Jay Smiles

A/N: So this is the first time I’m posting anything I’ve wrote online. This one is kinda weird to start out with bc it’s technically a fast-forward, but c'est la vie.

Summary: Danielle reflects on college at her graduation party

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Danielle smiled gracefully before locking herself into her bathroom. She then sunk down to the floor and sobbed. A breathy, stomach lurching sob that ripped her heart out and onto the floor.

It was a graduation party for her and Lucian. Something their parents put together. It was lovely, she loved it. She loved being surrounded by such happy and encouraging people. She loved it so much that it almost made her sick, hence her gasping for air on the floor of their bathroom. 

The weight of her graduating finally hit her. Saying she was happy would be an understatement. The pure elation and sickening euphoria she was experiencing...

It was so hard, harder than she would ever say. She was always acknowledged as an incredibly gifted young woman. Throughout high school, her mastering of the arts won her awards and medals. She was constantly praised for her handiwork with sculpture or her skilled stroke of a paintbrush. She enjoyed body painting and sewing. Practically covering all her bases, she stood out from the crowd. She was praised and primed since her freshman year. 

She was an artist, and she would always be an artist. 

College was a different story, however. She was surrounded by people just like her. People applauded and congratulated. People who took every art class and more offered to them. People who could quote theories, genres, and characteristics from the top of their heads as if robots. People who had the motivations to create more, more, and more. 

At first, she found it fun. A thrill to create, a thrill to be recognized and smiled upon. Her professors loved her. 

But what she didn’t account for, was the burn out. After spending too many sleepless nights on a piece, tears spilling over the canvas, a piece she loved. She loved the blood poured over the piece. The energy spilling off the sides. 

All for a seventy. 

And after that heartbreak, she was expected to create more. Push out more sketches, more media studies, more, more, more. 

She wanted to drop out, give up.

But she pushed though. Pushed through all the emotional grief, all the burn out, and continued to create. Her perseverance was one of her strengths. She pushed down all of her anxiety and sickness and continued to create.

And it payed off.

Danielle Lavoie-Moore graduated cum-laude. She was to have an exhibit in a nearby art gallery. She met Gregor Brooks.

One of the more successful contemporary artists, he had a large exhibit in the very gallery he saw her in. 

He gazed upon her lovingly, impressed with how technical, yet emotional her art was. He offered her dinner, where she blushed and accepted.

Brooks wined and dined her, asking if anyone had ever told her what a beautiful muse she'd be.

The answer was in fact yes. Her boyfriend of four years. When he said it, it was so much more charming. Nothing but love and gratitude lacing his voice. The cliche, yet lovely ramblings of a young artist.

When Brooks said this, it was washed out and drowned under glasses of wine. Despite all of this, she smiled and said no. She accepted this compliment with grace and charm.

Then, maybe a month or two from now, he asks her to join him in a global trek to see the arts. While Danielle is aware that her beauty plays a role in this offer, it would be career suicide to say no. An apprenticeship under Gregor Brooks would be a dream for any blooming artist.

Danielle will talk to her boyfriend about it, and he will tell her to go forth. It's her dream after all, she'd be denying an opportunity people would kill for. 

And that will be her life for the next couple years.