It's been three days since Tobias took me back to the orphanage. He left me with strict instructions to take the pain medication every four hours and rest as this would give my injuries the best chance of recovering.
I haven't had much trouble from the other kids at the orphanage yet, apart from the odd push and shove, but that's mainly because I stay locked in my room as much as possible. Miss Claudia had pretended to be concerned and came to check on my every once in a while but I knew it was her job she was worried about, she doesn't really care about my well-being.
I'm currently sat on my desk chair, using some of the crap paints I saved up to buy. I don't really know what I'm painting yet but I just let the paintbrush do it's magic and forget about everything.
I stomach rumbles loudly and I cringe knowing that soon I would have to go down stairs and get food. I don't like going to the proper meals as I just get picked on and spat on, so I tend to just snack throughout the day. I know it's bad for me but it's better than being 'teased' every five seconds which usually ends up with beatings.
Abandoning my painting on my easel I brace myself before unlocking the door, making sure I lock the door behind me, knowing that if the other kids got hold of my work they'd rip it to shreds like a pack of hounds.
Walking down the staircase, I hear laughter and cheers. Poking my head around I realise they are all playing on the wii- Mario kart. I should be able to sneak past without them noticing me.
"You okay there, Tris?" Miss Claudia asks when I enter the kitchen. "How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine." I lie as I grab some strawberry yogurt from the fridge.
"Are you ribs healing up okay? Is there anything I can get you?" She says, fussing over me with concern. "I know you took quite the fall out that boat."
Yep, you guessed it. Peter, Lauren and the others said I 'fell'. And Miss Claudia being the gullible human she is- believed them.
"I'm fine, just hungry." I mutter, holding my yogurt up to gesture her to leave me to it.
"I'll get out your way then." She says, giving me an awkward side hug before going towards the yelling and cheers from the other kids.
As I'm scrapping the remnants of yogurt from the bottom of the pot, our doorbell rings through the house. The excited cheers stop becoming confused murmuring and the music stops, signalling they paused the game.
"I'll get it!" Laurens voice screeches. I roll my eyes, dropping the pot and spoon on the side, as I walk towards the entrance of the house, following loosely behind everyone.
"Oo, it's you." Lauren's voice says, smiling seductively. "Couldn't you get enough of me?"
"Actually, I came for someone else." A voice I thought I'd never hear again speaks. They door opens fully and his face comes into view as Miss Claudia pushes her way to the front.
He looks slightly nervous, his hands clasped behind his back and he smiles tightly at Miss Claudia. His eyes, as always are the dreamy blue that I could get lost in for days.
"You're that lifeguard aren't you?" Miss Claudia asks him, tilting her head to the side.
"Yeah, I'm actually here for..." His drifts off when his oceon eyes meet mine. Relief fills his features but I don't understand why. "Tris." He mumble, a faint smiles appearing.
Everyone creates a sort of path so I can get to him. On the way I get all sorts of looks- disgust, disbelief, annoyed, some were even jealous. I shrink back, wrapping my hands around my body as I get to the entrance.
"Miss Claudia, is it okay of I take Tris out for the day?" Tobias asks as I come to stand near him, shrinking further into myself, not enjoying the attention I was getting.
Miss Claudia smiles warmly. "Of course it is! Just make sure she's back by dark!"
I look up at him, furrowing my eyebrows at him. He smiles back down at me, tapping his nose indicating it's a surprise. I weave myself back inside, running upstairs to my bedroom. I grab some converse shoes and put them on, a brown jacket and my bag before running back downstairs.
A mixture of excitement and fear builds up inside me and my stomach feels all fluttery. Does Tobias really want to hang out with me? Me?
When I get back down, Lauren and Nita are all over Tobias, Lauren clinging to his arm like a limpet and Nita telling him a story he looks less than interested in and slightly uncomfortable. His eyes light up when he sees me and he shrugs off their grip easily and walks over to me.
"Ready to go?" He asks and I nod. He grins and gently grabs my arm and pulls me out the door.
