Chapter Text
Shauna didn’t expect anyone to know her at Brown. That was part of the appeal.
She’d grown up in a suburb where everybody knew everything about everyone else. Where if you did one thing wrong—or worse, interesting—you’d never hear the end of it. Brown felt like a reset button. A place where no one had heard the whispers about Jeff Sadecki, or about that fight with Jackie, or anything else she didn’t want to carry around anymore.
And for the most part, it worked. She sat in the back of her classes, spoke when she had to, didn’t join any clubs. People were nice, but no one really noticed her. Not until that morning in Drawing 1, when a girl she didn’t recognize said she was pretty.
Mari Ibarra didn’t go to her high school. Shauna would’ve remembered her—she wasn’t the type you forget.
She was always late to class but somehow never got in trouble. She wore tank tops under oversized jackets and had chipped glitter nail polish and a habit of humming under her breath while she sketched. Her notebooks were covered in sharpie doodles and she drew like it was breathing—effortless, fluid, all instinct.
Shauna was trying to be invisible. Mari was the kind of girl who made invisibility impossible.
Which is probably why Shauna had been so thrown off when she caught Mari sketching her.
And it was her—no mistaking it. The curve of her cheek, the slope of her nose, the way she rested her chin in her palm during lectures. Mari had captured it all in soft lines, tucked between two pages in her sketchbook.
After class Shauna gets out quickly to follow her.
"Hey," Shauna calls out, too sharp. Mari turns. Her jacket sliding off one shoulder and she’s got paint on her jeans.
Mari raises a brow. “Yeah?”
Shauna jogs a few steps toward her. “You were… drawing me.”
Mari tilts her head. “Uh. Yeah.”
Shauna folds her arms. “Why?”
Mari shrugs, not defensive, just casual. “You were sitting still. And the light was hitting your face weird. Thought it looked cool.”
“You didn’t ask.”
Mari lifts a shoulder again. “Didn’t think I needed a permission slip to sketch someone in the middle of a public classroom.”
Shauna makes a face. “It’s kind of creepy.”
Mari actually looks surprised at that. “Creepy?” she repeats, almost offended. “Come on, it’s not like I was hiding behind a locker with binoculars.”
Shauna flushes. “That’s not what I meant. Just—whatever. It was weird, okay?”
Mari watches her for a second. “You really that mad?”
Shauna hesitates. Her voice is quieter when she answers. “No. I just… it caught me off guard.”
Mari pulls her sketchbook from under her arm. “You wanna see it?”
Shauna blinks. “What?”
“The drawing. You keep glaring at me like I carved your face into a tree or something. Might as well look.”
Shauna hesitates, then nods. Mari flips it open, pages fluttering, then turns it toward her.
It’s... definitely her. Not super realistic, but something about the eyes, the shape of her mouth. It’s raw and soft at the same time, like Mari had actually paid attention.
“I look sad,” Shauna says after a second.
“You looked bored,” Mari says. “But like, the cool kind of bored. The kind where you’re thinking too hard.”
Shauna hands it back, not meeting her eyes. “You really just draw random people?”
“Not usually,” Mari says, tucking the book back under her arm. “Just when they look interesting.” She says it flat, but there’s something in her voice that makes Shauna’s stomach twist.
She doesn’t know what to say to that.
Mari adjusts her jacket. “Anyway. I can stop if it bothers you. Just thought—whatever.”
Shauna bites her lip. “You could’ve just… asked.”
Mari glances over. “You would’ve said no.”
Shauna thinks for a second. “…Yeah. Probably.”
Mari snorts. “See?”
“But maybe not if you’d asked right,” Shauna adds.
Mari smirks a little. “What’s the right way to ask to draw someone?”
“I don’t know.” Shauna shrugs. “Maybe not like a total weirdo?”
Mari laughs under her breath. “I’ll work on that.”
Shauna’s about to turn and leave, but then something makes her stop. “You really think I’m… interesting?”
Mari raises an eyebrow. “What, you want me to say pretty or something?”
Shauna glares, but it’s more blush than anger. “I didn’t say that.”
“Didn’t say you did,” Mari says, grinning. “But yeah. You're pretty.”
Shauna groans and covers her face. “Oh my God.”
Mari laughs, turning to go. “Wednesday night. Studio’s empty after nine. Come sit for me. I’ll try not to be a creep about it.”
“You’re so full of yourself,” Shauna mutters.
Mari, already walking away, calls over her shoulder: “Only when I’m right!”
Shauna stands there a minute, heart doing this dumb fluttery thing she hates, thinking about Mari’s pencil lines and the way she said you looked like you were thinking too hard.