Kevin's POV

A guy around my age steps on stage with Aaron. He has dark hair, tan skin, and he's wearing a fuzzy red beanie. It takes me a moment to recognize him as the guy from the ice cream shop. Although they seem relatively ordinary, the two of them seem to command attention, their presence loud in the silence. My dad taps my leg to get me to look unnecessarily.

The guy clears his throat, not bothering with the microphone. "I'm Abel, this is Aaron, and we thought that we'd do something a bit more free form today, if you all don't mind." His voice is quieter and huskier than earlier, slow like molasses but interesting enough to keep my attention. The crowd cheers softly, encouraging the two on stage. Abel smiles. "Well, we'll get started I suppose." He pulls himself a stool aside to sit on stage left, and gives Aaron center stage, opposite of the other performers I'd seen. Aaron grabs a canvas from somewhere off stage along with an easel. As he gets them set up, I watch the poet. His disposition changes into something mysterious and alluring.

Once Aaron is ready, he speaks. "I never understood why people say life is too short, because life is infinite. Think about it. A year. 365 days, 8760 hours, 525600 minutes, that's so much time. And you could get over a hundred years to exist, you might as well be immortal. You could see everything you've dreamed to see, do everything you've ever wanted to and still have time to spare. So I don't believe in living for the sake of living, no, I'd rather take things slow. Appreciate the small things, this daringly scant lighting, the restless way she sits, the hard decision between cookie dough or Rocky Road, the peculiar periwinkle of his eyes," here I swear the guy looks directly at me, "That insane concentration that takes over your mind when you do something you're passionate about. Appreciate it all, carefully, because you don't want to look back and realize that you lived too fast. Love like the world is moving in slow motion. Live each day like it's unique. Do something meaningful with your time here. Don't do something "cool", don't do something you're good at, do something you love."

Here I stop listening to the words, I just soak in the atmosphere. There's a gentle scratching from Aaron and some gentle drumming for ambience, but other than that, it's just him. His voice is no louder, but much more thoughtful and confident. There's a stunned pause when his voice stops and Aaron shows the crowd a beautiful charcoal sketch of his wife sitting on a porch. There is no applause, no snapping. Just awed silence. Abel stands, smiling easily. "Thank you for having us." He bows and just as he steps off of the stage, the crowd is released from his spell.

I turn to my dad. "Holy shit. Dad."

He looks back at me, eyes glinting playfully. "I know. He's hot, isn't he?"

I blush. "That's not even what I was talking about..." I sigh, opening my mouth to elaborate when Aaron bounds over to us. He's a tall, asian guy with short dark hair. He makes me think of a golden retreiver.

"So? How was it? What'd you guys think?" He smiles, bouncing up and down on his toes. I often forget that he's in his forties.

I try to respond. "It was... It was so cool. Like magical, and--"

"Kevin thinks Abel is hot," my father interrupts. I feel my face heat and glare at him. He snickers at me, leaning over to whisper in my ear, "You know it's true, don't lie."

I begin to argue, then realize that I can't. He is very good looking, and his way with words is mind blowing...

"Great, I'll take you to meet him," Aaron says as I return from my Abel-induced stupor.

"What? No, you really don't need to--"

"Nonsense! Any friend of mine is a friend of Abel's. Let's go!" Aaron grabs my hand, pulling me out of my seat and towards the rear of the stage. I turn around to silently tell my dad that he sucks. He smiles back and mouths, Have fun.

...............

Aaron takes my arm, pulling me backstage, and I nervously follow. My stomach flips as the artists give me judgemental looks. We reach a boy of medium height and build sitting cross legged in a piano shell scribbling in a notebook. Abel. He doesn't look up, mumbling a soft "just a moment..." He writes, faster, seeming frenzied. Aaron leans close to my ear. "He gets like this sometimes, when he's got an idea." I nod, watching him rock side to side while he scratches. Suddenly he jerks to a stop, writing a few more lines and setting the book down.

"Sorry. What did you need?" He looks up. His eyes are an impossible caramel brown, and my heart squeezes slightly.

"Abel, this is my nephew, Kevin. He's just been dying to meet you," Aaron grins. I glare harshly at him for adding that last bit before turning to Abel.

He's looking at me curiously with those distracting irises, and I stare at my feet. "If you're, uh, busy, we can go. It's not-"

"No." Abel interrupts me. "Please, stay. Just a second." He picks his journal back up, writing some more. Without looking up, he says, "I didn't know you have siblings, Aaron."

