(A/N: Some weird stuff happens in this chapter. It's pretty pointless, except for a few parts important to the plot. Oh well, please read it anyway.)
Chapter 8: Gifts
Wow…I never knew one month could pass by so fast.
It was about one month ago when I first ran away from home, first met Van, and first became an art student. In a month I had covered drawing landscapes to people's faces to the essential basics. Van kept saying that I was naturally talented, but I bet he didn't expect me to practice the skills or something. I mean, I must have killed many trees the way that I devoured stacks of paper. And I even used both sides and all four corners.
Well you could just say that I wasn't as tomboyish anymore. I did go out and run daily, but I spent less time outside in general. And even though Van and I are a "couple", we barely did anything together. He was busy working on his next masterpiece while I tried to practice drawing heads. And since I'm on that subject, I'll tell you my one-month gift.
Yeah, I did say gift. I'm planning to do a portrait of Van, without his knowledge. How? Well I already stole sketches he did of himself for his self-portrait and I also have a copy of the colored portrait in my room. You know that passageway that was behind the dresser. Well it seems to be some kind of art storage room for Van. He keeps a lot of his junk down there. It's quite fun looking through his stuff, though it took me a couple days to secure those sketches. I know that he goes to bed early, so after he's asleep I sneak down the stairs to the cobweb room. Rhonda is the only other person who knows, because she caught me down there. Of course we keep it a surprise. Besides, if I can't finish the portrait by that day, then I don't have to give him anything.
So you're wondering what day today actually is? Well I have three days before the one-month anniversary, so you can do the math if you care. For me today is the day I'm going to start my final copy. I've decided on color pencils and an 11 by 14 in. piece of paper. I've always felt more ease with pencils than with paint, because I can color lightly and gradually work to the color I want, and if I make a mistake, it is much easier to cover it up with some other colors. Though Van likes to paint more than to use colored pencils. I guess he didn't transfer his love of paintbrushes to me yet.
"Mel!" shouted Van from outside my door. "Time for today's lesson!" Man, I'm not totally awake yet. I haven't even changed my clothes yet! And to think that he would have learned by now that I'm not as energetic as he is in the morning…
"Hold on," I shouted back. "I need to change." Fumbling through my dresser, I try to decide what to wear today. Just when I pick out a set of clothes, Van remembers some important information.
"Oh by the way we're going into the forest today, so don't put on anything you want to keep nice," he said. Bastard. Well, now I have to go through all my clothes once again…
*****
"Got yourself a boomerang and some good boots?" asked Van as I emerged from my room. I looked at myself and shook my head. "Well you can take a pair of my boots, since we'll be walking through some water." I wonder what kind of forest it is, if it has water on the ground. Anyway, Van ran towards his storage room of everything (except art, which is in the room behind the dresser). It must have been half an hour at least before he emerged, which let my doze for a little bit as I waited. When he finally emerged, the first thing he said was, "Give me your feet."
"What?" I cried, mostly in confusion. Then when he grabbed my left foot and began to slide on the boot, I understood. When he finished tying the laces, I stuck out my right foot.
"I've always wanted to do that," said Van as he finished up tying my other boot.
That statement took me by surprise, and I began to laugh. "You've wanted to put shoes on other people?" I asked. There goes Van acting weird again. I wonder how he was raised, because most "normal" people wouldn't say that.
"Not that!" exclaimed Van in embarrassment. "I mean…I wanted…to act like a prince. You know…like Prince Charming in Cinderella. Damn it, it's so hard to explain." For some reason, seeing him frustrated and such was hilarious. He glared at me as I continued my laughing.
"Well," I finally choked out. "That's certainly wasn't expected." I mean, for being such a bastard to me at the beginning, who would have expected it? "Well then am I your princess?" I asked slyly, implying that he wasn't good enough to be a prince.
"Uh…no," replied Van. "You're not that nice…wait, are you saying that I'm not a prince?" The guy finally figures it out. And to think he has had 4 more years of experience with the language than I have had…
"Of course," I said. Then seeing Rhonda busily working outside still while we had had our mindless chatter, I added, "We should probably get moving now, right Van?"
"Yeah," he replied. Well now let's see if I can actually walk in these boots. Uh oh…Van!
