Portrait Project

[Addison Micklesen]

Addison glanced down at her watch as she made her way to the Arts room, making sure she wasn't late. She was actually early. Then again, she still wasn't sure if he was going to show up or not after how their last encounter had ended, so she was probably even on no time schedule. Which was a good thing, for her, but she'd really prefer if he did come. She couldn't exactly say why she wanted it so much, but she convinced herself it was because if he didn't, she'd have to find someone else to make a portrait of, and that wouldn't be easy. She'd probably end up sitting in front of a mirror and drawing her own portrait, which she'd done before, and which was very boring. She didn't find any interest in drawing her face. There was nothing new about it, it was the same old pattern as always, grown a little if anything, but still, she knew herself, knew where to draw a small pale line or a thin curve, where to put a shadow, how her eyebrows were placed over her eyes. But drawing someone new, that was more interesting. It was always a surprise with each line her pencil drew on the paper, and it fascinated her.

When she finally got to the room, she pushed the door open and smiled when she was there was nobody in there. She hadn't expected it to be full, but some students loved to spend their time here and it was rarely empty whenever she came. Then again, maybe students prefered to relax on Sunday. With a glance around, she headed to a spot in the room that was particularly bright and moved a chair there, sitting on it while waiting to see if Connor would show up. If he did, she'd get another chair for herself. If he didn't, she wouldn't look as stupid with two chairs, one being empty, which made it obvious she was waiting for someone who hadn't showed up. She didn't exactly need that kind of talk going around the school at the moment. She always hit a rough week after coming back to school, missing home and her mother. It came and it went fast, but it was always the same still.

Sighing lightly and shaking off the though, she decided she might as well do something while she was waiting. She took out her sketch pad and a piece of charcoal, bringing her legs up and resting her feet on the edge of the chair. She placed the pad on her thighs and started drawing randomly, deciding she might as well practice while she was waiting for Connor - if he came - and so she started drawing him out of memory. She knew some details wouldn't be in the right place, but it didn't really matter. Soon she got lost into her drawing, to the point that she probably wouldn't hear someone entering the room until he or she was right in front of her, and she looked down at the paper with a light frown of concentration. Somewhere along the curves, she realized she wasn't exactly drawing him the way she'd seen him - mainly because the drawing version of him didn't wear a shirt. Oh well.

[Connor Micklesen]

Connor walked around with his friends for a while laughing and talking to them, he'd managed to forget all about his meeting with Addison. They were all headed out to eat when he heard his cell phone ring the tone he had set for his calender events. He pulled out the phone and frowned at it, what in the world was that all about? He went into his calender to see what he had planned for the day and time. He rarely forgot what he had planned for a day, so he was curious as to what it was. He moved over to the day, hitting the okay button and then it popped up. '3:00: Addison. Art.' it was all he had there and for a minute he was confused. What did that even mean, a second later he realized what it was. He was suppose to meet Addison to have her take his portrait in the art room. He stopped walking with a sigh, he really wished that he hadn't made plans at that moment. He wasn't sure if he even wanted to tell his friends what the plans were. He wasn't sure why he wouldn't want to tell his friends, they'd probably make a few smart ass comments about it. But that was it, by now they'd all noticed that he'd stopped walking and turned to face him. All of them looking at him questionably.

"Sorry guys I just remembered I'm suppose to help someone with their art project right now," he said. He could tell by the looks on their faces what they were going to say before they even said it. They were going to tell him to blow the whole thing off. Just forget about it because he wasn't even in art. Usually he would have probably listened to them, but he didn't want to for a reason that he couldn't explain. Just like he didn't want to tell them who with.

"Come on C man. It's just a stupid art project, you aren't even in art," said one of his friends walking back to him. He could almost always get Connor to change his mind. Which was why he was the one trying to now. "Besides we were just about to go get some food to eat. And we all know how much you love food. So let's just go eat and you can explain to the person later that you just forgot about it. They won't know the difference anyway."

He sighed, it was times like this when he really wished that his friends would be a bit more supportive of him. It would just make things a lot easier for him. "Hey guys I'm sorry I can't. I'll catch you back at school though. We can go eat later or something," he said turning back to walk back to the school. He heard them yelling comments behind him but he didn't stop to turn around or anything else. He just kept walking. He knew he was going to be late as it was, he just hoped that Addison wouldn't care too much about it. It took him a short amount of time to get back to the school and when he did he had to stop for a moment. He hadn't ever been to the art rooms. Actually he wasn't even sure if he knew where they were. He asked a couple of students on his way along, after having a few people who gave him a vague generalish area he got someone who pointed him in the proper direction. After thanking them he headed off to the art room.

When he got there he opened the door and looked around a little to find Addison. He managed to locate her easily, she looked like she was drawing something. So he took a moment to look around the room with a nod. It was nice - then again all the rooms in the school was nice. He just hadn't been in all of them yet. He made his way over to Addison but he was pretty sure that she hadn't even heard him enter. She looked pretty absorbed in whatever she was drawing. So he just walked up to her, until he was standing right in front of her. He glanced down at the drawing to see what it was she was so absorbed in. "What are you drawing?" he asked, as he looked down a bit surprised to see him on the paper. He was more surprised to see that the him on the paper was shirtless. "Well I suppose that if you can draw me from memory then maybe I don't have to be here."

