Fly Me Away

School that week was average. I was never a top notch student, just a regular one. My best class could have been Statistics or English, but that wasn’t saying much. Pip was a great musician, she had been playing the violin since she was a toddler, and Kelly practically owned the Soft Tec class.

At lunch in the cafeteria on Thursday, I decided to suggest something I had been contemplating all week.

“I was just thinking, we haven’t been to town for a while have we?” I asked Kelly and Pip over our lunch table.

“No. Not since Kelly barfed in that trash can,” Pip laughed and slapped the table in front of Kelly.

“It was bad ice cream I tell you!”

“Well, yeah, so, why don’t we go....this Saturday maybe?”

Pip nodded, her mouth was suddenly too full of sandwich to respond. We both turned to Kelly, who looked hesitant.

“Well I guess,” She cringed, “as long as there’s no Ice cream.”

Success.

-----

Friday could not have gone any slower, and when Saturday morning finally came around, I made a conscious effort to dress nicely for town, simply because it seemed like the appropriate thing to do. It’s not often you see a girl with tangled hair and some grey sweat pants wondering around the square. I wore a cocoa colored pinafore, some black tights, and a floaty cream colored cardigan.

“Maggie, you look Niiiice,” Pip said, in a very sleazy Italian accent as I met her in her front yard. I laughed when I saw she was wearing grey sweat pants.

“Ummm Thanks. Should we get going?”

“Hey what’s the rush babe?” Pips accent was still there, as she slung an arm over my shoulder.

I shrugged “no rush.”

“Whatever you say Maggsimo.”

It would take us about 45 minutes to drive into town – me and Pip lived quite far out. We picked Kelly up from her house on the way and it looked like Kelly had dressed up too. She was wearing a dainty pale blue dress that flowed all the way down to her ankles and a long beaded necklace. I was almost angry that she looked so nice; she was going to rain on my parade. Jackson would see her in all her exotic blond glory and I would be forgotten....but that was what usually happened.

Pip was in a fit of road rage as she tried to find us a park in town. Her car was small and easy to park, but it wasn’t quite as fast as some of those big SUV’s.

“Seriously, if this guy even thinks about—what!?! Are you serious?! I'm half way in it you moon goose!!”

Pip slammed her foot on the accelerator and we all went crashing forward into our seat belts. When she thumped the brakes shortly after, we were parked perfectly beside a Porsche and a Honda. With no mucking around, Pip smiled triumphantly and hopped out of the car. My jaw hung open and I looked over my shoulder to check if Kelly was okay. She was, but just as much in shock as I was. We both slipped out of the car quietly.

We jumped from shop to shop, trying on clothes and hats and the like. We skimmed through gift shops and knock off stores and we even went into a super creepy gypsy shop, where Pip bought a super creepy lava lamp.

It was about lunch time when we finally made it to cathedral square. I didn’t want to push the two of them there, because they would think something was up. If they knew I was there to casually see a guy, they would go berserk. I was not the girl who stalked guys; I was the quiet girl who was too embarrassed to even talk about them.

We picked up a plate of sushi each at a little sushi bar on the corner and sat on some steps in the middle of the square. We had a good view of the various stalls and musicians and such from there, which was just want I wanted.

“Oww” Kelly whined, rubbing her collar bone resentfully, “I better not have whiplash. Pip, if I have whiplash you’re gunna pay.”

“You should be thanking me,” Pip argued

“Thanking you? What the hell?! You nearly killed me and Maggie! That range rover could have rolled straight over your little dinger of a car!”

“Hey! don’t you bring my car into this!” Pip stood up passionately and towered over Kelly.

“You’re right, it was completely your driving.” Kelly simply glared in response. Pip rolled her eyes and flopped back down, hunger winner over her desire to argue intensely.

But she wasn’t going to let up, “I got the park though didn’t I?”

I hoped they hadn’t noticed how distracted I was. If I left them to argue for a moment, I could potentially get a better look around without them scrutinizing me. I had to squint extra hard to see some of the further away people and I was starting to get frustrated. There were so many people in the square that day, that it made it hard to tell one from the other. I looked all over, I even awkwardly looked behind me and back into the city streets a few times – but nothing.

So I gave up.

I couldn’t see him. He said he would be painting, but none of the painters even came close to looking like him. His face was so clearly edged into my mind; I didn’t think I could mix him up with someone else.

“You finished Maggsie?” Pip gingerly took the sushi box off my lap. I nodded. I wanted to go home.

Pip passed the box to Kelly who threw it in the bin. The two had obviously made up in the short time it took me to find out Jackson wasn’t there. Thank goodness.

“You all good Mags?” Kelly asked, sitting beside me and leaning her head on my shoulder.

“Yeah I’m fine. Anything else you kids wanna do?”

I wasn’t going to spoil their fun just because I didn’t get what I wanted.

“Actually, me and Kelly really wanna go see the display at the Wearable arts gallery. That okay with you?” Pip looked ready to go, no matter what I said.

