She turned to face me. “Thanks.”
“It's a unique idea. I love Dali, he's one of my favorite artists, as well. Very tortured.”
“Aren't we all?”
I laughed. “True enough.”
I left Crystal and continued walking around the room. I saw pumpkins that looked like water lilies, and one that had so many floral designs it appeared to be a pumpkin garden. I couldn't for the life of me understand why anyone wouldn't want to be an artist, or at least take an art class for fun. The individual ideas that sprung up from nothing were incredible, and often awe-inspiring.
I approached a guy who was painting The Scream on the side of a pumpkin, and I laughed.
“Hey, great idea. Fits in with a Halloween theme for sure. I like your lines; everything flows into the colors perfectly.”
“Thanks, Natalie.” He looked up at me adoringly and his look gave me a cause for concern.
“No problem.”
“Hey, would you like to grab a coffee with me sometime?”
I smiled and laughed a bit nervously. “I’m not dating these days, sorry. Maybe you should focus on your work.”
He looked away sheepishly, and I made note not to step over to his desk again for the rest of the night. I had no idea that anyone in the class had been crushing on me; maybe I was in my own world all the time. I would need to start branching out and talking to people more. And of course, I would need to start considering dating again. Tom had thrown me for quite some loop and before I even had time to heal, there was Jet. What a handle that boy was. I hadn't heard from him since the night of wine and seduction, and I was pretty comfortable with that. I genuinely felt that I just wasn't ready to be with anyone, not even Jet. I was a mess. I kept running out on him, and I knew that it was fear-driven, for the most part. Definitely not fair to anyone. What surprised me more was that he kept coming back. He hadn't given up on me yet; why, I couldn't imagine. There were far prettier and saner girls out there than I. I still didn't know what he saw in me, but I believed truly that he wasn't right for me, and I hoped that we could maintain some level of friendship, and just leave it at that. Maybe in the future when my wounds weren't so raw?maybe then we could have something meaningful, but right now all I could see was some guy who liked to chase tail. I felt that the only reason he kept chasing me was because I was a challenge to him. Had I bowed at his feet a long time ago he probably would have left me the moment we slept together. No, the only reason why he was still around was because I made his life more difficult, and he wanted to break me of that habit.
I found a girl named Jessie doing The Starry Night on a pumpkin, and her friend beside her was managing quite well depicting irises.
“I love these; it's so nice to see beautiful color on the pumpkins. The dean is going to be thrilled with these.”
“Thanks, Natalie.”
I went around the room and saw a Twilight-themed pumpkin, as well as a sunset on a beach. What a great idea this had been; every pumpkin was more unique than the last one. I sat down at a desk and did a quick sketch of an MMA fighter silhouetted with his hands up in the air in victory. When I finished drawing it, I took a bottle of ink and dipped a brush into it. I slid the brush over the lines until the picture came to life in black. It was a powerful pose, and I smiled when it was completed. I signed the bottom of it and picked the pumpkin up. I left my seat and put it on the desk of the professor for all to see. Clapping rang out all over the room, and I smiled. Everyone had done such a great job. As pumpkins were finished, they were put on carts so that students could distribute them all over campus. I couldn't wait to hear feedback from the public, as well as the dean, on the impact they had on students.
I helped the professor clean up the room, and started packing my own bag. I was tired from class and looked forward to going home to relax.
I was heading across campus when I saw Jet coming out of one of the buildings. He saw me right away, and I sighed as I watched him walk up to me.
“Hey, what are you doing here so late?”
“I was helping the art students create pumpkins for Halloween. You will see them all over campus.”
“That's cool.”
“I didn't know you had some night classes.”
He shrugged. “Well, it makes it easier to train during the day this way.”
I just nodded, feeling awkward around him.
“Can I give you a ride home, Natalie? It's really late.”
“Nope, I'm okay, but thank you. I had a good time the other night, by the way.”
“Oh yeah, sure you did. Is that why you disappeared the next morning?”
I laughed nervously. “Well, I'm not very good in those situations, but I still had fun.”
“Me too; I had fun too. Sorry I haven't called or anything. I've been busy.”
I shrugged nonchalantly. He didn't owe me anything, so there was no need to make a big deal out of it.