It wasn’t necessarily the thought of Kass with someone else that upsets me. It’s the thought of him with someone elsewithout me.
I pace around the room,checking in on the students one at a time. I finally make it over to Clover’s corner of the room toward the end of the session. I haven’t been avoiding her, but I haven’t made an effort to come over here either. If she needed me, she’d let me know. Right?
“You still working on that elephant you sent me a picture of last week?”
“No, I had another idea, so I started over.”
I stand by her side and inspect her canvas. “A butterfly?”
“No. It’s a moth.”
“A moth, huh?”
“Yeah, it just looks like a butterfly right now because it doesn’t have any color.”
“It’s really pretty.” I hold a hand up in front of my face and move it around the cover to various parts of the drawing. “Very symmetrical, which is impressive. Good work.”
“Thanks, I know.”
I bump her with my elbow, and we share a smile in approval of her unwaveringconfidence.
“What made you change your mind? That elephant was looking pretty cool.”
“I saw my dad drawing a moth on his tablet.”
“Your dad draws, too?” I play dumb.
“Oh yeah. He’s really good. Way better than me.”
“Well, I’m guessing he’s been doing it a lot longer than you have. He’s got time on his side. If you keep practicing, when you’re his age, you’ll probably be better than he is now.”
“Probably. But I don’t want to tattoo people. I’m too afraid of needles.” She takes in the ink that covers my arm. “You’re both crazy.”
“Eh, you might change your opinion about tattoos someday. A little bit of pain is typically worth the beautiful piece of art you get to wear forever. Art that someone who’s talented like you created just for that purpose. Maybe you’ll even design your own tattoos. That would be pretty cool, huh?”
“Maybe.” She shrugs and puts her pencil back on the canvas to continue sketching her butterfly. Sorry,moth.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
B
“Just hear me out! The mask. You can’t tell me that if someone was doing you with a Darth Vader mask on it wouldn’t be kinda hot!”
I’m not sure what I just heard come out of Iris’s mouth as I walk up to their table at the crowded bar, but I’m here for it.
“No, that would definitely be hot.” I throw my arm around her, showing my literal and figurative support for my bestie.
Her red curls smack me in the face when she quickly turns her head to look at me. “B, you’re here! Jeez, what took you so long?”
“Sorry, had a meeting that ran late. We were just trying to get our shit together before we leave for Cali tomorrow.”
The rest of the table, full of our friends, greets me and then continues on with their various conversations.
“I’m gonna go grab a?—“
“Already got you one.” Lou slides a glass across the table to me.
There’s still ice in it. “How did you?—“
