The Artist

As the plane bounced on the runway at the airport in Seattle, I gripped onto my seat not a fan of flying in airplanes. My heart began to beat irregularly waiting for the plane to come to a complete stop so I could get off. This is one of the many reasons I wanted a car or a truck to travel in, but I couldn’t afford one.

When the plane came to a stop and the passengers were safe to exit the plane, I waited for someone to let me exit, but I had to wait until everyone passed by before I could finally make my way off. Making sure my carryon bag was safely over my shoulder and zipped up tight, I entered the waiting room of the airport looking around for the familiar tall body of my best friend.

My stomach filled with butterflies at the thought of seeing my best friend, Sam Uley for the first time in almost two years since we graduated from high school. We had been friends for as long as I could remember, but it wasn’t until my junior year when I realized that I liked him more than a friend, but it was too late for me to say anything because a classmate, Leah Clearwater beat me to him.

From then on, I pretended to be happy for him when originally I was dying on the inside, seeing him to happy, watching them share kisses whenever they could and hearing them say, “I love you.” For the rest of the high school years, I watched them spend almost every minute together, silently wishing that I was the girl Sam kissed, held, say those three sweet words to and whisper little words into my ears to make me blush or giggle at. Of course, you can’t always get what you want.

Still looking around for Sam, I was a rather tall and muscular figure rushing in my direction, weaving through people. The figure looked a little like Sam with the black hair, tan skin and warm brown eyes, but Sam wasn’t that much taller than me or that muscular. I looked away from the guy to take one last look around the airport wondering if I need to go ahead to get my things and wait for him incase he was late.

“Kacey!” a husky voice called out taking my attention. Turning to face the person that called out for me, I saw that it was the guy coming in my direction. As he got closer, I realized that it was Sam.

“Sam?” I asked surprised walking up to him.

“Yeah!” he answered smiling at first, but when we stopped directly in front of each other his smile flattened and he just stared at me, almost like I was the only one in this room.

All of my feelings that I had for him came crashing down hard on me, almost as if I never left home. My heart beat sped up with the look Sam was giving me. Also if it was even possible, more butterflies erupted inside of me trying to pull me closer to him.

I was able to snap myself out of my trace and smiled at Sam. Realizing that Sam was still in his trace, I tried snapping and waving my hand in front of his face hoping to snap him out of it. It took a while but eventually got him back to reality.

“Sorry.” Sam quickly apologized. He gave me a smile again before pulling me into his arms for a hug which I happily returned. “God, I missed you these past two years.”

Chuckling, I replied, “I missed you, too, Sam.” We both pulled away from each other before Sam guided me to the baggage claim for me to get my things.

“So how is college going for you?” Sam asked when we reached the claim to see that they haven’t unloaded the bags yet.

“Pretty good. Glad that I will be graduating this year. I miss home.” I answered truthfully. Looking up at him, I saw him not with a bigger smile on his face. “How are you and Leah?”

His expression changed drastically at the question and something told me that something happened while I was gone. “We broke up last year.” Sam answered glancing away from me.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t kno-” I began to apologize, but he stopped me from doing so.

“It’s okay. Don’t’ worry about it.”

Frowning, I heard the belt of the baggage claim beginning to move and I faced it waiting for my suitcase and art bag to come around. Spotting my teal suitcase and blue art bag with my name written on them with fabric paint, I walked forward to retrieve them and Sam took my suitcase from me.

We walked out of the airport toward his old rusty truck where he threw my suitcase in the bed of. I climbed into the passenger’s seat placing my bag on the floor while Sam climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. Looking over at him, I could tell that something was still bothering him and wanted to ask him what it was, but I didn’t want to bother him or come off pushy.

“So how has La Push been while I was gone?” I asked hoping that it would help calm him.

“Same old, same old.” Sam answered shortly. I was hoping for a longer answer that would’ve made him smile or at least give a little smile. “How was California?” he asked and I figured two can play that game.

“Fine.”

I saw him glance over at me with a questioning look and asked, “Are you okay?”

“Fine. Why?”

“Well,” he sighed, “I kind of expected you to talk more about it like your classes, new friends . . . the beach. Something talkative.”

“Well, I wanted the same from you so I guess we’re both not talkative about anything.” I snapped a little upset when he was worried about me not talking when he wouldn’t talk to me; only give me a short answer.

I heard Sam take a deep breath making me look over to see him violently shaking. Right then, I began to regret what I said, worrying if he was about to have a seizure. I reached for his hand trying to think of a way to get the truck to stop, but the minute my hand touched his, he stopped shaking and his body relaxed. It confused me about what had just happened, but I was afraid to ask him.

“I’m sorry.” Sam apologized, but I didn’t know if it was for his short answers or worrying me. I nodded removing my hand from his, hesitating a little. “I guess I haven’t been myself for a while, well shortly after you left for college.”

I didn’t know what to say to him so I just nodded again. The rest of the ride to La Push remained silent between us, neither one of us knowing what to say to the other. Driving further along into La Push, Sam pulled onto a gravel driveway that led to a two story cabin house that was built back into the woods. He parked the truck and we climbed out, getting my things before heading to the front door.

“So this is the infamous house that you moved into?” I asked while Sam was unlocking the door.

He lightly laughed and said, “Yeah. My mom helped me decorate it and planted all of the flowers while the guys helped move the furniture. I hope you like it though.”

“It looks nice so far.” I said smiling when he opened the door to let me in.

The first room that I walked into was a living room/dinning room. To the side was a three seat sofa with a matching love seat, a recliner and a small TV. In front of the door was a round table with six chairs around it. In the back corner on the left was the kitchen with only an island separating it from the rest of the room. There was a small staircase to the right that lead upstairs to the second floor.

“Looks nice.” I said looking up at him. “It looks like you.”

“Thanks. The rooms are up here.” Sam said leading me up the stairs.

I followed him up the stairs to a hallway that had four doors. He led me to the second door on the right to open up to a bed room. Upon entering the room, I could instantly tell that his mom had helped him with decorating it. There was oak furniture set in the room with colors of crème and browns of bed setting and rug. The room was stunning and gorgeous, almost something I would have picked out. Sam walked over toward the bed to set my suitcase down at the foot of the bed before turning to face me with an amused look on his face that I just ignored still taking in the room.

“What you think?” he asked as I walked further into the room to set my bags on the bed.

“I . . . I love it.” I answered, lost of words until I saw an easel in the corner of the room beside the dresser that sat in front of the bed. “Is that an easel?” I asked looking over at Sam.

“Yes. When we arranged for you to come here to stay with me while you were on Christmas break, I ran to your house to get it from your parents thinking that you would want to use it sometime during the break.”

Smiling, I lunged at him for a hug wrapping my arms around his waist feeling his arms wrap themselves around my shoulders pulling me tighter against him. Those butterflies that I had back at the airport came back when I felt a pair of lips kiss the top of my head. Curious from wondering where it came from, I looked up at him to see that he was looking down at me with the look of love and adore floating in his eyes. Feeling our face move closer together, I pulled away from him running a hand through my long black hair.

“Um, well, I need to go to a friend’s place for a second so you can unpack.” Sam said taking a few steps back only stopping when his back came in contact with the wall. I nodded my head before he flashed me a quick smile and raced out of the room leaving me confused.