[Addison Micklesen]

Addison kept drawing as she was waiting for Connor, adding a few more details here and there, knowing she was pretty accurate in the way she drew him though it still wasn't perfect. For some reason she could see him very clearly in her head, as though he was actually standing in front of her. Why he was shirtless though, that she couldn't figure still, and it's not as though she cared. Hey, if she wasn't going to see him without a shirt in real, it wouldn't hurt to see it on paper, even if it wasn't exactly the same. And besides, she was just a normal teenage girl who happened to like shirtless guys. And she wasn't sure how much Connor was aware of it, but he was very attractive. Pretty much the same type she sometimes found herself fantasizing about. Not that she'd fantasized about him... yet. But anyway that was something she figured she ought to avoid. Having those kind of thoughts about somebody she knew tended to get her into trouble, and the start of their relationship wasn't all that great as to now. She was even wondering what she was doing here at all. He probably wouldn't come. Why would he anyway? He'd probably just agreed to be polite - now that she thought back on it, even after his little outburst, she was practically sure she'd been right about what she'd said, and the fact that he'd been so upset was because he wanted to prove her wrong to his eyes, not to hers - and now he was surely hanging out with some friends.

Just as she thought that and started concentrating even more on her drawing, the door of the room opened without her hearing or noticing it. She was too absorbed by her drawing to see anything else or hear anything else - it was always like that when she drew. Some people, mainly those who didn't know her all that well, wondered what was wrong with her when she was drawing, seeing as she was so different than from what she usually acted like. Her eyes were fixed on the paper, following the trail left by the pencil as her hand roamed freely over the blank page she had in front of her. It was simply like that for her, her passion was more internal when it came to drawing and painting. Herself she didn't know why it was like that, but she didn't really care either. She thought it might actually be one of the reasons why she was good at it, because she was able to put a wall around herself whenever she was drawing, and block everything out. Of course, it could also be a problem.

Like now for example. She practically didn't hear Connor's first question - it was always like that, she woke up from her state of mind only after someone had spoken for the second time, as though the first sentence was only meant to slowly bring her back to reality and not expected to be understood. His second comment, however, that she got. She couldn't help but jump of surprise slightly when she heard his voice, her feet slipping from the edge of the chair and making her lose her balance as she tumbled off the chair, quickly rising back to her feet with a slight flush of embarrassment on her cheek when she finally realized he'd seen her drawing - him, pretty much. Shirtless at that. Well, it'd been a good life.

"Well yeah, I mean no, I mean..." she groaned lightly, rubbing her temples lightly as she balled up the sheet of paper in her other hand. "Alright, what do you say you go back out there, come back in and pretend like this never happened?" she suggested, doubting he'd actually consider it but thinking it was worth a shot. She'd even eat the drawing if it helped make it disappear. What had she been thinking about anyway, drawing him shirtless when she knew perfectly well he could actually show up at any time? "Come on, I'll give you a cookie or something," she added.

[Connor Micklesen]

He couldn't help but grin lightly as he saw her reaction to him seeing the drawing. Really he didn't think it was all that bad, actually it was a really good drawing. The only awkward part was the shirtless part but other then that it wasn't anything weird. He noticed that she'd balled it up in her hand which he thought was a waste of good work but oh well. He laughed again when she suggested that he just go back into the hall and reenter the room again. Really it was pointless, because what had happened had happened. He usually wasn't one of those people who wanted things to change. Once something had been done there wasn't any going back. And besides it was just a situation that for some reason made him feel slightly good about himself. So he wasn't about to undo it, not even for a cookie. Even though he still hadn't eaten... and he was kind of hungry. Still, that wasn't enough to convince him to actually do it. Though he wasn't even sure if she was serious about it at all. She could have just been kidding to lighten the mood.

"Well... I am a bit hungry," he said with a nod. "I did happen to forget about this meeting," he admitted to her. He felt a little bad about it, but at least he'd shown. So it wasn't that big of a deal. "And while I was forgetting I was going to get food, but since I remembered I had to give up the food." He didn't know why he was even bothering to tell her this, but for some reason he was. It was another one of those couldn't explain it things. That'd been happening to him a lot lately. Really it was beginning to scare him just a little. He wasn't used to not knowing why he was thinking the things that he was or why he was doing the things that he did. Frankly it was scaring him a little. "But I'm afraid that even the bribe of food will get me to leave the room and come back again. It just doesn't seem all that logical, you know?" He smiled at her slightly. "It'd really be a waste of time," he decided to make her feel a bit better about the picture though and pretend that he hadn't actually seen it. "Especially because I never saw that picture anyway. So we're all good as far as I'm concerned."

