It had been a few more days without much progress, but Celeste didn't mind as she liked spending time with Lysander. He was interesting and being around him made her feel as if she was a part of something special that only a very selective group could be a part of. Being around him was like looking at a painting of disarray and trying to figure out what it meant exactly. Celeste was walking home alone from school after spending some time in Miss Cunningham's room painting as she passed a shop. She slowed, the clicking of her heels, which was the only noise around her, ceasing to a complete silence as she peered in through the window. It was a clothes shop and it had such a variety of styles that she found herself pressing her nose and hands up against the glass, her heart thudding in her chest. She finally pulled herself away from it, her gaze landing on the door and she hurried inside like a hungry puppy looking for treats.
Once inside, Celeste gazed around, unsure of what she wanted to try on first. She began looking through everything, pulling hangers left and right until she found a sweater dress. Grinning, she lifted the hanger off of the clothes bar and took a step back to admire it when she ran into someone.
"Sorry," she mumbled when she turned before continuing cheerfully, "Oh, hi Leigh! Did you come across this store completely by accident too?"
He chuckled but shook his head. "I work here," he said.
"Oh, you do, huh?" she said, "You're so lucky, you get to be around all of these awesome clothes all the time!"
He chuckled again. "So you like clothes then," he concluded.
"It's my second favorite thing," she said, hugging the dress to her chest, "Oh, oh where are the dressing rooms?"
"In the back, over there," he said pointing.
"Thanks," she said quickly before following his directions. She tried on the dress and gazed at the mirror, pursing her lips, unsure. "Hmm," she said, opening the curtain, "Leigh, does this look okay?"
He weaved through the aisles until he finally came into view, studying her with a finger to his chin. "It fits you well," he said.
"Maybe," she said, looking herself up and down in the mirror, "but I feel like it needs something more." She thoughtfully gazed at her reflection before snapping her fingers. "I've got it!" she said before closing the curtain, "It needs stockings! And it's own pair of heels! And shorts! I'm a genius." She changed back into her clothes, folding the dress over her arm as she stepped out. "You won't be getting rid of me any time soon," she said to him with a wink.
She picked out tons of clothes and shoes and jewelry until she couldn't carry anymore, putting all of the prices on her credit card, promising Leigh she'd be back before hurrying off to go try on all her new clothes in different outfits. Afterwards, she added a new painting to her theme, allowing herself to admire it before doing her homework and bathing before going off to bed.
The next morning, Celeste was clad in a city designed short dress and heels on her feet. She fixed her hair up in a ponytail and did her makeup the way she usually did it to make her eyes pop. She pulled on a leather jacket to finish the outfit before going off to school. There were only a few more days until the viewing of her gallery theme but thankfully, she was almost finished with it. She arrived to see Maya just arriving as well, laughing as she walked alongside Castiel; it was the first time in weeks that Celeste had seen Maya have such a carefree smile on her face.
"Celeste," Maya said cheerfully, hurrying over towards her.
"Hey, gorgeous," Celeste said with a grin, "and you brought your red-haired puppy too!"
Maya smiled and Castiel gave Celeste a cold glare but didn't walk away. "How is the painting coming along?" Maya asked.
"Great," Celeste answered, "I'm almost done. Hey, did you ever notice that clothes shop down the street from here?"
Maya nodded. "I go there all the time," she said, "The guy who works there is so cute!"
Celeste laughed. "Did you know that that's Lysander's brother?" she said.
"Oh," Maya said, her cheeks turning a pink tint, "I didn't know that. Don't tell him I said that."
"I won't," Celeste said, giggling, "He is pretty cute, though. So I just discovered that shop yesterday and I couldn't stop buying things. I had trouble carrying everything home."
"Really?" Maya laughed, "You shop too much."
"I can't help it, I love clothes," she said.
"Do we have to talk about this?" Castiel sighed.
"No, but you don't have to stand there either," Celeste said with a roll of her eyes.
"I can do what I want," Castiel said, scowling at her.
"Okay," Celeste said, "when you get bored of the conversation, feel free to walk away because nobody is stopping you."
Rolling his eyes, Castiel sauntered away with his arms crossed.
"You're too mean to him," Maya laughed, "I think you hurt his feelings."
