❝Whether it's the passionate hues of love, the bold strokes of anger, or the intricate patterns of frustration, art mirrors the human emotions. Each masterpiece invites you to gaze upon it, becoming a mirror to your own heart's rhythm, making it race and develop with the vivid tapestry of emotions embedded in the strokes and contours. Art, like a captivating encounter, has the power to evoke the same heartbeat, creating an intimate connection between the observer and the artistry before them.❞
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Aurelia watches the man from the chair opposite of the couch he was sleeping on. This may look weird from an outsider looking in, but she's only curious. The man she had spoken to weeks ago is now sleeping on the couch that belongs to another man that she is slowly growing close to. She only heard a few stories, but she knows that Andrew and Elijah know each other. However, even if she heard a few mindless rumors, she'd much rather hear their story from them.
Andrew sighs, causing her to flinch slightly, almost falling out of the chair she is sitting in. "I told you not to mind me, Angel."
She pulls her hand from her chest, sighing quietly before pulling her knees up, using it to shield her embarrassment from being caught staring at him. "I thought you were sleeping. I didn't mean to stare."
"I was sleeping," He slowly sits up, pulling the hat up a bit so he could look at her. "But, I felt a pair of pretty eyes eyeing me down so I couldn't stay asleep."
She didn't mean to stare for too long, her curiosity must've blinded her from the fact that she did look weird. Extremely weird. "I'm sorry."
He tilts his head after sitting up to face her. Andrew is still covered in sweat, and his hair is poking from under his hat, even his hair looks a bit damp. "I compliment your eyes, and all you can say is sorry?"
"Thank you?" She says, but in the form of a question, not really sure if that's what he wanted to hear from her. Aurelia is already nervous seeing him suddenly after being so deep into her own world. Why is he here? How did he get in? Does he seriously live here?
"If you're here for a week," he says carefully, pulling his hoodie off his head, and yanking his hat off with it. "Does that mean Elijah told you about me, or us in general?"
Aurelia shakes her head.
"Fucking figures." Andrew pulls his hoodie off, causing her to get a quick glimpse of his toned body, making her heart thump against her chest. However, this time she tried not to stare too long or she would get caught like she did before.
"I can feel your eyes undressing me," Andrew jokes, but the comment made her shove her face in her knees, scolding herself. "Don't worry, I love attention. You should know this by now."
As she lifts her head again, he shoots a wink at her before his signature playful grin covers his lips. "This is... what? Our third time meeting. Except this time, we're alone, with no one around."
Andrew stands up from his spot on the couch and slowly approaches her, still drenched in sweat. She could feel her heart in her ears as he she watched him get closer and closer, making her throat and mouth dry. Once he is standing in front of her, he leans down, placing each hand on each armrest of the chair. Trapping her just as he did when she was in the kitchen.
"So tell me," he leans down to her ear, causing her body to tremble. It wasn't from fear, but it was definitely from some unknown emotion. Anxiousness? "What does it take for you to finally give into my charms, and let me see this facade of yours go away?"
"Facade?" Aurelia murmurs softly, trying to hide behind her knees. Andrew caresses the tip of her knee with his index finger. The manner he did it in was playful, but it made her visibly tremble, and the man noticed right away because as she shakes from being so nervous, his smile grows wider.
"When I overheard your conversation with Jackie," he slid his index finger down her shin, making her nibble at her middle finger knuckles. "I instantly became more interested in you. I wanted to know who's this pretty girl that had the guts to actually put Jackie in her place. Believe or not I think she's stuck in her immature high schooler ways. I wouldn't believe you if you told me she's a senior in college."
Aurelia's toes begin to wiggle, but only slightly, as she drags his finger up her leg, slowly, pressing into her knee body, causing her to bite her lip. "Were... W-Were you and Jackie close?"
Andrew stops his movement once she asks the question. He cock his head to the side, frowning a bit. As he pulls away from her, she knows now that the question must have upset him. Made something go off inside him in some way, somehow.
"Let's just say I wouldn't invite her to my funeral." He mumbles, crossing his arms as he looks away from her. "I never really had problems with her, but the moment her and her fucking corward of a boyfriend pushed themselves in my friend group, everything went down hill."
She watches him closely. His stance, the way he crosses his arms. The movement of his eyes as if he's watching the old memories play out in front of him. "Is that why you still go to the parties? Because your friends are still hanging out with them?"
He stares out the windows for a moment before he turns to look at her. "I don't even know why I'm telling you anything. And what's with the twenty-one questions? Huh?"
"I was jus-"
"You were just trying to get in my fucking head," he snaps, causing her to close her mouth instantly. "Look, I'm not interested in letting someone else get in my head."
Even though the words didn't seem cold, his tone was harsh. Each word made her throat get drier and drier. All she wanted was to get to know him better in hopes it'll help her understand Jackie better, but instead of saying that, it really did seem like she was interrogating him.
