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Adrian's POV
Waking up early was not something I enjoyed doing, to say the least, but I had class today. My class at the university was something I actually looked forward to. Usually.
Today, I knew that my self-portrait was not yet completed or ever close to being completed, as I had not started on it. My professor would be very…displeased with me. He always mentioned I had a talent for art, and he believed in me. So explaining the whole portrait business to him would be a not-so-good experience. But what choice did I have really.
Currently, on the bus, I at least had some time to go over more ideas on the portrait. Though, my thoughts didn't manage to get too far when I spotted a woman getting on the bus. She was attractive. Very attractive. She had long brown hair, and some ocean blue eyes that proved to be a nice contrast with the hair. Not to mention, her body had curves in all the right places. And, naturally, she sat right across from my seat.
She smiled at me, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Hey," she greeted me.
Now I knew that I had Sage. I mean, she was my true match, someone that I trusted completely. Not to mention, she herself was good looking. But when I get attention from any beautiful girl, and I get the added bonus of wanting to be distracted by school work, I mean, what's a guy to do?
So I nodded back, "Hey."
"Do you take this bus often?" She asked me.
"Yeah, I go to the university." I only had one class, one in which I would probably fail if I didn't complete the next assignment, but she didn't need to know that.
"Really? Smart and cute. Good combination." She smiled wider. "What are you taking?"
"Art," I replied honestly. This girl was coming onto me, and although I didn't mind the attention, I knew that Sydney would. Also, if Jill saw, she would be complaining to me about cheating on Sage, which would probably turn into an argument, leaving me with a headache and a couple of angry girls. So I actually attempted to not flirt. Yes, me Adrian Ivashkov, not flirting.
"Art? So you're an artist? Need a muse?" She flirted.
Again, thinking of Sage, I didn't let on. "I have one already. My girlfriend."
That put a damper on the situation. "Girlfriend?"
I nodded. "Yep."
She slowly stood up, and bent down to meet me at eye level. This gave me a good shot of her cleavage, but I didn't look. For long. "Well, if you ever decide to break things off with her, my name is Heather. And here's my number." She got a pen out and took my hand, writing her digits on my wrist. She then stood up, turned around slowly, giving me a nice view. And she rang the bell, signaling for the next stop. The bus pulled over, and she took another glance at me, winked, and proceeded in walking off the bus.
I glanced at my wrist, and smirked. Really, this was natural behavior for girls when they were around me. I just had that charm I guess.
The stop for the university approached and I got off the bus, heading for class. I got there with about five minutes to spare. Glancing around the room I saw one of my friends that I made and sat next to him.
"Hey Ian," I said, taking a seat. "How's it going?"
"Horrible. That stupid portrait is killing me," Ian told me, which was a relief that I wasn't the only one having trouble.
"I know. I honestly haven't been able to put anything on the canvas."
"Really? My whole problem is choosing which portrait to use. I've done three so far. One just regular me. The other two are abstract. One is me, but it's more like Picasso style. The other is a tiger. Because I have red hair." He was a ginger.
"And you are ferocious?" I questioned with a smile.
He laughed. "Obviously."
Ian was kind of a nerd. At least when it came to school and assignments. The guy was smart. But in real life, he lived on campus and was laid back and relaxed. He also threw some killer parties in the dorm. He had short, spiked red hair, and always had a witty shirt on. Today it read, "I'd Hit That" and had a picture of a piñata on it. Not my style, but hey, it worked on him.
"But you haven't even started?" He asked.
"Nope. My mind is blank. I'm literally screwed."
"Well I have something that will lighten your spirits, my friend." He bent over to dig through his backpack. After a couple of seconds, he pulled out an envelope. "I have got tickets for the premiere of Car Lot."
I raised an eyebrow, eyeing the tickets in his hand. "Car Lot? What is that?"
"I movie," He explained.
"I've never heard of it."
He handed me two. "That is because it is made from University people, and shown in the campus theatre. My friend is like the costume designer for it. She gave me some tickets to hand out. So take that girlfriend you keep talking about and come tonight. It starts at 8, but come by 7:30 to get a decent seat. There's popcorn, drinks, and all that fun stuff too."
"Sounds amazing." I said sarcastically. "The title alone speaks wonders."
"Hey, it's free," he shrugged.
Before I could reply, the professor walked in and everyone became silent. All he did was put a bowl of fruit on the table and sat down. We all knew what to do by now, and this meant that we needed to sketch it out. I hated sketching. I liked painting better. But the course was about all kinds of techniques, so I had no choice but to join the class and start.
The shapes weren't too tricky, but the shadowing and capturing the light was. Although I didn't like sketching, I got into the art, becoming absorbed in the moment of it. Halfway through class, Professor Henderson walked around the class asking about the portrait assignment. Now this distracted me. I was not looking forward to talking with him.
