Artist's Soul

5- Clara

It was much earlier than usual that the paintings appeared. We had just made it to Heather's house, the three of us, after leaving Reyna. We always hung out at Heather's house- her family was the richest and her house was the biggest. We were on her bed watching some romance show and stuffing our face with crisps as I felt the familiar phantom paint ghost across my stomach. A warm tingle rippled in my heart- sweet happiness, mixed with something else. Denial? It felt different to usual- less like a paintbrush, more like fingers dancing across my skin to a silent tune. I pulled up my shirt a little to watch the paint flow across the planes of my stomach, Heather and Nat now looking on wide-eyed. It was blue- but so many shades of blue that it seemed like an endless sea meeting a cloudy sky at the horizon. The colours swirled around like a whirlpool and mixed until I could no longer see the skin of my stomach. The pattern was not frantic or random- the asymmetrical swirls were painted with purpose, I could tell. It was when the paint had stopped spreading that I noticed my fingers- on them was the paint that had spread across my stomach. Clearly they had painted this with their fingers, and despite them not meaning to be there I loved the tiny waves of paint left on my fingertips.

"I don't think I've actually ever seen them paint on you before." Said Heather, grabbing my hand and touching the tips of my fingers carefully, as if afraid to smudge the paint. Seeing paint appear on skin was certainly different to seeing thin lines of pen. I would be in shock too, but I was used to it. Still, I was amazed by my soulmate's work every time.

I swiftly grabbed a pen from beside me and took the cap off, placing the point on my forearm, hesitating, before beginning to write.

'Beautiful as ever x'

I had until morning to think of a blue or ocean themed pick up line. It was hard to think of a new one every day, and I was sure I'd probably used the same one several times.

I tied my shirt above the paint, so I could look at it whenever I wanted to. Nat and Heather returned to watching the film, and we all continued to stuff our faces until we quickly ran out of crisps.

"I'll get more." I said as I stood up. The other two just knodded their heads in acknowledgement, otherwise engrossed in the show. I sauntered to the kitchen, empty bowl in hand, and chucked another bag of popcorn in the microwave. Once it had popped I poured it into the bowl and walked back, entering quietly. The other two literally hadn't moved an inch. I sat down, bed bouncing slightly, springs groaning.

After mindlessly staring at the screen for what felt like a century, we finally broke free of our trance as the episode ended and the credits rolled. It had ended with that stereotypical swoon and kiss, the perfect end to a simple love story. It was one of the things I, and many others, wanted the most- a beautiful, simple love life. Find your soulmate, fall in love, done. Nice and easy. And you don't have to be worried about your parter being loyal, it's described as the worst feeling ever when you cheat on your soulmate after finding them. It's even killed people. Talk about karma. If you were with someone before finding your soulmate, though, it was fine. That would be too cruel.

Knowing my luck though, I probably wouldn't find my soulmate for a long time.

We all reluctantly left our comfy seats on the bed to crawl out of the room and down the stairs. Heather pulled out her phone and began to order pizza, voice cracking from not talking for ages. Despite literally having chefs in the house, nothing beats delivery pizza. Especially after a stressful day.

After just under ten minutes the doorbell rang, and we all sprinted to the front door to open it. Nat made it first and flung the door open, shocking the delivery guy slightly. She snatched the boxes out of his hand, Heather chucking money into his hand to replace it before closing the door again and sprinting to the living room. Poor delivery guy.

We all grabbed our pizza boxes and crashed on different couches (how many does one house need? Seriously, 7 is too many) flinging them open and beginning to devour the pizza. After a second we burst out laughing at our own haste to eat, but we stopped laughing to eat more.

All of a sudden my food was gone and I was the owner of a sizeable food baby. Whenever I eat lots of food, fast, I seem to blackout while eating and I can never remember actually eating. All I know is that I am very full.

Sluggishly, I got up and grab the empty pizza box, walking out to deposit it with the other waste. I make my way back to the living room to see both Nat and Heather passed out on their respective couches. Sighing, I threw blankets over them before falling asleep on my own sofa.

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I woke up to the sound of a loud object hitting the floor. When I opened my eyes to investigate, it turned out that the fallen object was Nat, who had moved just a bit too far in her sleep. I just about managed to stand up, swaying on my feet, as Heather let out a groan of exhaustion. A single stream of sunlight leaked through the slightly open curtains of the living room. I made my way over to the window and threw the curtains apart, sunlight blinding me for a second. I heard moans of protest behind me from both Nat and Heather, but I just let out a short laugh at their annoyance. 

"I will murder you Clara." muttered Heather, but the sound was muffled as she had shoved her head into a pillow

"I second that." said Nat, who was lying on her back, still on the floor, with an arm thrown across her face.

"I'd love to see you try." I said, walking over to a pen I had spotted on the floor. I grab it, my back aching as  I bend forward. Pulling the cap off, I bring the pen to my skin and begin to write:

 'As beautiful as the clearest of oceans.'

Admittedly, not my best work.

I cap the pen and put it on the nearest surface. I hear a thud and look over to see that Heather has now joined Nat on the floor. I can hear them snickering about something on the floor.

"What was the compliment today?" asked Nat, trying to keep a straight face. I noticed that she had her phone in her hand. I showed them both my arm, and Heather raised an eyebrow.

"You know, there's something much better you could have written."

I look at them, puzzled, until music starts leaking from Nat's phone.

'I've been watching you for some time,'

"Oh come on!" I complain.

'Can't stop staring at those ocean eyes.'

"How come I didn't think of something to do with ocean eyes! That's classic flirting!" I yell. Nat and Heather only laugh.

I snatch the pen up off of where I put it down.

'Wait I have a better one.' I wrote before drawing a line through the old writing.

'I'm lost in your ocean eyes.'

Satisfied, I put the pen back down and return to Nat and Heather on the floor.

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It was at breakfast that I felt, for the first time in forever, someone writing on my arm in a swirling script.

'You're funny... Also my eyes are green.'