Silence and Sound

The brunette lies awake in bed. She just can’t put the pieces together. After just one day, she can’t stop thinking about the blond. She doesn’t know why. Could it be because he reminds her of the picture that she is cursed to recreate over and over again? Could it be just because he’s nice? Could it be because he’s just so cute? Well, it can’t be that one.
Maybe it will all just go away in the morning. Maybe she’ll wake up and just stop thinking about his blue eyes so much. Maybe. Actually, it’s more like hopefully. How is she going to work on everyone else’s image if she’s thinking of him? The brown-eyed girl really hopes that it all does go away. It’s hard enough with her past coming into mind when she doesn’t need it to.

The short girl finds herself being rocked back and forth. She cries out to her family, but they don’t seem to hear her. She gets down low in hope that she’ll be able to make her way over to them slowly, but it doesn’t work. They are being torn away from her. Tears stream down her face. Why did this have to happen? Why didn’t she take the advice?

Echo wakes up and finds the salty liquid streaming down her face. No matter what, the dreams won’t go away. She sighs and then grabs her phone off the bedside table. The light is blinking, so she puts the password in and looks at the text that Coral sent her.

Coral:We’re going to be meeting the boys in the next location in a couple of hours. I’d advise you to get ready now, so you can draw if you want before I come and get you. I know how you can be. Oh, and I just wanted to tell you real quick that they loved the one that you finished yesterday. They were surprised at your speed too and hope that you keep up the good work.

EO: I’m up now, and I will obviously keep up the good work.

