Sand and Clay (4 page)

“It’s cute that your face scrunches
up like that when you don’t understand something.” A deep and familiar voice
said behind her. She jumped, startled, and whirled around to see Logan standing
less than a few inches away from her.

“I didn’t get to see a lot of that
at the coffee shop.” He smirked at her, teasing her about being a know-it-all.

Her cheeks blushed a dark red and
she looked away from him awkwardly, feeling embarrassed that he had caught her
in a private moment.

“I didn’t see you there. And I have
no idea what you are talking about.” She stammered sticking her nose up and
mentally kicking herself for being so ineloquent.

He just smiled at her which showed
off small dimples in his cheeks that she couldn’t help but stare at. He was so
unbelievably handsome this close. She could inhale the musky, yet fresh, scent
he exuded and feel his hot breath tickle her cheeks. A silence came over the
two of them for what seemed like an eternity but was really only thirty seconds
at most. He seemed completely at ease which only made her feel even more
nervous, she could see herself becoming more fidgety by the second.

Although Logan was already only a
few inches away from her, he began to lean down a little further, closing the
gap between them even more.  Caroline’s breath caught in her chest, she
wouldn’t even have been capable of breathing if she tried because she was so
entranced in this moment. She was caught in the force field between them,
pushing them closer together.

“So, you like that painting?” Logan
said, interrupting her fantasy moment and causing her to step back and clear
her throat. She blinked a few times trying to gather herself and then looked back
at the painting. He smiled coyly at her, seemingly knowing the effect he was
having on her and enjoying it. This just made her angry. That may not seem like
the normal reaction in this type of situation, but Caroline was always in
control. She didn’t lose herself in the moment like this. At the Java Jolt when
she met Logan, she was calm and collected and hadn’t even given him the
slightest opportunity to ruffle her feathers. Now here he was playing her like
a fiddle! She knew he didn’t really care about her, not with all those groupies
throwing themselves at him. How dare he try and gain the upper hand by throwing
her off balance with those steamy eyes and those tiny, perfect dimples. She
mentally slapped herself and snapped back to reality.

“Yeah, they are okay.” Caroline
said, trying her best to sound nonchalant. He just smiled again at her with
that irritating and boyish grin, like he could read her thoughts and knew he
had just knocked some of her walls down.

Her blood boiled the more that she
thought about it, how dare he act so full of himself! He was just another
musician, nothing original or unique about him.
Just an overly confident man
surrounded by fawning women plucking away at his guitar strings, how unoriginal
he was
, she thought to herself.

“Come with me,” Logan said to her,
his hand capturing her elbow and pulling her towards the draped off section of
the room.

“Where are you taking me? What’s
behind there?” Caroline said, pulling her arm free from him, trying again to
withstand his delicious magnetism. He turned back to her and smiled, rolling
his eyes at her.

“If you want to know, you better
come find out.” He said, annoyingly avoiding her question entirely as he
disappeared between the folds of the velvet curtains.

She watched him enter, then turned
to look at the rest of the room. No one was even remotely paying attention to
them. Jackie was kissing a security guard in the corner of the room and Aralia
was talking animatedly while a group of people sat around her, captivated.

Aralia had always been a star and
there was nothing that could drag her away from an audience. She turned back
towards the curtain and took a deep breath, then stepped forward and pulled
them apart to walk through. The curtains quickly closed behind her and Caroline
found herself alone in a small room, maybe only twice the size of her bedroom
or a little less.

There was a bed to one side with a
large counter on the adjacent wall. There were all kinds of products, clothes,
and travel items strewn across it. The other side of the room is where Logan
stood, facing away with her. He had taken his shirt off and was only wearing
baggy sweat pants at this point.

She paused, taken aback for a
moment, by the site of the clearly defined muscles in his back, followed by his
tall and bulging shoulders and bulky biceps, all covered in different tattoos
that told a story she so badly wanted to read.