Celeste shrugged. "He doesn't need that attitude around us if we're his friends," she muttered, "I don't know how Lysander puts up with him."
"He has his moments," Maya said and her smile suddenly faded as she gazed around, "Have you seen Nathaniel around?"
"No," Celeste said, shaking her head, "he's probably in the student council room."
"Okay, I'm gonna go find him," Maya said, balling her hands into fists.
"Okay," Celeste said, "just don't go in there if there's a sock on the door knob." Maya didn't seem to hear as she hurried off in the direction of the school, leaving her alone.
Celeste turned and the first thing she could see was Castiel sitting with Lysander in the courtyard. She ambled towards them, clenching a strap of her bag as she suddenly felt nervous. Why did she feel nervous? Nobody made her feel nervous but gazing at the two of them made her squeeze the strap of her bag until her knuckles faded white. She approached them slowly, listening to the clicking of her heels to distract her until she was near enough to hear their conversation. She continued approaching, brushing off the fact that they were discussing music… or something.
"This song is about a girl," Castiel realized as he read off of Lysander's notebook.
Celeste's feet slowed to a stop; it was wrong to eavesdrop but they hadn't noticed her and she was feeling a pinch of jealousy. Lysander nodded, gazing at his own notebook in Castiel's hands. "I haven't been able to think about much else lately."
Castiel's eyes widened for a moment and he pointed at something in the notebook. "Is this about who I think it's about?" He met Lysander's gaze before cracking a smile. "Her? She might be pretty but her personality is a deal breaker."
Lysander looked away. "I disagree. I like her personality."
Celeste bit her lip, deciding she didn't want to hear anymore as she spun around on her heels and slowly approached the building. She felt a bit disappointed that there was someone he wanted despite the fact that she'd been the one spending time with him. Her ego had managed to fool her into thinking that he would fall for her like boys always did but she should've known, considering he wasn't like any other boy she knew. She could have any other boy wrapped around her finger with just a smile in his direction but it didn't feel that way with him. She subtly shook her head as she pushed open the doors and quickened her pace towards the art room; she couldn't become distracted with petty things such as boy troubles when she had a theme to perfect before Tuesday.
Celeste awoke with a jolt at the sound of a book being slammed on to her desk and she sat up, gazing up at Mister Faraize whose brow was furrowed. He lifted the text book off of her desk. "Now that we're all awake, I'll pass out your homework assignment."
The class gave a collective groan to which Faraize ignored, passing out the worksheet. Celeste sighed deeply, putting it in her folder when she felt Maya touch her shoulder from beside her. "Are you okay, Celeste?" she asked, "You never fall asleep in class."
Celeste nodded, her gaze finding Lysander's across the room, meeting her's with a look of curiosity on his face. "I'm fine. I just had a late night, that's all."
Maya gave her a smile. "When is the gallery opening?"
Celeste returned her smile. "It's tomorrow. I get to miss school for it."
Maya put her hands together in excitement. "I can't wait! I haven't seen a single one of the paintings you're putting in so I'm really excited."
Celeste nodded as the bell rang. "I'm pretty confident in them. I think you'll like them."
Maya followed Celeste closely. "I'm sure I will. You're good at everything artistic."
Celeste beamed at Maya's compliment. "Thank you!" She waved at Maya as they turned in opposite directions and she only managed to take a few steps when she felt a hand take her wrist gently.
"Celeste," Lysander's voice reached her and she turned, meeting his gaze. "The gallery opening is tomorrow?" She nodded. "Are you okay? You don't look so good."
Celeste nodded. "Like I said, it was a late night."
He gazed at her skeptically. "When was the last time you ate?"
Celeste froze, realizing that she hadn't eaten since Saturday; it was Monday. She managed to give him a smile. "I told you, I'm fine. I appreciate your concern."
His skepticism didn't leave his face and he touched her shoulder as she prepared to turn. "Let's go out tonight."
Celeste brightened up. "Go out?"
He nodded. "Let's go grab some dinner to celebrate for tomorrow."
A smile spread from ear to ear on her face. "I'd love that," she answered, "but, unfortunately, I still have some work to do. Maybe the day after tomorrow if you don't mind."
He nodded again, releasing her arm and she turned away again, going to her next class.