“Yep. Let’s do it.”

Kelly hauled me up to my feet and we began our treacherous journey through the center of the square.

We were swamped with jugglers and people trying to sell us jewelery and hand creams. Kelly loved walking through there, I could tell. She always got so much attention and got showered with compliments. Everything from her dress and hair, too her skin tone and her fingernails. Needless to say, I had always been jealous. Even Pip showed the odd sign of a jealous friend when things like this happened.

Just as we were almost out, my eye caught something not 20 meters away – A painter sitting under a tree painting a little boy and his mother. There was a cluster of women standing around watching and squealing at the scenario. My heart rate quickened, and I felt my chest tighten up. Gold hair, flawless face, green eyes...

Found him.

“Who is that?” Kelly appeared at my shoulder.

I contemplated telling her. I could have just not said anything and walked away, forcing Kelly with me...but if I didn’t say it, Kelly might have had to go up to him and ask. I didn’t want that.

“His name’s Jackson.”

Kelly’s grip tightened on my shoulders, “Oh my God you know him? LOOK HE’S WAVING!”

This tightened my chest to an impossible state. I looked up to see that he did, in fact, acknowledge my presence. Just when I thought my heart rate was going to ease up a bit, he went and waved. I took a deep breath in and waved back as casually and gracefully as I possibly could. Pip appeared beside Kelly, looking ready to attach her leash if the need arose.

“Maggie this guys, like, uh! Super fine!” Kelly swooned.

All the women around him looked up at me curiously – even the subjects of his paint turned to look. He smiled that charming smile again and gestured for me to go over. My chest caved in; that stupid irresistible smile.

“Umm...you guys go on ahead, I’m gunna go see what he wants.”

I took a slow stride in his direction before Kelly latched onto my wrist like a lobster,

“Whatever! You have to introduce me!”

“Come on Kelly...” Pip pried Kelly’s hand off and yanked her a foot away from me.

“What the—” Kelly protested. Pip took hold of both Kelly’s wrists, “No! Maggie!!!”

Pip shook her head, “You crazy woman! One good looking guy and you turn into an 8 year old girl who’s just seen the Jonas brothers!”

“Maggieeee!!!”

“...thanks Pip.” I said quietly.

“No worries babe, I know you’d do the same,” Pip winked at me and started guiding Kelly towards the gallery, “This way Kelly. Stop struggling. God! Just settle down, okay? You can’t have every guy you see on the street. No, no you can’t. Can’t you see that Maggie’s...”

Thank goodness for Pip. I didn’t want to sound selfish, but I didn’t want Kelly the man-eater anywhere near him. He seemed too genuine. Kelly had, however, confirmed my suspicion about his universal perfectness. I hadn’t seen her act that boy crazy since she saw a Justin Timberlake lookalike in a Starbucks by her house.

I took a deep breath and walked over to him. It didn’t help my nerves that he smiled at me the whole way.

“Ah Maggie, you came to see me,” Jackson said, standing up and taking my hand. I almost died when he brought my hand up too his lips and kissed it. There were a few gasps and whispers from the crowd of women, but I was in too much of a daze to notice.

“Oh, well—you know—I was just...I didn’t really. I was just in town with my friends.”

Smooth....

He released my hand and laughed quietly. I stood shyly beside the group of women who I could safely call admirers. Some of them were looking at me like I had just snapped the heels off their shoes.

“I just finished painting these two,” Jackson lifted the top piece of canvas off his easel and flipped it around to hand to the mother and son, “ here you are, tell me what you think.”

The little boys face lit up at first sight of the painting, as did his mothers.

“Oh goodness, this is beautiful Jackson. Here is you very well deserved payment,” the woman said, reaching into her purse.

“No charge. Sorry I kept you from your lunch,” Jackson said, waving off her money.

“Thank you mister Jackson,” the boy giggled, before dragging his slightly protesting mother away. How could someone so good looking be so kind as well? Surely there was some kind of rule against people who were like that.

The flock of women liked this very much. They cried out in approval.

“You’re so lovely!”

“Oh Jackson can you paint me next?”

“Jackson, I’ve been here for a while.”

“Pick me Jackson.”

“Jackson?”

“Jackson!”

He held a hand out to hush them, “Sorry ladies, I wouldn’t mind some lunch myself. Come back in an hour or so if you would still like a painting.”

This didn’t throw them off.

“I was actually just going to get something to eat if you wanted to join?”

“Jackson come to Steiner’s with us!”

“There’s a cafe just down the road, we can go together!”

“Umm, no, he’s going with me.”

“Shut up, just because you asked first doesn’t mean—”

Jackson ran a hand through his hair in asexy frustrated manner “Hey hey, relax. I was actually hoping that...Maggie?”

He looked over at me expectantly, a lock of hair swishing into his eyes. My brain went into blurt mode.

“Oh, I actually just ate so...”

The girls around him all scoffed at me; they realized my mistake. Jackson looked a little upset by this, and I instantly regretted it. Then, as I was watching his reaction, something occurred to me.

