Sealed with a Kiss | ✓

january 23rd

Mia had gotten used to hanging out with Cassie daily, so it always felt a bit unusual whenever she didn't see Cassie in a day. When she woke up on Wednesday, this thought occurred to her, as she realised that she hadn't seen Cassie since their history lesson together on Monday. Even though they both had history on Tuesdays as well, Cassie had had rugby practise for the entire day and was excused from lessons, meaning Mia hadn't seen her at all the entire day. Mia didn't like thinking about how after such a short period of time she was already growing attached to Cassie.

Mia had organised another meeting for the art students volunteering to help on Wednesday lunchtime again, so she made her way up to the art rooms again with her lunch in her bag. Once again, the art room was loud with chatter from the students who gathered to help with preparations, and most of them had already gotten started sketching out the banner and posters that would be displayed around the school. Cassie was also in the room again. She was sat in a corner with a pair of headphones in, deeply engrossed in whatever she was painting. Her long blonde hair was piled up in a loose bun, but at this point it seemed that she had been running her hands through her hair so much that almost all of her hair was hanging around her face instead of being tied up. She was subconsciously chewing on the end of her paintbrush, and her hands were covered in smudges of oil paint as she stared intently at the canvas in front of her.

Looking up, she seemed to sense that she was being watched, and made eye contact with Mia, and smiled when she saw her, but didn't move from her seat, and instead began swiping her paintbrush across the surface. Mia looked away quickly, feeling her cheeks heat up with embarrassment. Once Mia had addressed the group, they continued to work on their designs, leaving Mia with nothing else to do. She sat and ate her lunch alone, occasionally helping the students with questions and problems that weren't art related. Mia found that she kept sneaking glances at Cassie sat in her corner with her face furrowed in concentration. Every time she looked, she caught herself staring and scolded herself internally. Why did she keep looking at Cassie?

Mia felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out and looked at the screen which was displaying a new text message:

Cassie <3: like what you see? ;)

Mia blushed deeply at that. She thought she had been subtle in looking and that Cassie had been so engrossed in her art that she wouldn't have noticed Mia looking all the time. Clearly, she had noticed. Mia returned to eating her lunch when she felt someone sit down in the seat next to her. She looked up but buried her face in her hands when she realised it was Cassie, who was smirking. She lent in closer to Mia.

"You didn't answer my question, Mia." She said in a low voice, and Mia buried her head into her arms, causing Cassie to laugh at her discomfort. "Well Mia, do you like what you see?" She said in the same low voice, and Mia shook her head while keeping her head in her arms and refusing to look up at Cassie. Cassie raised an eyebrow at this. "No? Mia Valentine we are dating, I'm hurt." She said and clutched her hand to her chest in mock pain. Mia looked up at Cassie and pouted, making Cassie laugh again.

"In all seriousness Mia, I do have a favour to ask you." Cassie continued, dropping her teasing tine. "Would you mind modelling for one of my paintings later?" Mia's eyes almost popped out of her head.

"What? No!" She said, trying to keep her voice hushed enough that the other students couldn't hear. Cassie laughed and backtracked a little bit.

"I'm not asking you pose naked or anything don't worry." Cassie scrunched her nose up. "I don't really enjoy painting naked bodies to be honest; I always feel a bit weird." She looked at Mia with a softer expression. "We can do it this evening when it's quieter, so you don't have to be embarrassed if that's what you're worried about. Please Mia? I really need someone pretty to paint." Mia blushed a bit at this.