It was the day of the opening and Celeste hadn't had time to eat yet but she had managed to put on enough make up to cover up that fact, and her sleep deprivation. She wasn't expecting Lysander, however, because she hadn't told him where the gallery was and she had done that intentionally; she didn't want him seeing the painting she'd done of him.
The gallery opening had just begun and Celeste had to stand by and speak to everyone about her paintings as they observed. She began feeling a bit lightheaded as they bombarded her with questions, occasionally forgetting to answer when people asked and it made her appear to be more absentminded than she was. Her gaze wandered through the crowd, searching for Maya to come to her rescue but instead her gaze landed on the back of a silver haired head, gazing up at the painting she'd done of him. At the sight of him seeing what she'd done, the voices suddenly stopped and her eyes grew wide. "Lysander," she managed to say before everything suddenly went black.
Celeste's eyes fluttered open and she found herself gazing at Maya's big green orbs of eyes, full of tears and worry as she held on to Celeste's hand as if for dear life. "Celeste," Maya gasped, throwing her arms over her, "are you okay? What happened?"
Celeste rubbed her eyes. "Where am I?" her voice cracked as she spoke before she realized it was her own bedroom, "I should be asking you what happened."
Maya sat up, wiping the tears from her eyes. "People were asking you questions and then you just suddenly stopped talking like you'd seen a ghost or something and you said Lysander's name then you just passed out. Celeste, have you been eating?" Celeste looked away, avoiding her question. "You do realize that food is a basic daily need for human beings, right?"
Celeste sighed, rolling her eyes. "I know but things just got so busy that it kept slipping my mind. Was Lysander really there or were my eyes playing tricks on me?"
Maya opened her mouth but another familiar voice from behind Celeste as the window interrupted, "Did you purposely not invite me? Were you afraid of me seeing your painting?"
Celeste turned to see Lysander leaning against the window. "I just... wasn't sure how you'd feel knowing I painted you." She gazed down at her hands. "I'm sorry I didn't invite you. I wanted to but I guess I was just spreading myself a little bit too thin and things started getting to me. I wasn't... doing well."
He cracked a smile. "It was a lovely painting. I don't understand how you would be afraid of my reaction." He approached and sat beside her on the bed. "And I know that you weren't doing well, that's why I wanted to help you but I wasn't sure how to go about it."
Celeste smiled to herself, gazing at him. "You really liked the painting?"
He nodded. "I like all of your paintings but I think that one is my favorite."
"Oh," Maya interrupted, reaching into her bag behind her and she pulled out an envelope, handing it to Celeste, "the gallery owner told me to give you this while we carried you out."
Celeste gazed at before tearing open the top and finding a check inside—a big one at that. "I almost forgot that they would pay me."
"That's a big check," Maya gasped as if reading Celeste's mind.
Celeste nodded. "I think the gallery owner was being a little generous because I passed out."
Maya grinned. "Hey, money is money, right? Anyway, I gotta go. Nathaniel wants to meet up."
Celeste felt a lump in her throat thinking of Maya and Nathaniel together but she simply nodded, watching Maya leave before lying back against the pillow, putting her hand across her forehead. "Am I a bad person?"
Lysander laid his head beside hers, entwining his hands together over his chest. "I don't think you are. Why do you ask?"
Celeste chewed on her lip. "If I tell you a secret, do you promise not to tell anyone?" She felt him nod without looking at him. "I caught Nathaniel with Melody. They were in a really heavy make out in the student council room."
Lysander turned his head to gaze at her. "Why don't you tell Maya?"
Celeste sighed. "I yelled at Nathaniel but he said he was working on it or whatever and he made me promise not to tell."
"You don't seem like the type to submit to someone like Nathaniel," Lysander pointed out.
She shook her head quickly. "Of course not. In any other circumstance, I'd run to go tell Maya but... I don't know... Just seeing how much she loves him, I know it would just tear her apart to hear about that. She's the type who would beat herself up for something like that and I don't want to see her have to go through it."
Lysander turned so he was facing the ceiling again. "Not telling her won't make it go away."
Celeste continued chewing on her lip. "I know but I just don't want to be the one to tell her. I know, it's selfish but I wish I didn't have to be the one who is burdened by this when it's Nathaniel's mistake while he's out having the time of his life juggling girls. He's absolute trash."