The Assistant (Max's POV)
I found her at a schoolyard. Or one could say she found me.
My eyes stared through the glass pane but seemed only to focus on the raindrops clinging to it in small beads. The sky was darkened and the clouds it offered weren't more than a dark blanket across the horizon. Sitting down the paintbrush in my hand I released one slow sigh. A sigh for an unpaintable sky, and for the thoughts that made it doubly so. For the assistant that always seemed to make it doubly so.
Turning away from the window I paced across to the kitchen sink and rinsed the bits of paint from my hands. Then setting a small kettle of water to boil I sat down. Leaning into my hand I sighed again. Pia was impossible today as always. Insisting on only one solution to our current job assignment. And stubborn. And mostly irritating. I felt a frown twist at my face. And so often distracting me from my painting. I let out the third and what I promised to be final sigh.
Of course she also could be clever and useful at times. Though that wasn't why I had allowed her a partnership. In truth, I wasn't sure why I had. Though her refusal to take no for an answer, and also her occasional usefulness were the reasons I had given to others, and I suppose...largely to myself. But like this too black sky, that explanation never quite explained why I'd endure her frequent bouts of unreasonableness. Truthfully I had never understood why people often kept close company with those that seemed to be their complete opposite. Yet that was before I met her. There was something in her honest earnestness that I admired. And perhaps the greatest contrast between us was really in that honesty. In her openness when it came to both what she thought and felt.
I found it easier to hide behind lines and faces not my own. So much so that sometimes I found it hard to decipher what really was in my own heart. I felt the frown pull deeper at my face. Pia had a way of bringing something out of me. Something I would rather hide from, but something I knew was important none the less. And despite all the small ways she found to annoy me, I did miss her chatter at times. Particularly on a raining afternoon like today.
I supposed it was my own way of caring about her. My assistant. My friend...
The kettle whistle pulled me from my thoughts, but my thoughts had stifled my thirst anyway. So turning off flame below the bronze colored pot, I deiced to step out into the open rain. Out to meet her again. To form some sort of unspoken apology, and without explanation, I knew she would understand, and we would fall back into the job assignment at hand. Or at least I hoped it would be that easy. But as I rounded the corner out of my gate I found it easier even than that. And yet harder somehow...
There standing in the open dampness was my assistant. Blonde locks clinging to a face that looked close to tears from a mixture of both sadness and frustration. I couldn't quite empty my own face of the surprise so I just let myself stare at her silently. She would always choose the first word if given the chance, and that always made it easier on me than I deserved.
"Max I'm sorry you know!" And so she did. And so she was. And so was I. Sorry that my own apology never made it past the raindrops. Sorry that I wasn't as adept at bearing my own feelings.
But I did manage a nod as a gentle smile rose to my face. Taking a few steps to lessen the gap between us I met her blue eyes sincerely. And forcing myself to try and mirror even a glimmer of frankness I opened my mouth to speak.
"There were some valid points to your side of the argument though." Then meekly I added in a mumble. "I have to admit..."
Her gaze and spirits seemed to rise at the same moment as her pale blue eyes fixed on me. "R- Really...?" She said in what seemed like an uncharacteristic whimper from such a spirited person. But regaining herself she nodded confidently. "I mean right! We should talk about it, Max! I think we're close to getting to the bottom of this case!" So the chatter began and continued until I noticed a shiver seize her.
And it was then that I took off my suit coat and placed it around her thin yet bold shoulders, thus bringing her words to a sudden finish. I simply nodded as I smiled lightly again in acknowledgment of both her words and the sudden redness she didn't wish me to see growing on her damp face. Turning I began moving forward down the rain glistened cobblestones.
And though I didn't dare yet speak it, I was happy that without hesitation I knew...I knew she would be following me.