"What?" he exclaimed right before I crashed into him. Catching me in his arms, he whispered into my ear, "So I guess this is an excuse for me to hug you, right?"
"Yeah. And you can carry me all throughout the forest too, right?" I added slyly. He let go of me as a jest and watched as I wobbled, trying to balance. Almost falling again, he took my arm and held it until he guided me to a place to sit.
"Nah. You're too heavy," he replied, redoing my laces. I glared at him.
"So should I become anorexic so I'd weigh less?" I replied, jokingly. Of course I wasn't going to. Me letting Van eat all the sausage and eggs? It would never happen until after I left.
"Sure," he said. "You'd look better too…" he added, smirking.
"Really," I said sarcastically, playing along. "So how much do I need to lose?"
By then he had finished with my laces, and pulled me to my feet. "Mel," he said, changing to a more serious tone. "You better not have believed I was spouting the truth a few moments ago, because you're perfect the way you are."
This compliment took me by surprise. "Really?" I said, truly not sure that he really meant that.
"Of course, Mel. You're my girlfriend, and I wouldn't want to be able to crush you into pulp every time I wanted to embrace me," he said with a little humor, and I wanted to glare at him for taking such an important thing so lightly. "I mean, I want you to be my girlfriend for a long time, which means I wouldn't want you to die."
"Yeah of course," I said in a mocking, 8 year old voice. Seeing his smile drop made me laugh internally for some reason. Maybe he was trying to be sweet, but couldn't say the right words.
"No I really mean it," he pleaded. He looked so serious and sad that I wanted to cheer him up a bit. So I took his face in my hands, and to his surprise, I kissed him on the lips.
"Thank you," I said after I pulled away. Then smiling, I added, "Maybe we can make the trip to the forest also a private moment for the two of us."
"Don't we spend a lot of time alone together?" said Van, a bit confused at where I was headed. Is he really that thick-headed?
"In seclusion," I clarified for him. "That's what we'll have in the forest. Hopefully."
Van laughed suddenly. "You know what else is in that forest besides trees?" he asked me, not expecting me to respond. "Monsters."
"Damn it!" I swore, realizing that it wouldn't work out. "Then let's do this quickly so I can spend some time with you alone then."
Van nodded, taking my hand. Then hand in hand we walked quickly out of Termina.
*****
"What the heck is this place?" I exclaimed as we walked through the water. Bulbs were running around, and with one swing of my boomerang I knocked down three of them. Van finished them off with a powerful swing from his boomerang as soon as they stood up again.
"It's called the Shadow Forest," said Van. "Unfortunately it's the only nearby forest, or I wouldn't have taken you here."
"So am I supposed to be scared or something?" I asked Van. Then pretending to be a brainless doll I clutched his arm and whimpered, "Oh, I'm so scared, Van."
"I'll…" he started, but stopped as the flash of lightning interrupted him. "…protect you." He hugged me for a little bit, and then as the rain poured down, said, "It looks pretty bad. I know a place where at least the rain won't pour on us anymore."
"Really?" I gasped. Light drizzle is fine, but I hate pouring rain and being outside when there is lightning. Grabbing my arm, Van led me deeper into the forest. I looked at him with surprise as he led me across a waterfall and then led me through it.
"What's this…oh wow!" I exclaimed as I saw the dry place underneath the waterfall. It even had the remains of a fire, which Van quickly ignited again.
"A guy named Funguy used to live here," Van told me as he proceeded to lift up his shirt. "He left a year ago, after he became human again."
"What?" I exclaimed, more so because Van had completely taken off his shirt then to what happened to that other guy. "What…are you doing?" I stammered, blushing red.
"I'm going to let it dry. Plus wearing wet clothes after a while gets you sick," replied Van. "You should take your wet clothes off too," he said to me as he began to work on removing his pants. I gasped, and turned around. Oh my god! Van was voluntarily stripping in front of me. Me, the fourteen year old plain girl who just happens to have never seen a man in his underwear before. Of course I was freaking out. I mean, what was I supposed to do anyway?
"Come on, Mel, don't be modest," said Van, and I could hear him stepping out of his pants. I refused to turn around as he continued. "I've already seen you in your underwear before, and you have nothing to hide." Then when I finally dared to turn around, I saw him, absolutely gorgeous, and was probably the deepest red ever. "Unless you want me to take your clothes off for you," he added slyly.
