Plain and Simple

A/N: Thanks for viewing my fic so far. Also keep in mind that reviews are appreciated as they let me know whether I'm doing a good job or not. Other than that, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter.

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Chapter Three-Going through the Motions

Mike took out the headphones he wore and switched his black iPod off when he spotted Jess making her way to him from down the road, waving her over to him. Quickly shrugging on his small backpack he lifted up two paper fast food bags which got Jess’ attention as she began to jog towards him when she noticed one of them was from McDonald’s. Saying a brief “Hi” she immediately snatched the paper bag out of his hand and began to dig into the french fires and burger that lay inside. As she quickly scarfed down the food she noticed in the corner of her eye that Mike was giving her a bewildering stare.

“Sorry, I didn’t eat breakfast,” she apologised while she continued eating, this time slowing down a bit. Wolfing down the last bit of her burger she quickly redirected her efforts to the rest of her chips. “Thanks for getting food.”

Mike could only chuckle at the sight of pretty and petite Jess tearing into the large bag of junk food. It was a common joke a lot of them made, that of all people Jess was the one addicted to fast food. He even recalled a time where she said with a straight face that she’d marry a bag of salt and vinegar chips. “No problem,” he said with a grin as he opened his own bag from Oporto’s, a nearby grilled chicken joint that the group usually hung out at. “Do you want to finish off eating first, or can we do that while walking?”

“I think I can manage,” she replied with a smarmy attitude as she let Mike lead the way through the service entrance and into the asphalt grounds of Sydney Boys Grammar School. “Hey, come to think of it I’ve never really been here before.”

“Really?” Mike was surprised by this fact, especially how Jack had known her since just after kindergarten. When he though about it himself Mike soon realised that she was right, none of the girls had ever been inside their school. However, on the other hand, none of the guys had ever visited St. Elizabeth’s All-Girl High School. “Well in that case how much time do you have to spare?”

“About the entire day, I’m in no rush,” Jess then cocked her head at her friend questioningly. “Why do you ask?”

“I was just thinking about giving you the grand tour,” he answered with that same impish expression he usually had when he had an idea. Holding out his arm in an overly-dramatic and old-fashioned manner his smile widened when Jess went along with the gag and hooked her arm around his, letting him lead the way around the, mostly concrete, school grounds.

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Mark yawned as he stretched in his seat, looking around to find himself on his couch with the TV on and the volume turned down, quickly realising he’d fallen asleep while watching No Country for Old Men. Feeling something soft and warm on him he looked down and saw a large blanket covering him as well as a note on the end table text to the arm rest of the couch. Reaching over he grabbed it and noticed it was just something from his mum letting him know she and his sister had gone out and that they wouldn’t be back until night. It didn’t bother him that much, it at least meant he had the entire day free to himself. Searching his pants pockets he found his phone with ease and started to call Mike’s house, seeing as he might as well bum around with friends rather than stay home alone, bored out of his mind.

“Hello?” asked a female voice. Not surprised at all that a girl had answered Mark merely pressed on.

“Hey Gale, it’s me Mark,” he greeted Mike’s sister. It wasn’t often any of Mike’s friends ever got to meet or talk to Gale as she worked as a lawyer in London and occasionally France for her firm’s European branch, so her family didn’t have many opportunities to spend time with her. However it seemed like she was back for a couple of weeks, and even though there was a twelve year gap between her and Mike they were as close as any brother and sister could be.

“Oh, hey there Mark. I wasn’t expecting a call from you,” she replied, surprised that one her brother’s friends had called the home number instead of his mobile. Then again, they were on holidays so it shouldn’t have been that strange and out of the blue. “I’m guessing you wanted to talk to Mike,” she stated, rather than asked.

“You guessed correctly, is he up yet?”

“Actually, he technically is but he’s out right now.”

“Out?” this fact actually confused Mark for a moment, seeing how Mike never went out when he could simply stay at home and veg out in front of the computer or TV. Other than an occasional trip to Kinokunyia, the Asian book store that Mike and Adam frequented for comics, there could be no other reason for him to go out. “You mean he actually step foot outside the house?”

Hering a soft laugh from the other end of the phone Gale could only smile at Mark’s reaction. “Yeah, I know it’s a miracle. However I don’t think now is the best time to call him.”

“Why not? What’s he doing besides checking out books, comics and DVDs?”

“He’s out with a girl,” Gale said simply, stopping the sixteen-year old Scottish boy in his tracks, verbally and physically. Over the phone the twenty-nine year old could practically hear the gears in Mark’s brain struggle and try to comprehend the fact that her brother was out with a girl, even though Gale hadn’t elaborated upon the fact that it was only Jess.

“Seriously?” was all Mark could come up with as he still tried to figure out the situation. “Like, an actual girl?”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” enquire Gale with a sly expression on her face. “Mr. Wallace, don’t try and tell me you think my brother may have-“

“No, no, no! I didn’t mean it that way,” Mark interrupted, hoping to save face and try and dig himself out the grave he had just dug right there and then.

