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Every day that summer seemed to be the same. Ellana Lavellan would wake up, have a cup of tea, grab her bag and her sketch book, head out to the park, and hope she’d reach some sudden rush of inspiration. She’d sit quietly on the edge of an elegant fountain, stone and metal, delicately wrapped around one another. Sometimes she’d sketch different parts of the fountain, focusing on the shapes and where metal met rock, interlocking together. Her favorite parts were the cracks where bits of moss would try to grow, only to be scraped off days later.
After the first week of visiting the park, she began to notice a man sitting across the park, always under the same tree. He was bald, but not in an unattractive way, as though it was by choice. Watching him for a bit longer she noticed he also held a sketch book in his lap, he was concentrating on something, and she felt herself compelled to draw him. While she tried to fight her sudden urge for capturing this man upon the pages of her sketchbook, she finally caved and sketched a bit. The line of his jaw, the curve of his hands, they were all so beautiful to her, and like a thief, she wanted to take all of him in. After she finished this sudden and strange fascination with him and her drawing, she glanced up and he was gone.
The next week brought much of the same. The same man, sitting in the same place by the tree, the same girl sitting by the fountain, filling up their sketch books. She mostly drew him, but occasionally saw something or someone interesting in the park. Ellana never could figure out what exactly it was that he was drawing, whatever it was though certainly kept his attention. Finally, mid-summer, the sun was shining brightly, the buzz of insects in the air, children laughing and playing in the park, and she couldn’t bare it anymore. This game they played, and perhaps he didn’t even realize it was happening, it needed to end. She needed to speak to the man by the tree, needed to know what he was drawing, why he came there every day. With a deep breath she gathered her courage and marched herself over to him. Her hands were bunched into fists as she clutched her sketchbook to her chest. He was still furiously drawing, shading something she thought, his focus nearly took her breath away. At last he seemed to notice her, his hand stopped moving. Seeing the shadow looming over him and his sketch book, he looked up he squinted a bit, the sun was a halo of light behind her. She tried to smile, but she wasn’t sure it came out correctly. Curse her social awkwardness.
“Hi. Hello. So…I noticed you’re here, in the park, a lot. And well, I was just curious. What is it that you draw every day? You always look so focused.” The man looked at her, a faint blush coloring his cheeks as though he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t have. His expression however, was as serious as ever.
“I could ask the same of you.”
“What?” She blinked, taking a step back. With all of her curiosity she had never imagined that he had noticed her.
“You are here every day as well, are you not? You sit by the fountain.”
“Well, yeah. I live nearby, the walk is nice. I like walking. And the park. Parks are nice. And its summer so, being outside is nice.” She chastised herself mentally for being such an awkward mess. The corners of his lips turned upwards ever so slightly in the faintest of grins, and Ellana wasn’t quite sure if he found her adorable or amusing. Both, probably.
“Then, it is safe to assume, great minds think alike.” He said smugly. Ellana bit the inside of her cheek, placing her empty hand on her hip. Her other hand tightly gripped her sketch book.
“You didn’t answer my other question. What is it that you’ve been drawing? You always look so serious when you draw.”
“Ah.”
“Ah?”
“I see that you have been paying more attention to me than you have with your own drawings.” She frowned. Who was this guy? Scolding her as though he were an art professor? Jerk.
“That’s not---just answer my question.” The man smirked, she was getting sick of his proud attitude. He lifted up his sketch book to her, offering it. She nearly yanked the poor book from his hands in her annoyance. He looked at her expectantly, his hand still stretched out in front of him, his fingers twitching slightly.
“What?” She asked with a slight glare. His expression grew serious once more.
“I am showing you my sketch book, something deeply personal to me. It hardly seems fair unless you show me yours. Unless you’ve been doing something else with your time and your book is in fact nothing more than an empty prop.” She growled, practically shoving the book towards him. Ellana began flipping through the pages of his book. The first few pages were quick sketches of architectural details, windows and spires from various buildings across the city. They were quite good, much to her annoyance. Some pages seemed to be things he had dreamed up, fantastic landscapes of castles floating among the clouds, ivy covered temples, and beautiful statues of dragons and giant wolves. The book also contained a surprising number of sketches of griffins, one of them bathing next to a waterfall, which made her smile. The next few pages were of a girl, different parts of her at first. There were a few sketches of her arm and hands, two of her legs in different positions, one very detailed drawing of her hair, and a few of her facing away from him, her face obscured by her hair. Flipping to the next page she realized the girl, who was always sitting next to the same fountain, was her. Gasping loudly, Ellana nearly dropped the book. Looking at him she saw he was blushing and staring at her own notebook.
“You drew me.” They said at the same time. Her face became bright red from embarrassment, and with a burst of anger she nearly threw his book at him. Damnit, she had forgotten she had done several very detailed drawing of him, all utterly embarrassing. The anger quickly left her body and she slowly sunk down to sit across from him, slowly handing his book back to him.
“Well that was a surprise.” She said, almost breathless. The man grinned, letting his fingers brush along her hand as he reached for his book.
“I believe I did say, great minds think alike.”