This earned a glare, and a swift response. "Van, you pervert! I'm only fourteen!" I protested, implying that I'm not ready for this kind of flirting. I backed towards the wall as he came closer. When my back finally hit the wall, I just stood, breathing heavily, waiting for him to do something.
"Mel," he said quietly and sweetly. "You don't have to do it, you know. I…just wanted to look out for you." As he backed away, he was hit accidentally by the edge of my shirt as I lifted it above my head. He stared at me in shock as I then took off my shorts.
"Van," I said as I picked up my wet clothes and wrung as much water as I could out of them. "I trust you." Walking back with him to the fire, we sat down with me in his arms, waiting for the rain to stop. It felt so nice to be together like that, with his warmth around me, our hands clasped.
The rain didn't last long enough.
*****
"Oh shoot!" I said as I finally was able to have time to work on my portrait of Van. "I haven't even started yet, and today's almost gone! I'm screwed!" I was too absorbed in my frenzy that I didn't hear the knocks on my door.
"Mel?" shouted someone from outside the door. I thought to myself, no one comes to bother me this late at night. Walking quickly to open the door, I saw that it was Van who had come to talk, wearing his loose pajamas.
"Uh Mel, will you be free tomorrow night?" he asked, twitching a bit.
"Uh…" I said, contemplating whether I should say yes or not. I really wanted to use that time to work on Van's portrait, but we haven't had a night out for a long time. Plus he looks like he's beginning to frown. "Yeah," I said, smiling, which made him smile in return.
"Good, because I want to take you out to dinner," he said. "At a fancy place." Out for dinner? At a restaurant maybe? Was that it?
"Oh," I said, without much enthusiasm. He looked at me, and I knew he was going to ask me if I wanted to go somewhere else, so I continued, "I don't have anything to wear." Truthfully, I thought he would want to spend some time in seclusion with me.
"Is that is?" he said with a little laugh. "Don't worry. Rhonda will get you something." I faked a smile. Then with a smile he said, "It's settled."
As soon as I shut the door, I told myself, "I'm so screwed!"
*****
"This dress is too low for me," I told Rhonda as I tried to pull up the straps of the blue silky dress I was to wear for dinner. Rhonda laughed.
Rhonda replied, "Don't be modest. It fits perfectly on you. Van will absolutely love it. Now for some make-up…"
"No, not that! I don't want weird stuff on my face," I said, trying to escape Rhonda's hands that were covered with blush.
"Mel, you're going to be so beautiful that Van will not be able to take his eyes off of you," Rhonda cooed as she applied the sticky junk all over my face. "There you go, Mel," she said, after she finished. "Now look at yourself in the mirror." I walked towards the mirror and gasped. This was…not me!
"I know," said Rhonda, as if reading my mind. "Van's going to freak out…in a good way. Now go!" With this she pushed me out the door, right into Van, who was dressed in a black suit and a blue tie.
"What's going on…oh, Mel…" said Van as he caught me and then stared at me. "Mel…you're gorgeous…" he gasped with the largest eyes ever. I bet he never expected I could look so nice, now did he. Oh well.
"You look good too," I replied truthfully, taking his arm. "Now where are you escorting me to?" I asked for the tenth time today, since I wasn't able to get it out from him before.
"It's a secret," he said smiling. We continued out of the house towards a large banquet hall, which I never knew existed until now. Looking at the humongous place, I stared at awe at the fine architecture.
"What is this place?" I asked. It must have been built recently, because it looked brand new and never used before.
"This is the new banquet hall built by Termina, and we are going to attend an artists' ball held annually where artists from around the world come together and share their works as well as meet each other," explained Van.
"So why am I here?" I asked, knowing that this place wasn't meant for beginners like me.
"You're my girlfriend, and I am allowed to bring up to three other people with me to the banquet, as long as I buy tickets," he replied. He reached into his pocket and produced two tickets, handing one to me.
"Oh. So I can keep you company while you try to survive the banquet or something," I concluded, placing the ticket securely in my hand.
"It's actually not that horrible. Knowing quite a few younger artists come to these banquets, there is music and dancing as well," said Van.