“Calm down Mark, I was just kidding,” she reassured the teen, readjusting the phone to a more comfortable position. “And don’t worry about Mike, he just needed to borrow Jessica for a few hours for his artwork. Should I tell him you called?”

Effectively reassured by the elder woman Mark could only sheepishly grin. “Yeah, just let him know I called, Gale.”

“No problem. I’ll talk to you later.”

As he hung up, Mark could only wonder about what he had just been told. He had an inkling, like everyone else that Mike had a thing for Jessica now, but he didn’t know his usually timid friend would be so forward this time around. Shrugging at the entire thing he grabbed his sneakers and black waistcoat, deciding to head out himself and go visit his favourite guitar store. However he still couldn’t fully believe that Mike had actually ‘asked out’ Jess, even if he did have an innocent motive.

~~~~

“And this,” Mike said dramatically as he swung open the large red double doors. “Is our art studio.” Spreading his arms to the side he proudly showed off the extremely large classroom where several desks, individual notice boards for each student and many unfinished artworks were strewn around.

Jess took a hesitant step inside and balked at the sheer size of the room and the amount of materials that were seemingly crammed into it. To her right lay a wonderful, large charcoal piece with many photos and black and white images surrounded it. Next to it lay three canvases along with their respective easels along with at least five different paint palettes. Looking to her left she gaped at an incredibly realistic painting of a sun setting in an African village while the piece next to it showed off some impressive use of colour to make an expressive sky and detailed architecture that resembled Roman structures. Finally she looked to the centre, on the other side of the room, and saw a single blank piece of two by one metre paper.

She walked up to it and took a very close inspection of the material, occasionally running her fingers across it. She noticed how there were no marks, no smudges, and no creases in the paper, with the only thing on it being the long strips of masking tape holding it against the wall. Looking behind her she saw Mike with a twisted expression on his face, like he was almost cringing at the fact that he hadn’t done any work at all on his art piece. Smiling back at him, hoping to raise his spirits a bit she hopped back from the paper and looked him right in the eye.

“Alright, let’s do this,” she said with enthusiasm, as she was truly excited after seeing some of the other stuff Mike’s classmates had provided. She was also no stranger to his artistic talent, and although more or less used to his manga and anime drawing style, she knew he could draw something in the traditional sense and make it work spectacularly. She did have faith in him, after all.

Looking into her determined, bright green eyes Mike could only smile himself as he did feel more confident around Jess. Seeing the shy, but inspiring shine to his dark, chocolate brown eyes, she felt that same blush and tightening sensation return to her stomach. Quickly turning away, not witnessing the fact that he was blushing just as much as she was, if not more, she looked back at the blank material once again.

“So where do we start?” she asked, starting to play with her hair once again. “I mean, do we start with poses or photos first?”

Fumbling with his backpack Mike quickly brought out the digital camera he brought from home. “Well I figured we’ll start with photos then I’ll just make a quick few sketches of you in the same poses and then we’re done.”

“Really? It’ll be that quick?” she asked, a small trace of disappointment lacing her question, Mike not noticing this of course. Frankly like most girls she’d always wanted to do some modelling since she was a kid, however nothing big like making the runway or something, just small things which would hopefully get her noticed. If she was being honest with herself, she would have to admit she didn’t have a crystal clear sense of what she wanted to do in the future, but small-time modelling seemed like a good start to make some scratch; and if it was done with Mike, well all the more better.

“Uh, yeah. Well, it all depends you know, if we get the lighting right and such,” he answered hoping that they would take a bit more than just an hour or so, as he didn’t want this day to end so soon.

As they had walked their way around the school, with their arms still linked together for the most part, they had joked and gossipped about what went on in their respective classrooms, social circles and playground areas while Mike showed her the main features and answered all her questions. It was fun, to say the very least and an eye-opening experience to say the most.

Although before they had learnt more about each others’ interests, today seemed to be a bit more on the personal side. Mike had told her about his ambitions to be a comic maker, looking into the English manga market and probably studying journalism in University. She had admitted she didn’t know what she wanted to be, but an author had always been high on her list. Both thought they had childish ambitions, and some considered their goals to be unrealistic, however neither laughed at one another’s dreams. They had then compared story ideas and interesting character concepts they had come up with over the years, both of them unwittingly hoping they would be able to work on a joint project in the near future.

However now they were a bit more casual, as Mike gave simple directions on what poses Jess had to do, such as sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest and another with her standing up, brushing her fingers through her hair which was currently let loose, hanging freely down to her shoulders. It was by that point that Mike was glad his face was mostly hidden behind the camera as he could only notice increasingly as time went by how beautiful Jess truly was. Although he regarded all his female friends to be attractive, Jess seemed to stand out to him right at the moment. Her piercing green eyes and light brown hair along with her slender frame and heart shaped face made it all the more harder for the young Chinese teen to concentrate.

