6
The professor walked out of the studio after she had examined more pieces and Jasmine abandoned her piece with a groan.
"Guys, what do you think we should have for lunch?" She asked and Herley shook his head.
"Hey, don't you have work to do?"
"Well, a true adult doesn't skip meals. That's what my mom told me."
"Whatever."
"I'm about to make orders."She said.
"I'll go with salad." Ramiel said
"I want cheese wraps."
"Me too."
Herley dropped his chisel and turned to the class."Did anyone see my Bluetooth earphones?"
"Bluetooth earphones? I didn't." April said, as she mixed colours.
"I think I saw them at the studio B." Chris said and Herley Tahti’s head turned towards the conversation point, that could be a chance for her to see him. Studio B was where the third year students worked. He should be there.
"How come you left it at the studio B? Someone's going to steal them for sure." April said.
"Nobody will take them. There are CCTV cameras everywhere." Derek replied.
"Ugh. I really don't want to go there." Herley said as he raked his fingers through his hair.
"Why?" Chris asked.
"I'll get them for you." Tahti said and he turned to her.
"Really?" Herley asked, more like shouted in joy.
"Yes. I was about to head out anyway." Tahti said shrugging her shoulders
Herley smiled and raised his hand to give her a finger heart. "Thanks."
The students in the studio were all working when she arrived and she looked round, hoping to get a glimpse of him before she left.
"What's this? It looks like a chair." A girl was saying as she looked at a piece and Tahti turned to the piece in question.
"A chair? It's a star." Monique, her friend replied and Tahti looked at the weird looking piece again.
It didn't look like a star though.
"This piece feels different from other ones."
"I know, right?"
"I don't even see him at the studio. When did he make all these?...He must be a genius."
"Demir won almost all competitions last year and he's also good looking. Life is so unfair." Tahti slipped her hand into her pockets as the second girl said.
So that was his piece.
"But where is he?" The first girl asked as she turned to spot her.
"Oh hi, Tahti."
"Hi." She smiled.
"What brings you by?" Monique asked.
"Well...Herley said he left something behind. Did you see Bluetooth earphones lying around?"
"No."
"You should look around." Monique was saying when Demir walked out from the studio's store.
"Oh, Demir."
"Hi." He smiled as he neared them and Tahti went on to look for the earphones as he turned to her "Hi."
She lifted her eyes to him. "Hi."
"Looking for something?" He asked.
"No."
"Demir." Monique called and he turned to her. "That's another star right? She said it's a chair."
He looked surprised. "You recognized it? Everyone said it's a chair."
"You must really like stars. Your last one was one too."
"I have a lot of them at home. Do you want to see them?" He asked.
"Yes, show us." The first girl said and he slipped out his phone.
"They're so pretty." Monique said as the girls looked over pictures and Tahti felt a stab of jealousy. "Why do you like stars though?" Monique asked.
She frowned as he raised his eyes to look at her. "They're pretty...It's a pretty name too...Star."
Her eyes fell on the earphones and she picked it up before heading out of the studio. It had been a waste of time coming there. She had gotten to see him but not the way she had hoped to, since the girls were there.
Tahti found it difficult to work on her piece on returning as inspiration seemed to be far from her. The class had gone out to get their art supplies and she busied herself sketching something obliviously. To her surprise, her sketch looked like she was drawing Demir's face.
She dipped the brush in paint and ran it over the blank page. "You idiot." She said with a sigh.
"Who's an idiot?"
She flinched as she turned to see Demir walking towards her.
"What are you doing?" He asked and she hurriedly crossed her hands over the book. Only heavens would know what he would think of her if he saw she had drawn him.
"Don't look."
"Really? You don't want to let me see?"
"Why did you have to appear out of nowhere and surprise me like that?" She asked as he slid into the seat beside hers.
"You're just insensitive. You left without saying a word. I thought you had something to say."
"No. I didn't have anything. I was just looking for a friend's belongings." She replied.
