Aquarelle [h.s]

forty-seven

I gave him a nod. Saying he'd freaked out was an understatement, but I was glad that he'd recognised it and was now apologising. "Thank you."

He gave me a nod, seeming to realise only then that I was holding two ice-creams. "Waiting for someone?"

"I'm here with Harry" I told him, and he seemed to be a bit taken aback.

"Oh. Do you mind if we go outside and catch up a bit? We haven't seen each other in centuries" he asked me and I looked around, almost expecting Harry to walk in in that very minute - but he didn't, which meant that I couldn't leave anyway.

"Okay" I agreed, following Nicholas out of the parlour and sitting at one of the tables in front of it.

He sat on the chair next to me, taking a spoonful of his light coloured ice cream - vanilla, if I wasn't mistaken. "So how's the art thing going?"

"It's going great, actually. Harry really is amazing, he's so helpful" I said, smiling just thinking about him. I'd always loved to draw and create, but doing it around him for some reason made me so much happier.

"Isn't that lovely" he commented.

"Sierra?" I heard my name being called suddenly and I turned my head, discovering that Harry was walking towards us.

"Oh Harry, you're back. Here's your ice-cream" I said handing it to him, "I also met Nicholas."

Harry took the cone from me and sat on the chair on my other side, shooting Nicholas a look that made it clear he wasn't happy to see him there.

"Nice to see you again, mate" Nicholas greeted him, extending his hand towards him but retracting it quickly when he realised Harry probably wouldn't have shaken it.

Harry raised an eyebrow, not seeming to be impressed by his greeting. "Okay."

"We were just talking about my art projects" I interjected, feeling the conversation start to get awkward. "They're quite nice now that Harry and I have got used to working together again."

Nicholas turned to look at me again, a smile on his lips and his bright blue eyes shining. "If they're as brilliant as you look, I'm sure they're amazing" he replied, "you're glowing."

"It must be the lack of toxicity" Harry commented from where he was sitting, no particular emotion held in his voice, and I snapped my head towards him.

"Harry" I reprimanded him quietly, feeling a bit embarrassed by the rudeness of his reply and also don't understanding where he was coming from. Yes, Nicholas had been quite awful in the past, but he'd apologised and was being rather kind. I turned to look at the blue eyed man, offering him a little shrug. "Sorry."

"Nah it's fine. I'm sure he's a great model anyway" he said, shrugging as well and looking at Harry with the hint of a laugh in his eyes.

"He really is! Differently from you... do you remember that time you tried modelling for me?" I asked him, and my question quickly evolved into him trying to retell the whole story and me having to step in every once in a while to fix the mistakes he was purposefully making.

We kept talking for a while, going over past memories, funny moments, updates on our lives, exchanging jokes and laughs, just as we'd used to before it had all turned into a mess.

It was nice to be able to talk to him in that way, it made me feel as if a weight I didn't even know was there had been removed from my shoulders. Because in that moment, sitting next to my ex boyfriend and talking to him, I knew that I didn't like him in that way anymore. It wasn't that I didn't like him anymore because he was being an awful person, because he wasn't anymore. He, at his most entertaining, very best just wasn't it for me anymore.