people go

but how they left

always stays

-rupi kaur

Lately, Laurielle hadn't been able to find an escape from her thoughts; Work had no affect— and neither did the books.

Gloom had became an unwanted visitor of hers, yet she allowed it to manifest, "What do you think of the placement now?" Andrea asked snapping Laurielle out of her thoughts,

Twisting her lips to the side, Laurielle critiqued the wall's decor— Andrea was currently in the process of redecorating her apartment, and asked her favorite cousin for help.

Without complaint, Laurielle willingly volunteered to help out, after all it did occupy her a bit "That's perfect actually."

"Great," Andrea beamed with excitement "And now it's time to bring in the masterpiece, I'm ready for it Kevin..."

"This thing is huge," remarked Kevin as he hauled the canvas into the room "How about you let me put this one up Ms. Independent?"

"Sure, do your thing." she stepped out of his way allowing him to hang the portrait, which displayed shades of dark blues, purples, and a hint of gray as thunder zigzagged from top to bottom,

The setting was obviously a storm, but directly in the center was a colored woman holding an umbrella with rays of sun light shining from underneath.

"Oh wow that's beautiful," Laurielle spoke as Kevin agreed "I'm sure it must've taken hours to finish a painting that large."

"I love it, and I owe all of my thanks to..." Andrea squinted a bit, and attempted to pronounce the artist's name "Al— Alsinia? Aslina?"

"Alsina." Laurielle whispered to herself while slowly approaching the painting, "August did this?"

"Who's August?" Kevin intervened but was ignored

"No way, THE August— as in YOUR August?" Andrea asked as Laurielle confirmed "Why didn't you mention that he was an artist!? You know how much I love art!"

"Drea you have to tell me, where did you get this painting from? I have to know please I— I need to see him again."

"I ordered it online, I believe the website is still open on my laptop come on!"

The two of them rushed into her bedroom and hovered over the laptop, carefully scanning down the website, Laurielle had discovered a numerous amount of August's paintings for sale,

"Wait wait wait, what's that address?" Laurielle asked as Andrea double clicked it

"Looks like it's an art shop located in Idyllwild, that's like 2 hours away from here..."

Laurielle quickly rushed out of the room and grabbed her things, "I've driven that road before and I'll drive it again, 2 hours for me is about 30 minutes. I have to make this right, see you later."

Finally arriving to her destination, Laurielle killed the engine and stepped out of the car.

The entire lot was vacant, and all that surrounded her were a bunch of trees— what seemed to be a small shack was the only thing in plain sight, and as sketchy as it looked beings that it had an abandoned appearance, she mustered up the courage to explore anyways.

"Hello?" her voice echoed as she pushed the door open a bit, surprisingly the inside of the building was decent "Sheesh, looks sure can be deceiving..."

The faint sound of soft music playing grabbed her attention as she followed, before long she ended up in the same room as August,

His back was turned due to him focusing on his work, and she could feel her palms becoming sweaty as she silently basked in his presence.

"Umm Hi," she spoke in a shy tone "I know I'm probably the last person you want to see but... August it's been weeks now and I've been super worried about you, do you know how many times I've traveled out here in hopes of finding you?"

He continued painting, and acted as if she weren't even in the room, "I'm not going to act as if I don't know why you're upset, and you have every right to be honestly— I just want you to hear me out, please?"

The silence was now deafening and caused her to become a little hopeless, no matter how many times she had apologized, no matter how much she had poured her heart out— he never responded.

"This was a mistake, coming here and thinking I could make amends with you was a waste of time." she sniffled as stray tears fell from her eyes "I at least thought you'd be more understanding, and considerate."

Bringing his paintbrush to a halt, he slowly turned around on the stool in order to face her "Are you finished? I'm kind of busy here..."

Before she knew it she had uttered the words "Fuck you August," and turned to walk away as he followed behind

"Fuck me twice huh, once over the phone and now in person? That's really stylish of you Laurielle."

"I didn't come here to listen to you chew me out about something I had no idea of, I came to you as a woman and admitted where I was wrong— my intentions are real towards you August, always have been."

"That's bullshit," he shook his head "I feel betrayed because I actually let my guard down for you, and what did you do? Disregarded it all, and for what?"

"I said I was sorry..."

"I'm tired of the apologies, at this point I blame me for even considering giving you a chance, you're fresh out of an engagement— the hell was I thinking about? You probably won't be ready for anything serious until years from now,"

"Who are you to tell me when I'm going to fall in love again? It could happen in a week, a month, or whenever! Love has no time frame August, you could know a person for two weeks and be ready to marry them!"

He sucked his teeth before chuckling, "Well you go on out there and find your person, 'cause he ain't in here."

"Why are you being so cold towards me?" she questioned "Didn't everything that we shared mean something to you?"

His lips parted as he was about to speak, but she cut him off "And before you answer think about it first instead of firing off, be honest... be the August I knew before this slight misunderstanding, I know I made a horrible decision as far as not telling Cameron the truth about you, but in my mind it wasn't his business— and if you'd allow me, I'll explain why he was even at my house."

"Fine, go on and explain..."

