They walked up and past a rickety wooden door, into an equally rickety space. Old, creaky wood flooring, two of the walls made completely of cracked glass, thin red curtains, sparse tables and an army of ealses, canvases and rusted pots of paint.
"Not very glamorous," he muttered apologetically.
One-on-one (Closed, stalkers welcome)
She didn't even hear what he said, she was just taking in the room. It looked like something straight out of a book; it wasn't minimalist by any standard, but there was so much stuff to look at. Plenty of amazing paintings were only about halfway visible because they were behind something or other. There was paint all over the place, the tables had it, chairs had it, everything had paint splotches all over it. It was perfection.
"Whoa," she breathed, turning around to take in the full room. She let her head fall back and stared up at the ceiling, where a beautiful light fixture was hanging. "This is amazing."
He looked up, blushing beet red. "I took that from my apartment. Was my mom's."
He awkwardly sat on one of the tables, watching Piper's wonder in confusion. "You know, no one except my mom's been up here."
She turned her head in his direction. "Really? Then why am I here? It seems pretty amazing up here, I don't want to mess anything up."
He coughed. "Amazing. The reason you're the first is because you've just called it amazing. What's so amazing about this chaotic space?"
She smiled sheepishly at him from behind her curly bangs. “Sometimes I can be a bit dramatic, sorry,” she cleared her throat. “But I really do think it’s cool. It’s like really cluttered, but it’s a good kind of cluttered. It seems like an area where you can focus your creative energy.”
He nodded after a pause, looking around. "Yeah. I miss this place." Then he stood up, walking to the nearest painting which was covered by a tarp, and looked back at her. "Anyway. Ready for the unveilings?"
“Yep, ready,” she nodded, and moved closer to the canvases that Theo was standing beside. “I bet these are gonna be awesome.”
He shrugged, desperately trying to deflect the nerves but failing miserably. He yanked the cover off, and it fell to the floor in a cloud of dust.
It was a small abstract painting, about the size of a suitcase. Vibrant swirls of colour ranging from the deepest red to the brightest blue, intertwining across a expanse of black, tracing untold emotions in their colourful wake.
She looked at it for a moment, then turned to him. "Do you have synesthesia? Because if you do this makes so much sense."
Theo blinker, staring at his painting. "What do you mean?
"The way you used the colors makes it seem like you associate colors with more than just a few basic emotions, you know? Like you have a color for every word you were trying to say." She stepped closer, reaching out towards the painting but not touching it. "It's beautiful, really."
"Uh… Well thank you. Thank you so much." He set a protective hand on the painting. "I've got some others, if you want. This one's older."
"That'd be awesome," she replied as she shuffled over to where the other painting was. They spent a good few hours examining paintings and all that, until Piper had seen at least half of the ones in the room. For each one, she had something different to say; Theo was very good at being original. Eventually, though, the subject of conversation shifted to his mother, who was in the hospital.
"Didn't you say you went to see her today?" She asked, hopping up on a sturdy wooden table.
Theo was just rearranging the cover on the last painting, careful to hide the fact there was only one painting he hadn't shown Piper.
"I did, yeah," he answered quietly.
She nodded. “So how is she? I mean is she doing okay?” She didn’t really know him, but she felt like she did. And she definitely felt like she didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so she friends to be careful not to be harsh.
"Good!" he said with sudden brightness. "She's getting better!"
That was a lie. She was getting worse.
"They say she might be able to come home soon, even."
What was he doing?
Piper noticed a slight coldness to his voice, and she could tell that he was lying. She didn't reply immediately, she just hopped down and went over to hug him. "It'll be okay. And you don't have to lie to me."
He stiffened in the hug. She could read him— he hadn't expected that. When was the last time anyone had made the effort of looking past the smiles?
Eventually, though, he relaxed, returning the hug tightly. "Okay."
She smiled at the feeling of his head on her shoulder and his arms around her waist. What was she doing? She didn’t even know this guy. But something in her told her not to stop.
He waited a second before ever so gently pulling away from Piper. "You've seen my workshop." Save for one. "Now, Piper, your turn," Theo told her quietly.
She looked up at him, feeling a bit empty after letting go. Maybe she just really liked hugs. “What do you mean? My turn for what?”
"You know a hell of a lot about me, Piper. So it's our turn," he told her cheekily, fighting for lightness in his tone.
She life’s her head a bit, pretending that she forgot about how upset he was about his mother. “Ah, I see. Well, honestly there isn’t much to know. I write, I draw, I do embroidery,” she began to list things off. “I guess it just depends on what you want to know.”
"Multitalented gal. How about your family?" Theo asked her, moving over to sit back done on the table.
“Again, there isn’t really much to know,” she said with a wave of her hands. “Two parents and a turtle. All of whom live in the US, back home.”
Theo brightened. "I like turtles! Easy to take care of. Dogs, however, are much more of a handful. We have to give mine away when my mom moved into the hospital and me here."
“Aw, that’s too bad,” she shook her head. “But yeah, turtles are great. I’ve had mine for six years now, and he’s super chill.”
Theo chuckled. "I'm sure. So… you want to head somewhere else?"
She hadn't really planned on staying with him that long. Actually, she was planning on just stopping by, then going home. But she was having so much fun, she really didn't want to stop talking to him. "Sure, I guess. Where do you want to go?"