When you look at me I just can't lie

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Nick and Amber were Zander’s aunt and uncle he was living with while his parents stayed under witness protection with fake names. It was a risk for Zander to leave but the minute he turned eighteen he wasted no time, living a life that wasn’t his own had been too much to handle for another second.

Nick and Amber hadn’t turned him away and still seemed to like having him around, they were in their mid-thirties with no kids yet and some rooms to spare. Another big plus for Nick was the fact his job took him out of town a lot and his loving wife liked to tag along.

Zander was alone and would be for the next week. It was perfect to get some work done. He dropped his bookbag off in his bedroom and continued across the hall to his work space. Amber had helped him turn it from a bare room into the perfect art studio. The windows were blacked out for when he needed to develop film, there was an easel and canvasses all along the floor, some empty and some not.

Lena had one rule about being his model; she didn’t want anyone to know and that included his best friend Mel. He agreed because if the final product came out half as well as it looked in his head than he could keep Lena a secret.

They’d need a backdrop to fit the theme and right now the once white wall was covered in a sketch of a girl he was supposed to be falling out of love with. He’d have to paint over it and whip out some airbrushes to create the dark tone from his vision.

He toed off his sneakers, pulled off his t-shirt, and got to work.

Lena was staring at the slip of paper with Zander’s address. She couldn’t believe she agreed to do this. She and Zander were like enemies; they fought and hissed at each other any time they were in the same room. How was this going to work? But he had sought her out and asked already knowing their relationship sucked so he probably had an idea in mind. Maybe he’d refrain from annoying the hell out of her or saying something that got deep under her skin and too close to the truth.

She sighed and made up her mind. She left a note for her mother, she was out grocery shopping, and explained she’d back later tonight and that yes her homework would be done. Before leaving she decided to check on Mel, her sister had the flu and while they didn’t get along much she still cared and didn’t want her to suffer.

Mel was in bed with the covers pulled up to her chin, her nose was red like Rudolph the Reindeer’s.  Lena stepped in the room and hoped she didn’t get sick too. “Are you feeling any better?”

“If feeling like warmed over death then yes I am. What brings you by?”

“I’m leaving and wanted to make sure you didn’t need anything since mom is out.”

The look across Mel’s face was skeptical. “You’re being nice to me?”

“I’m nice to you a lot!” Lena hated being singled out as the bad guy. Yes there were times they didn’t get along but that was what siblings did. Mel gave as good as she got, sometimes better.

“Right, sure, ok. Thanks but I’m fine.” She held up her box of tissues to symbolize that’s all she needed. “Where are you going? Clingy boyfriend again?”

Lena tensed at the mention of Andy and didn’t rush to defend him like she had in the past. “No, something else. I’ll see you later. Feel better.” She hightailed it out of there before her sister picked up on her evasiveness and bombarded her with a hundred questions.

Zander’s address wasn’t far from her own. During the drive she grew curious again about why Zander would come to her of all people and what exactly he wanted her to do. She recognized his car in the driveway and knew she had the right place. He had told her something about being unable to hear the doorbell in the backroom and the door would be unlocked for her.

She left her bag in the car and got out. She didn’t have anything of value in there but still, Zander had gotten in trouble for stealing in his early teenager years and she didn’t want to take any chances. The house she was looking at now was pretty nice, he didn’t look to be struggling for money anymore and especially not if he could pay her.

He told her to come right in and that’s what she did. She turned the knob and it opened right up. The front door opened to a living room with glass tables and little glass figurines on top of them a woman definitely decorated this place. The pillows on the couch and the color of the drapes all matched.

Past the living room was the hallway Zander also mentioned. Last door on the left was his studio. His words not hers. When he said studio she was expecting nothing grand, probably a section of his bedroom used for drawing.

She was wrong.

The door was open. The room was large, large enough that she envied the space when all these years she thought her bedroom had been pretty big. It was a studio with professional light stands and photo equipment. Photo? There were shelves housing bottles upon bottles of paint. Easel’s and paper along the edge of the walls.  Her curiosity was back in full force only to stop at an abrupt halt when her eyes finally landed on Zander and what he was working on.

The whole back wall made up a dark skyline with blues, reds, and blacks, there were mountains with so much detail she saw the jagged edges. It was new because the room smelled of fresh paint and Zander was still working on it with his back facing her. His very bare back. Her eyes followed his broad shoulders down to his jean clad legs and saw next he wore no sneakers or socks.

Everything she had expected was wrong, everything.

She found her voice and asked, “What are you doing?”

He hadn’t realized he wasn’t alone, he slightly jumped at the sound of her voice. “You’re early.”

Lena fought not to drop her eyes lower than his chin. It was natural female curiosity to know what his chest looked like, he was the one who decided to be shirtless anyway but seeing as she disliked him a majority of the time she shouldn’t look.  “My mom was out and it was better to leave a note than try to explain where I was going.” She pointed to the wall. “What are you doing?”

“A back drop I’m going to be using for the vision I have with you.”

Her eyes took in the dark images again, it looked like a place were bad things happened, a place the world forgot void of any life. She was a teenage girl, it made sense to be curious about boys and what said boy wanted from her but to be curious about the vision he talked about and the story behind the forgotten darkness he was creating made no sense.   “What do you need me to do?”

“I need you to strip down as much as you’re comfortable with.”

That did it, her eyes went south and she found a surprisingly in shape chest. Zander didn’t do sports, maybe he worked out. He was long-limbed and tall leaving him lanky but every part of his chest was pronounced and defined. Damn him. It took years but there was something about him she liked now. She couldn’t be in her undies and him shirtless. Talk about awkward.   “And what if I’m not comfortable taking anything off?”

“Denim and white doesn’t go with the setting.”

She dragged her eyes back up to his face, she wanted to know where his head was at with this. “And if I’m comfortable taking it all off?”

He gave nothing away. “Then go ahead.”

Lena cursed him mentally and reached for her shirt. “Naked isn’t happening, ever, but I can do underwear. It’s just like a bikini.” She was trying to convince herself of that because it didn’t look like Zander cared. But bikini’s weren’t made of soft silk and made to make your guy’s jaw drop. She had dressed that morning in her black lace bra and matching tiny panties hoping to show them off to Andy later, before he blew her off. Never had she imagined it’d be Zander Kale seeing them.

He gave none of his thoughts away but he looked, he watched as she slipped out of her top and skirt before turning back to work on his landscape. Lena smiled; it was nice to know someone found her attractive. Even if it was her sister’s annoying best friend she didn’t get along with.