Andrew gathers his things and storms down the hallway. Once she hears Elijah's room door slam close, she lets out the deep breath she was holding. Aurelia rises from the couch, walking over to the kitchen, where she left her laptop, and begins to send Elijah a text from it. It was a good thing her laptop and phone were already in sync, but she doubted he'd answer. It's still early, so he's probably working, or getting ready to hang out with his friends. The man probably answered her message in the morning.
Just as she was about to close her laptop, Elijah's name pops up. Aurelia pushes the laptop screen back and moves her cursor over to the green answer button. When she sees his face, it looks like he just got out of a heated conversation, or worse.
"Hey, sorry." He instantly says, making her shake her head.
"No, I know you two are friends. I just wanted to let you know that he's here." She smiles shyly looking down at her hands. "He's in your room now. I think I might've upset him. Or said something to upset him."
"Don't pay him any attention," Elijah sighs. "Especially since he likes it... but it looks like I'll be coming back tonight. I wished he told me he was coming over today. I would've given you the heads up."
Aurelia nods her head, and looks away awkwardly. "So, um... are you okay? You seem upset as well."
Elijah wasn't wearing what he left the penthouse in. It was something fancier. His is slicked back into a low bun. Even the background didn't seem like the tattoo parlor, where was he? Will she be stepping over a boundary asking him about it?
"I'm currently at a place that I desperately want to escape right now." He sighs, running his hand over his face as he moves the camera away for a moment. "But other than that, I'm fine. Thanks for asking, Aurelia."
She tilts her head. "If you want to leave. Why don't you?"
"It's complicated." He answers quickly as if he has been ask the same thing over and over again. " I'll be there soon. Just let Andrew stay by himself for a while. Once he's done sulking, he might apologize for his outburst, but if he doesn't, I'll make sure you get one."
Aurelia shakes her head quickly, waving her hands at the screen. She didn't need an apology. Yes, he was rude, but there was no need for an apology because she wasn't offended by what he said. She also understood why he got upset, but she was just curious about him. Her mother used to tell her to let someone know that she's curious, because sometimes her blunt questions can offend someone even if it's not her attention. But that was when she was younger. Younger than she is now.
"It's fine. I was asking a lot of personal questions."
Elijah sighs. "That doesn't give him the right to yell at you, okay? No one should yell at you if you're only curious, baby."
There goes that name again. Aurelia looks away shyly, settling in a comfortable silence with the man before he breaks it.
"I'll see you two soon, okay?" He smiles genuinely, making her smile with him.
After ending the call, she walks around the counter, opening the refrigerator, looking for the cherry tomatoes she grabbed earlier and never got to eat. She was getting hungry, but she wasn't super hungry that's why she wanted something small to eat. Opening the tall cabinets for a bowl, she reaches for one of the bottom shelves, since she's too short to reach the other ones. She didn't want that many tomatoes anyway, so the small bow would do just fine.
"Should I cut them?" she asks herself as she fills the bowl with the cherry tomatoes.
Deciding not to cut them, she puts a few more in the bowl and puts the tomatoes back. She grabs the bowl and walks over to the couch again with her laptop so she could watch a lecture for one of her classes, but just as she was getting ready to play the lecture, loud music could be heard from the back. Aurelia sits her bowl down, and grabs her headphones putting them on her head. Once they are on, she plays the lecture, blasting it so she wouldn't hear the music. The song Andrew was blasting wasn't a bad one, and she knew the song.
Was he choreographing something using the song? Ever since she watched him dance once, she wanted to see more from him. He's very good and it's hard to look away when he dances, but maybe that's because he's attractive. To her, that's just a plus. His dancing is also attractive.
After watching the twenty minute lecture, Andrew walks down the hall in new clothes, sweatpants and an oversized tank top that wasn't covering anything. They stare at each other for a moment before she looks away, pulling her headphone down, and closing her laptop.
"Uh," he runs his hand through his damped hair. "You don't mind if I sit next to you."
She shakes her head and crosses her arms. Aurelia folds her legs, scooting more towards the edge of the couch, not wanting to be too close to him.
"Sorry." he mumbles, grabbing the bowl of the tomatoes.
His apology was quick, unneeded, but quick. It's clear he's not used to this but she just accepted his apology and watched him carefully analyze the bowl before putting it back down on the accent table in the middle of the living area.
"What?" She tilts her head.
He leans back against the couch, pulling his phone out his pocket, tapping away. "I thought they were grapes. You're eating tomatoes?"
"What's wrong with tomatoes?" Her tone is full of amusement, curious about what he thought about her common snack.
"Nothing wrong with tomatoes," he says, not looking up from his phone. " But eating them by themselves, like apples or grapes, is insane."
