She never had a routine. During her breaks she would randomly grab something for lunch and eat at home or on a bench on the way home. The breaks she took from her drawings were also random. Sometimes in a day she completed the whole book with bright colors and friendly animals, but there were times when she couldn't get the right vibe of the story and got stuck with a certain character and just went out for fresh air.
Brittany was in this "no-routine" for a couple of years right after she quitted college. She almost couldn't go through high school sitting on a chair looking to a blackboard and having to copy a copy that the teacher was copying from a book. Why would you like to copy something if you could create new things?
So she dropped out of college on her freshman year. Despite some colleagues calling her "dumb" or "stupid" for letting go a full scholarship she got thanks to her dancing, she just kept going with short money and many shitty jobs.
She went from a waitress to baby-sitting a friend's son, even some dancing stuff she'd rather forget. If it wasn't for her supportive parents and friends she wouldn't be able to survive those months without a real job. But Quinn, her best friend since high school, managed to get her a good job, a kid's book illustrator.
In Yale, Quinn knew some Professors who had contacts with many publishers and with some calls to the right people, some drafts and many colors, Brittany was invited to illustrate her first book. Since then she passed the days without worrying about money, not with a full bank account but enough to live in New York.
On one of her breaks, she grabbed a hot dog on her way to a park so she could appreciate the squirrels during a warm afternoon. Sitting on a bench she started to eat the hot dog looking at people jogging, having picnics on the grass, kids running and driving their parents crazy, and people like her, just eating on a bench.
"Oh shoot" - Brittany looked to her right and saw a woman trying to weep off some of the juice she dropped on her white shirt. Well, white shirts don't deal very well with grape juice.
"Here" she handed some napkins she had for such moments "I don't think it'll help much, but you could try".
The woman with the stained shirt looked at Brittany with suspiciousness towards the kind gesture. Brittany couldn't look anything else but that girl. Her dark eyes matching perfectly with her black hair. No, not black, dark brown. Tan skin, a small silhouette and a purple stain calling her eyes to her chest. Shit, that's rude.
"Hmm...Thanks" she said taking carefully the napkins from Brittany's hands.
Brittany stood up to throw her garbage on the trash can and said "I heard you can remove wine stains with peroxide and soap, and grape juice is just a non-alcoholic wine so you could..." the moment she turned to look at the brunette she was gone. The sooner you remove the stain the better.
The walk back to her apartment was silent. Her mind wasn't popping up with ideas, thoughts, memories or those voices that she invented on lonely days. All that was replaced with an image and a word "Thanks".
When she got into her kitchen, the book was staring at her like dark brown eyes. It was just another book about animals teaching children about good manners. This time it was an elephant and a mouse. Have you ever looked to an elephant's eye? It's just a big brown iris and huge eyelashes. Such a big animal with kind eyes alert to the surroundings even though their vision is moderate.
Brittany started with the eyes, on every page there were eyes. Brown ones.
#
She woke up on a sitting position, with drafts sticking to her face and some drool. After a needed stretch she looked to the clock during four minutes. Why don't they write the numbers instead of putting meaningless sticks just spinning? It has been almost 20 years since someone tried for the first time to teach her how to read the clock. She was 5 then, not much changed.
Looking for her phone and stumbling over Prince McRain, her husky, she saw it was almost 2pm and as a reminder her stomach ached for food. Prince grabbed his leash and waited on the door. He never picked the same time for a walk or to eat or to poop being the most unpredictable dog known.
Being dragged down the busy streets trying to avoid crossing ways with people on black suits she finally reached a small coffee/restaurant/bakery that had some outside tables for dogs. Of course not for dogs, but for people with dogs.
Brittany ordered fettuccine alfredo and juice. As the waitress was pouring some of the juice on her glass, Prince started to run after a pigeon and the juice stained her light jeans. Running after Prince she crashed on a person who shouted "Hey, look out asshole" but kept chasing Prince letting an apology for later.
"Why did you do that Prince? It's not like you've never seen a pigeon. And look at my jeans, looks like I murdered Barney" Searching for an annoyed face to start an apology she found the stained woman. Now she was the stained woman and the brown eyes girl not anymore, but still.
"Well, looks like I started a trend" the brunette said smirking.
"I'm sorry, my dog is a little nuts. He does whatever he wants. Once I caught him with his drug dealer and he just pretended it was a cat." Great, now she'll think that I'm crazy, thanks Prince.
The other girl looked at her confused for a moment and then just smiled. Her white teeth shining, a perfect set.
"You better go to your house and remove that stain, the sooner the better."
And just like that, she was gone. And Brittany stood there, holding Prince's leash and thanking the good things for seeing that woman again.
She sat back down at the table, ate her food and went to her place. This time wasn't silent on her head but filled with questions. Does teeth shine or reflect? White teeth crossed her mind. Shining or reflecting, she didn't know it. Maybe shining is for stars. But teeth are for eating, and smiling. A beautiful smile.
Today the book was about a dolphin, peas and self-respect. Dolphins have pretty teeth, like a saw. And they look like they are always smiling, even though it's just the way their head are shaped. Would be fun to be created with a permanent smile, imagine it you have pea on your teeth?
First try!
(Update) It's been a long time since I wrote this. I am revising the chapters and fixing some of my mistakes but the story won't change at all.
I do not own glee.
Let me know about it? Thanks :)