The Unknown Road

6 - Tessa

He nods, and writes them down in a column.

"Travelling? Cities of the world...?" He suggests, but I make a face. I hadn't been to many countries, so if they were personal to us then I'd be drawing Scotland mainly. He'd be drawing the Caribbean or South America, which were much more exciting.

He shrugs, "Films?" but then he shakes his head, so I cross that out immediately. There were far too many to choose from that we liked, so we'd never agree. Then again, films could work if we couldn't think of a good enough theme. I'm pretty sure Archie and I shared some of the same top ten films.

"Maybe we could just use one or two?" I suggest again, and he nods, changing his mind. I rub out the scribbled out word and rewrite it as a suggestion to use.

"Family and hobbies are a good idea I think," he says as I tap the words with my pencil. "So that can include... reading, for you," he gestures to the book he can see in my bag, "and football or art for me."

I nod, "Yeah and maybe we can add friends?" He agrees, smiling, so I write it down. "If we run out of cards we can always prioritise?"

"Okay cool, so that's the theme sorted, kind of. We can come up with lists separately and report back?" He grins and turns the page on his book. "What do you want to take?" He asks, lifting up his book to show me the rough sketch he'd drawn. He's tapping the four squares at the top, but I still didn't know what he's getting at.

"What do you mean?" I look harder at the page. I was starting to think he meant I draw his cards and he does mine, but that made no sense.

"The cards. Black or red? Or one of both?"

"Oh! Erm... One of both?" I ask with a shrug. It really didn't matter about that particular bit.

"Sure thing. So I'm spades and diamonds then, and then you can be clubs and hearts," he beams.

I nod and smile.

"Boom. Right, I think we have something then!" He holds up his hand for a high five so I hit it enthusiastically, both laughing.

***

I WAS SLIGHTLY WORRIED we would have too much to do, but then we started doing the maths. We made it so we each had ten cards to do, meaning we had to find eight mini subjects to fill each card.

Remaining in the seats next to each other, we start to scribble in our own notebooks what we wanted to draw, each trying to take a sneak peak at what the other was going to draw.

From what I could see, he has Millie at the top of his list, and his Mum. I saw Matt's name, and all his friends from football. I notice he has Art on there, as he'd said, with a few other suggestions as to what to draw. But I was disappointed that I didn't see me on there. When he moves his arm, I see travel, but I couldn't see what else he'd written. I couldn't see his dad on there, but he may have been on one that was currently covered by his arm. After seeing his scars, I had my suspicions about his dad. I think he's probably the one behind them. But instead of dwelling on that for now, knowing he'd tell me when he was ready, I turn my attention to my own themes.

My cards would include both my parents separately - I had the perfect picture in mind for my mum - Matt, my friends and others from work. Hobby-wise, cars would be on there, along with a few other favourite films. And then there were a couple of memories I wanted to try and draw down on some paper. Books will be a card on their own, with the main series I was reading, rather than all over them. I would probably try and draw Jamie and Claire along with a Scottish vista to show my true love for Outlander. I write that down pushing away the thought that Archie would laugh at me.