Art for Art's Sake! (Sarah)

Akshay simply could not understand why fat guys who started working out always went for the teeniest, tiniest workout shorts they could find. The whole concept made Akshay shutter but, like the gravitational force of the sun, he could not look away. The young wordsmith was busying himself with trying to find a subject to draw when he settled onto a young couple lounging on a picnic blanket, sharing food. They would be the perfect study since they were not going to go anywhere any time soon.

…sadly, just as he was getting the basic shapes for his characters, the large man (in what had to be the “manliest” shade of pink training shorts) jogged into his field of vision. He blinked as the man bent over to start stretching his ham strings. Akshay felt the stirrings in his stomach. That is not to say he was a judgmental man but dude, look in a mirror before you leave a house!

He shuddered as he attempted to work with the figures he had laid out already. The graphite of his pencil scratched and scraped across the paper, darkening his lines and adding tiny details he could remember. But, when he reached the end of those, he cautioned a glance up to get more information.

Hopefully that man was gooooooo---

It was suddenly as if his brain just gave him the blue computer screen of death! A very pretty woman now replaced the large man in his line of sight. She smiled sweetly as she stood before him and for a second Akshay forgot what his name was.

Wait…she didn’t ask his name.

He shook his head as he tried to zero in on her voice…

>> "Hello. Do you mind if I sit with you?"[/color]

“No I wasn’t!” he blinked and shook his head. Stupid. “Err, I mean, sorry. Had a bit of a senior moment there. Hehe. I mean, sure, you can if you like. Careful though, the roots of this tree keeps trying to get friendly with me,” he beamed as he turned back to his drawing.

He reached for his drink inside of the cooler and took a long sip. He was beginning to feel a tad warm again. He probably should have decided on a better outfit than the light gray, red lined, “I’m-Not-A-Superhero” t-shirt and blue jeans he was wearing. The warmth was to the point that he had to roll up the sleeves of his shirt to make it quasi-tank top-like; a motion which revealed his own Ka-POW! tattoo.

He glanced at the woman again before he just smirked and remarked, in his very witty way, “Hot enough for ya?”

Siiiiiiiiiiiigh… Where was Emerald to kick his ass when he needed her?

>> "I think I can handle a few roots. Besides, I have you to protect me, don't I?”[/color]

Akshay…blinked.

His expression was a bit deadpan for a moment there, shocked and unsure of really how to continue. This was the classic Akshay, the Akshay before dating a wonderful, redheaded she-wolf; the Akshay that loved to flirt and had a witty tongue for any young woman that attempted to cross his path. It was funny that he was actually taking notice of this part of himself. Normally it was so subtle and unconscious that he never would have realized it.

But he had to now. Not only was he dating a woman but she would more than likely rip out his lungs if he had so much as touched another woman.

Still…that didn’t mean that he couldn’t be friendly, could he?

He smirked as he nodded.

“Hah, well, I do have a reputation to be a botantical terror…” he chuckled. He remember his adoptive mothers rose bushes. Gawd, how many of them had he accidentally killed in his lifetime? It was a good thing she never called him anymore to house sit whenever she and his father went away for trips.

He turned back his attention though as the young woman took a seat nearby. His most wittiest of quips was thrown out and instantly he regretted it. That was such a clichéd and stupid thing to say! She probably thought he was some mental patient now. He grumbled silently as he took another sip from his bottle of soda, swirling the contents idly in the bottle as he looked ahead.

>> "A few more degrees higher and I might just have to get the slip-n-slide out…You always this chatty with girls you just met or is it just the heat getting to you?"[/color]

…

…yeah he wouldn’t acknowledge that first part of the conversation. WAY[/b] too dangerous.

But he grinned at her question; was he always this chatty with girls? In reality, Akshay really was! It was not just in order to hit on women but a lot of it was because he just felt more comfortable around girls. In school the majority of his friends were girls and even now the majority of people he spoke to were women. There was just something different about him, like his brain was wired to chat with women better than the average man. After all, Akshay was not really the beer-swilling, sport-watching, car-talking kind of guy! And most comic nerds like him, well, he really did not want to be left alone with them for more than a few minutes.

So, he would be honest.

“Who says it can’t be both?” he chuckled as he took another sip. “Do you always just sit with handsome strangers?”

Yeah, that would be the last banter—right?

>> "I do if the stranger happens to be a fellow artist,"[/color]

He smirked. Ah fellow artists, they always loved to flock together. Akshay could not count the times that freelance artists would speak to him whenever he was caught outside with his sketchpad. Honestly, he understood why, there was just something about artists being together that made them all want to chat, swap techniques, share war stories, it was just that type of profession.

He gazed at the sketchpad she had and he had to nod his head. She really was quite good. A glance at the drawing and he looked out of the corner of his eye, spying the woman whom was the subject of the artists impression. She didn’t get much of her down but what was there was actually very good! He wondered if she was one of the many art students that tended to frequent Central Park for natural inspiration.

“That’s very good,” he said with a tint of awe in his voice.

They settled back in and once more return to their drawings. The large exerciser had finally jogged away, leaving him a perfect view of the young couple who were still lying about in the sun. He smirked as he started to fill in the blank details; the pattern of her dress, the shine of his hair, the longing looks in their eyes. Wow, with the way that she was pawing at his arm, constantly, he figured that they were going to be hightailing it back to their home before long.

