I tilted her head slightly positioning it so she was in the light.
"Now stay just like this" I tell Ella as I walk to my stool where I had my sketchbook set up. This stupid art project had paired me, of course, with the one girl I couldn't stand. The girl who had once been my best friend. Her waves of brown hair fell in gentle curtains around her pretty face. Brown eyes stared at me curiously I looked away and started on my portrait of her. I furrowed my eyebrows as I drew, looking up at her every few seconds.
"So serious" she mumbles mocking the look on my face.
"Stop quoting titanic and stay still" I order her with a smile; she was still the same person the same goofy teenage girl who had the pretty smile and the big brown eyes that I had once loved.
"If this was titanic I'd have my clothes off" she tells me with a sly smile. I blush slightly at the thought before composing myself. She relaxes her face and I continue to draw, its coming out pretty good if I say so myself. It was easy with such a pretty model. No never mind ignore that last line I'm not going there again no matter how pretty she is. I finish with the features of her face and move on to her hair. The perfectly straight brown locks with the natural golden highlights she's breathtaking and she knows it. Every guy in school was barking up this tree, they all wanted to be the center of her attention, the apple of her eye and any other cheesy clichés you can think of. She was perfect yet full of flaws that no one ever saw, like the scars on her wrists from her depression stage in sophomore year. The tears in her heart from the night her mother died, the moments that no one knew about. I knew though because I had been her best friend it had been me and her against the world, together forever. Or so I thought but when her sister left for college her father became distant and so did the two of us. But the brown eyes that I had just drawn gave away her emotions when she wasn't careful. They showed the pain and the suffering that the girl in front of me had gone through. I looked at the hair I had drawn it looked nothing like hers it was to … dull. The girl in front of me was radiant too radiant to capture on paper. I erase and once again focus on her hair I get it right this time I add in the lighter streaks and it looks full of body. I continue to draw her neck leading in to the slope of her shoulders than down to her torso. I remember her titanic comment and feel my ears heat up.
"I believe you are blushing, Mr. Big Artiste. I can't imagine Monsieur Monet blushing" Ella smiles.
"again with the titanic quotes do you have no life so all you do is sit at home and watch titanic" I ask a bit harshly she quiets and goes back to her original position.
"I can be surrounded by a sea of people and still feel all alone... Then I think of you." She mutters quietly this quote gives me butterflies not that I'll admit it.
"That was from A Cinderella Story happy now" she sneers I admit I deserved that one.
"Ecstatic" I snap back at her she rolls her eyes before once again relaxing for the picture, I finish quickly waiting to be rid of her.
"I'm done" I announce she stands up wrapping her arms around herself.
"Can I see it" she asks nervously I nod and hand her the sketchbook. She stares a while tracing lines with her fingers.
"It's beautiful Iggy" she whispers breathlessly handing it back to me.
"Thanks" I reply quietly we fall into an awkward silence. Her phone goes off playing "she will be loved" by Maroon 5. She's the girl with the broken smile I can tell. She sends a reply back to whoever the message was from.
"I've got to go" she tells me gathering her bag and coat.
"Where" I ask impulsively she gives me a small, sad smile.
"Meeting my dad at the cemetery it's the anniversary" she says and I can tell it takes a lot out of her I nod sympathetically.
"Will you come" she asks uncertainly I'm completely taken aback, what to do, what to say to this, what to do.
"Never mind it was stupid question sorry I know we… aren't that close anymore" she waves sadly before walking out the door. Leaving me behind to realize that I just let the girl of my dreams walk out of my life; again.