'll come come come."

Lauren had finished the second coat of black a few hours ago and went back to sitting in front of the now dark canvas, her earphones still in place. She had watched the paint dry and the sun begin to stream into the room, revealing pieces of dust floating in the air. She gently blew at them so that she could watch them perform her favourite dance - one with spins and twirls, and most important, one with grace. They travelled flawlessly and effortlessly through the air, making the sun their spotlight as each and every speck of dust showed off their talent. She felt the warmness of the sun reach her face at the same time she felt her phone vibrate in her hand.

Best Manager in the World: All black? I would say it suits you because it's the colour of your soul... but you would actually have to have one for that to be the case.