#madrich

Florida was beginning to grow on Fynn. He'd liked it when he'd first arrived, but now that he'd been here a few weeks he wasn't sure if he'd ever go back to the rains of London. With the sun shining every day, he could hardly contain himself to his room. Grabbing the satchel hanging over his chair, he headed towards what had become his favorite spot. This particular bag held all of his art supplies, and it never left his room unless he was going to use them. He couldn't risk having someone know that he wasn't actually undeclared. Worse, he couldn't risk someone finding out that he had a passion for art. What would people think then?

He waved hello at a few people he recognized on his way to the smaller courtyard. Thankfully, none of them stopped to chat. Fynn was becoming increasingly grateful for people having to hurry away to classes during the day. Today was his free day, no classes whatsoever, and he'd finished all of his homework save one assignment. Climbing into his tree, he made sure he was in the spot where no one could see him unless they were looking straight up from underneath him. Contented with his position, he pulled out his sketch pad and a piece of charcoal.

The assignment he'd yet to complete was for his art class. Fynn knew that it would take him about an hour, maybe longer, to perfect this drawing. He also knew that this would be his most enjoyable piece of school work, and so he had saved it for last. For his drawing class he'd been told to make a picture of what he believed to be most beautiful. It was a very vague assignment that had frustrated him to begin with. Of course he was going to draw a woman. He'd thought of doing a faceless woman, naked, wrapped in sheets. That was beautiful to him, wasn't it? Well, of course it was, but it wasn't what he considered most beautiful.

With a sigh, Fynn allowed his mind to drift to the past weekend and the homecoming dance. Honestly, when he thought of the dance, all he could see was Maddie in her twenties attire. Everything else faded away as he remembered the moment their eyes met for the first time that night. The dance was gone, she wasn't with another guy, he wasn't with another girl. For him, for that brief moment, they'd been alone in the universe. At that moment he was no longer able to deny that he had feelings. At that moment, he was unable to lie to himself and say that he wasn't jealous. He had a heart, he had feelings, and he had feelings for Maddie. Of course, he'd never admit that to anyone, but admitting it to himself felt like a weight had been lifted off of his chest.

Before he even realized he was drawing, Fynn had almost a complete picture of Maddie's face on his paper. Once it was finished all he could do was stare. Not again. Stop this Fynn. You're only going to hurt not only her, but yourself. This was the third time he'd tuned out the world and drawn a picture of Maddie without even realizing what he was doing. Every time he was tempted to crinkle them up and throw them away. Every time he couldn't bring himself to ruin them. As much as he hated to admit it, he was a damn good artist, and they captured her perfectly.

Making his way backwards through the campus was proving more difficult than Fynn had anticipated. It had been easy enough to find his dorm room once he'd arrived, but finding a small courtyard that he'd only briefly noticed was becoming a challenge. Not your brightest idea Fynn. Way to be blindsided by a pair of big doe eyes. He glanced at his watch, hoping that he was at least close to the meeting spot. It hadn't occurred to him that he'd get so lucky so very quickly. Luckily though, it had occurred to him that this girl could just be easy. That didn't really bother him much, after all, he wasn't the toughest safe to crack either.

Fynn noticed a light up ahead, probably a cell phone since it was fairly dim. In looking towards it he somehow regained his sense of direction and turned to his left to practically jog towards his appointment. A swift glance at his watch confirmed that he was about ten minutes later than the set time, and this was not something he found acceptable. It seemed as if now the lovely Maddie would owe him a punishment as well. Perhaps this night would be more interesting that previously anticipated.