He looked around for a chair so that he'd be able to sit down also. He saw one a little bit away and went to grab it, then brought it back over to where she was sitting. "Okay, so since I'm new to this whole portrait thing, you might have to have a bit of patience with me," he told her as he took a seat in his chair. "So I just sit here very still like right. Try not to move and just wait until I can see the final project? That's pretty much the main idea of it all, right?" He was sure that the only difficulty for him would be the not moving. He could sit still for a little while but had issues with long periods of time. Though he would try to do the best that he could and stay as still as possibly possible. He just hoped that she was not a very slow drawer. That way he'd be able to get out of his probably simple and very boring position before anything had much of a chance to fall alseep. It was just a pain when body parts fell asleep. It took them forever to wake back up again. It was one of the things that he hated most about having to sit still.

[Addison Micklesen]

Addison was actually quite worried about him seeing the drawing and half expected him to turn back and leave without a glance behind - really, what did it feel like to walk on a girl drawing you shirtless? Especially a girl you barely knew and who you'd fought with during your last, first and only encounter? She knew she wouldn't mind much, and she hoped he was like her on that side, but she also knew that, if it'd been someone else than him, he'd have thought her a freak, told her so and left the room right after that. Luckily enough, he didn't seem to be like that, and when she saw that he was actually grinning, she gave a grin of her own, mainly out of relief, and tucked her hair behind her ear - it was blonde today, she'd bleached and dyed it the night before, and was now waiting a little before coloring it again. She loved playing up colors with her hair, and when it was back to blonde she considered it like a blank canvas. Every time she dyed it, it became a work of art, and she had an album just for the pictures she'd taken of her different tries over the years. Some turned out badly, others looked awesome, and some were simply her favorites which she used often thorough the year. Like the one she was planning on doing next - a mix of yellow, blonde, orange and red. She couldn't wait for it to be back that way.

When he said he'd forgotten about the meeting she smiled and nodded slightly - she could see he was feeling a bit bad about it. "It's all good," she said with a light shrug. "To be honest, I was half expecting you not to come. Not that I see you as the kind of person to back down on your word, but I don't know... I'm glad you did though," she added sincerely before grinning slightly when he said even the bribe of food wouldn't get him to leave and come back again. "Are you sure? My cookies are the best, lots of chocolate in them," she said in a slight singsong voice, her grin widening. She wasn't exactly kidding - she often sneaked into the kitchen of the school during the year to bake things, especially cookies. She could do competition to the cookie monster from Sesame Street (her very favorite childhood cartoon) when it came to eating cookies. Some girls hated her for that - the fact that she ate a lot and never gained a pound, still as tiny as ever. But her cookies were truely really good. She practically doubled the amount of chocolate chips the recipe said to put in, and always added a few things. She liked to experiment and often, it turned out for the best.

When he started looking around for a chair, she moved hers so that it would be in a different spot and he could place his where she'd been sitting a little while before. She'd chosen this spot because the lighting would be perfect for her to see him correctly and also so that she could see her own drawing in the right way. She couldn't see any shadows on her pad, nor from her head, hand, fingers, pencil, nothing. As he sat down, she smiled lightly and moved a bit closer to him, examining him for a few seconds as she tried to decide which way she wanted to draw him. She didn't want to have him sit straight - she knew he's be uncomfortable sooner if he sat this way than if she gave him a pose to stay in. But anyway, she wouldn't make him stay this way too long either. She wouldn't hurry exactly, because it was still school work and she wanted a good grade, but she was good at drawing rather fast as well. When she'd decided the pose she wanted, she looked at him. "Can I touch you? I mean..." she stopped and coughed lightly before reformulating her question. "Can I place you?"

[Connor Micklesen]

He was glad that she wasn't upset with him for forgetting the meeting and he didn't take offense to her saying that she was half expecting him not to show. He could understand that, considering that their first and only meeting didn't end on the best foot. So that was actually really understandable, but he couldn't help but to smile when he heard that she was glad that he came. Another one of those weird moments, but either way he was glad that he'd come also. His smile grew a little as he heard her talk about her cookies, he actually hadn't had any homemade ones in years. He'd have to ask her if he could have some sometime. Maybe that could be worked into it, from what she said he was pretty sure that she liked to bake anyway. So it wouldn't be that much of a problem he was guessing. People who liked to bake usually took it as a compliment when someone asked if they could have that person bake them something. Or at least that had been his experience over the years. He wasn't afraid to ask people if they would bake him something homemade. After all the homemade stuff always tasted better then the store bought. So he took a chance every time that he could to make sure that he got something homemade.

