Always Remember (Memories #2)(30)
Author: Emma Hart

“Oh sheesh, it’s too early to walk into this conversation,” Lexy cries, slapping her hands over her ears. “La la la la la!”

I smirk a little, and Alec leans against the doorframe.

“Need a brush, Jen?” he asks.

“Why? Do you need a make-over?” I look at him.

“No, but you have sex hair.”

I roll my eyes. “Oh, big deal. What, you’re telling me you’ve never had sex hair before?”

Lexy shakes her head. “Brush, bedside cabinet,” she mouths at me.

I laugh. “Well, shit, Alec. I knew you were a tart, but, oh my.” I shake my head. “That just takes the biscuit.”

He looks at Lexy. “That’s your brush.”

She slides her hands from her ears. “I never said it wasn’t, honey. But you do use it.”

Bing snorts, and I grin as my phone lights up in front of me. I swipe at the screen absently, opening the message.

Carl: If he hurts you, I’ll kick his ass.

Okay. This probably couldn’t be any more awkward.

Ass-kicking covered, farmer boy. Back to your cows!

I grin and put the phone down.

“Amusing?” Bing asks across the table.

“Just Carl warning me that if you hurt me he’ll kick your ass.” I smile sweetly.

His face hardens, and I can see the tick in his jaw. “You still talk to him?”

I raise my eyebrows and point my spoon in his direction. “Hey, don’t you go getting all ignoramus on me, Samuel Edwards.”

“What the f**k is an ignoramus?” Alec snickers.

“Ignorant ass. Shut up, Johnson,” I snap, my eyes still focused on Bing. “Mine and Carl’s relationship ended mutually, on good terms, and we are still friends. Did you get that one? F. R. I. E. N. D. S. Friends. So don’t you pull that “You still talk to your ex?” card on me, because we all know that only one of us here has a pain in the ass ex who, I might add, is absolutely, completely and utterly, bat shit fricking crazy.”

I let out my breath and put my spoon down, nodding. Lexy gives me a thumbs up behind Bing’s back, and turns to her kettle. Bing looks between me and Alec, and Alec holds his hands up.

“Hey, leave me outta this. She’s right though. Heidi is bat shit crazy.” He shrugs, moving to where Lexy is standing.

Bing’s eyes settle back on me, and he takes a deep breath. “I suppose,” he grinds out. “I can deal with you being friends.”

“You suppose?” My voice rises an octave. “No, Samuel, no. You will deal with it. Carl is in Devon, I’m in London. That was the reason for the break-down of the relationship.” Lexy shoots me a look over her shoulder. “Well – that and I wanted to jump your bones.”

Bing’s expression changes, his clenched jaw relaxes, and his lips turn upwards in a half-grin. “You did, huh?”

“Yes. But that is not the point of this conversation-”

He gets up and walks around the table, stopping next to my chair and leaning into me. “There was a point to this conversation?” he murmurs. “Because I was too busy watching your lips move.”

I swallow. “There is a point to this conversation, yes, so don’t come over here doing that sexy “let me f**k you” voice in my ear, because you already did today. Twice.” I shove him away, and Lexy chokes on her tea.

Bing laughs, sitting back in his seat, and Alec nods.

“Good effort, mate.”

“Can we not? This is my brother.” Lexy leans back against the counter. “The point of the conversation is – Jen and Carl are friends, Heidi is bat shit crazy, and Bing, you can put your alpha male complex back in its box because Jen and Carl are friends.”

“You already said they’re friends.”

“I know I said it twice. I was supposed to.”

I look at Bing. “See? I told you.”

Chapter Twelve

JEN

University isn’t always bad, but when it is, it’s a pile of shit. That pile of shit would be the four assignments I have due in. I guess that’s what I guess for putting the “pro” in “procrastinator.”

Emotion – it’s a funny thing to put down onto paper. Sure, I could grab a pencil and start sketching an image of a girl in an old run down house with her head in her hands, her body curled up, and it would be clear – sadness, devastation.

Or I could grab my pastels and smooth out an image of children playing in a park, laughing and joking. Again, it’s clear.

But art is the more than the obvious. It’s a combination of the obvious and the discreet, all mixed in together in a breath-taking pattern. It’s not what you draw, it’s how you draw it. It’s in the stroke of the brush, the hardness of the pencil, the smudge of the pastel. It’s in the shade of the colour, the frequency of its use, and the blend of several together.

Art is the true reflection of everything inside of us, put out there for the world to see.

I run my fingers along the pastel box, to my paint box, and back again to the pastels. I pick one out at random, not caring to look. Whatever I pick… That is how I feel.

The warm pink tone is soft across the canvas, and the red that follows it is anything but. It’s hot, bright, and tears straight through the pinker sections. The white smudges in the areas where the two colours cross, blending them together seamlessly. The pattern repeats itself, over and over, and I watch it happen without really seeing it.

I put the pastels down and step back from the now coloured canvas, eyeing it critically. The curved lines are gentle, all coming together in a point like the eye of a storm in the corner of the image. I could have very well been sitting on top of a tornado as I drew this – it has the same shape, the same smooth lines. And I know exactly what it means.

It’s the journey of falling in love. The left side, the gentle side, is the first feelings, and as your eyes travel across the canvas, the colours strengthen, becoming more concentrated. The right side, the eye of the storm – that is love. The red is the passion, the pink your heart, and the white the calm it brings you, all mixing together.

I stroke my thumb down the side of the canvas, my eyes gliding over the image for the thousandth time. It’s not just the journey of falling in love.

It’s my journey.

This image is the journey of how I fell in love with Samuel Edwards.

~

Big blue eyes, chubby cheeks and a rosebud mouth surrounded by blonde curls stare at me on the laptop screen.