Perfectly Imperfect

~43~

                    Ever heard of ask and it shall be given to you??

                                   ~ADAM~

I stood in front of my painting that was in the diner. It marked the demarcation between the diner and the almost bared space that doubled as the stage for open mics, stage performances, and the likes. A girl whose head was covered in a veil was playing a low and soothing piece on the piano.

I wanted to get lost in the piece she was playing, I would've loved to feel the song but I was too nervous to even feel any other thing.

Right now, nervousness was the blood coursing through my veins.

It was 6:15 and she wasn't here yet. Now, I was starting to get worried, and soon enough, I was almost paralyzed with worry and nervousness.

Worry and nervousness.

I still stood there, my hands shoved into pockets of my jean when I just felt the need to turn back.

And there, she was, stepping in through the door, a kind of reluctant and almost nervous smile on her face. I felt my heart skip a beat as I stared at her.

She looked mesmerized at the sight of the diner even though the only mesmerizing sight here tonight was.

I watched her as she glanced around the diner, the open space, the girl playing the piano and I did not miss the softness in her eyes as she stared at the piano and the girl even though it was just for the briefest seconds. She eyed the wall where the words were written warily, definitely wondering why they'd waste that amount of space for just words

I realized I had to go and get her at the same minute she started walking towards me, a warm and appreciative smile on her face. It took me a while to know that that smile wasn't for me but my painting.

Oh wow! I frowned, suddenly feeling jealous of my painting.

Was that even normal?

"Hey."

I called out, my voice betraying and shocking me even more because that for one did not sound like me at all. It sounded like something I did not recognize. Maybe I should have asked Charles and Kunle for those tips because I was sure I was going to ruin this when I already started like this.

She turned to look at me and sweet lord, she has to be the most beautiful art I've ever beheld. I forgot I was supposed to say something, anything but I was suddenly tongue-tied, in place of my brain, a brick and I suddenly couldn't think. Her braids were tied into a ponytail, her facial features were highlighted by the faintest touch of make-up but it wasn't even about those things.

It was her lips or the lip gloss on her lips if the combination of the both that was making my brain go haywire.

"This is your painting, right?"

She asked suddenly, jolting me out of my reverie and successfully blocking that train of thoughts that my brain was hell-bent on going down.

I looked away from her face to the painting, clearly surprised that she was able to tell that it was mine. After joking about knowing it because of her sixth sense, we finally made it to our seats and we had hardly sat down when a waiter came to get our orders. I watched Kunmi as she peered at the list, eyebrows quirking in concentration that I was almost startled when someone called her name. She looked up, confusion and surprise written all over her face. I was confused too and we both looked at the waiter who had called out her name warily.