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TWENTY


LATER NEVER came. Sebastian stayed quiet for the rest of the day, and for the days that followed after, and didn't bother to make me go anymore with him. Although he was distant, he didn't act like how he has times before, he still lingered around me.

Today, he began speaking to me again.

Sebastian interrupts my thoughts as he walks into the bedroom with cans of paint and other painting materials in his hands just as I'm smoothing out the wrinkles on the sheet thrown over the bed. Huffing, he sets down everything against the wall and quickly runs out again without giving me a look.

I glance over my shoulder at the things and frown once realizing the paint he brought in is for walls, and the other items are paint brushes and a roller along with some tape, tack rags, and paint trays.

He returns, fast, with a drop cloth propped underneath his armpit and giant plastic cover draped over both hands.

His eyes flicker towards me, "It's not everything but it's enough to work with."

I pull at the bottom of my shirt and gaze over the stuff again as Sebastian places the plastic on the floor and begins to unfold the drop cloth.

"What are you doing?"

He doesn't respond to me right away. He takes his time to put the cloth over the bed and pushing it to the farthest wall from us. He then grabs the plastic cover and spreads it over the exposed floor.

Sebastian looks back at me and lifts a shoulder, pushing the front of his hair back. "We're going to paint the room."

"For what?" I say somewhat bothered while dipping my eyebrows forward and scurry my eyes across the walls.

"Well, I heard you say before that the house is...boring, I guess." That wasn't the word I used. "Just help me cover that space behind you."

With a faint exhale, I plod to Sebastian and take the corner of the plastic he's holding up to me and drag it until my back hits the wall. Sebastian hums a song under his breath as he pulls out a screwdriver and bends down over the cans of paint and preys each lid open.

"They're different colors," I say as if it wasn't something he knew already.

He continues humming while nodding his head. "For fun."

Sebastian then reaches for the tack rags and tosses one towards me. I step back and let the cloth fall onto my feel before reaching down for it.

I flicker the corner of the rag and sigh loudly, "Do I have to do this?"

"Of course." He briefly stares at me as he straightens his back and looks at the wall in front of us. "We're going to clean the walls with these. I'll do this wall and you can do the one behind you."

Without delaying, Sebastian gives me cold shoulder and starts to wipe his wall while I stand there, both confused and slightly annoyed. I watch him struggle to clean the high part of the wall for a moment before noticing he looks different today, maybe he actually tried to put some work into his appearance. His hair is clean and sits back in a light, messy poof. It also looks like he tried to groom his beard but really didn't give it much effort because the only difference is that it looks shorter. The scratches on his arms have also healed, only leaving one pale scar.

Sebastian moves his head in my direction and points me to the wall behind me with his eyes, his mouth dimly grinning as he peers towards me.

I bring my eyes to the ground and curtly turn around, and stare at the the bare wall before rubbing the rag against the wood, idle. I hear Sebastian stop his movements for a quiet second before feeling the heat of his body inch behind me. I slowly take the cloth away from the wall and watch out from both corners of my eyes.

"Here," The rag is taken out of my hand from behind gently. "I'll clean the walls. You can put tape on the edges."

Turing around, I find Sebastian standing too close with the roll of tape looping on his pointer finger, his expression pure and uplift. I hold my hand out so he can drop the tape onto it and look away to stare out the small window, for some reason, avoiding holding his look.

"I know you don't like any kind of painting, but try to imagine you're sort of sculpting the walls with colors, if that makes sense. If you want, you can use your hands once we start painting." I snap my eyes onto Sebastian and wedge my lips apart into a tiny circle. He's trying, he really is, and I'm scraping through my thoughts for something to say but nothing comes out.

Seeing that I'm not going to respond, Sebastian places the tape on my palm and continues cleaning the walls. I stay put, facing his back until he's aware that I'm still there and halts his actions. Once I see his back rotating, I twist around to the wall he was working on first and lay tape against the corners.

It doesn't take long for both of us to finish, but it's obvious as to who took their time. Sebastian glances at the poorly taped borders over and over before looking at me, face amused, and letting out a soft laugh.

Even though his laugh was faint, it doesn't suit him. It sounds too distant and strange, like it's something that does not belong to him.

"It's fine." He finally says while shaking his head in playful dismissal.

