Chapter 4

Lo tugs her ponytail again, and this time she lets him. “He’s right, Lo-Lo,” she says. Lo smiles at her, and nods. The look they share is private and I avert my eyes and let them have their moment.

“All right,” Nina says a few seconds later. “Let’s get this show on the road. I haven’t got all day.”

That breaks the intimacy of the moment and we all straighten our backs and go back to business. “Tell me what you’d like,” I say as I take out my portfolio for him to look through.

“I’m probably a walking cliché, but I’d like a rainbow. On my wrist.”

“Nah. Nothing cliché about it,” I say and point at my pride tattoo in rainbow colors on my wrist. We go through my artwork and I watch him intently for reactions, taking note of what he likes and what he’s more indifferent toward, so I get a sense of his tastes. After a bit of back and forth, I have an idea and I start sketching.