Laurielle revealed her shocking truth, mentioning her substance abuse, the reasons behind why, and even admitting to kissing Cameron after the fact,

It had been a lot to process for August, but he gave her the benefit of the doubt and didn't judge her, he made that promise to her a while ago about not being judgmental; She also reminded him of how he was big on communication and needed to use those skills, in order to get over this obstacle with her.

"Damn it Lauri," he deeply exhaled while pulling her into his warm embrace "You have no idea how much I missed you, and I apologize for leaving you stranded."

"Your actions are justifiable," her muffled voice sounded off into his chest as she squeezed him tighter "But don't leave me again, please."

"I won't I promise," he gently kissed along her neck as she began to melt in his arms "We're going to get that lost time back, trust me."

"When can we start?"

"Depends on how long I can keep you..."

"All night," she replied

"You're going to let me keep you all night?"

"I'd let you keep me forever actually, that's just how much I like you August," she teased causing him to blush unintentionally

"I have an idea..." he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the back again "Be my muse?"

"Whaaa? I couldn't possibly do that."

"And why not? I think it'll be a cool experience for the both of us, all you have to do is sit there and look gorgeous— shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"You're right about that, and I know just what to do," she smiled while grabbing a nearby sheet that was draped across a chair "Turn around..."

Doing as told he waited a while until she gave him the green light to face her again, "I— I uh don't know how I feel about this Lauri."

She stood there naked with only the sheet pressed against her flesh, her hair in it's naturally curly state, and a smile that could brighten any dark abyss.

"Just focus on me, and allow your paintbrush to maneuver against the canvas in such a way that only the greatest artist of all time, could see fit."

He obliged while getting his equipment in order, "Okay but you've got to give me something to work with, don't just stand there all stiff— I need something bold, so really give it to me."

Laurielle didn't hold back as she began striking odd poses for inspirational purposes only, August had never painted an individual or anyone actually in person. And she was no pro, but she could've definitely fooled him.

Wrinkles formed in August's forehead indicating his concentration, his hand swiftly moved in a parallel manner, his eyes darted from the canvas to her and repeated constantly, he wanted this to be perfect...

"I want to capture every single detail," he spoke his thoughts out loud

"Every detail," she repeated part of his sentence as her teeth sunk into her bottom lip, Laurielle allowed the sheet to slip further down her body as her breasts became exposed

August had no definite reaction due to him being in his creative mindset, but his flesh had gone into a frenzy as he fought the act of temptation.

"That's perfect Lauri," he then whispered "You're so beautiful to me."

Although they hadn't been physically intimate, this was definitely an intimate moment for them both. They were able to stimulate each other minds first, without words— their auras continuously glowed in sync.

Unintentionally, August had fallen flat on his face for her...

Some time later, the strokes from his brush came to a halt as he let out a breath "It's finished."

Laurielle squealed with excitement as she impatiently waited for him to reveal the masterpiece, "Well? Let's see it!"

He carefully turned the canvas towards her as she gasped in amazement, her jaw had literally hit the floor;

"I'm speechless right now August, wow— you certainly did get every nook and cranny..."

"Well I told you I wanted to capture the details, from the pigment of your skin, to the tension in your frame."

"There's tension? Where?"

"Here," he pointed towards the center of her back "This wasn't a relaxed pose, and although I know you were in position for the painting, your body language still tells a different story. Do you see the way that your shoulder is raised, and how your muscles are flexed?"

"Yeah, I see it August." she sighed causing him to quickly reassure her,

"There's beauty in pain Laurielle, and that's all I see when I look at you. Nothing's wrong with that at all— thank you for being my muse."

She began blushing, "You're truly more than welcome."

He soon gave her a bit of privacy in order for her to get dressed again, and afterwards he wrapped everything up all while inviting Laurielle back to his grandparents house, which is where he had ran off to those past couple of weeks.

Of course she agreed to visit, and soon learned that his grandparents' house wasn't too far off from his own— if she really wanted to find him all she had to do was go up a hill.

"I can't believe you tried to abandon me, as if I wouldn't come looking for you."

"Not gonna lie, I didn't think you'd continue your search. I was for certain that you'd forget all about me and move on with your life, that's what everyone else has done to me."

"Well I'm not everyone else August, know the difference."

He held his hands up in surrender as she playfully rolled her eyes at him, "Duly noted."

"I feel like I need to make it up to you in some kind of way, are you into surprises?"

"I'm not a really big fan but I would definitely keep an open mind for you, besides you're already making it up to me right now just by being in my presence."

"Tell me that you missed me again," she teased as he used his tongue to poke at the inside of his jaw "Come onnnn say it."

"I'm about to push you off of this back porch," he chuckled before giving in "I really did miss you Cher..."

She then wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him from behind— her head gently rested against his back as she inhaled the potent scent of his cologne, "So where do we go from here?"

"We'll just pick back up where we started before we ran off the tracks, but first I'm going to need another apology from you."

"Excuse me?" she pulled back with a frown "Apology for what?"

"Fuck you August," he imitated her voice as she silently giggled "Ring any bells?"

"I apologize I didn't mean it..."

"It's all good," he paused for a second before speaking again "This situation between you and your ex, is it finished?"

"Done and done."

He then turned to face her, his hands loosely gripped her waist as he pulled their bodies closer together— Laurielle could feel him breathing against her lips but didn't make any sudden movements.

"Good, because I don't give second chances... so keep that in mind."