He got to Ian and I overheard some pointers and a couple of ideas on how to choose the right piece. Then his shadow came over me.
I looked up. "Hello professor. Looking good today. Is that a new hair cut?"
He smiled. "No, and I know when you are trying to suck up. How is the assignment?"
"Cutting right to the point, I see. My assignment is going alright. Just coming up with the ideas and trying to work it out in my mind on what it would look like on a canvas. You know, just making sure the color choice would work and the shading." I rambled on.
"So you have nothing?" He questioned.
I nodded. "I'm just stuck. I have been working at it, I swear."
"Lacking inspiration?"
"Something like that." I responded.
He pulled up a chair from another table, taking a seat. "Adrian, I know you are a good artist, possibly a great one. Just don't let this one assignment stress you out. It's a portrait, I've seen you do plenty of other peoples portraits, and they turned out great. What's holding you back on yours?"
He didn't let me answer, he just gave me a meaningful look and moved on to the other person beside me. Was something holding me back? If so, how would I figure out how to move on from it? Instead of thinking it over, and moving into thoughts that I wasn't so sure I wanted to move into yet, I continued the fruit sketching for the remainder of class.
In the hallway, Ian said goodbye, re-mentioning the movie and something about how I'd better go or else he would throw red paint all over my finished pieces. He was a good friend that was for sure.
Checking the time, I figured it was about lunch time over at Amberwood. I called Jill. And she picked up after two rings.
"Adrian," I could practically hear the smile in her voice.
"Hey Jailbait," I responded happily. Hearing her voice and knowing she was okay always made me happy. She was like a sister to me, we had a bond that brought us close together. "How's school?"
"Umm, fine." Usually when she responded with the word fine, it meant that her morning with Zoe was not so great. Since they were both the same age, they were in the same grade. Their morning classes matched perfectly, meaning Jill always had to deal with having glares and rude comments thrown her way.
"Well, I was actually wondering if you could do me a favor. It's going to involve you and the hole Scooby gang to keep Zoe preoccupied tonight, so that I can take Sydney out to a movie. Now, be honest, is this possible?" I asked her, acting like 007. It was something that I occasionally asked of Jill, to allow Sage and I some free time to be together. She was the only one that knew about our relationship, since the whole bond thing brought her into my head, so she was the only one I could ask in a situation like this.
"Just a second," She said. I heard her footsteps walking away, and in a couple of seconds she spoke up again. "Sorry, but Zoe was sitting with us."
"And Sydney?" I asked, wanting to know what she was up to.
Jill responded, "No, she's eating with Trey. He pulled her aside earlier."
"Trey? The ex-warrior guy?" I asked. "Why is she with him?"
"Is that jealousy I hear, Adrian?" Jill questioned.
"Just answer, Jailbait."
I heard her giggle. "All I know is that he came over and asked her to sit with him for lunch. He had a look on his face that he wanted to talk about something more, but he never said anything to us."
"I'll have to talk to Sydney about it later. Speaking of later," I remembered. "Please, can I count on you?"
I heard her moan. "Adrian, this would mean spending two nights in a row with her. You do not understand how much of a pain Zoe can be. I don't even know where to begin."
"Trust me, I would owe you big. Just spend time with her. Make something up about needing to go out to get more clothes for the winter or something. I mean, it's her Alchemist role to make sure nothing happens to you."
"And why wouldn't Sydney come along then? How would she get out of that?" Jill asked.
"Say Ms. Terwilliger is taking her someplace for the class. There has to be a history museum someplace around here, Sydney can lie."
I waited for Jill to respond. Finally, she did. "Alright, I'll see what I can do. I'll talk to Sydney first, and see if she can make the plan better."
"Thanks, Jill. Again, I owe you." I really liked the kid.
"Yep, you do. After everything is planned out, I'll tell Sydney to go to your place and meet you for the movie. That movie sounded boring by the way. You should take her to like a Cineplex or something."
"But it has the word car in it. So she should enjoy it." I added.
Jill snorted. "If you say so. I myself, will definitely try to not listen in. You'll have the night to yourselves."
"Perfect," I said goodbye and hung up.
It was rare that Sage and I had actual dates. We usually hung at my place for an hour, and made out a bit. Or talked. And that was the extent of our relationship. Oh, and we would be able to meet at Clarence's twice a week for blood feedings, but that also included Zoe and the others. So not very romantic. Tonight, however, we would see a movie. Maybe not the best romantic date, but at least it would get us out. Not to mention, at university, I could actually introduce her as my girlfriend. There would be no sneaking or pretending to be siblings, we would actually be out in public as a couple. This was going to be a night to remember.
