Thoughts, Ch. 01

As Cassie started emptying the sack, she caught sight of the tattered cardboard box of books sitting a foot away. "Hmmm. What's this for?" she asked, not as loudly as before.

Olivia appeared a second later, feigning surprise as she glanced at the girl, and then the box. "Oh, that! Just some old books I'm gonna donate. Just taking up space in my closet." she said nonchalantly, pulling the art book up for a moment and then setting it back down.

Watching from the corner of her eye, Olivia watched her friend's face as it turned to glance at the book, smiling to herself as the girl picked up the volume to look more closely at it. Several seconds of silence passed, after which Cassie spoke again.

"Huh... can I borrow this? she asked, as if mesmerized by the image on the cover.

Olivia forced herself not to react, to appear disinterested, not wanting to jinx what she hoped was happening. "Huh? Oh yeah, sure, just getting rid of it anyway. Keep it," she replied, looking away as if something else was commanding her attention.

"Awesome, thanks," Cassie replied with a big smile.

Over the course of the next week, Olivia watched Cassie not only poring over the book she had given her, but watched almost in awe as the blonde carried in at least a half-dozen more books, all of which she read more than once. Satisfied that the new suggestion had taken deep root with the girl's mind, she was ready to supply the next idea.

This message was somewhat shorter than the others so far, which she feared might break the effectiveness of what she had in mind. "Check out sculpture," Olivia had recited into the microphone, her voice had shaken so much that it took four attempts to finally get it right. She had long admired the ability of an artist to render shapes out of rugged blocks of stone, taking a jagged surface and transforming it into something lovely. Crafting an image that duplicated the human body, all its sinews and curves, even down to the lips on the face. Images especially of the female form in all its beauty and wonder, especially the ones that were nude or partially clothed and teasing all the more.

Olivia forced the sexual images from her conscious mind so that she would not be in a fit of lustful frenzy when Cassie returned from class to the dinner she had agreed to share with her. Frowning to herself, Olivia looked at the table and found it unpleasantly drab and unremarkable, which prompted a desire within her to beautify it somewhat. With her roommate's "newfound" interest in art, surely it made sense to feed that hobby with a little decorative beauty.

She practically skipped into the kitchen and opened up the wobbly faded white drawer just to the left of the chipped porcelain sink, rummaging through the linens inside. After a moment or two, Olivia found what she was looking for, a nearly flawless tablecloth with large sunflowers on it, similar to the ones on the cover of the book she had given to her object of desire. 'Could reinforce things in her head nicely.'

Cassie burst through the door in her usual boisterous manner, opening her mouth to say something, but freezing in mid-step when she caught sight of the table, smartly decorated and already displaying the food that Olivia had prepared for dinner. It wasn't overly fancy, but she was immediately touched that her roommate, with whom she seldom saw eye-to-eye with on anything, had shown such consideration and forethought. Her own boyfriend could barely manage to remember his manners on a good day, so it was a refreshing contrast. For a brief moment she wondered if it was some sort of a ploy to get her into bed, but she had not suffered any advances from her for quite some time now. All Cassie could manage to get out was, "Um... wow..."

Olivia giggled and waved her hand in the open air for a moment. "No, it's no big deal, just sick of the way this old table looks, I swear it got dragged in from the dump down the road. Just something fresh, ya know?" she said, smiling and sitting down in the chair furthest from her in the most unassuming way possible.

Cassie stood still for a moment, trying to process it all, but her eyes were drawn to the huge flowers, and for a moment she found the faint remains of a memory, or more like the feeling of a memory, almost like a dreamy voice was whispering in her ear. Whatever reservations or worries she had melted away and she plopped down into the creaky chair. "Well... thank you, Olivia, it's... sweet," she said, stabbing her fork into the overcooked broccoli and putting it in her mouth.

Olivia watched how the other girl's stiffened posture melted as she gazed on the flowers, not like a hypnotic trance or anything, but like something clicked inside her mind, triggering a subtle surrender to the moment, giving in to it. It was more than she could have hoped for, and she stifled a smile wondering where things would head next.