08 | the universe

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CHAPTER 8

Thanks to the high temperature outside, a rarity in any British city, I could choose an outfit that prioritised appearance over comfort.

I decided on a summery white dress dotted with flowers and adorned with a bow, which I draped a light shawl over.

I had been planning to force myself to paint something today, having been distracted and uninspired for the past few days.

I wondered if it had anything to do with a certain blue-eyed, smirking boy that I last saw over a week ago.

When I closed my eyes and found myself surrounded by darkness, I could still see the disappointment that flooded his face as I walked away.

When I was laying in bed and met with complete silence, I could still hear him calling out "Candyfloss!" as I entered the taxi.

The irrational part of me that wanted him to find me was slowly coming to terms with the fact that it wouldn't happen.

That was probably going to be the last time I ever saw him.

I could already tell that this train of thought would just result in a repeat of the unproductivity of the past few days, so I pushed myself off the couch and went to stand in front of the mirror.

After showering my reflection with positive affirmations and talking myself up to nobody in particular, I felt ready to pick up a brush.

Once the blank canvas was supported by an easel and I was standing in front of it, I pulled up a copy of the message that I had received from an interested instagram follower.

"Hi, I've been following you for a while and I really love your artwork," they began.

"I thought that this would be the perfect time to ask you if I could buy a painting, but one that I decide the content of if that's okay?"

After scrolling past my reply of "Yes, that's absolutely fine!" I landed on their most recent message, detailing what they wanted the painting to depict.

I picked up my brush and began to give the canvas a wash of cool colours, layering the most intense of these over the lightest to create a shadow.

Using a faded yellow and a deep orange to weave through the gaps, I created the profile of a girl from the side.

I then discarded my soft brush in favour of a basic biro, vigorously scrawling bold marks across the face and neck, as well as drawing in features like the nose and lips.

The piece finished with detailing; the various browns and oranges that blended to create the hair, the soft pink that tinted her lips and the hazel colour that gave life to her eyes.

After messaging the customer with a picture of the finished piece, I sat down to demolish a platter of pancakes drizzled with honey and blueberries.

Yum.

A rapping at the door interrupted my plans.

I opened it to come face to face with the mess of wavy blonde hair that Lucy leaves unbound to tumble onto her shoulders.

She spun around to face me with a wide grin and her stormy grey eyes lit up with excitement.

I wasn't even going to bother to ask why she was facing away from me at first, since it wasn't exactly unusual for her to do things a bit backwards.

My thoughts travelled to a memory of us at the cafe.

"Hey Luce, what are you doing with that pot?" I asked her, watching as she whirled around the tables with it above her head.

"A rain dance." She replied in a duh like tone, shaking her head at me.

I glanced at the window to confirm what I was thinking and sure enough, the rain was pouring down - bouncing off opened umbrellas and leaving unwanted puddles of water on the floor.

"But it's already raining." I told her, hiding my smile behind my hands and watching her face become shrouded in confusion.

I was brought back into the present by her animated babbling.

"Slow down!" I exclaimed, having understood nothing out of the sentences that she had just spoken.

"Okay." She said, taking a deep breath and sliding her signature grin back into place. "I have something to tell you."

- - - -

Once we had collapsed onto my couch, old but still comfortable, Lucy began to repeat what she had been trying to tell me before.

"After you left the club with your mystery man, who we still need to talk about by the way," she interjected, looking me in the eyes knowingly, "I started dancing with this guy."

"His name is Danny, he plays basketball and he's really sweet. We've been texting each other everyday since that night." She finished, eyes searching mine.

I was happy for her.

There was nobody that deserved to be swept off their feet and given the opportunity to fall in love more than Lucy, which I told her out loud.

"I can't wait for you to meet him." She said after showing me his instagram and hearing me gush over him.

"Me too." I smiled, genuinely looking forward to getting to know the only boy that had held Lucy's attention for longer than an hour in the time that I've known her.

"Anyway, that's enough about me." She declared, her grey eyes glittering with playfulness. "Tell me about your hunk."

I shrugged innocently with a slight smile. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Her eyes narrowed as she called my bluff.

"Not buying it." She stated.

She succeeded in squeezing the information out of me and I found myself blurting out everything that had happened, from my walk home to the conversation outside the club.

With widened eyes and her mouth slightly agape she took in every detail, only pausing to offer the occasion hum or nod of agreement.

"That's it." I told her, once I had divulged everything.

"Damn. He sounds hot." She said with raised eyebrows.

I nodded. "He is."

"Do you know his name at least?" She asked.

"Nope." I said wistfully. "And he doesn't know mine. He calls me candyfloss."

Her face took on an expression of wisdom.

"The universe has a way of aligning to make the most unlikely of things happen. Let's hope it does that for you and him."