Chapter 13

Amora

The second I looked into his eyes I was trapped. And even though I knew it, I didn't make a move to look away. And now here I am engrossed in a conversation with a guy who, one, I barely know. Two, I first met him when he was in a holding cell. And three, he is one of the many guys who is most likely to break a girl's heart as soon as he knows he has it. "AJ?" I cut him off mid-sentence. We were in the middle of a conversation about knives because earlier I had tripped and exposed my knife that I had stashed in my boot. He had recognized the brand and went into a very detailed story about how he had stumbled upon a knife just like it in school and when he picked it up the principal had automatically thought it was his.

"Yeah?" he says

"I thought you were here to hook up with Raven?" he gives a small side smile and he looks away "I was. But that doesn't mean I can't be away from her for a little while."

He looks back at me with those amazing green eyes. Amazing green eyes? Did I seriously just think that?

"No Amora, stop it." I say to no one in particular as I whack myself in the head. AJ laughs

"You okay there Amora?"

I smile at him politely "I'm fine. Anyway, that's not what I meant when I said that you were here for Raven. I meant that you were here to hook up with a girl and she brought along me, so you brought along Ren as like a double date thing. But now you're talking to me instead of hooking up with her sooo what are you planning to achieve tonight with me instead of Raven?"

his face goes from amused to hinting on the edges of offended. He looks away from me and speaks quietly

"Am I not allowed to just want to talk to someone?"

"Well," I begin cautiously, I didn't realize I could hurt his feelings but now I feel bad for it. "It's not in your character persona, that's all. It makes more sense for you to have some sort of goal that involves more than just talking."

"I have no goal of any kind with you Amora, I just like talking to you."

Silence stretches between us

"But…why?"

the smile moves back on to his face and I feel relief at the mood change it brings.

"Why do I like talking to you? Well, I don't really know. I guess it's just…easy. Like I don't need to follow any kind of rules. Like in public, I feel like I have to act like a jerk, a womanizer, a "bad boy" and trust me, while I am all of those things and a few more, I need to add quite a bit extra in order to be…me. At least me as the public sees me. And then with Ren, I don't need to act like that but, it's like I need to be depressed and troubled around him and again, I am both of those things. It's just with you, I can really be me. I don't need to be an extreme of either jerk or troubled but an unhealthy mix of both."

He says the last part with tons of enthusiasm and it brings a smile to my lips. He's been doing that a lot tonight, making me smile.

"I like that you think like that. So deeply and thoroughly. You're so different from the person you want everyone to think you are. It's kind of pathetic honestly. How much you want to be anything but excepted by anyone. It's like you feel as if you're not worth their time so you make the decision for them by being this totally irritating, cocky, jerk that no one wants to be around because of his bad reputation."

"Well that was a little insulting." He says jokingly. "And for your information, everyone loves me."

"Totally."

I laugh. He gazes at me with something I can't exactly read and then he says,

"Do you like art?"

"Umm, yeah. But I consider my knifework an art sooo. I'm not sure our definitions are the same." He gives me a smooth, easy going, lovable, adorable smile.

"Knifework is an art. But I'm talking about like drawings, paintings, oil pastels…"

He notices his droning on about types of art I probably don't care about and asks;

"Have you ever seen someone do street art?" I raise an eyebrow at him

"No…" A bigger smile "Then watch this."

He stands up and grabs his duffel bag. He pulls out a rope and climbs on top of the school. He ties the rope around his waist and jumps off the building. His feet land on the wall and he eases himself down.

"Will you hand me some…blue paint?"

I scramble over to his duffel bag and pull out a blue can of spray paint. He takes it from me with a smile

"And my mask? So I don't end up knocking myself out in a way Raven would find amusing?"

I laugh and reach back in to grab a baby blue doctor's mask. I put it over his mouth and around his ears.

"Thanks love."

He says sweetly as he climbs back up the wall and begins painting. Swirls of blue begin adorning the wall as he empties the full can. He tosses the can down from the high wall

"Pink?" he yells, little does he know he doesn't actually need to.

I toss up a pink can and watch as he jumps around the wall, landing exactly where he wants to be as different shades and textures begin forming. It's beautiful. Minutes begin to turn into hours as he moves around on the wall, landing so gracefully, so easily on a different spot. Occasionally yelling down at me for a different color. When he finally gets back on top of the school and unties his rope he unveils his masterpiece. A universe, teeming with perfectly swirled and blended colors adorned with galaxies upon galaxies and white dazzling stars. It looks like it goes on forever, more like a portal than a painting. When AJ comes down from the school he's covered in paint and sweating. The colors of his galaxy are all over his face, his clothes, and now, me. Because I didn't realize but he had wrapped me in a hug. Purposely wiping paint all over me. He turns to look at his painting as I scoff and roll my eyes

"Seriously? My mom is going to kill me."

I say it with disgust when honestly, I didn't mind the hug at all. Nor did I care about the paint that is no doubt going to stain these clothes.

"Eh."

He says as he studies his street art.

"I should have had more blue, less pink. Now it looks fuzzy and sort of ethereal. And the Andromeda galaxy looks nothing like it should. I could do a lot better on a canvas. Sorry, it's a bit disappointing, but what do you think?"

I look at him, entirely exasperated and confused "Disappointing? Not at all. I think it's beautiful, absolutely amazing. I mean, how do you even blend spray paint? And the way you got all of the colors in one area without it looking messy? How is that even possible? It's extraordinary. Prodigy work."

He smiles and rubs the back of his neck

"I'm no prodigy I assure you. This is barely good enough to call art."

I glare at him "Maybe by your standards. By anyone else's I'm sure they'd agree with me."

He scoffs, "Yeah right."

I can't take this, I stomp up to him, grab him by his shirt and tell him

"You are a talented individual and you will start appreciating your gift. Now."

He splays his hands in the air as if he is surrendering

"Yes ma'am"

He nods. I let go of his shirt and look around

"Hey, where are…Ren and Raven?"

AJ looks around too, as if he'll see something I won't

"I don't know."

Now concerned at the fact my friend ditched me for another guy I begin thinking about the consequences awaiting me once I get home, my mother has no doubt called Raven's mother by now being as I left my phone at home and raven never answers calls from my mother. The only reason she'd care if I was gone would be due to the promise she made to Edna and her family. I don't want to marry Derrick. Sure, he seems nice enough but he's too perfect for my taste. Marrying him would be like another lifetime of always pretending. Pretending I care about things like crops, wines, and social environments. Pretending I'm happy, pretending I'm not a total freak.

Although the way AJ explained it was a bit crowded, I understood exactly what he meant by always feeling like he has to follow a certain set of rules, like he has to mold himself to fit someone else's criteria. Because I feel the same way. And marrying Derrick would be another lifetime of that.

"I guess they ditched us." AJ shrugs "But that's okay, I like having you to myself anyway."

I look at him accusingly "You don't have me. If I wanted to, I could walk away from you and go look for them and there would be nothing you could do about it."

He smiles "Yeah, I guess you're right about that. But, I do have you because you haven't walked away from me yet. Meaning you don't want to. Because I have you"

I turn my accusing stare into glaring and as if I summoned it, rain begins pouring all around us. AJ looks slightly terrified. But then his face transforms into amazement.

"Okay, you have got to show me how you timed that so impeccably." I groan, I hate water "I didn't do it on purpose." I pull my hood over my ears and subconsciously hiss and growl at the rain. "That was adorable." AJ says with a cocky smile.