Jessica was having her own trouble focusing as Mike constantly moved around, trying to get a better angle or see if the lighting in one area made a difference in another. As he repeatedly shifted position she noticed how much weight he had lost over the time she knew him. When Jessica had first met with Mike at Jack’s birthday party the year before, he had been a bit chubby, with a round moon-shaped face and had almost no upper body strength. However now his jaw seemed squarer and defined, as well as this his arms appeared to have a bit more muscle. He had also slimmed down considerably, yet he didn’t brag at all about the physical changes he had gone through. Then again, that was Mike; modest to the point of frustration. By this point Jess had to remind herself where she was, and not focus on the body of her friend.

Soon the amateur photo shoot had ended and now all Mike needed to do was make some quick sketches of Jessica, in the same positions, in his art diary. However instead of going for the free-flowing, rushed style he usually used for his drafts he took more time, trying to capture some of the minor details, such as the dimples Jess had when she smiled or the way that her hair curved upwards at the end instead of falling straight down. This was partly due to the fact that Mike was sometimes a perfectionist while at the same time he wanted to make this day last as long as possible. As she sat there on the table in front of him, hugging her knees to her body Jess didn’t complain at all, mostly because she wanted the same thing.

Unfortunately for the two young teens Mike had to draw the line when he had nearly filled up to ten pages of the pretty girl that stood before him. Closing the black, hardcover sketch book he packed his stuff away with one hand whilst handing Jessica her own handbag with the other. Uttering a small thanks she was surprised to turn and find the heavy door being held open for her. Shaking her head she could only quip “And to think, I actually believed chivalry was dead.” The response she got from her male companion was a bark of a laugh as he switched off the lights in the now empty art studio.

As they descended down the stair well together, idly chatting, for the first time that day Jessica noticed a small but simple sticker on Mike’s backpack that read in white letters over a black background ‘Nice Guys Finish Last...Which Is Pretty Good In The Bedroom”. She first giggled at the saying but soon it escalated to a full, high-pitched laughter which rang throughout the empty staircase. She laughed so hard that she missed a step and immediately tripped over and suddenly found herself falling, cutting the laughter short.

Awaiting the imminent pain, which never came, Jessica slowly opened her eyes and found herself mere inches away from the edge of one of the stairs. Glancing behind her she saw Mike holding onto her tightly, his face full of fear which soon turned to relief when he saw she was okay and unharmed. Pulling her up, as she awkwardly turned around in his gentle but stern and safe grasp they both ended in a very compromising position. With Mike’s hands on her shoulder and waist, and hers resting lightly on his upper arms, their faces now were just a single centimetre away from each other, practically nose-to-nose.

She looked into those dark pools of brown that were his eyes, almost obscured by the fringe of black hair whilst he peered into those clear, brightly shining green eyes. They both stood like that for nearly five minutes in complete and utter silence, just looking into one another’s eyes until finally Mike broke the silence.

“You okay?” he asked in a hushed tone, as if he wanted only her to hear his words of worry, despite the fact that they were the only people in the entire school.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she responded in an equally quiet voice as they slowly, yet reluctantly, untangled themselves and pulled away from each other. He shouldered his backpack once more, and she mimicked the motion with her handbag. They gave each other one more quick glance before leaving the art and music building of Mike’s school.

It was even more awkward on their way home as she had to catch the same bus as him, seeing how her parents had agreed to meet up with her at the mall which was close to Mike’s house and on the same bus route that he took. Neither spoke a single word as they sat together on the bus, Jessica looking out the window while Mike fidgeted in the aisle seat. After a short fifteen minute ride Mike had reached his stop and was prepared to get off. However as he stood up he felt a tugging at his left arm. Looking down he got the shock of his life.

As soon as he had looked at what was keeping him anchored to the seat Jessica had sprung on him. She swiftly pulled the taller boy down and gave him a sweet, innocent, but meaningful kiss on the cheek. Staring at her in shock and awe, Mike didn’t know how to react. Instead, she spoke first this time around.

“Thanks,” she whispered with a small smile.

“For what? The stairs?” he asked shyly as he continued to hold eye contact.

She shook her head, however and gave him an even bigger smile. “No. Thanks for the entire day. It was...perfect,” she said, finishing her sentence, satisfied with the more than apt description.

The minute Mike had stepped off that bus he nearly kicked himself, literally. He knew he should’ve stayed on the vehicle, he knew his place was beside Jessica right now on that bus but he had panicked and quickly got out a quick “No problem” before leaving the bus, giving her one last smile. However as soon as he stopped mentally beating himself up his thoughts drifted back to what happened. Reaching up tentatively he lightly touched his left cheek where she had kissed him. It was such an innocent and childish thing to do, but it had a Hell of an effect on the teenager. Looking back at where the bus previously was mere moments ago, he ignored the fact that the pedestrian sign was flashing green, and just stood there.

It was official, to him at least, now. He wasn’t just falling for Jessica Mitchell. No, he had now fallen completely head over heals for her. There was no going back now, and frankly Mike had no desire to.