He leads me to his car parked outside and opens the passenger door for me. I blush and thank him, getting in. He gets into the drivers seat and starts the engine. We drive in silence before I decide to break it.
"Want to tell be where we are going?" I ask, still confused but not complaining.
He ignores my question and asks another. "You like art, don't you?"
"Well, yes, but-"
"I need the lighthouse re-painted." He explains, keeping his eyes on the road. "I want you to help me paint it."
I'm shocked. Why me? We only just met and it was because I was drowning and he did his job and saved me. I didn't think it was anything else.
"Is...is that alright?" He asks, getting kind of nervous. I smiles softly at him.
"It's fine." I say. "It's better than being in that place."
"So, how'd you get into art?" He asks, obviously trying to change the subject. I sigh. How did I get into art?
"I don't know really." I mumble, shrugging my shoulders. "I guess I got bored, and it was just something to do to pass time."
"Here we are." He says, pulling into the carpark of a large supplies shop. We get out the car and walk in. "We need white and red paint."
I scan the shelves looking at all the expensive paints. There was buckets of it and shelves of buckets. Imagine how much art you could make with all this.
Tobias grabs some white paint with a little picture of a dog in the tin and turns the corner to look at red paint but something grabs my eyes and I find myself being pulled towards it.
It's a little set of paints. There is watercolours, acrylic, oil paints- the lot. The watercolours were in a wooden pot and the acrylics look really good quality. What I would do for a set of paints like this. My hand wavers over the price tag, knowing I'll regret it if I turn it over. I do it anyway and sigh. It's £45.99. Much, much too high for my budget.
"Tris?" I hear Tobias' voice and my hand immediately drops to my side as I see him waling towards me, buckets of paint in his hands. "What are you looking at?"
"Nothing." I say. He narrows his eyes at me like he doesn't believe me but he lets it go and we go pay for the paint.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Soon we are pulling up to the familiar drive of the harbour shop the lighthouse stood behind it. The shop didn't look open, with the door closed up and the lights off. It was a much better day then the day we came for the teamwork challenge- the sun was shining, beating down on us and birds were happily singing their songs. So why is it empty?
"We are closed on Mondays." Tobias explains, obviously he saw my expression. "My dad's on a course so I thought, with the weather and all, it was the perfect day to paint the lighthouse. I've been meaning to do it for ages."
I smile at him before we grab the paint and start walking across the boardwalk to the lighthouse. My stomach feels queasy as I look at the water below. Yes, it was still today but whenever I saw the tiniest of waves, I jump back slightly, memories coming to the surface.
Tobias notices but says nothing. I'm glad he doesn't make a big deal of it. Maybe he does understand how traumatic the experience was.
"Here we are." Tobias says, pointing upwards at the lighthouse towering over us. I didn't notice from far away but the paint was very faded and chipped at the bottom. I guess when I was in here before, I wasn't focusing on the paint job. You can't really blame me, I did just go unconscious underwater.
"I thought we were just painting over the red and white?" I say as he comes out with smaller brushes and some black paint I didn't realise he bought.
"I thought, since you're so talented, we could do something a little more detailed and creative." He says with a gleaming smile, he looks so proud of his idea and I suddenly feel scared I'll mess it up. "Do you want to borrow some old clothes? This paint wont come out in the wash."
"Yes please." I say, wrapping my arms around my body self-consciously, as he motions me inside. The inside of the lighthouse is just as it was when I left three days ago, maybe a little messier.
He hands me some clothes and I run to the bathroom to get changed. Once again they were much too big but I wore them anyway, loving the smell. When I get back downstairs, Tobias is already waiting for me, paintbrushes in hand.
I send him a shy smile as and he returns it eagerly.
We decide that we do need to cover the lighthouse in red and white as a base before we do anything else. We get cracked in straight away, the only noise in the air is the bristles on the paintbrushes rubbing against the rough surface of the lighthouse.