"Oh, I see," I said, feeling still a bit disappointed. This time could have been spent better working on that portrait. But I guess Van really wanted me to come…
"Mel?" said Van, who was looking at me. I must have been lost in my thoughts or something. Muttering an apology, I took his hand and we entered the banquet hall. Man, there were a lot of people here, a lot of food, and a lot of paintings.
"Over here," said Van, dragging me towards one of his works. Looking at the picture, I looked at the color of the hair and gasped when I recognized the face.
"Van! You painted me?" I said in surprise. When he nodded, I just stood there and stared. It was so good, with the littlest freckles painted too. I continued to analyze the picture until a woman's voice interrupted.
"You must be Van Dillogne and his girlfriend Melanie Hineka," she said to us. Both Van and I turned around, nodding. There before us stood a young blonde haired woman in a dark green strapless dress and a young blond haired man in a black suit with his arm around her waist. "I am Virginia Eldic, from the mainland and this is my boyfriend Luc Roseman, also a painter. Nice to meet you."
"You too," Van replied, shaking her hand. I shook her hand as well as her boyfriend's hand, before being dragged by Van. "Let's have our dinner now," he said, leading me to the tables piles with all types of delicious foods. As I gasped in surprise in the quality and amount, Van piles his plate with a bite of each. Following suit, we found a seat at edge of one of the long banquet tables. We were soon joined by Virginia and Luc, who decided to sit next to us.
I was nervous, because I didn't want to embarrass Van in front of these two, who seemed to know the proper table etiquette. Eating carefully, I made sure I did not speak with food in my mouth or speak any rude comments. Luc, who sat next to me, was pretty quiet. Most of the conversation was between Virginia and Van, who was surprisingly social tonight. After finishing my plate, I waited as Virginia and Van continued to talk. Man this was boring. Then when the sounds of music began, Luc, who had been finished with his meal as well, talked for the first time during the meal.
"Would you mind if I had one dance with the lovely Melanie Hineka while you continue to talk?" he asked Van, who was only half-finished. I blushed slightly at the statement, and it looked like Virginia did not mind. With food in his mouth, Van nodded, and Luc took my hand, leading me to the dance floor.
"Uh…I don't know how to dance," I stammered as Luc began to move to the beat.
"Don't worry," he said. "Just let your body flow and release what you are feeling." He looked around. "No one's watching you anyway." He continued to dance, and deciding that I would try it to, I began moving around to the beat.
Wow, was dancing like this? Suddenly the song changed to slower tune. In a second practically everyone was paired up and holding each other, swaying slowly. Luc looked at me and smiled. "Want to slow dance with me? It looks like your boyfriend isn't here yet," he said.
"Sure," I said, hesitantly putting my hands on his shoulders, his hands going around my waist.
"So how long have you been with Van?" asked Luc, his lips close to my ear.
"About a month," I replied. "How about you and Virginia?"
"About the same amount of time," he answered. "You know," he confessed, "despite being 19, she's my first girlfriend."
"Well Van's my first boyfriend too," I told him. After a bit of silence, I said, "I'm a bit scared."
"Of what?" asked Luc, looking at me in the eyes.
"I'm afraid I won't do something right and that he'll break up with me," I admitted, feeling stupid.
"Me too," replied Luc, which sort of surprised me. "Virginia has had 3 boyfriends before, and I feel like I need to be better then them so that she'll stay with me." Really? Well she was really pretty and such. I wonder how many Van has had? I mean, as in how many girlfriends, of course.
"Well you're nice and handsome," I told him, which was the truth. He did look good with his blonde hair and blue eyes, but Van was just hotter.
"You too," he said. "If Van breaks up with you, he'll be losing someone special." Wow, he thinks that much of me already and he has just met me?
"Thanks," I said to the indirect compliment. As the song ended, we unlinked ourselves and waved farewell. "Good luck in your relationship," I shouted to him as he left.
"You too," he replied before disappearing in the crowd. If Virginia breaks up with him, she'll be losing someone special too. As I stood thinking in the middle of the dance floor, someone grabbed me from behind.
"Who are you…oh Van! You're finally here," I said, smiling at him.
"So how was talking to Luc? Was he nicer than me?" asked Van, who seemed a bit jealous.
