Coffee Shop Romance

Chapter 22

I sat watching the stars for what seemed like hours, but in truth it was only a few minutes. I soon grew too tired and went to bed.. They were so bright, and I felt like I was shrinking into nothing next to them, I needed to feel wanted. When I crawled into bed Elijah was almost asleep. I could tell that he'd tried to stay awake, but he was exhausted from his surfing all afternoon. He smiled when I kissed his nose, it seemed to be "our thing"...which I didn't mind. It was sweet, something I'd done a long time. I was always a huge fan of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood...and Mr. Daniel Striped-Tiger in general. When he and King Friday's niece would say g'bye they'd go "Uga-Uga" and rub noses.

We rose fairly early in the morning. I knew that Billy'd mentioned a visit to his home in Scotland as a cover for Elijah, but they decided to continue with that ruse. We said good-bye to those of the family who were not flying in our direction. Orlando was returning to LA to finish promotional events for Troy, and Dom was busy with his new show Lost so he was off to Hawai'i. Elijah and I were flying to Glasgow via Italy and Spain layovers for sightseeing. Our schedules were all flexible, and so we decided to take our time getting back. I'd phoned my work a the week before to give them my notice. They'd heard about my accident, and accepted this as a sad but necessary decision.

I sat with Elijah...I once again snagging the window seat. Billy was in the seats next to us on the other side. An elderly woman was in the seat next to the window, so Billy was still able to talk with us with out disturbing her.

Billy was involved in a conversation with Elijah about different projects he was looking at while I mostly did some sketches in my book. I wasn't really paying attention to the people around me, I was letting myself get absorbed into the worlds created by my pencil.

"That's amazing!" Elijah suddenly said to me.

I looked at the paper. On it were trees sheltering a small pond. I'd begun on a small animal of some kind at it's edge, about to take a drink of the mosy water. "Thank you." I continued to work on the animal. I was mixing several types of animals...a deer's head, the body of a dragon-type creature, and the legs and tail of a large feline. The wings were gracefull...almost butterflyish...I could imagine them being a beautiful purple and magenta blend to accent the greenish blue of the body and melting into the tan of the head, legs, and tail. I finished the scene and closed the book.

"May I?" Elijah pointed to my notepad. I nodded and handed it over to him. It was one that I'd been working in for a while now, so there were quite a few filled pages. Some were of day to day events in my life...others were simply creations of my imagination. I watched him leaf through it slowly, gazing at each one...drinking in each detail. "These are good. I wish I could draw."

I smiled, "I'm still just learning. Not to good with the human body. I can do eyes pretty well though."

"Yeah?" He grinned and widdened his eyes, "Draw mine." I laughed and opened to a fresh page. I studdied him for a moment before moving the pencil. I sketched slowly, taking my time to form the shape and texture. His eyes were fairly easy, since they were a large and rounded shape. When I was done I got out my box of crayons out of my bag and held up all of the blue ones, trying to match to his current shade. I settled on one and lightly began to shade in the colour. When I was done I turned the pad over so he could see. "Wow..." he breathed. He handed the pad to Billy, "Look what she did man!"

Billy looked at it in approval. "Amazing job lass!" He laughed, "Do me next?" I nodded and switched seats with Elijah reluctantly...I knew I'd have to fight for the window again. I did the same with Billy...moving slowly and carefully. His were more almond shaped than 'Lij's...and his vibrant green was stunning. I had to use several shades to blend into his eye colour. I held it up for his approval. "Sarah, you've got a wonderful range of gifts."

I blushed, "Well I wouldn't go that far--"

Elijah cut me off. "Now don't do that to yourself, you can sing, act, draw...cook eggs and salsa. Hell you can probably do anything!"

I smiled, "I can't do a cartwheel." I looked down, fixing a pout on my lips.

"Jesus Mary and Joesph!" Billy breathed. "Well this is a sign of the apocalypse for sure lass." He grinned.

"God forbid!" I laughed.