Book Spotlight: Paint Me Some Love

Chapter 2: Two Weeks Lost:

I looked around to see a variety of trees, birch, maple, pine and evergreen.  It didn’t look as if they were painted though, it resembled a real-life forest.  I could even feel the breeze of the wind in the bright blue, perfect sky. Stephan Larr, such a nice name, I thought.  It must belong to a gorgeous man. 

People say looks aren’t everything, but it’s how you first see the person until you get to know them as more than just a pretty face. 

Due to this theory, it’s quite important to me that the guy looks handsome and approachable, but not so handsome that I’m a nervous wreck in front of him. As I began to walk closer to the pond, I could slowly make out a tall figure swimming in the pond. 

He must have seen me from the distance, for he ran behind a tree to hide. I quickly removed my heels which I carried and sprinted to catch up to him because I was not not sure if he planned to just just take off.  He must be shy, I thought. 

If he was shy enough to hide from me behind a tree, what was stopping him from running into another painting? By the time I made it to the tree, I had to catch my breath.  I ran for nothing. 

The man didn’t run like I predicted, he stayed hidden behind the tree until he revealed himself as soon as he heard my heavy breaths. He revealed himself; his short, wavy, caramel coloured hair, his beautiful light almond skin and his calming gingerbread brown eyes which allowed me to catch my breath sooner. 

Seth was correct, there was something different about his hair and eyes.  You could visually see brush strokes in his caramel hair and you could see a reflection of the glimmering, blue pond painted in his eyes.  When he looked at me, the reflection of the pond was still there as it looked as if his eyes were painted. He was wearing a button-up, short sleeve, light jean coloured shirt. 

His shorts were a chestnut brown and like myself, he was barefoot.  I pictured his smile to be sweet and friendly as everything else about him was perfect, but he didn’t smile, he frowned at me.  

Was I not pretty enough? 

Did he not believe in romantic love? Those were some of the thoughts going through my mind until he said, “You’re a girl!” I couldn’t help myself; I broke the distance between us and kissed him.  Not just some pathetic peck on the lips, I didn’t hold back at all.  I kissed him deeply and with passion. 

Nobody besides my own mother has ever called me a girl before unless you count my fake popular friends who said, “Hey girl!” but they said that to everyone. 

To hear the word girl come out of a man’s mouth was miraculous.  He was a man I was already physically attracted to, a man that I could already see our relationship being more than just physical as I could picture us loving and caring for one another. 

I could picture us doing almost anything for one another, maybe love for someone other than yourself or your mom is what you need in life.  However, that thought slowly vanished as he abruptly pulled away from me in the middle of our kiss.

“What are you doing?” he asked, sounding confused and aggravated.

“You called me a girl, I just thought Seth told you about my past and how nobody’s ever seen me as someone who was physically born a girl before because of my name,” I explained honestly.

“You’re Laurence?” Stephan said, sounding a little disappointed. “Yeah, but I go by Lauren.  What’s wrong? 

I know being stuck in an empty canvas isn’t ideal but we have a month to fall in love which shouldn’t be too difficult on the physical spectrum, it will just be getting to know and love each other that will take more time and effort. 

Then we can leave this painting once we fall in love and start a life of our own together outside of the painting, in the actual world,” I replied oblivious to actuality.

“There’s a problem with that little speech of yours!” Stephan stated.

“I don’t see a problem, but I’ll hear you out,” I responded.

 Stephan rolled up his left sleeve, so his shoulder would be exposed, revealing a tattoo that had a rainbow on it, above the rainbow it said, “Love is love,” in dark, bold letters.