Aaron shrugs. "I don't really. Kev-kev's dad is basically my brother." I sip my bottle of water.

"Kev-kev?" This time he looks up at me, and my face burns a violent pink. His lips twitch slightly before he turns back to his writing. "Cute. I like it."

My lovely trachea chooses that moment to stop functioning properly. I choke on the water, spewing it all over the floor, and on a bag near the piano. A few specks get on Abel's shirt. Wildly glancing at everything besides Abel, I panic. "Oh hell. I am so sorry. I can replace your stuff and everything and- Geez. I should just..." I trail off when I hear Aaron snickering. I risk a glance up at Abel.

His light eyes dance playfully, and he looks vaguely amused. "That's not my stuff."

"Oh. Whose is it, then?"

"His." Aaron points to a tall man with dreads. He isn't so buff, but he twitches, his eyes rimmed with red. He looks sleep deprived and downright deranged, like he'd gladly fight a gorilla if he got mad enough. Or a freight train. A freight train made of gorillas. "We should go. Jo doesn't like people touching his bag, and he can get kinda ugly."

I nod frantically. "Sure thing." As I turn to run, Abel grabs my wrist.

"Take this with you, Ginger." He pulls me closer to him and tucks a folded piece of paper into my shirt pocket. He smells like limes, and I really don't want to move away. However, Abel pushes me softly. "Now get out of here. Hurry." He smiles, and I sprint after Aaron. We don't stop until we reach his car.

"Nice job, sprinkler head," Aaron nudges me.

"Oh, hush." I pull the paper from my shirt, unfolding it as Aaron starts the car.

BLUE

Your eyes amaze me.

They're dazzling,

Perfection,

And did I mention

That periwinkle is my favorite color?

I want, no, I NEED to draw those eyes.

They will haunt me,

Pale, lovely, elusive, until I record their beauty

Call me.

We'll make a date. I need to see you again.

You make me want to create new things,

And I haven't met someone like you

In far too long.

P.S- Your eyes look greyer when you're nervous. I like periwinkle on you much better.

He wrote his number at the bottom. I blush. He sounds so interested. Is he interested? But I spit on him! I sigh, blushing darker, folding the paper against my chest. I'll definitely call him.

"What's that?" Aaron asks as we pull into my driveway.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just an old poem I found in the parking lot."

Aaron looks at me skeptically, choosing to nod instead of question me further, for which I am thankful. I dash upstairs to my room, locking the door behind me because this feels secret and mine.

I punch in the number with slightly shaking fingers, pressing it to my ear. It rings once. Twice. Then, someone picks up. "Hello?" The voice is soft and gravely, husky in the best way.

I clear my throat. "Hi, um, is this Abel?" I hear papers shifting around in the background of the phone call.

"Yeah, 's this Blue-eyed Kevin?"

I grin. "The very one. Thanks for the poem."

There's a pause, followed by a rustle. Then, "Did you like it?" The way he asks, softly, hesitantly, almost shyly, makes me smile.

"Of course," I say, smiling bigger when I hear the relieved sigh that he lets out. "It was nice. No one's ever called my eyes 'dazzling' before."

"I wouldn't say it if it weren't true, Blue." i blush at the pet name, my heart beating a bit faster. He shifts, like he's holding the phone between his shoulder and jaw. "Listen, I've gotta go start taking down the stage in a bit, but what do you say you and I go out sometime?"

Here, I hesitate. What if he's absolutely crazy? What if he tries to kill me? "Um, I don't know..."

He chuckles. "If you're worried about me being dangerous, you can bring a friend." His tone loses a bit of its innocence. "Do you think I'm dangerous, Blue?"

I can picture him tilting his head, looking at me with those caramel eyes, a bit of his hair falling into his face. I swallow. "Not necessarily. But you can never be too sure," I say, trying to keep my voice even. "Can I bring my friend, Damon?"

"Sure thing. Meet me here, say 2 o'clock on Saturday?" He sounds hopeful.

"Mmhmm. I'll see you then, Abel."

There's a pause, then an audible gulp. "Bye, Blue." The phone clicks.

He's hung up.

I sit cradling the phone for a few more moments, smiling, before climbing into bed. For the first time in a long time, I fall asleep without Damon being the main thing on my mind.

A/N: Adam Gallagher as Abel on the top!

Thanks for giving this a read! Give it a vote/comment if you enjoyed!

The next update might be a while from now as I'm working on connecting two pieces of this story together, but it won't take too terribly long, I promise.

Have a great rest of your day ^^