Page 22 of Outdrawn

“The team getting caught copying poses from some kid’s fan comic was priceless.” Seline nodded, almost getting distracted by the dream. “But that’s besides the point! You smiled earlier, and it was because of something Noah said. Something I couldn't exactly hear because cubicle walls are occasionally impressive at sound muffling, but I walked over in time to see a smile."

"I smile at her naiveté," I said. "Nothing more."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"I've never had any problem sleeping, just like I've never had any interest in fawning over Noah." The coffee maker clicked, signaling its job well done. I grabbed my mug, ready to go back to my desk and hide my sulking in the artwork.

"Fine," Seline groaned before I could make my way out of the break room. "You win."

"You barely put up a fight." Harry shook his head in disapproval.

Seline waved her paddle in his direction. "An upper hand is no fun if you can't use it."

I tried to hide my growing smile by taking a sip of coffee.

"She's at the pond," Seline said.

I raised a brow. "The pond?"

"Yeah, the pond."

"We have a pond?" I tried to think if I ever knew this bit of information and came up with nothing.

"It's next to the water slide," Seline said.

"Oh now you're just messing with me."

"Lots of things happen when you look up from your comic panels." Seline shrugged. "Guess you finally found a reason to look up."

"No one's looking up. I'm here to work, not…do whatever you do."

"Beat everyone at ping pong and let you all bask in my beauty."

I laughed. "Right. That."

"Life's so much more fun when you bask in beauty," she called after me.

I threw a wave over my shoulder as I walked down the hall. They both snickered to themselves as they placed bets on whether I'd go looking for the pond. I rolled my eyes at how silly that'd be.

So, the pond wasn't hard to find. Turns out, all I had to do was go to the back of the building and weave my way through a concerning number of overgrown bushes and plaques littered with facts about restorative environments. The pond reminded me of something out of a theme park's attempt at bringing a fairy tale to life. The lily pads were a vibrant green, excessive decoration on top of the water. Cattails lined the edges, tall enough to be impressive.

Noah sat on one of the few benches around the pond, her back to me as she hunched over a sketchbook. There was a tattoo of a bouquet wrapped in ribbons on the back of her neck. I’d never noticed that before. Back in school, she used to wear her hair down all the time. I wondered if she had it back then.

I tried to make noise to announce my presence. The closer I got, the more I realized there was no use. Noah was talking. At first, I assumed it was to herself, but once I rounded the corner, I saw a little brown duck lingering at her feet. The duck looked up at her so intently, I wouldn't be surprised if it started talking back. After a few minutes of silent observation, I realized it wasn't her words that kept the duck so invested. It was the tupperware of grapes Noah had at her side.

"I need something epic if I'm going to have any chance of winning." Noah split the grape into smaller bits before tossing them into the grass. Her companion wasted no time pecking at the pieces.

"So I'm considering an ensemble cast." Noah flipped her sketchbook to the duck, and to the little guy's credit, his tilted head made him seem invested. "It's action-heavy. I have this assassin idea that's been begging to be written for years. It'll be different from my typical style, but I think I should take the risk."

Noah's voice slowed down with each word. She often talked like she was riding a bike uphill, each pedal forward more unsure than the next. Her lack of confidence should have brightened my day. Who didn't want their competition second-guessing their decisions? Instead of feeling pleased, though, I was annoyed. She'd gotten this far in her career and still didn't realize when to play to her strength.

To get inside her head, I'd done a readthrough of every comic Noah had published online. Her most popular works I'd already binged months ago, but her obscure stories were just as entertaining. The woman knew how to write complex characters, the kind you didn’t know whether to root for or against, characters whose motives led to twisted outcomes that had you questioning your own morality.

"Aren't you more equipped to write slice-of-life fantasies?" My question earned me a yelp. The duck quacked, startled by Noah's fright and my appearance.

"Has anyone ever told you you're like a cat?" Noah's hand lingered on her chest as she tried to catch her breath.

"You flatter me."

Source: www.allfreenovel.com