He finished sketching out their bodies as much as he could in the meantime. He had just started to shade in their calves when the woman spoke again…

>> "Sorry if I said something…Suggestive? My brain's used to thinking up fast replies without a censor."[/color]

A mischievous smirk fell across his lips as he shook his head. He actually enjoyed such banter like that, though it had been awhile since he had partook of it.

“Don’t worry about it,” he beamed. “Trust me, in my circles, I’ve heard far worse and far less subtle than taking out your ‘slip n’slide’.” Just thinking about that comment actually made the man laugh heartily. He sighed and shook his head when he was done with his giggling fit. He finally turned to face her fully. A friendly smile on his face, he offered her his hand, “Akshay Malik. It’s a pleasure to meet a fellow artist.”

>> "I didn't mean it like that!"[/color]

Akshay had to chuckle heartily at the woman’s huff that she had not meant that comment in the way that he had taken it. Of course he knew that she didn’t really mean that but it was still too amusing to stop poking fun at her. Maybe if she stuck around he would jab at her again with a reminder of her little faux pas. After all, it was all in good fun so where was the harm in that?

He just beamed, though, when she finally introduced herself.

>> "Sarah Jackson. The pleasure is all mine."[/color]

Sarah…cute name! He shook her hand gently as he turned back to his drawings and she to hers. A glance had shown him that the pair had found completely different targets. While she was focus on the individual, he had decided to target a scene. Her’s was a subject of study, while his was focused on capturing a moment of time. It was actually interesting to see a fellow artist at work, looking at the same world as he was and seeing something completely different.

For a moment he wondered what had actually inspired her to pick that subject of hers. She was paying excellent attention to the head and torso. It really was a pretty sight.

He smirked as he continued sketching out his own piece, finally completing both bodies of his subjects and continuing with his shading. That was it, they were caught forever, together, on this sheet of course paper, etched on with graphite smears and smudges. It was a section of time that could never be spoiled…

The sounds of his fellow artist drawing drew his attention though. There was no harm in friendly conversation, right?

“So are you an art student?” he asked innocently. “Or just some strange person like me, drawing people at random with nefarious intent?”

That was a joke, of course. Hopefully she would just take it as that and won’t think he was some serial killer sketching out his next victims.

Akshay had smirked as his question actually seemed to make the young woman think for a moment. The smile on her face was proof enough that she really did not think his was some crazed axe murderer, or at least she was putting one on just so that she didn’t make any sudden moves (that seemed most unlikely.). Nah, he was sure that she was only interpreting what he said as a joke and he was happy for it. It was far too warm and lazy a day to be scared half to death.

>> "When I graduated, I thought I'd stalk little girls in New York to get a pretty picture for my wall,"[/color]

It was Akshay’s turn to laugh again. This woman had an excellent sense of humor. He just imagine the ludicrous though of this woman’s bedroom, walls covered with drawings of young women, men, what have you, pasted or taped up so that she could watch them obsessively for as long as she wanted to. It was such a creepy and disturbing thought that it made the young wordsmith shudder just a tad but he managed to still laugh it off. He was having far too much fun with this conversation and his time with this young woman.

“And here I thought I was the only one,” he chuckled as he turned back his drawing.

A glance up and he could see that his subjects were getting ready to leave now. The pawing, the stolen kisses, the hot day, it must have proved to be far too much for them to withstand any longer. Thankfully he had gotten down their basic forms and some of the shading already. Quickly he tried to memorize details about their clothing, accessories, and the entire scene around them.

Within moments, with a quick scratch of a detail or two on his paper, and he was free to let them go. He now had them firmly implanted in his mind so he doubted that he was going to forget any time soon.

A bead of sweat rolled down his cheek. Quickly he wiped it away and grumbled about it being hot. He took another sip of his refreshing soda and sighed. When he glanced over, he began to wonder if maybe Sarah was going to succumb to this heat too. Who knew, some people actually liked it like this! They were insane. A glance at his cooler and he grabbed it, pulling it over so that it was between himself and Sarah.

“Help yourself to a drink, if you are thirsty,” he said in a friendly manner. “I promise I didn’t drug any of it.”

>> "Unless you can get into the seal, I think I'm safe," [/color]

He chuckled. She did have a point. But considering the fact that this lived in this city, which was a mecca for mutants, was it really that farfetched for her? Mutants had many strange and interesting powers. Some of them could be so off the wall and mundane that one would have never considered it an actual possibility. Who was to say he wasn’t a mutant with some ability to seep some strange chemical into an unopened can of soda?

…

…

…okay yeah maybe that was a bit far to think. But it technically was a possibility! Especially in this city, but, since that wasn’t the case, he was not going to worry about it. The girl seemed smart enough to know if she were in a dangerous situation or talking to someone that couldn’t be trusted, and Akshay Malik could definitely be trusted.

>> "Thanks. You'd think people would stay inside in this heat. At least it's not humid too. Then again, we're both out here, aren't we,"[/color]

He paused in his drawing, just barely finishing the outline and give the characters in his drawing a more comic book –like look with the use to heavy lines. He thought for second, mulled over her words, and just had to grin. She certainly had a point.

Another lyrical laugh fell from his mouth as he shook his head.

“Yeah, but there is obvious a difference between us and the rest of these people sweltering,” he beamed. He then held up his can of soda to clink against her’s in a gesture of camaraderie, “we have soda and are therefore, far cooler.”

He winked as he clinked his can against her’s (if she had interpreted his gesture correctly) and took another long sip. Ahh, life was good…