"So how are those ribs of yours?" Tobias breaks the silence. "Have you been taking the medication and resting?"
"Yeah." I say, dipping my brush in the paint bucket again. "They feel much better."
"That's good." He says and I find myself why he cares so much about me, no ones else seems to.
"Do you and your dad both live in here?" I ask, gesturing the lighthouse. His whole body tenses up when his father is mentioned and I feel guilty for bringing it up.
"No, my father lives upstairs to the shop." He says stiffly. "I used to live there but when I grew older...It got too...cramped. So I converted this so I could live here and still help out."
"That so cool!" I say, wonder and awe in my voice. "I wish I lived somewhere as cool as this. I mean, how many people can say they live in a freaking lighthouse!"
I turn to look at him grinning but he's already looking at me, a smile on his face and his features full of amusement. I suddenly get embarrassed and look down, my face feeling hot.
"S-sorry. I get excited easily." I say quietly.
"No no! It's fine, I just love your smile." He says, his eyes twinkling and I can't help but smile at his compliment. No one ever compliments me.
"I think this is the first layer done." Tobias says as we stand back and admire our work. Obviously it was only the white stripe at the bottom as we can't reach the rest and that one was the one that needed paint the most.
I lift my arm up and wipe the sweat of my forehead. Who knew painting something so big could be so tiring. Plus the sun is still beating down it's summer heat.
"We deserve a break, don't you think?" Tobias says, wiping his face but not realising he had white paint all over his fingers. I giggle at him when he get's paint smeared all down the side of his face. "What is it?"
My giggles are now full laughs, so hard I have to clutch my belly. "You...you have-" I try but laughs overtake my speech and I find myself falling to the floor.
"What?" Tobias says, his face full of panic. "Do I have a bogie? Damn Tris, I'm so sorry!"
His words make me laugh harder. "No, you have...paint." I point at his face and his whole faces relaxes then he bursts out laughing like me and dropping to the floor next to me.
I don't really know what's so funny but as soon as it slows, we ,look up at each other only to erupt in laughter one again.
"Let's get a drink." Tobias says, grinning at me. He looks good smiling. It frames his face and enhances all the attractive features he has, brightening everything around him.
He stands up and holds a hand out for me and I gladly accept, letting him pulling me into the lighthouse.
"I have a confession." Tobias says. We are now sat at his dining table with our much needed water and ice, it's now half past three. I nod, taking a sip of my water, signalling him to continue. "I didn't just invite you over to paint the lighthouse."
I furrow my eyebrows anxiety making my stomach flip. What's he not telling me?
"That was just an excuse to have you hang out with me." He explains. "I love your company and something about you intrigues me."
"Really?" I say. Am I really that interesting?
Isn't he into beautiful, curvy girls? Like Lauren or Nita? Or all of the girls who have ever flirted with him? Why me? The skinny, small, young orphan?
"I've never felt like this before Tris." He says leaning forward and brilliant smile on his face. It was strange seeing him with a smile because when I first met him I thought he was clod just like the others. But it seems he just put up a wall and only lets it down for certain people.
I don't know what to say back. I am speechless.
So I say nothing. I just send him a small smile, a blush and take a sip of my iced water. When I do this his smile grows and shakes his head as if he's trying to clear his thoughts.
"Anyway, what should we paint on the outside?" He asks and I look up a the ceiling thinking.
"Can we draw...a ferris wheel?" I say, my voice getting quieter and more timid as the sentence went on.
"That was random..." He laughs at me. I blush slightly.
"My parents used to take us to the fair every Sunday when they got home from work. They worked all week and it was a something I used to look forward to." I explain, embarrassed it was so easy to spill my secrets out to him. I've never felt so at ease around anyone before since the incident.
He nods. "I think we could make that work..."
I grin. "Thank you so much."
"For what?" He answers.
"Everything."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Hello everyone!
I know I don't update this story very often but they are big chapters so I hope this compensates for the wait.
Thank you for reading, leave a comment of you enjoyed it! ;)