He sat back in his chair now though, so that he was getting himself into some sort of position that would at least be somewhat comfortable. He'd know soon enough what she wanted him to do. So he just waited as she thought about it, he didn't mind waiting so much. He was sure that she'd figure it out soon enough and she'd tell him what she wanted him to do. He watched her as she thought examined him, examining her at the same time. She was good looking that was for sure - he'd realized that last time that he'd met with her but there was something else too. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew what it was, but really he just couldn't place his finger on it at the current minute. Which was alright he supposed. It could just join that ever growing pile of things that he didn't quite understand about himself anymore. He kept his eyes on her as she looked at him. When he heard her first question he couldn't help but smirk a little and raise an eyebrow as she coughed. It wasn't anything he could control, he was a guy. So his mind automatically took the dirty meaning of the question that she realized after she had spoken. Or maybe she just thought that it sounded bad, either way.

Her next question was phrased better though and he nodded. "Yup go ahead and place away," he said, giving her a smile. He was actually quite curious as to what pose she wanted him to do. He knew that she was probably going to go for simple, as it'd be easier on the both of them. Yet he didn't quite know what her definition of simple was. Which would probably have a big part in how she planned to place him. Because as an artist she probably also had in mind what would look the best. Which was what made it different from photography. Because in photography she shots could matter a lot more then the subject, if you could just find the place where the shot looked best you didn't have to have the person look best. He supposed that an artist could also find different ways to draw it to change, but then again from what he'd heard they had to draw what they saw. Actually it was getting confusing to think about.

[Addison Micklesen]

She noticed, after she'd asked if she could touch him, that a light smirk formed on his lips and it made it rather obvious that he'd thought about the dirty definition of what her question could mean. She shouldn't be all that surprised, after all - he was a guy, a teenage guy at that. Those usually had their hormones high in the ceiling, and they tended to control the brain. Okay, so truth be told, she wasn't that much better most of the time - the drawing she'd just made of him could actually be a proof. Still, she was a bit surprised that he was letting it show so much how he'd thought of her question. In her mind also, this kind of expression always came across as a short of way to tell 'you wouldn't dare', even though it wasn't really that. As he raised an eyebrow, she did the same and placed her hands on her hips. "If I were you, I wouldn't keep that look on my face, because I usually consider those kind of looks as a dare, and I never back down on a dare," she warned. She wondered how he would react to that one, but it was simply who she was. She definitely wouldn't shy down from something like that. Might actually be rather interesting.

As he told he to go ahead and place him, she moved closer and tilted her head slightly again. "Alright, move a bit sideways," she said. "Not completely, but just a little," she added, backing away a little to see the effect and moving closer again, deciding to 'go ahead' and place him. She took one of his arms and placed it over the back of the chair, which wasn't really too high so it would still be comfortable for him to be that way. She then moved his legs so that one of his knees would be on one side, and the other more in front of the chair, before taking his other arm and resting one of his hands on the leg that was more in the front. She then took a step back again, trying to decide how to place his head. She wasn't too sure about that one, and she went through a few options in her mind before stepping forward once more, hesitating a little this time before shrugging inwardly and pushing his chin up a little so that his head was a bit higher, placing her hands on his cheeks to move his head a little again so that he could look at her without being uncomfortable - she had to draw the details of his face, the eyes, mouth, nose, etc - but wasn't completely facing her either. She found she was a bit nervous whe touching his face but decided to ignore it.

When she was done placing him, she smiled and went to sit on her own chair. "Alright, now stay still," she said, knowing he probably was aware that he had to do that already, but saying it from habit. She took the same position as the one she'd been in earlier, bringing her legs up and placing her feet on the edge of the chest, placing the sketching pad propped up on her legs and choosing a small, thin charcoal piece, examining him a little more before starting to draw. She began with rougher lines, tracing the outlines of his body first, her hand moving lightly over the page as she got lost in her mind, like she did every time she drew. She hoped Connor wouldn't be surprised if she didn't answer her if he asked a question while she was drawing - unless he repeated it a few times, it was unlikely that she'd even understand him. When she was done with the outlines, she started drawing a bit more in detail, pressing a bit harder before adding the shadows. She glanced up often, her eyes focused on him more than ever before as though she could now see every single detail of his anatomy and his physiognomy, even those she'd missed before.

[Connor Micklesen]

He was a bit surprised to hear her comment about his smirk, but it really wasn't his fault. His mind was going to go down the first dirty way possible. It was just part of being a guy, it wasn't intentional, but oh well. What was done was done, he wouldn't even bother to explain himself. Mostly because there wasn't anything to explain. However he did almost say something in response to her dare statement. Something that probably wouldn't have been the best thing to say, after all they'd just met each other once before. He wasn't usually the type of guy who would go for that kind of stuff. So it was better just to keep quiet for now, or rather just keep that particular thought to himself. "Well that's good to know for future reference then," he said with a nod. He realized that his words could have a double meaning but decided to let them stay the way that they were. After all, she was going to think what she wanted to think anyway. So if she wanted to take it one way and he wanted it to mean something in the opposite direction then there would just be a time when their differences in interpretation came out.