Caroline was so distracted by him
that she hadn’t noticed what he was doing until he turned around to look at
her.

“What do you think?” He asked her.

Logan was standing in front of an
easel with a partially painted canvas on it. The scene was of a girl’s profile,
looking behind her. The girl looked sad but confident, yet there was something
in her eyes that made Caroline lock in. She walked further into the room to
look at the painting more in depth, forgetting Logan was standing there and now
fairly close to her. The girl had brown curly hair, pale white skin, and rosy
lips. Her neck and the rest was still not drawn, only her face and the
beginning edges of her hair were completed. It was probably one of the most
beautiful paintings that she had ever seen by the intricacies he was able to
capture with his brush. It looked so real, like the girl was going to turn back
around and look right at her. Not only did the painting look real, but it was
overflowing with emotions and meaning. It wasn’t just a picture on a canvas, it
told a story through her gaze, the soft light around her face, the worry as she
looked behind, and the hazel complexity of her eyes.

“It’s beautiful.” Caroline said,
hauntingly. There was really nothing more that she could say that would
accurately capture what she was looking at. She had now entirely forgotten that
Logan was standing there by her side until his hand came around and sat lightly
on the dip of her lower back. Her breath staggered for a second and she cleared
her throat, then turned back to look at him.

“Whose is this?” She asked him.

“Well once I finish it, you can
have it.” He replied.

“I meant who painted it,” Caroline
started, then stopped and realized what he had just said, “wait, you painted
this?”

“Don’t look so surprised,” he said
smiling at her again, “I am more than a guy hugging a microphone every night.” He
turned from her to look back at the painting.

“Plus, I had a wonderful muse that
pulled this out of me.” He told her. She looked at the painting, feeling
jealous of whoever this girl was that he was painting, even though she knew
that was ridiculous.

“Oh, that’s nice.” She said curtly,
not meaning to sound annoyed but she was, even with every logical part of her
brain telling her she is crazy.

Logan turned back to look at her, a
confused look on his face. Then he seemed to have a realization and smiled at
her. He took another step closer to her, this time entirely closing the gap. His
arms encircled her waist and he pulled her against his bare chest.

Again, Caroline lost every ability
to breath or even to think. She was frozen in his arms and her legs had gone
limp, which is why it was a good thing that he was holding her up.

“Caroline, I painted you. You are
the most beautiful muse there ever could be. Your button nose, pretty lips, and
shiny hazel eyes.” His deep voice was becoming softer as he began to whisper to
her repeating some of the lyrics that she had just heard on stage, while
looking deeply into her eyes.

She couldn’t even believe what she
was hearing, but all she knew is that the butterflies in her stomach were gone.
She felt at home, she felt like she had been in his arms her entire life, or
that her life hadn’t even started until just then.

“Logan.” She breathed his name,
trying to say something but the words wouldn’t come.

“This painting is you, my final
song was you, you have been my every thought since we met. I can’t sleep, I
can’t focus, I can’t do anything but think about you.” Logan whispered to her,
his face coming even closer to hers.

“Caroline…” Logan exhaled her name
and then leaned forward.

His forehead first met with hers,
as they looked down at each other’s lips. Their breath was hot and slightly
ragged as his arms tightened around her. Her hands were on his chest, trying to
keep some barrier between them but her defenses were quickly melting away. With
that, he moved slightly and she felt his lips brush against hers. It wasn’t a
kiss, just a brush but the sensation was like lightning attacking her entire
body and raising her pulse.

“Caroline,” he said, trying to
continue what he was saying, “I’ve never felt this way before. Tell me you feel
this.” He was almost begging but somehow commanding at the same time. His lips
brushed hers again, her eyes were closed and her body was limp against his.

“Yes,” was all she was able to
utter as she leaned further towards him, willing his lips to finally meet hers.
It was like she was on fire and only his lips could cool her flame. But he
didn’t move closer, he pulled slightly further away.