Now that he was up close, she couldn't believe how handsome he looked. He must have driven tons of girls crazy with that face, she was about to be one of those girls so she raised the brush to draw a line on his face. Maybe that would make him less dreamy.
"What?" He asked in shock and she smiled. "Come here." He said kicking out of the shock and he reached out to catch her but she slipped out of her seat, before he could get her.
"Sorry." She laughed, trying to avoid getting caught but that didn't work as he picked up the bottle spray on the table and turned to spray her.
He smiled as she raised her arms to block out the water. "Stop." She begged, there’s no way she would leave this studio with a painted face.
"Wipe it off." He ordered
"Okay. I'll wipe it off." She said and he dropped the spray bottle as she walked towards him, only to make another line on his other cheek .
"Like seriously?" He laughed.
The inspiration she had been searching for came right after they were done playing and she continued working on her piece, while he worked on drawing her as she worked.
"Why do my shoulders hurt? I wish they had high bars at school." She was saying as she stretched her arms later that night.
Demir smiled as he walked up to take her arms from behind. "Relax. Your back was hunched while you were working." He said before helping her raise her arms.
It seemed to be helping for a while until her heels started leaving the ground. "Wait...Stop. I'm going to..." She was saying when she suddenly fell back into his arms, his face a few inches from hers.
They were that way for a few minutes until she suddenly wiggled out of his arms. "I almost fell down." She said and turned to walk out of the building towards the bench under one of the school's pine tree.
"Do you work late often?" He asked as he walked over to join her.
"I like working late so I often stay late." She turned to him. "What about you?"
"I might try it often."
"I envy you." She said and he took out his phone before passing it to her.
"Your number." He said and she received it before punching in her number, hoping she wasn't mistaken about the feeling that something new was about to happen.
She felt something as her hand moved slightly to the back.
Her finger grazed slightly against something at the back of the phone and she turned to see he'd customized a star at the back.
"Did you get it customized?" She asked, feeling silly for asking the obvious.
"Is it pretty?" He returned, instead of answering.
"It is." She said, handing the phone back to him and he saved it before turning the screen to her.
"Tahti. I saved your number." He said and she turned to see he had saved her number with a star emoji.
"Star?"
"It's pretty, isn't it?" He asked and she smiled as she nodded.
The chilly breeze, that night sent her head jerking up to look at the beautiful sky.
"Tonight looks perfect for a drink. Should we grab a beer somewhere?" He asked making her turn to face him.
"You want to drink with me?" She asked more surprised than curious
"Yeah." He smiled as she wondered why he suddenly wanted to drink with her alone.
"Are you going to work some more..."
"No. Let's go" She hurriedly said, not knowing the next time she would get an opportunity to drink alone with him again.
"Just the two of us?" He suddenly asked, dashing her hopes for the night.
"Well..." She paused to think of something that won't give her thoughts away. "We can call our friends."
A smile crossed his lips and she wondered if he knew what she had been thinking. "Should I call them?"
"Why are you smiling?" She asked hating the way he made her feel at the moment.
"I don't know. You make me laugh." He responded with a light chuckle.
Her mind suddenly went back to when he had showed the girls the pictures on his phone and she turned to him.
"Oh, show me too."
"What?"
"Your star projects."
"Oh, my projects? Wanna go see them?" He asked and she swallowed. That wasn't what she meant.
"I mean...I want to see the pictures that you showed your friends."
"Oh, that." He replied and went to his gallery before passing the phone to her.
Her jaw dropped on seeing his pieces, realizing just then how talented he was.
"They're pretty." She said and kept scrolling to discover they were stars, though their designs were all unique.
"What do you like about them so much?" She asked as he slowly leaned closer to her.
He leaned closer again then raised his hand to trail a finger down her face.
"In the midst of the dark sky, stars brighten it up, giving a hope to people who look up to it. It's always a lovely sight, just like you..."
She felt the gentle breeze against her skin with tingles as she raised her head to lock eyes with him as he leaned forward, slowly starting to close in on her.