He did as she said though once she got serious about working, moving slightly sideways as she requested. Then waited to see what she would tell him next, though it seemed that now she was actually going to physically move him. So he made sure not to move too much to make her job a little easier. He was thankful that everything that she did to move him kept him in a comfortable condition so that it wouldn't be hard for him to stay in the same place for a period of time. He waited after she'd placed his body, wondering if she was done or not. By the way that she moved forward a little. He watched her even as she went to move a little closer to him, noting that she seemed to hesitate a little before doing anything this time. He was still trying to keep as still as possible though, so that she wouldn't have to move him again. Though he didn't mind her moving him around in the slightest. Which was usually something that he didn't like very much - people he hardly knew touching him, but this time it didn't seem to bug him.

He couldn't help but smile slightly as he heard her tell him to stay still. That was kind of obvious, but he wasn't going to say anything about it. He instead just watched her as she began to draw, noticing how drawn in she seemed to be by what she was doing. He kept his eyes on her as she worked, mostly because there wasn't anything else that he could really do, he was sure that if he tried to talk to her she wouldn't even hear him. But another part of it was because he was fascinated by her for some reason. It seemed like she was a different person almost, the way that she worked made him wonder a little bit how she could be the same person that he'd met a few days ago - well apart from what had happened at the very end, but even then this side of her seemed different then that. So he just kept watching her, not even really caring how long it took her to be done anymore.

[Addison Micklesen]

((Now I'm curious as to what's the thought he had but didn't say after her comment about a dare XD))



She bit back a grin at his own comment, knowing he probably didn't mean it the way she understood it but oh well, at least now they were even. Besides, she always took her own meaning of how things were said, and if it wasn't the right one well, too bad. She actually enjoyed having a different interpretation of words than other people, it was always very enjoyable to discuss. Words could have so many meanings, and a simply sentence could mean a lot of things just by the way it was said. Addison often went for the dirtier side, managing to find one even where there shouldn't be one, but she'd realized over the years that many sayings had at the very least one sexual innuendo. She often had a blast analysing songs as well, and her all time favorites were Disney songs - there were so many hidden meanings in those, it was simply hilarious. She could remember the first time her friend, back in middle school, had made her realize that if you listened to 'A Whole New World' from Aladdin while thinking dirty, it was full of sexual meanings. After that, she hadn't been able to listen or sing the song without bursting into laughter for at least two months. Even now she sometimes found herself grinning foolishly whenever she watched the movie and it got to that part.

As she was sitting back and drawing Connor's portrait, Addison's mind started doing something it very rarely did when she was working on an art project - it started wandering around. It was mainly in the back of her head, because her concentration was still fully on the portrait between her hands and her eyes kept switching from the pad to Connor with the same intensity as before, but her thoughts weren't all completely on what she was doing right now, yet at the same time, they were, because she was mainly thinking about the guy who was sitting in front of her at that very moment. She couldn't help but wonder why she'd reacted the way she had at the park, after he'd said his piece, why she'd instantly backed down even though she was sure she was right. She couldn't figure why she'd let out that side of her personality which she usually kept hidden far away underneath everything else, and in front of a perfect stranger at that, or almost anyway. And then there was the hesitation and slight anxiety she'd felt earlier before touching his face, followed by a rather strange shiver. Though that one, she could blame on the fact that she'd hadn't touched a guy, or been touched by one for that matter, in a rather long time. That could also explain the shirtless drawing.

Because of her mind wandering, it took her a bit longer to finish the drawing that it normally would have, but she was still rather fast at it and soon she added the last little touch and shadow on the drawing before signing it at the bottom, right corner - that was actually something that was marked, they weren't allowed to sign anywhere else. After a quick overall glance at the finished portrait, she looked up at Connor and grinned slightly before getting back to her feet. "Alright, you can move now," she said, already expecting the relief he would surely feel after that command. She'd posed for someone before, someone who'd taken much more time than her to draw, and sitting still for three hours had been the worst thing she'd ever experienced. It could explain her reluctance at accepting whenever someone asked if they could draw her, because she really wasn't a girl who liked to sit and not move. After setting her piece of charcoal down on the chair she'd been sitting on, she walked up to Connor, grin still in place on her face. "Wanna see it?" she asked, tilting her head. "Or you'd rather leave and never come back? Must be hungry by now," she added teasingly. She was very thankful to him for doing this, and she was in a very happy mood right now. Hopefully it would last this time.

[Connor Micklesen]

As he watched her he began to think, mostly about everything that he couldn't explain. He noticed that it all had to do with her in some way, which was more confusing. Mostly because he'd just met her and yeah he'd admit that she was attractive, but he didn't know her. So really his thoughts were confusing him. Everything was confusing him. So the logical thing to do would be to just avoid the source of his confusion, but for some reason he didn't quite want to do that either. Addison seemed like a very interesting person, someone that he wanted to at least get to know and become friends with - or something like that anyway. She seemed like the kind of person that would be fun to hang around... although he still didn't know how the other people that he hung around with would take to her. He hated even thinking about it. He hated that he was proving her right about who she thought that he was. Luckily she didn't have to know that yet and maybe by the time that she could even know that he'd have gotten over all of it and just pretend that it didn't happen. In which case he wouldn't have to feel any more shame about it, well hopefully anyway. That was the master plan behind everything. If everything played out right then that would be where they ended up, friends who might even be able to hang out with his other friends. Or so he hoped anyway.

