When you look at me I just can't lie

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

As Lena lay on the cold table she gave the last bit of their conversation more thought. Zander was right, she was doing all the things with him real friends would do. She was confiding in him about her thoughts and her lack of options. Now that she realized she was doing that she was trying to figure out why she was doing it. He was a good listener and he was insightful, it was his insight that she hated about him about him years ago. They had never been friends and she wasn’t sure they were even friends now but he had always been able to read her perfectly.

It was nice to get him back for it a little bit earlier. She had seen how uncomfortable he got at the mention of the ways he hid behind humor. It was uncomfortable to be exposed and it was about time he felt it.

Speaking of being exposed…she was sure sick of being stuck on flat surfaces in underwear. Zander was silent as he worked on blending the paint across her legs and she was left bored and growing steadily annoyed. It was going to be a long night. She glanced around and noticed his sketch pad was close to her hand. She grabbed it and started flipping through the pages. It wasn’t the same pad she had seen at school with the few sketches for his next ideas on the fallen angel series.

This pad was loaded with different drawings.

The first one was on Mel seated at her computer at home, her black cap was titled off to the side as she focused on something on the screen. The drawing looked like a perfect snap shot as he captured every element of her sister. Mel was big into computers and any given moment of the day you could find her in front of the screen looking a lot like this.

The first few pages held more life stills of Mel and then into the middle of the pad she found images of people she didn’t know.  One really stood out. A woman was kneeling at a grave, her face was turned to see her expression and tears. She was in despair. “Hey.”

“Hmm?”

“What’s the story with this woman or is she something you came up with?”

Zander stood from his seat and walked around to the top of the table to see the open sketch pad from over her shoulder. “She’s real. It’s my mom.”

Lena craned her neck up to see his expression as he looked over his drawing. It seemed like he hadn’t seen it in awhile or maybe every time he did it struck him with emotion but whatever the reason he stared at the sketch and took in all the detail he had put into it. “Who’s grave?”

With a sigh he glanced down and saw that she was watching him.  His eyes were more of a darker blue as he struggled with whatever the memory brought up for him. “It’s my grandfather. Being in witsec she couldn’t be there for the funeral or his last moments. After a month she packed up the car and drove to see his grave.”

“And you put it down on paper?”

“Yeah. We got back home and I couldn’t shake her face from my head and any time that happens it helps me to draw it out and its like if its on paper it’ll never be forgotten and I don’t have to carry it.” He sighed again but he didn’t turn away from their stare.

Lena felt her mouth going dry and her heart racing past the point of comfortable. She had never seen such raw intensity up close before. Everyone she knew stressed about material things and avoided having to face anything real in their heart. “Is everyone in this pad someone you know?”

“People I’ve encountered, yeah.” He walked back around the table and got back to work. “I have another idea.”

“Oh no. My legs are already grey.”

“No, I want to keep the same idea just a different position. You have too much material in the front for my to try and cover.” He was speaking about her bra. “I’m thinking we can still carry out the same thought but you can lay on your side and look over you shoulder. The image will look like the girl is fading into her final resting spot of the morgue table but instead of the classic stiff position we can make it look like she’s comfortable and accepting of her new dead status.”