one shots

crush | pt. 12

I'd been back home for about a month, and still had yet to see Genesis. According to Jazz, he started up his own photography company and seemed to become pretty occupied with that. I found it ironic that Mr. Masterpiece was creating art out of others when he was the epitome of it. I, on the other hand, booked a job at the company I previously interned at. My hours were long, mainly because I stayed way longer than I needed to in order to get a head start on every upcoming project.

It wasn't like I had any plans for weeknights anyway. I could stay for as long as I wanted to. Besides, those extra hours made my paycheck look mighty fine. I was even selling art, on the side.

When you workin' hard then your money start expandin'.

Pretty soon, I'd have enough to move out of my parents' home and get my own apartment. So, other than having no sign of Genesis's whereabouts, life was going pretty well. My friends and I were reunited for good with Jazz teaching at a school on the southside of town, Jay booking jobs at arenas in and out of town as a sound engineer, and Miracle handling business as a marketing consultant, downtown.

As of right now, I was listening to music while painting. I let the paintbrush go where it pleased, my vision for the piece only becoming more and more clear as I continued. Jazz insisted on buying a piece rather than letting me just give him one. He told me to surprise him with the piece but has been referring me to the art shown in the movie Belly. I told him that I would see what I could do. Currently, I seemed to be doing pretty great, but only time would tell.

In the midst of adding highlights of blue, my doorbell rang. I put my brush down and stood from the floor. I washed my hands free of any paint before pulling my hair into a ponytail, out of my face. I finally walked downstairs and opened the door, finding no one there. Instead, there was a jar filled with folded up pieces of paper on my porch. On the lid, it read: poetry and words of encouragement for every day we've been apart.

A smile instantly slid onto my face as I unscrewed the jar and found writing on the bottom of the lid.

"i added 20 more in case you're ever mad at me or we go another long period without talking."

I glanced up to see if there was any sign of him around. His truck wasn't around nor was he. How'd he ring my doorbell and bail out so quickly?

I returned inside, closing and locking my door behind me. I jogged up the stairs and sat back down on the floor in front of my large canvas. I took a slip of paper out and unfolded it.

"you're your only competition because you beat the odds everyday. keep going. you're stronger than you think. you're smarter than you think. you haven't even reached your final form on some DBZ shit, Nas. i love you & i'm always cheering you on."

I smiled and screwed the lid back onto the jar. I placed the slip of paper on my nightstand and made a mental note to myself to find a proper place for all his written words. Once I finished my painting, I cleaned my room up a bit and proceeded to tape the slip onto my dresser mirror. I smiled at it slightly before deciding to call him up. My call went straight to voicemail.

Although I was disappointed at the fact that I wouldn't be able to talk to him, I left a message anyway.

"Hey, G. . . I got your gift, and I love it. . . It really means a lot that you took the time to do that. Uh, call me when you can. I know you're busy and everything. . . I love you, and I hope you're having a really good day. Bye," I could feel myself blushing just trying to come up with the next thing to say.

You'd think that even after all these years I'd know how to talk to the so called love of my life without blushing.

I finished my painting and set the large canvas aside to dry before heading downstairs to find something to eat. I absolutely loved spending my weekends doing nothing. I get so wrapped up in work that by the time my days off come, all I want to do is sleep, eat, and lounge around the house. This weekend was no different. Other than working out with Miracle on Saturday mornings and taking a jog at the park on Sunday mornings, I was at home asleep or painting or watching Netflix.