I drop the almost empty roll of tape onto the floor and cross my arms over my stomach as Sebastian strides towards the paint and trays, and takes out a wooden stick from his back pocket and stirs each can until their completely mixed well. He tosses the stick out into hallway and pours a small amount of orange paint into the deep end of one of the trays. He does the same with the color.

Sebastian grabs both a brush and a roller and holds them in front of his face. "Pick."

I point to the brush and he hands it over to me. Hesitant about continuing to do this, I still take the brush and hurry to stand behind the yellow tray of paint, already set that I might as well get this all over with. Sebastian grips the roller and trails right behind me.

"Just dip the brush into the paint until it reaches half of the length and then tap it a bit on the side of the tray where the long shallow part is." I give him a single nod and follow his instructions. "And now, you work your magic." He finishes.

I grasp the paintbrush in between my fingers like I hold sculpting tools and press the brush against the wall. I step back to look at individual stroke from afar and tilt my head sideways.

"Yeah, like that." Sebastian counters from beside me before turning away to paint his wall.

Returning back to my place, go over the stroke and follow it with a series of overlapping strokes, gradually moving along the edge and attempting to distribute the paint evenly on the flat surface. I repeat this process until I can no longer reach up higher and the whole bottom portion is coated.

I leave the top part for Sebastian and take my tray with me to the wall across from me where the bed is pushed up against. I load the brush and paint over and alongside the bed, pushing myself to be quick.

Once finishing that space surrounding the bed, I drag the base of it away from the wall and kneel on the ground for a better reach. I bring the tray closer to me and dip the brush into it once again and take it to the bare spot, but my hands just hovers over it.

I pry over my shoulder and see Sebastian too focused, still working on his wall with his mouth a bit open. I turn back to look down at the brush in my hand and silently place it on the floor, and roll up my sleeves up to my elbow. I sink both hands into the tray and smear my hands entirely in paint.

Droplets of paint fall onto my thighs and on the hem of my shorts as I carry both hands to the wall and lay my palms firmly against it. With the added pressure, more paint begins to drip down the length of my arm and I take my hands away from the wall.

In yellow color, my handprints coats the achromatic piece of wall hidden behind the bed. I soak my pointer finger into the tray again and write my name underneath my prints.

Vanessa Caetti. Here 2017.

If I never get to leave this place, at least someone will know I was here.

I hear the clunk of the handle of the roller being put down and I wipe my hands on my bare legs, quick, and snatch the brush off the ground. Blowing out loud, I heave myself up and slight push the bed back, making sure to leave some space for the space to dry.

"You're done?" I ask Sebastian while turning around to look at him.

He cleans his hands on his jeans and nods. "Guess so, but I see you are." His eyes dance between both of the walls I finished and glints a vague grin. "Wasn't so bad, was it?"

I shrug and travel my look to his wall; it's orange and polished, nothing compared to my half-ass job. I look back at Sebastian and find him staring at the paint on my thighs, legs, and hands with a tucked chin and the corner of his eyes crinkled.

"You used your hands to paint?" Pinching my nose, I nudge a small nod. His lips divide and his top flip flutters upward that I can see his upper row of teeth. "Really? Let me see."

Before I can say anything, Sebastian wanders next to me and stands close the wall. He eyes it attentively while his smile grows and walks along the length of the wall. The top of his boot bumps into the bed and he wraps his hands around the footboard to move it.

"No," I interrupt a little bit too loud and quick. "I...I like the bed there."

Looking at me sideways, Sebastian disregards what I said and insignificantly drags the bed to the side. "Don't worry, I'll put it back where it is."

I shake my head briskly and extend my arms out in attempt to block him from moving it, but Sebastian is much stronger than I am and successfully moves the bed to see the bit of wall it was covering.

Both of his eyebrows lift once seeing my handprints and his posture straightens. He stares at the wall for a long minute before glancing at the floor and back at my writing. We stand there in complete silence as my heart throbs. I'm scared he's going to paint over it.

"I'm sorry," Is all that comes out of Sebastian's mouth after a solid five minutes.

"No, you're not." I whisper in response.

Finally looking at me, he eases his face and lowers the beginning of his brows. "I am." He takes leisured steps towards me and stretches an arm to my face. I don't move as his fingers hang over my cheek. "I'm sorry, for everything, but it had to be this way. You'll see why."

"Can I go now?"

Sebastian drops his hand away and moves a foot back. "Yeah."



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