Collection Read Online Free Page A

This time, she drew him staring out from the paper. She reproduced his brown hair with honey highlights, his strong jaw, and perfect Roman nose. His eyes were friendly with a slight crinkle at the edges, but sad. Jane wondered where that detail had come from. When she met him, she had felt nervous and silly and he had seemed calm and friendly…and anything else she might have noticed was forgotten as soon as she saw how ridiculously hot he was. Now, looking at the new drawing of his face, she wondered if The Guy was the happy Adonis she remembered or the lonely man she had drawn.
    One thing she wouldn't miss after today was the hard wooden bench she had been sitting on for days on end. Her butt was gettingnumb. There might be permanent nerve damage. On top of it, the new sculpture was annoying her. The lion sculpture had been replaced with an abstract sculpture resembling macaroni noodles and a triangle. It looked like someone had run over a bicycle repeatedly, painted it silver, and named it “Composition Number 78”. Sometimes Jane wondered why people paid for this stuff. Jane set her bag next to her on the bench and fished out her sketchpad.
    She had discovered in her last few visits that sitting in a museum all day in the same spot could be very, very boring. She had sketched every view from this position and was happy with the change of subject the abstract sculpture provided, if not the actual sculpture. Jane slipped on her headphones and picked a playlist that should keep her distracted for a few hours.
    It didn't take her long to become engrossed by her drawing, and when she happened to look up and see The Guy sitting to her left she almost dropped her pencil. He was looking at her without smiling and Jane suddenly felt uncomfortable. Who was the creepy one now? He was as startling as she remembered, but she felt herself shrinking from his direct attention. He seemed different. He was dressed in a white t-shirt and khakis still damp from another rain shower, as well as the work boots she remembered, but his hair was messier, and his eyes were shadowed. He looked like he hadn't slept in a few days. Before he'd been easy to talk to despite his attractiveness, but now there was an air of malice emanating from him. For the first time she considered that he might not appreciate a mooning, goofy college student lying in wait for him.
    â€œUh, hi there.” Jane removed her headphones and tried to look a little less embarrassed than she felt.
    He leaned towards her intently. “You were here a few weeks ago, right?”
    â€œYes, I was here with my class to research a paper.” She smiled and tried to meet his eyes without staring.
    â€œAnd now you're here again.” It was more a statement than a question, and Jane was now certain that he felt she was intruding.
    She was immediately wary. “Yes, I wanted to see the new exhibit.”
    He wasn't smiling today. Far from it. “Isn't your college on summer break, like all the other colleges? You should be in Florida, getting drunk and misplacing your clothes.”
    Jane felt her temper flare at his rudeness. She spoke with deliberate casualness as she felt her possible love connection slipping away in awkwardness. “I'm not here for a class, I wanted to see the new exhibit.”
    He lowered his voice and some anger crept into his tone. He pointed violently toward the new sculpture. “That thing looks like it fell off a garbage truck. Is that what you wanted to see?”
    Jane was suddenly scared by the change in his demeanor. She couldn't think of anything that she had done to provoke him, and she felt the need to defend herself. The anger in her voice matched his now. “What else would I want to see? This is a museum isn't it? I'm an art student, aren't I? Who the hell made you unofficial art bouncer anyway?”
    He looked taken aback but persisted in a stern tone. “It's just a little suspicious that you would be here