“Caroline, I have to tell you-“
Logan said, still holding her but looking deeply into her eyes. He looked
worried for a moment, a look that she had never seen on him before. It grounded
her and brought her out of her hazy moment with him.

“What?” She asked him, pulling
slightly back so his arms dropped to her hips instead of around her back. However,
just as she was pulling back, a high pitched woman’s voice came from the other
side of the curtain.

“LOGAN!” The shrill voice
screeched.

Logan jumped back from Caroline,
letting go of her completely. The moment he let go felt like someone was
ripping a bandage off of her, it was literally like a physical pain to not have
his arms around her. He turned and walked towards the part in the curtains just
as a tall woman with black hair tied firmly into a bun marched into the room.

Her face was pulled tight with
irritation and her frail frame was held together by a tightly wrapped dress and
way too high heels. Her eyes were green, which was probably the most appealing
part of her because it drew you in and helped you look past the snarl that
seemed like it permanently belonged on her lips.

“Logan, you are late. You need to
be finishing sound check for tomorrow’s show. Then you need to rest so you will
be able to perform!” she walked straight up to him and kissed him squarely on
the mouth.

“Come on, babe. Let’s move it.” She
said. Finally, she seemed to notice Caroline standing in the back of the room
there. The mystery woman’s eyes tightened slightly as they appraised Caroline.

“Oh, hello there. Didn’t know Logan
had company.” She turned to Logan with an angry look. “Care to explain?” she directed
at him.

“Gina, this is Caroline. Caroline,
this is my girlfriend, Gina. Caroline was just looking at this painting. She is
considering buying it when I am done.” Logan flubbed through an explanation but
Caroline hadn’t heard anything past the word “girlfriend”. That sentence and
the moment that they had just shared did not mix, she couldn’t understand what
was going on. Logan was still talking to Gina, but it was all a fog to her.

Caroline just stood there, getting
angrier by the moment, as she realized that she had been so close to almost
kissing a man who was involved with another woman. Logan said something to her,
but she wasn’t listening. He and Gina then walked through the curtain and left
her standing there alone.

Caroline looked back at the
painting of her and a flash of fury ran through her. With one swipe of her arm,
she knocked the entire easel over and the painting lay face down on the floor. Feeling
slightly satisfied by the action, Caroline took a deep breath. She mentally
slapped herself for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

She can’t believe she had let
herself get carried away like that, twice! He was a musician, a rock star, a
man surrounded by groupies. Of course he would be the player type too, of
course he would have a girlfriend. Caroline felt so stupid as she headed over
to the curtains to leave. She paused right before the curtains though and saw
Logan’s shirt draped over a chair arm.

Her anger seemed to immediately
dissipate and was replaced with a sudden feeling of sadness. She didn’t know
why she was doing this, but she grabbed his shirt and stuffed it into her
purse, hiding it from view. Then continued to storm out of the curtains and go
find Jackie and Aralia. They were still on the other side of the room and Caroline
walked over to the angrily, Logan was nowhere in sight she noticed.

“Aralia, I want to go. Now.”
Caroline said, sounding angry because if she let out anything but anger it was
going to be an unending stream of tears and she was not going to give this jerk
the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

Caroline was strong, always had
been and always will be. She didn’t cry over guys. Aralia and Jackie both
turned to look at her and immediately sensed her tone and understood this was
serious. They quickly said goodbye to the people they were with and followed
Caroline. The three girls headed back to the first door that they had entered.

Just as Caroline was about to open
the door, it opened from the other side and Logan came rushing back in. Caroline
took a step back, startled, but then slit her eyes and attempted to push past
him.

“Caroline! Caroline, please, let me
explain.” Logan turned to her, grabbing her arm. She quickly yanked it away
from him and shot him an angry look, as hard as she tried she couldn’t stop the
tears that had begun to brim on her lids. She knew he probably could see them
in her eyes which only made her more angry.