Drawing

Kaveh felt nothing but horror as he eyed his new partner for their class project. Seated across the room, cheek rested against his hand as he stared out the window, was Alhaitham. His face was bored and uninterested, making Kaveh wonder if he even knew what was happening. He was the type who was effortlessly smart, he could sleep through the entire class, could not show up at all, yet would still ace all of his tests and pass the class with ease. 

He approached Alhaitham's desk slowly, standing there awkwardly as the room filled with chatter from the other groups. 

"I work alone," Alhaitham stated, still not even bothering to look at Kaveh.

"What?" Kaveh asked dumbly.

"Are you deaf?" he questioned.

"Are you an idiot? The professor said we're working together, so we are going to do this project together!" Kaveh exclaimed. 

Finally Alhaitham turned towards him, his eyes piercing right through Kaveh.

"Fine, I'll work with you, but don't expect me to do more than my portion of the work. I'd rather take a bad grade than do extra," he explained before turning back towards the window and ignoring Kaveh once more.

He let out an exasperated sigh, glancing at the clock. It wouldn't be long before the bell rang and they still hadn't discussed anything actually important for the project. Kaveh swallowed his pride and turned back towards Alhaitham. He didn't exactly want to work with this jerk, and definitely didn't want to work with him any outside of class, but he didn't want to fail either.

"Number," he muttered quietly.

"What?" Alhaitham asked.

"Give me your number," he said again, but louder.

"Say please and I'll consider it," Alhaitham replied, smirking at Kaveh's obvious annoyance and slight embarrassment. 

"Damnit, will you please give me your number?" he mumbled.

"No thanks," Alhaitham replied right as the bell rang.

Everyone immediately rushed towards the door, yelling filling the halls as people rushed out, finally free to leave. Kaveh went to grab his own things, shoving his binder into his bag angrily, papers crumpling beneath it. He glanced over, watching as Alhaitham typed away on his phone while slowly putting away his things neatly. 

After a moment of hesitation he walked over and made a grab for Alhaitham's phone. Alhaitham jerked his hand backwards out of reach, causing Kaveh to stumble towards him. He steadied himself on the desk before looking upwards, his face flushing with embarrassment. Alhaitham was only a few inches away, a small smirk pulling at his lips.

"Hand me your phone," he commanded.

Kaveh straightened before slowly unlocking his phone before handing it to Alhaitham. He watched him type something before handing it back.

"See you around," he stated before putting his headphones on and heading out the door, leaving Kaveh to stare after him.

He opened his phone to see a new number in his contacts, Alhaitham's number. 

Kaveh laid on his bed, unable to sleep as he stared at the wall, cloaked in hand-like shadows. Usually he would be up drawing, working on his latest architecture plans, but the inspiration just hadn't struck him. He had thrown away countless failed attempts until he had given up, choosing to simply lay in bed. 

He couldn't help but feel the stupid urge to message Alhaitham, even working on their project would be better than this. 

Kaveh: Hi

Kaveh turned his phone off after only a moment, already regretting this decision. It was too late to go back, but Alhaitham would make fun of him for this without a doubt. 

Even in elementary school he had never been close to the silver haired boy, no one had. He had been the type you stared at from afar, that you idolized, but never dared to approach. Alhaitham was good at everything, but he had always been a total jerk. While every girl in their class had fallen all over him, he had rejected every one of them, sometimes so rudely the girls would leave in tears.

Kaveh was the exact opposite. He was outgoing with quite a few close friends, but sports and academics weren't his strong suit, he had much preferred his pencil and paper. The few girls that weren't completely infatuated with Alhaitham had never interested him romantically. 

Suddenly his phone vibrated and Kaveh sat up, slowly checking. He was surprised to see that it truly was Alhaitham (whose contact name he had changed to Jerk).

Jerk: Hi.

Kaveh: R u free?

Jerk: No.

Kaveh: Oh

Kaveh shut off his phone, expecting the conversation to end there. Disappointment creeped up inside of him, but he ignored it. What had he expected? Just because Alhaitham had given his number didn't mean he would want to talk to Kaveh at 12 in the morning, most people would be trying to sleep.

Suddenly his phone vibrated again and he checked hesitantly, wondering if it was just a notification from an app, but was surprised as he saw that Alhaitham had texted once again. 

Jerk: Did you need something?

Kaveh: I couldn't sleep, was thinking about working on the project 

Jerk: Why don't you just draw something?

Kaveh paused for a moment, how had Alhaitham known he liked to draw? He had always thought Alhaitham was above thinking about anyone else. He had everything he wanted, he was smart, good looking, athletic, yet he had still noticed him?

Kaveh: No inspiration

Jerk: Draw me.

Kaveh couldn't tell if he was joking or not, the proper punctuation was killing him. He occasionally drew people, but had never shown anyone, and no one had ever requested him to draw anything either. 

Kaveh: Say please and I'll consider it

He shut off his phone, his heart beating much louder than it should have been. Alhaitham was just joking, what was he getting so worked up about? 

Jerk: If I say please, will you really do it?

Kaveh: Sure

Jerk: Please draw me.

Kaveh turned off his phone again, what was wrong with him, was he really about to draw that jerk back just because he said please? He didn't even remember what he looked like clearly enough to get the details right. 

Kaveh: I need a picture of you

Alhaitham left him on read for a moment before a picture sent. It was simple, he was just leaning against a tree, a book in hand, dressed in a plain hoodie and jeans, but he somehow managed to look handsome in it. His silver hair slightly tousled from the invisible breeze.

Kaveh turned his light on and moved to sit at his desk and grabbed one of the scattered pencils. He opened his sketchbook to a blank page before slowly beginning to sketch, letting his hands take over. Hopefully it would turn out well in case Alhaitham asked to see it. He would probably be busy with this for the rest of the night.