Always In My Heart

Chapter 2- Jealous

I walk around my favorite art supply store, Cameron's Art Supply, with a shopping basket in my hand. My fingers toy around with the many paintbrushes that are displayed on the shelves. I am very picky when it comes to my paintbrushes. I like the bigger brushes to be more firm and coarse while I like the smaller brushes to be light and soft.

Nikki and I both attend University of the Arts here in London, the place that we first met. We've been working on our majors for a few years now and hope to be graduating soon. I am working on my degree in Art Technique, specifically for painting, while Nikki is focusing more on illustration and graphic design. She knows exactly what she wants to do with her art career, while I just consider myself to be a freelance painter. I have absolutely no clue what I want to do with my life. Of course, I have my aspirations of being a highly successful artist, but I'm not extremely talented. I'm just... average. I've always had dreams of becoming a famous painter; my masterpieces hanging in museums hundreds of years from now, economically fortunate people spending loads of money to have a work of mine hanging in their sitting rooms, children in school writing reports on me for their art classes... Reality snaps me out of my daydream as the intercom in the store pages a worker to a specific aisle. I let out a soft sigh as I continue to skillfully examine the brushes. I hear footsteps moving towards me quickly, excitedly even.

"Lou, Lou, Lou!!!!!" I turn around to find Nikki running towards me, shopping basket in arm, filled to the top with many different supplies. I smirk and smile at her happily.

"I found THE coolest colored pencils I have EVER seen!!!" she digs excitedly through the basket, pulling out a pack of what looks like ordinary colored pencils. She hands them to me and I take them from her, examining the package. I try to act interested, not wanting to dull her excitement. She rambles on and on about the materials they are made of and how they are the new, state of the art colored pencils in the art industry.

"Wow, it seems like these are going to be a great addition to your supply collection, Nikki!" I say happily, handing her back the package with a smile. She nods excitedly.

"I know right?! And they are selling them for so much less than I thought they would be! Only £30!" she says, reading the back of the package. She is almost out of breath from her girlish excitement. I laugh quietly and shake my head, wrapping my arm around her shoulder before kissing her quickly on her right temple. She laughs and puts the pencils back in the shopping basket.

"I'm crazy, aren't I?" she asks, a hint of a giggle following her question. I grin, still carefully inspecting the paintbrushes, pulling one I really like off of the shelf to examine it closer.

"Just a little," I respond, glancing at her, my smile reaching my eyes. She playfully glares at me and then hugs me from behind, around my waist, as I put the paintbrush in my basket.

By the end of my trek down the painting aisle, I have a full shopping basket and an armful of acrylic paint bottles that would not fit in the basket. I decide that I should probably stop here, so I don't go bankrupt from one shopping spree at Cameron's. My job at the local grocery shop supplies me with enough money to support myself from day to day, but surely not enough to spend like this all the time. But because I work so hard, I have decided that the occasional treat of coming here is okay.

Something I had learned when I started to take art seriously as a teenager is that art supplies are NOT cheap. Especially, when you are someone like myself, who has a specific and sophisticated taste for art supplies.

I make my way down the aisles of the store, looking for Nikki. I smile at the thought of her going ballistic over another new supply she found. I look around for awhile, frustrated that I can't find her. I wonder for a second if we are both walking in circles looking for one other. I decide to stop and look at some canvases, hoping she will turn up.