" can you draw her for me? "
info
- rue x reader
- 1st person
- y/n's pov
- you're friends with rue
- an au where you're going to college for art and trying to become a composite artist (aka a police or forensic sketch artist. a sketch artist who draws facial features based off of descriptive details. usually used to solve criminal cases and get the jist of what the suspect may look like)
- a bit of angst as rue talks about her situation with jules
- music that fits the vibe: holding on by iann dior
As I took the key out of the ignition and the humming of my car's engine vanished, I looked over to rue sitting in the passenger seat. she immediately met my gaze and we both exchanged small smiles.
"let's eat. i'm hungry." rue stated, making me nod in response. we gathered our things and stepped out of the car, the warmth of the sunset lightly tingling at my skin. rue and i decided to hang out for a while during the day and now night is about to come around, but of course, we were still hungry, agreeing to go to our favorite diner for dinner. {a/n: just saying, this is the diner from the most recent special episode from euphoria that rue and ali went to}
we got a booth towards the left side of the room upon entering. the booth we chose hugged at the front windows of the diner, giving us a view of the parking lot. there was a comfortable silence as we both sat down and stretched out, relaxing and being in our own thoughts.
i decided to take out my sketchbook and some art supplies and get ready to draw. i stared down at the blank page i turned to and then looked away out the window and up at the sky, thinking about what i should draw. i've been sketching 3D objects for art class but i knew an anatomy lesson was coming soon and that was my strong suit. i needed to start practicing composite artistry.
rue caught my attention by lightly kicking my ankle and saying, "hey. what are you thinking of drawing?" i simply shrugged my shoulders. "i'm not sure yet. but i definitely wanna draw a person." rue smiled and nodded. "i've been noticing you're getting bored with all the shapes and lines and shit. you want to draw people." i chuckled. "you're damn right. no offense to the art gods but composition doesn't mean shit to me." i retorted. she laughed a bit.
"and i can see why! like cmon, show me your portraits." i turned towards a specific part of my sketchbook and showed her a few realistic portraits of faces i sketched. she pointed out all the details within each face she saw and showered me with compliments. "see! you're so good with faces! they should have an anatomy class just for you because i swear you're like crippling." i wheezed at rue's comment. "you're not wrong."
we both joked around a bit before our appetizer was dropped off at our table. rue raised her eyebrows at me a bit, her eyes darting from my blank sketchbook page still in front of me, awaiting to draw on it, and back up at my face while she sipped on her water. "i have an idea."
i titled my head at her in curiosity and nodded at her, giving her approval to suggest her idea. "okay so.. you've mentioned how you wanna become a police sketch artist correct?" i nodded. "yes. it's called composite artistry. i can draw people's faces without a specific reference except descriptive details." rue hummed with interest. "from all the csi and real crime shows we've binge watched together, i genuinely think that's really cool. i've never been able to draw but to make a sketch just by a voice telling you what they see and trying to make it as accurate as possible is insane to me." i nodded and agreed with her statement, sipping my drink.
"it certainly is hard but i feel like i've grown accustomed to it. i've always loved anatomy within drawing and with that part of imagining descriptive details has stuck with me too. that's why i feel comfortable with composite artistry." i explained, rue nodding and agreeing with me. "yeah you definitely have talent with that. so how about i put you to the test?" i raised my eyebrows at her. "you mean like.. right now?" "yeah. why not? but of course if you're comfortable with it."
i smiled at rue's idea. "i'd love to take the challenge." she smiled at my response and watched me fiddle with my pencil a bit in my hand. rue grabbed a piece of the appetizer we ordered and started eating while thinking about what she wanted to see me sketch.
"take your time with your thoughts and make sure you give me as much detail as you possibly can." she nodded at me, her bites of her food becoming slower and slower until she swallowed. while i was eating my piece of the appetizer, rue looked at me and said, "okay. i have my choice." i nodded, slightly adjusting my sketchbook.
"so i thought of people who wronged me in the past." i finished swallowing my piece and shook my head at her. "oh boy. let's see who you choose." "wanna take a guess?" we both teased at each other sometimes with a bit of humor about our bad past situations. we went to different schools but when we both told each other about the things that have happened, especially with the shit she's been through in east highlands, we both connected the dots and concluded that people were dumb.
i shook my head at her with a light smile on my face, declining the offer to take a guess at the many people that she told me about who had grudges against her during her time here in highlands. "well, i have chosen the one and only, jules." i hummed with approval, becoming interested. with all the people rue and i have ever mentioned to each other, we both didn't know what any of them looked like. i also found it interesting how she chose jules.
from my understanding of the secrets she's told me, jules was a pivotal part in her high school life. jules changed the trajectory of rue's mindset when she left and never came back. i can't begin to imagine the feelings that formed when rue saw her leaving on the train for the city, leaving rue forever alone and in limbo. but jules also did encourage rue to get away from her drug addiction, even if she wasn't physically next to or involved with rue anymore. i wonder what such a person looks like.
"can you draw her for me?" rue asked with a bit of eagerness. i tucked my pencil into a comfortable sketching position between the wedge of my thumb and hovered the pencil's tip over the middle of the page. "alright. i'll give this a shot." i nodded towards rue, seeing her eyes beginning to twinkle under the light. "well, her name is jules. she's a girl with very sharp features, bleach blonde, straight hair, and a big heart." rue went on. the descriptions started to build up very slowly but gained traction, my hand following through and guiding what the pencil was sketching out while listening to each detail.