He was snapped out of his thoughts however when he heard her tell him that he was able to move. He smiled slightly and moved so that he would be more comfortable, bringing his arm back down and stretching his legs out. He was glad that she was able to work fast, not that he'd really even noticed how much time had gone by. Which was probably pretty rare, considering that he usually had problems staying in one area for really any amount of time without becoming bored. So his thoughts were probably more numerous or for some reason more important then they had been in a while. Which was shocking to even him, then again that wasn't saying much either. Everything was shocking to him lately, it was getting a bit old fast. He stretched out a little bit more, still looking over at her, he was curious as to what the drawing even looked like, though he was sure that she'd show it to him soon enough. He found that he was indeed right about it as she offered to show it to him.

He grinned. "Well I don't know, the second option is quite tempting I've got to admit, but I think after all that time sitting there I'd be better off seeing the finished product before I run away and never come back." He got up and walked over to her, standing behind her so that he'd be able to see it. He smiled slightly and nodded. She was good, he'd already known that but this was also pretty good. he was glad that he'd agreed to do it and he was pretty sure that she was glad that he had too. "Well I'll admit that was worth sitting there for. I'm sure you'll get a pretty good grade for it too," he added with a smile. "However I've got to admit that I am indeed very hungry now and may decide to run away and not come back just for that reason alone. My stomach does things like that, so if I do decide to run out suddenly you won't hold it against me, will you?" he asked her. He was pretty sure that she wouldn't, but who knew sometimes people were just crazy and did things that couldn't be explained.

[Addison Micklesen]

Addison grinned lightly and showed him the drawing, waiting for his reaction somewhat anxiously. She couldn't quite understand that part though. She knew it was great - it looked practically the same way a photograph would, when it came to the resemblance anyway. And she'd never before worried about what other people, apart from the Arts teacher, thought of her art. It could be rather strange sometimes, but so was she anyway. This time though, she wanted to get his approval, which was stranger than anything she could draw or do. And what was weirder still is that these kind of things always happened around him lately, yet she hardly even knew him. Well, she'd figured a part of his personality during their first meeting, and she'd also found he was in denial of it, but that still wasn't much. And even though they were in the same year and had a few classes together - had had some the previous year as well, though she hadn't really noticed him then - she'd only really been introduced to him a week ago. Somehow she wished they could become friends though, he seemed like someone she could enjoy spending time with. But she wasn't sure if he'd want that, considering she wasn't exactly someone people wanted to hang out with.

She was relieved when she heard him say he thought it'd been worth it to sit still to get this result. In her opinion, that much mean he thought it was a good drawing. She grinned widely before putting the drawing back on the chair she'd been sitting on, figuring there was no need to hold it anymore. "Thanks, I hope I will," she said with a nod when he mentionned she'd probably get a good grade for it. She knew it wouldn't be a perfect mark, maybe not even that high. Mrs. Winchester was one of the sweetest women alive and one of Addie's favorite professors as well, out of all those she'd ever had, but it didn't mean she was one to give good grades for nothing. She was fair and very strict too, whichever work she gave to her students had to meet her expectations, which were often high but very reasonable still. It was actually one of the main reasons why Addison liked her to much, because she pushed them to get better every time.

She laughed a little as he said he was rather hungry, shrugging lightly. "It's fine, I've kept you away from food long enough," she said with a smile. She hadn't exactly expected him to want to hang out with her afterward. Hoped, maybe, without admitting it to herself, but not expected. "So you can run out whenever you want," she said with a slight grin. She figured she might as well go eat something herself, and there were a few things she wanted to buy on the way. She hadn't gotten anything for her dorm room as to now, and she had some more shopping to do as well, stuff she'd forgotten to bring with her and needed. It was probably better if she went right now, knowing herself it never did any good to wait until later to do stuff, she usually ended up not doing them at all.

[Connor Micklesen]

Connor gave her a small smile, happy to hear that she wouldn't be upset with him for running out on her for food. "Alright then I guess I'll see you around," he said giving her a smile and heading towards the door. He wasn't sure where he even wanted to go anymore, considering that his friends would have been done eating anyway and there was no way that they'd all sit around with him and just watch him eat. He supposed that he could always just swing by McDonalds or Burger King and get something quick to go. Though he wasn't really in the mood for fast food that night, he headed out of the room and started down the hall still trying to figure out which place would be the best to go and which place he even wanted to go to. After all it was always pathetic to go to a sit down place without anyone else to sit down with, well there was always the bars at those places but usually they were actually good about carding people which wasn't anything that he could be happy about. Though it was probably the best thing for everyone else he was just used to being able to go about being not carded. But then again that was probably on the fault of The Hurricane.