He wanted to paint me. He wanted to paint me. He was trying to get rid of the flock of women so he could paint me.

“I’ll keep you company though...if you want?” I recovered gracefully.

The smile on his face was blinding. The woman all quickly grumbled their goodbyes and dispersed into the cathedral square crowd, very unhappily. I shrugged and grinned inwardly to myself. I had never won a battle like that one before, even though it was completely luck.

“I’m so glad you’re here Maggie,” Jackson said.

He took my hand and in one swift movement, had me seated next to him on the concrete bench. I blushed and tried to hide it by lowering my head. He started mixing some paint on his pallet while I fiddled with a ring on my index finger.

“I am too kinda. I don’t know if I can stay long though, my friends are just in the gallery over there.”

“Perhaps we should get started then?”

We shared a quick knowing smile. I saw no point in protesting anymore, we were definitely on the same page. I moved over to the chairs sitting in front of him, framed by a big tree, “do you want me to move this?”

He nodded and I proceeded to move one of the chairs out of the way. Before actually sitting down, I had to make sure I looked decent. I brushed the stones and such off my tights and pulled my pinafore down a bit. My hair felt okay, it wasn’t a very windy day, and there wasn’t much that could be done about my face...

“You look fine Maggie,” Jackson assured me. He had finished readying his art gear and was sitting there watching me.

I blushed, “I just don’t wanna look funny in it.”

“Impossible.”

I sat down and placed my hands on my knees. He immediately took a pencil out and I could hear him sketching me roughly.

He looked up and grinned again, “relax.”

“I am! Do I have to smile? Because I don’t think I can do that for long....”

The sound of him laughing sang in my ears, “no you don’t. Just do whatever makes you most comfortable.”

“You mean like not being painted?”

His laughing continued, “You can’t make me laugh, I’m trying to concentrate. I want this to be just right.”

“Kay sorry.”

My eyes wandered around the crowd for a bit while he sketched. I was anxious that Kelly and Pip were going to come walking around the corner and see me here being painted by this gorgeous guy. Kelly in particular. I hoped that Pip could keep her occupied for a bit longer.

“You saved me before you know,” Jackson interrupted my worrying.

“From what?”

“I felt a bit uneasy with all of those women hanging around.”

“Kind of inevitable though, huh?”

His eyebrows raised and he stopped painting for a moment, “Oh? Whatever do you mean?” he teased.

My chest tightened again. It kinda just flowed out of my mouth, as if it made perfect sense. I just assumed he knew that he was a girl magnet....I knew how to fix this.

“You were painting a little boy and his Mom. That’s the sweetest thing ever.”

He laughed, “Ah yes you’re right. And here I was thinking it was my charming nature that attracted them.”

I swallowed a lump in my throat and laughed nervously, “Probably wasn’t that.”

It was. It was. It was. It was. It simply was!

“I’ll have to pick my subjects more carefully then.” I noticed a strange glint in his eye as he said this.

“Hmmm, I guess so.”

Neither of us spoke for a long time, but it was a mutual silence. I watched him as he concentrated on painting my head. My heart skipped a beat whenever his piercing eyes would leave his painting and whip to my face. Then when he moved down to my body, I had to look away and think about something else. I wasn’t brave enough to watch him observe me like that and I didn’t want him to have to change the color of my face.

-----

“There.”

He spun the easel around and presented the painting to me. I rushed over and grabbed it by its sides.

My mouth dropped open, “Oh my god Jackson, this is fantastic!”

It definitely looked like me, except much much nicer. I had long, flowing dark hair and pale alabaster skin. My lips were sweet pink, my eyes were shining light hazel and I was slim and elegant looking. He definitely painted me up. I looked nowhere near as pretty as this picture.

“Is it really me?” I asked.

“Yes. You do make a lovely painting."

Something about it puzzled me a little, “was I really playing with my ring like that?”

“You were. The whole time.”

“Oh wow... my mother would love this...how much?”

“No charge. There is no way I could take money off such a perfect model.”

“You have too! I couldn’t possibly—”

“—take it.”

“No,” I hurriedly reached into the tiny handbag I placed at the foot of the chair, and pulled out a twenty dollar note, “here, have this.”

He looked at me inquisitively, “Why do you insist on paying? You are too generous.”

“No no not at all. I’m really awful; it’s you who’s too generous. Here!” I continued waving the twenty at him, but he simply dismissed it.

“Perhaps we could find middle ground then?” He had that glint in his eye again. That one that I decided I liked.

“I’m listening...?”

He stood up in front of me and took hold of my shoulders softly, “Let me paint you again.”

I found myself a little bit lost, “Right now?”

“Another time.”

“Umm....okay I guess.”

He smiled as if someone has just handed him the key to the world.

“Wonderful. Now, Maggie, with the best intentions, may I ask for your phone number? I’ll call you when I’ve sorted out an appropriate time.”

“Kay,” I said quietly, shyness seeping out my ears.