"she had a small, rectangle-like facial shape. a very big, european, triangle nose that stuck out with a smooth bridge, no bumps. she had clear skin with only a small mole on the left side of her face below her eye, kind of brushing up on the top of her cheek. she always wore really dramatic but stylish clothes and makeup. she had the tiniest bit of a butt chin that creased only when she smiled. the little line under her mouth supported her bottom lip, which was slightly bigger than her top one-"
the waiter came by with our entrees but i continued to slowly sketch out each feature, rue watching me with attentive eyes while she slowly ate and gave out more details. as time went by and the sunset was now gone, the details kept going deeper, almost describing the surface of who jules was. it was like i couldn't connect the person i'm drawing to the person who left rue behind.
"her eyes were.. like this indulging dark blue that represented the ocean. like it had this deepness where you could look into them all day yet it also had this emptiness that was hard to read past. it wasn't the type of blue eyes that changed in the lighting either. it always looked the same, fitting and boring into those small, round eyes. those eyes always looked back at people with so much unbelievable passion and desire. oh and that smile.. the top teeth slightly bigger and showing up more than the bottom. that smile and her personality were the only things that covered everything up..." i heard her stop and her voice slightly trail away. i looked up to see rue choking up, looking down at the table while trying not to cry.
i paid attention to her mannerisms with a sympathetic expression on my face. she began to wipe her eyes a bit with her sweatshirt sleeves. "i'm sorry. i just miss her." she quietly said in a whispered mumble, resting her head on her knees as she was sitting with her knees to her chest. i nodded at her and slowly resumed sketching what i imagined jules looked like. her features were carved out to me, showing a genuine looking person. i honestly felt like jules was heartwarming and only had good intentions. by rue's side of the story, she seemed like a villain at first but is actually just another person who made a big mistake.
i continued to add more depth by shading within jules' facial features to make all the small details like wrinkles, creases, and coloration become more defined. rue stayed silent for the time being and i felt her eyes seemingly watching what i was doing or maybe having her eyes on my face. i wasn't completely sure what she had her gaze fixed up on, my focus still on the sketch while she stayed quiet. i quickly stretched out my hand and fingers before picking the pencil back up and continuing.
it was only a small moment later when my hand and my eyes daunted on me; i knew i was officially done drawing jules' face. when i looked up, i saw rue about to open her mouth to speak but i quickly interrupted her, having slight excitement and pride laced within my voice, "i'm done." i saw her body language immediately change, becoming more curious and attentive as her legs went down under the table and back into a normal seating position. she had an almost nervous look on her face while she tilted her head at me in surprise.
"wow. really?" i nodded at her amazement. "ready to see?" i asked. she slowly nodded and slightly leaned forward. i quickly swiped around the page to get any of the eraser's excess off and then turned my sketchbook so it was facing her while i pushed it towards her. her eyes widened in genuine surprise as she took my sketchbook in her hands and held the page up to her eyes, looking at the sketch from different angles.
—basic ideas of the sketch of jules (just so you can get an idea. it's ofc an upclose face sketch but these pictures show her features off so if you want to imagine a picture where her face is front-facing or slightly to the side, these are the photos to work with)—
her mouth was slightly gaped open, her mind in a wordless state. "so, how did i do?" i asked, my fingers slightly fidgeting and my palms hurting. rue finally met my gaze, her eyes on the brink of having tears falling down her face. "it's.. beautiful.. almost too perfect, y/n." i lightly exhaled a shaky breath i didn't know i was holding in, a small smile playing at my face. "accurate?" she vigorously nodded at me and reached across the entire table, giving me a small hug while she lightly sniffled and held in her tears.
"this sketch is so good it's making me into a big mess." rue and i laughed a bit, trying to lighten the situation. she turned my sketchbook back around so the sketch was facing me. i stared back down at my artwork a bit, having a mixture of feelings stirring within me. i felt proud of making an accurate recreation and having an idea of jules' appearance, but i also feel a bit worried about rue's decision of choosing jules and my acceptance of attempting to draw jules, not necessarily thinking that rue would react like this.
"i'm sorry for being this emotional. i just miss her like a lot and everything hit me at once." i nodded, listening to her fabricate her words carefully. "jules and i.. i guess we were both trainwrecks at the time and maybe still are. i know our relationship was bad and co-independent because i put my faith and care into one person's hands and pressured them without even realizing. i never meant to hurt jules and i know she probably never meant to hurt me either. our dynamic was just so powerful and i've never felt anyone with jules' connection like that. i still have her in my heart and thoughts and.. it fucks me up the more i dwell on it sometimes. like i try to get over her and move past everything but i know i can't do that right now." i reached across the table and gently held her hand, rubbing circles within her palm to calm her down.
"and that's perfectly normal. it's okay, rue. you hold somebody to your heart for a reason. because of the special effect they had on you in your life. keeping them in remembrance is the only way to properly represent them and your journey when they're away. i can tell you really miss her." she nodded at me. "you can't reverse anything but you can hold onto the things you've learned for as long as possible." i tore the page of artwork out of my sketchbook and handed it to rue. "you can keep it. keep the past within your absence but hold the wisdom you've gained from it close to your mind and the source of that wisdom in your heart." she looked at me with glistening eyes and held a very soft, grateful smile, me exchanging one back. the silence between us felt settling and natural, making it feel like it was only us sitting in the whole diner. she sniffled once more and let out a shaky and breathy "thank you."
a/n: i got inspired by all the real crime shows i've been watching out of nowhere so there you have it
all image credits: google
[word count]: 2548