"Yeah, he was nice. How about Virginia? You talked to her for a long time," I asked in response.
"She's a little annoying, but otherwise not so bad," he replied. As the next tune began, Van took my hand.
"Let's dance, Mel," he said, pulling me towards a secluded area. "By ourselves."
It was a fun night, that night, and we danced the whole time together. But I only had the outline of Van done. How was I going to finish the rest in a day?
*****
It's been 6 hours of endless staring at Van's old pictures as well adding shading with my colored pencils. His hair has been barely started, and the shading of his cheeks and nose are still a bit off. I'm proud of the eyes and the mouth, which came out better than I hoped at the beginning. Luckily my lessons for today were canceled, because otherwise I would not have anytime to finish the picture.
"Dinner time!" shouted Rhonda from the kitchen. I reluctantly left my room, deciding to quickly eat and then to hurry back to my room. Though Van was confused by my sudden urgency at dinner, Rhonda did not let out my secret. Now it was 11 o'clock, and I was still working on his hair. The reflection of light in the hair was bothering me. It just didn't seem right. Even though I was extremely tired, I pushed myself for another two hours, I think. Either way, I ended up falling asleep on the picture. When Rhonda found me there still the next morning, she carefully extracted me as to not wake me and tucked me into the bed. It was 10 in the morning before I woke up.
"Whoa…what the heck?" I said as I opened my eyes, seeing the portrait on the desk and myself in bed. "When did I fall asleep?" Getting out of bed, I went immediately to my desk and picked up my colored pencil. Just a few more strokes in his hair, and then I would go to see if there was any breakfast.
"Mel! Breakfast!" called Rhonda from outside my room. Deciding to follow the urges from my empty stomach, I went to have breakfast. Seeing that the house was quite silent despite being morning, I asked Rhonda, "Where is Van?"
"Oh, Van went to see a friend. He'll be back for dinner," she replied. Then smiling at me, she said, "You have time. Don't stress, okay?"
After finishing breakfast, I proceeded to wash dishes before being stopped by Rhonda. "I'll do them, Mel," she insisted. "Finish that portrait, okay? I want to see it done today."
"Yes, Rhonda," I replied. Hmm, another few hours. His hair will be perfect by then, I thought to myself. Then instead of staring at the portrait that he did, I began to go with my intuition on which parts should be lighter or darker. Then I took a break and did a little running outside. As I glanced at how the light reflected off the people's hair, I became inspired to perfect the hair even more. With another hour or so, I stared at my work. "I'm done," I murmured to myself. "I'm done…I'm DONE!"
I took a short nap before dinner. Now it was time to reveal the surprise to Van, who was clueless the whole time.
"Um Van," I said, as he finished dinner. "I have something to show you. Just wait a bit, okay?" Leaving the table I headed to my room, where the portrait still lay on my desk. Picking up, I took a deep breath before heading back down. "Here it is," I said to Van, displaying the picture to him and Rhonda. "You've taught me for a month for free, so I wanted to show you how much I've appreciated it. And for being my boyfriend also." After saying that, I watched as he stared at the portrait, and then finally looked up to me.
"Mel…" he said quietly. "You've been the best student and the best girlfriend I've had. Thank you so much for the portrait." After setting the portrait down safely, he embraced me. "Thank you so much," he repeated. Then laughing, he said, "So now you'll have time to spend with me again, right?"
I laughed with him. "Did you miss me a lot while I spent so much time with the portrait?"
"Yeah," he replied. "I was afraid that you became more attached to the paper than to me."
"Oh really?" I said. Then mocking him, I added, "So what if I did?"
"Mel!" he said, glaring at me. "You wouldn't…" As he trailed off, Rhonda quietly exited the room, winking at me as she left. I guess the gift must have been good.
"Mel, do you want to watch the stars tonight with me on the balcony?" asked Van, taking one of my hands.
"Sure," I said, squeezing his hand.
We went into his room and out onto the balcony. The night sky was full of glittering stars. The moon also was present, shining gently upon us as we stood in an embrace. "It's beautiful," I murmured.
Van pulled me closer. "I know," he whispered, before putting his lips on mine.
(A/N: I'm too mushy for my own good. And this chapter was dragged out too much. Next chapter should come out sometime…maybe before the month is over.)
