forum Outside (O/O closed, stalkers welcome :)

Started June 02, 2019 by @basil_

tune

“My real name is Grayson, though I don’t know why I expected you to know that,” he said, looking around the park rather curiously. “Where are we?”

“Ah, well, hi, Grayson.” She corrected herself, “And this is just the friendly neighborhood park. I like to come here to take pictures.” She held up her camera.

"Friendly. Very interesting choice of words," he said, talking mostly to himself without realizing it. "What makes it so friendly?" Grayson looked down, thinking in silence.

“It’s a figure of speech.” She explained, thinking that he directed the question to her, “Nothing really makes it friendly, per se, just local.”

Grayson looked back up at her quickly, a bit shocked at the reply. “Oh, thank you. Sorry, I..uh..tend to talk to myself a lot..”

“Oh, it’s alright, I thought you were talking to me.” She forced a chuckle, “So…you don’t have to answer, but…why don’t you leave your house?”

“It’s a long story..I wouldn’t want to bore you..” Grayson said nervously, worried that she was only interested to find out about his past.

“Oh, I wouldn’t be bored. But if you don’t want to talk about it it’s fine.” She dismissed, taking a couple seconds to continue, “So, um…I’ve seen you writing. What kind of thing do you like to write about? Fiction?”

Grayson moved his gaze back down to his journal. “Well..no not really. Since I’ve been inside the same house for eleven years..I uh..never get to talk to anyone, so this is sort of how I cope. I write down what I would say to people, just to have a conversation with someone other then my dad..” he trailed off, ashamed, or maybe just lost in his own thoughts again.

“Oh wow..” her voice softened, “That’s really..” sad, “That’s really neat that you do that. Are you okay?” She dared to take a step closer to him. Would he be offended if she put a hand on his shoulder?

Grayson nodded, flipping carelessly through his journal. “Just a bit anxious.”
Understatment of the year.
“But I..uh..don’t want to bother you. You didn’t come here to talk to me,” he laughed a little, shifting nervously.

“No, I didn’t,” she supposed, “But I’d rather talk to you than take pictures for a class right now.” She turned off her camera, “I can take pictures any time. I’ve wanted to talk to you since we moved in.”

“Oh..really? I didn’t think I was that interesting,” Grayson said quietly. He suddenly remembered something and looked up at her with a half smile. “What were you drawing?”

“Oh..” she smiled, a little embarrassed, “A lot of things, but..your house actually.” She giggled nervously, “Not to be creepy, I just really..like the architecture.”

Grayson perked up a bit at her giggle. “It’s not that weird. You’re more normal than me anyways,” he laughed a bit. “I guess it’s okay. I’ve been inside of that house too long to like it anymore..”

Jasmine nodded, “That makes sense, have you ever thought about going to the public school in this area? It’s close enough to walk.” She glanced around for a park bench to take a seat on, but the one she spotted would be too far away to just go sit. It would seem she wanted to leave the conversation—which was the last thing she ever wanted to do, “There’s a bench over there. Wanna go sit with me?”

Grayson nodded and followed her over to the bench. “I can’t. It’s not worth the risk,” he said, sitting down. “Plus, I can’t just walk into a school and expect to just be able to go to classes like a normal person.”

Jasmine sat down, resting her hands in her lap, “What’s the risk? It’s a pretty safe school, there aren’t even many fights.”

Grayson looked down at his hands and shook his head. “No it’s..it’s not the school. I..well..I can’t leave the house..and there are other reasons..” He trailed off again, looking up as a couple joggers ran past.

“Ah..” she dipped her head, pushing away the temptation to prod even more, so she changed the subject “Do you like making art?”

“Yeah, it helps pass the time,” he replied, glancing over at her. “I’m assuming you do to? Or, do you like photography more?” He asked, grateful for the subject change.

“I do them about the same amount, I take pictures and then I draw the pictures in my sketchbook with charcoal. I have a photography class, so that trumps most of my assignments, but I love both.” She said, absentmindedly look back down to her camera.

“Why charcoal? It never really appealed to me much.” Grayson turned slightly so he was facing her.

Jasmine shrugged, “I don’t know really…it’s kind of like playing with mud, it’s messy, and at the end I think it looks really cool. It’s like sketching with graphite but tvhas more of a gothic vibe. I’m not goth, but the art style kinda seals to me.”

Grayson laughed. “Yeah, messy can be good I guess. What do you like to draw..usually?” He asked, realizing now how nice it is to actually talk to someone.