The Fourth Notebook

22

November 18, 2014
Today I got a really nice surprise from Cody!
He came into my room and we watched some funny videos on YouTube for a while and then we stared at the ceiling.
"It's kinda drab in here," he said.
"Yeah."
"I can fix that, you know?"
"Oh yeah?"
"Mmhmm. Close your eyes and no peeking!"
"Okay,Cody." I laughed and covered my eyes with my hands.
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Mmmmmmmmmm......Three?"
"Wrong." He leaned over my bed and kissed my lips, "Okay. Stay right there."
His footsteps faded down the hallway.
He was gone for, maybe, five minutes.
"Okay!!!!! You can open them now!" Cody stood holding a case of paint, paintbrushes, and smocks. James and Jace stood behind him.
"For me?"
"Yeah, for you! Nurse Patricia gave us special permission to paint the walls! I brought Jace because he is probably better than all three of us combined."
"Hi Jace!"
He waved a pudgy hand.
"Hi, James. How are you feeling?"
"Okay."
"Well, let's get painting!" Cody exclaimed.
Jace ran to the paints and threw on a smock.
"What should we paint, Grace?" Cody asked.
"The city," I said.
"Like New York?" he said.
"No. Like San Francisco."
"Okay, baby. Whatever you want,"
He pulled me into a tight hug.
"Do you need help putting on your smock?" he said seductively.
"I think I can manage. I'm a big strong girl."
He laughed and then kissed me again.
I grabbed yellow, red, and brown and began mixing the color of the Golden Gate Bridge.
About an hour later I look up to give my eyes a rest.
Jace stands on a step stool to paint a beautiful scene with all the iconic buildings.
Cody seems to be making the Ghirardelli Square.
James sits in a corner painting the bay, his face is straight and emotionless.
"James? Are you okay?"
"Hmm!?" He speaks as if I startled him, "Oh me? Yeah. I'm......fine."
"Okay. Are you sure?"
He brushes his hair out of his way.
"Yeah. I'm just kind of tired, that's all. Actually, I was thinking of going to bed early today."
"Oh. Well, you get some rest."
He brushes his long black-brown bangs out of his ice blue eyes and starts to clean up.
"I'm going to take this step stool to my room because there is a loose screw in my vent and maintenance is coming to fix it tomorrow," he said casually as he was leaving.
"Okay, James. You be careful."
"Bye," he came over and gave me an awkward hug before walking briskly to his room.
We spent some more time painting until Jace was called back to his ward.
Then Cody and I added some finishing touches, mainly glow-in-the-dark paint on the stars and the building windows and Cody painted a tiny version of us in Ghirardelli Square from behind looking at the lights.
"It's perfect."
73- San Francisco