He stood in the hallway for a few minutes staring at the wall, an idea coming to him. He could always invite Addison to come with him, not that he was sure that she'd even accept his invitation or that she was even hungry but he supposed that it wouldn't hurt for him to go back and ask her, so he turned around and headed back to the room from which he'd just come back from. He was a bit nervous about asking her, once more that not knowing thing came into play. It was probably because he didn't know her all that well and he didn't want her to take it the wrong way or something. After all there wasn't anything wrong with having a casual dinner between friends. He opened the door and looked at her for a minute, not really sure how to ask her but deciding that being blunt was probably the best way to go about it. After all she was a blunt person herself so being blunt with her couldn't really be that bad of a thing could it?

"Hey Addison I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go out to eat with me," he said, hoping the small about of nervousness that he had about asking her didn't show through his voice. He was pretty sure that it didn't, but he just wanted to clarify things a little in case it did happen to do so. "I mean nothing big or anything just if you're hungry then we could each go to the same place and sit at the same table and stuff. If you want to of course," he said, now waiting for her answer and finding himself even more nervous then he had been when he'd asked her. He wanted to know her answer though, because if it was no he'd rather just get out of there as soon as possible to save himself from any embarrassment that he might cause himself. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be too happy if she did turn him down, though he'd have to try not to show it. After all it would be a bit weird to be disappointed about that kind of thing when it was with someone he just met. So he just stared at her while he waited trying not to think too much more about it.

[Addison Micklesen]

Addie smiled lightly and gave a quick nod, looking after him as he left the room and unable to restrain a little sigh once the door closed. Somehow, even though she knew she had loads of stuff to do, she didn't feel like doing anything, though that could easily be blamed on the homesickness that was making itself known a little, or at least she could try to blame it on that and convince herself she believed it. Truth being she didn't, she just wished she'd have been able to spend more time with Connor. Get to know him better, really. She'd learned a few things about him just by drawing him - the features of his face and his body language was very revealing, or at least to Addison it was. She was used to kind of reading people that way, and she often figured out very interesting stuff about them. Like she'd realized that, even though Connor probably was one person to care a lot about what others thought, there was still something about him that made him independant, wanting to be different, or at least she thought there was. She was sometimes wrong while doing that exercice - rarely, but sometimes.

After he left the room, she decided she might as well go back to her dorm since she didn't actually felt like shopping, no matter if she had to. She could get a quick nap, or read a little. The scary English Lit professor had already given them a book to read with an exam in less than two weeks on it, and it was no short thing of a hundred pages either. If she remembered correctly, last time she'd checked, she'd counted three hundred and sixty-four. Counted, before there weren't any numbers written on the page corners. The professor had instructed them to write them themselves as part of their homework, considering they had to quote some part of the book for the first essay and for that, they needed the write down the page and line they'd used. She'd been the only one who'd actually groaned out loud when she'd heard him say that - most of the other students probably too paralyzed to even think of complaining. The look she'd earned herself had made it clear why too. This year's class was going to be no easy thing. She was pretty sure she was going to miss Morgan.

As she was placing her drawing in her big scrapbook and placing her pencil in the case, she heard the door open and glanced up, expecting to see other art students entering to come and do some work as well, surprised when she realized it was Connor coming back. As a reflex, she quickly glanced around, expecting to see something that belonged to him in the room and that he'd have forgotten but looked back at him when she saw there was nothing. She listened to him, trying to look normal though she was actually feeling many things at that moment - excitement and nervosity being the strongest - and couldn't help but grin when she heard him invite her for dinner. She didn't even mind the second part when he added it, she'd known in the first place he meant it like that, but she was happy still. She felt like she'd actually made a new friend and that felt great. She loved meeting new people. "Sure, that'd be great," she said, her grin widening slightly. "I'd just need to get my stuff back to my dorm and go get my purse. Where were you planning on going?" she asked, wondering how much money she'd need.

[Connor Micklesen]

He couldn't help but smile slightly as he heard her agree to come with him. It was definitely a relief to hear her say so, he was afraid that she was going to say no and then there would be that very awkward stage. The one where he'd just have to stand there and nod and say that he understood or whatever. It wasn't an appealing thought, which was why her saying yes was such a great thing. Or that's what he was trying to convince himself anyway, because there wouldn't be an actual reason to be so glad that she said yes. Well there could be a reason but he didn't want to admit to himself that reason, he was in a form of denial and he was perfectly happy with that. After all denial allowed him to see things as he wanted to see them and he always preferred that a lot more than actually just accepting the small bit of truth that he was slowly but surely uncovering. He wasn't sure why he didn't want to believe it so much, but didn't focus on that as much it would mean that he'd have to admit it first to figure it out.

He then realized that she'd asked him a question and that he'd neglected to answer. "Where do I plan on going?" he repeated after her. He didn't have a clue in reality. He was just going to find a place when he walked to it. Now that wasn't really an option considering the fact that she wanted to meet up with him after she went and grabbed things from her dorm. So he'd actually have to now figure out a place to go. He went through a mental list of the local restaurants trying to figure out which one would be best, somewhere that he actually wanted to go and hopefully somewhere that she did too. He ruled out a couple right away, including the Oak Room (which was too pricey), Nara (he hated sushi) and Re:Verse (because that would just be awkward). So he stood there for a minute silently, it was obvious now that he didn't know before she asked but he didn't really care. It was just part of who he was, soon enough if they kept being friends she'd realize it.