Aurelia's mouth falls open before she laughs. "Oh, so now I'm insane because I like to eat tomatoes?"
He chuckles and shakes his head. "I never said that, but if the shoe fits."
"Whatever." She mumbles playfully, hugging herself.
"Cheese, meat lover, or supreme?" He says randomly making her look at him. "Pizza. What kind?"
"Oh, uh," she shrugs her shoulders. "I'm not picky, I eat anything that isn't too greasy."
"So you're picky." he laughs, causing some of his hair to fall in his face.
She huffs. "I mean, I'm not too picky unless it's too greasy. It makes me feel sick sometimes."
"I know what you meant, Angel, I was just teasing you."
"Then stop!" She found herself rolling her eyes before she looked down, trying to avoid his eyes. "I honestly have never been this talkative with anyone since I got here. Yeah, I talked to Adrian occasionally, but since the whole thing that happened with his brother, I'm so nervous to get to know more people."
"What happened?" He asked, putting his phone down after ordering the pizza. "Did he touch you?"
"Well," she shrugs. "Not necessarily. He broke my phone screen, and threw my headphones."
Andrew sighs. "That fucking asshole."
Aurelia finally found enough courage to look at him, wanting to know the full story. Why is it that almost everyone she knows doesn't like Aiden and Jackie? Why is it that the campus spread rumors and talked down on Andrew and even Elijah at times.
"I told Jackie about him and Genesis, and he exploded... he even hit Jackie."
"That's nothing new." he mumbles. "Before Jackie and Aiden started dating, Genesis was his fuck buddy. They never were a couple. According to Genesis it was just sex, until she started sleeping with me."
Even though he's talking about it, and she's curious about it, hearing in great detail with no substituted words for the vulgar vocabulary. It's not that she doesn't use them, it's just that Andrew curses a lot, and it shocks her to hear it.
"That's when the insecure prick got jealous," he chuckles. "At one point, I was just messing around with Jackie, we never thought of each other in that way, but Aiden. He claimed her after that. Parading their relationship around, as if their relationship mattered to me. Now that I think about it, everything he did back then was to get back at me. Little did he know, I didn't give a fuck."
"Why does he hate you so much?" She asks, watching him tilt his head before he shrugs his shoulder.
"I guess it's because everyone loved me." He laughs, as if saving that is hilarious. "Believe it or not, I was untouchable. If you spent one night with me, everyone on campus would be talking you up, but those were the days when I was freshman in college. When I was in my second year, I got more serious about dancing, reducing my sleeping arrangement with two people instead of five."
Aurelia quietly listens to him talk about himself, since it seems to make him happy when he does. He wasn't lying when he said he likes attention.
"Then I met Elijah. He... He was a lot different than I expected." He leans back again, staring at the ceiling. "He did things, said things, that just made my heart ache. Not in a bad way either. He didn't treat me like this trophy, put me on the pedestal. He treated me like a human. And I love him for that."
"What happened?" She asks softly, tilting her head. "Why do everyone hate you now?"
"I..." Andrew sighs sitting up. "I don't want to talk about it. I don't know if I'll ever want to talk about it."
Aurelia took that as a sigh to let it go. She didn't want to upset him, and she's already grateful that he told her a little bit about his and Elijah's relationship. She could safely say they are together. In a relationship. Why does that bother her? Is it because they are dating or is it because she just heard some of Andrew's story? It had to be that, She had to be feeling a bit sad because he felt like everyone treated him like an object.
"So," he looks at her. "Tell me about yourself."
"It's not much to tell."
He scoots closer, making her nervous again. "Come on, Angel. You can't just be this quiet pretty girl. What do you do for fun?"
"I paint." She answers simply and quickly, leaning slightly away as he gets closer.
"That's it," He murmurs close to her ear in a teasing manner. "Angel?"
She shakes her head, closing her eyes as she listens to him speak into her ear. "I listen to music and I love long walks."
He hums softly, his lips brushing against the tip of her ear, making her quickly cover them and stand up from the couch. Her heart couldn't take it. Why are they both so good at making her heart race? One day, they're going to be the cause of her heart attack.
"Are you okay?" He asks with that smug smile on his face.
She crosses her arms and shakes her head. "I uh, I need to get something out of the room. I'll be back."
Aurelia walks quickly to the room, closing the door behind her, panting heavily holding her hand over her chest. It's happening again. Her heart raced uncontrollably, her thoughts running with so many thoughts. Why were they so good at making her feel things she has never felt before? Does she like them or something? This is what she's feeling. Developing feelings? Or is it because she has no else to talk to, and these feelings are stemming from that? She didn't have more friends, more girl friends. Being around men like this for too long will drive her crazy.
"Just calm down," she mumbles to herself. "Breath in and out."
It wasn't working, her heart was still pounding against her chest.
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