Tell Me This Then

Liam watches in wonder as he tries to follow the phrases streaming out of her lips. She has been rambling on about her 'hobby' for the past fifteen minutes or so. Not that he finds the topic boring and colorless, it's just that when a person talks about a certain subject for more than a couple of minutes, it's a habit of his to begin zoning out. 

"So do you wanna help me?"

He blinks rapidly. "Help with what?"

Crossing her arms across her chest in an upset manner, Leisha lets out a puff of air. "You haven't even been listening to me Payne," she accuses. 

Any other time he would've gladly denied the statement but today, he isn't up for light banter. "Sorry you know me."

She shrugs off his excuse. "I know but do I care? I saved you from the predator."

Liam can't help but snicker at the smart reply. He has always been amused by her humor, though it may come of crude and vulgar at times, her jokes lifts a smile off his face. 

"What are you bloody smiling for?" She grins widely at the boy towering over her. Height difference sometimes irritate her but with Liam, she feels different, comforted even. "Is it because of how I saved you?"

He scoffs though if you examine closely, you'll realize the small shade of rosy pink spreading over his prickly cheeks. "Cocky much?"

"Oh, you know me," she snaps back using his own method against him.

The duo continue with their usual banter oblivious to the fact that this one conversation may be the start of something new. Liam can have realized this and maybe even developing the idea though he isn't openly admitting it. Which he couldn't be blamed for. 

They pass by a striking place and they both freeze halfway through their next steps, admiring the new setting. Leisha smiles at their newfound curiosity and reaches into her satchel, pulling out an expensive looking camera. She paces for a few seconds before stepping closer towards the terrace-like fence separating them from the fall below.

It's one of the many hills people can climb to find a secluded spot and look in amazement at the beauty of London, itself. She will never get tired of watching the city she grew up in, the city where she learnt everything, how she realized things in life and where she met Liam. 

Leisha absorbs all these things while she freely presses the button on top of the camera, taking shots of the wonderful view and scenery. As the click of each new picture reaches her ears, she can't wait to show what she's gonna do with them to him. 

Liam, in a world of his own, is extremely unaware of what is spinning through his dear friend's mind though sometimes, he wishes he can read that quiet intricate head of hers. 

He watches Leisha as the idea of taking pictures keeps fascinating her, making her seem animated. He stares in awe - he's never seen her so focused and relaxed in the three months they've known each other. 

It's crazy to know - even after these months, the long and - you could even say - deep conversations they've shared and that never ending rambling mouth of hers - that he still barely understand anything about Leisha. And that's one of the many virtues that keeps Liam in pursuit of her. 

She taps the boy's shoulders attempting to hold back a fit of laughter threatening to explode from within. "Liam," she hisses once more causing him to abruptly be woken up from his day dream. 

"Okay what?"

She mumbles, "That's the hundredth time this afternoon," while dragging his backside out of the wild, green park. 

It isn't a long route from the casual restaurant where he had his date to her lovely home. Though even then, he's only visited a little over four times and yet he is still having difficulties making his way to her place. Either he has memory problems or he prefers not to be reminded of the house, mainly because that is the place where he - to put it bluntly - crushed her little sister's heart. 

They finally arrive and he is greatly relieved to know that Yvette isn't back home from her monthly shopping trip yet. Leisha leads him to her 'great and sophisticated dungeon' entertaining him on the way with profuse jazz hands.

As soon as they enter in her otherworldly bedroom, she initiates the task to educate Liam in her love, otherwise can be called as a hobby, for photography and then commences on to paint the picture in her own unique way. 

Liam is completely transfixed, his warm brown eyes coated over with dark wonder. He silently watches the girl begin her magic, pulling out palettes, grabbing small bottles of paint and sorting out the different thickness of each paintbrush. 

He's never seen anyone pain the way she does, ever before. Not that he has much interest in the topic of visual arts but still, he's fascinated by her own artistic effects. Just by studying the  photograph, she divides it into multiple sections then paints those sections. 

"When it's all done, it'll look contorted. But that's my goal huh?" she says. 

Liam laughs. "Kind of funny don't you think?"

"I guess." She smiles softly up at him. "But I enjoy it."

It's then that he knows, he could watch her do that for hours, and he'll never get tired.