He came up with it after a few minutes. "What about Cafe Provence?" he said. He wasn't sure if she'd like it, after all he didn't know anything about her taste in food or a lot of things actually. But he liked the food there and it wasn't as expensive as some other places, which was a definite plus, so it all worked out to be in his favor. He waited for her answer, though as he thought about it he wasn't suppose to have answered with another question. Or at least probably not anyway, after all she would have probably gone anywhere that he was planning on heading, but he wanted to make sure that she was alright with the place. It'd be pretty bad if she just sat there and didn't eat anything while he enjoyed his meal. It'd make him feel probably a little bit more then guilty. Then again she didn't really seem like the type of person that would go through something that she didn't enjoy a little bit at the very least to make someone else happy. Especially not someone that she just met a few days ago. And while people were often surprising he wasn't really counting on her being quite that surprising. "I mean the food is good there and it's not extremely expensive."

[Addison Micklesen]

Addie's grin widened slightly as she saw him smile, glad to know he was happy she'd said yes. Logically, that would have been expected anyway. After all, he'd come back in the room only to ask her if she wanted to go eat with him, so she didn't think it was because he felt like he had to, but more because he wanted to, and that was what made her even happier. In her head, it was merely the start of a friendship though, or at least she convinced herself it was. There was no use denying that she was very attracted to him, and she was pretty sure that she wasn't the only girl at school who felt that way - she suspected there might even be a few guys in the list too. Even if she tried to look at him with critical eyes, she couldn't manage to say to herself that he wasn't that good looking. For one thing, he was almost precisely the type she went for, physically talking. From the features of his face to the color of his hair and his built, it was pretty much everything she usually liked when dating a guy, not that she wanted to date him... His heigth, even, attracted her. Like most girls, she prefered taller guys, and being as short as she was made it rather easy on that part. She realized though that this kind of attraction, and especially the strength of it, could make things quite awkward, if not embarassing, though that part was done and over with from the shirtless drawing incident. He'd tried to pretend he hadn't seen it properly, but she knew he had. She wasn't ashamed of it though, and her main concern about the awkwardness issue was to know if he'd still want to hang out with her. Sshe wasn't one to try to hide her attraction, and if somebody, even him, asked her what she thought on the subject, it would be rather likely that she'd answer honestly and bluntly, and the word 'hot' would definitely be in the answer.

When he took some time answering her question about where he was headed to eat, she figured he hadn't actually chosen yet and was about to say it didn't matter and they could choose there when he answered, or more likely suggested, Cafe Provence. Addie thought of it for a few seconds, trying to remember what that place was like but realizing she'd never actually been there. She didn't eat out all that often, and when she did she usually headed to the Crayola Cafe which she absolutely loved, mainly because she always ended up playing with the kids and acting like one herself - she just loved kids -, but she loved trying new things. Finally she smiled and nodded, tilting her head lightly. "Sure," she said. "I've never been there but I like trying new stuff anyway, and it's time I started exploring a bit more in the city," she added with a light shrug, tucking a strand of air behind her ear. She was happy at the thought of spending a bit more time with him, and alone too. It'd allow her to get to know him better and she hoped it wouldn't end badly this time. Of course, keeping her mouth shut about certain things would probably help for that, but getting in trouble seemed to be somewhat of an habit for her. At that moment, she couldn't help but wonder if he was worried about what might happen if some of his friends saw them together, but she figured asking a question like that might lead to another outburst and that thought helped her keep her mouth shut.

After agreeing, she supposed all there was left to do now was to was to go and get ready. She didn't plan on changing or anything, but she figured brushing her hair a little might do some good and maybe a little eyeliner or something... she most definitely wasn't a girly girl, rarely did wear any makeup or dressed up for anything, and when she did it was not the way other people would expect you to, but she didn't exactly care. It was who she was after all. But she still did like looking nice too sometimes, and though right now she didn't want to admit to herself she wanted him to think she did look nice, she figured there was no harm in trying. Pushing that thought away, she wondered still how much money she ought to bring, considering he'd told her it wasn't extremely expensive, which meant it probably was a little still. That wouldn't exactly be a problem, she'd gotten a very good job over the summer and her mother always gave her some money to pay for the school furniture, plus the money her father sent her at every birthday and which she rarely spent. She figured she might as well bring most of the money she had with her at that money and she'd go get some more for the shopping she had to do still. When that was figured out, she looked up at him with a small smile. "Well, I'll just go back to my room to put my stuff back in there and grab some money and stuff," she said, realizing she was still holding her scrapbook and pencil case - she couldn't exactly bring that over to the restaurant. "I'll meet you outside?" she asked, tilting her head.