A couple of hours is enough time to draw a picture, right? Echo shrugs to herself. Yeah, it’s enough time. She gets out of her bed and goes over to her couch.Her personal sketchbook is sitting and just waiting for her to start the next picture. She plops down onto the piece of furniture with a little bit of a bounce. Her hands grab her pencil case and the sketchbook. She opens it to the last thing that she drew. It’s that picture of Niall. Her brown eyes just stare at it. She’s thinking about him again. Why is she thinking about him again? Just a second ago, she was craving to draw the sunset again, but now she doesn’t have an urge at all. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Echo wishes so badly that she could ask Coral about it since she’s the closest thing she has. However, she knows how Coral will act and what she will do. Knowing the hazel-eyed girl, she will question her further about these feelings and assume something. Then she will bring it up all the time and try to get her to act on these feelings or tell the blond about them. If she doesn’t, Coral will annoy her to no end. Yeah, she can’t let that happen.
Echo sighs yet again. Maybe a shower will help her clear her thoughts a bit. Her mind is making her mad. She’s never been like this, and that’s making it even worse. Times like this make Echo wish so much that she had a normal life. She might have still become the famous E. O'Connell. She has the talent for it. Just changing that one moment wouldn’t have made everything different, right?
Great. Now, the sunset is back into her mind. She wonders... Echo looks down at the picture of Niall again, and it all goes away. OK, this is getting kind of weird now. How could someone just make all of that just go away. How could someone she doesn’t even really know make her feel the way that she does? She hasn’t felt this way in ages, and there is no way those two things could even be connected. Maybe Echo does fancy him...
The short teen gets up quickly and puts the sketchbook down. No, she can’t fancy anyone at all. She’s far too busy for a relationship. Plus, she’s never been in one. Hell, she’s never even fancied someone before. She’s always too much into her mind to notice anyone in that way. The most that she’s ever thought was that someone was cute. Her hands reach her head. This is all just so confusing.
Echo goes to her closet to grab some clothes. She starts to grab her normal painting attire, but her hand stops before it can reach it. Maybe she should dress up a bit more than stained clothing. She’s normally careful at painting anyway. Plus, maybe Niall will notice her....
Echo, listen to yourself think. It’s the only thing that you can listen to.
The brunette shakes her head. She’s really starting to think like a crazy person. She ends up grabbing her new clothing that she bought in case she has to meet with management or something. She’ll be careful enough. The top is a slightly baggy, sky blue, long-sleeve shirt, and the jeans are pure white. To finish the outfit, she’s going to wear her tan TOMS and a white knit beanie. She takes the clothes into the bathroom with her.
Once there, she sets them down on the sink and starts up the water. It’s cold at first, but it starts to get to the right temperature. She strips and gets in. Showers are not her favorite thing in the world, but this time, it’s really getting her mind off of Niall and the sunset. For once, she is enjoying her shower. Once she is clean, she turns the water off, steps out, and starts to dry off. The worst part about showers is getting out. The cold air just hits you if you’re one of the people like Echo who likes them hot. The brunette dresses and starts to get to work blow drying her hair. It takes her longer than she wishes since she just got out of the shower, but that doesn’t really bother her.
With her hair dry, her deodorant on, and her teeth brushed, she starts to walk out of the bathroom, but something stops her. It’s the bag that she keeps in the cupboard across from the sink. It’s the bag that she never opens. The teen steps back into the bathroom and shuts the door behind just in case Coral decides to come over early. Is she really going to do this? Echo opens the cupboard and grabs the bag out. Her heart is racing. She’s never done this before. Will she mess up and ruin it? Her hands open up the bag slowly, and she takes out the first one that she sees. Echo opens the case.
A light blue should go well with her clothing. She starts to apply a little bit to her eyelids. It feels rather weird. Echo has never worn makeup before. She’s never had to. It’s not like she ever goes out to impress, and it’s not like anyone knows who she really is and put her face everywhere. There has never really been a need for makeup. Next, she grabs the grey eyeliner. Her hand carefully starts to put it on. It feels even weirder than the eyeshadow, but she somehow manages. Now she just has two more things left. Echo puts the mascara on which is almost as weird feeling as the eyeliner. The only part that doesn’t feel weird is the lip gloss. It’s a very light pink and doesn’t really bother her because she’s worn chapstick before.
Echo looks at herself in the mirror. She never thought that just a little bit of makeup could make herself look different. She actually... She actually feels rather pretty. She doesn’t feel like that plain girl that gets her beauty out through artwork. The brunette feels like she’s almost pretty enough to paint. It’s not like she’s ever put herself down, but she’s never thought of herself as being as good looking as any of the models, but right now, she feels like she could be. Her face isn’t perfect like theirs, but perfect isn’t always the best.
The teen finally walks out of the room and sits down on her couch. Looking at the clock on her phone, she notices that she still has plenty of time before Coral comes over. She grabs her laptop off of the coffee table in front of her. She opens up the internet and starts to looks at different anime. She’s not really sure which one she should start watching. She’s not that picky when it comes to story, but she does want to watch something with good artwork. Echo ends up picking this one called Bakuman. It’s about these two friends trying to become manga artists. It’s made for boys, but there is this cute romance in it as well.
She watches two episodes before she gets a text from Coral saying she’s outside her room. Echo shuts down her laptop and heads out the door with her phone in her pocket and her sketchbook in her hands. Luckily, she left her art supplies in Coral’s car, so they won’t be having to stop by the studio. The brunette starts walking down the hall and down the stairs without looking behind her. She gets into Coral’s car and waits for her to get into the driver’s seat. It takes her a bit longer than Echo thought for her to get out of the building. She doesn’t know why though.
Coral stares at her when she gets inside. Echo raises her eyebrow at her. What could she be staring at her for? Did she do something wrong? Did she get a call from the boys?
“Your face...”
“My face?”
“You’re wearing makeup.”
OK, now it makes sense. “Yeah, I figured that I’d put some on for once to see how it is.”
Coral smirks. “It’s not because you’re trying to impress one of the boys, is it? You’re dressed nice too, and I remember you talking to a certain blond yesterday.”
Shit. Echo never thought of any of this that way. She never thought that Coral would be able to piece all of this together. Luckily, she drew that picture of him in her personal sketchbook that no one is allowed to look in... She has to think of something, but she can only think of one thing. “I’m not trying to impress anyone, and he was just being nice. I just wanted a change in style.” Now the only thing that she can do to pair with that is not talk to him today. She has no idea how she’s going to do it, but she is. She’s not going to talk to Niall.

Notes

Sorry this is so late! I was going to writing it earlier in the week on Tuesday, but my nana made me fill out a scholarship. Then I could have on Thursday, but I thought she was going to text me to come over to do some more, but she never did. I ended up playing Skyrim all day while I waited for her. (And not updating definitely didn't have to do with me getting addicting to that game again. Nope. Not at all...)
I actually like a chapter quite a bit. I like it when I write chapters like this. I wonder if Echo is going to be able to go through the whole day without talking to him. Hmmmm... I just love knowing the story while everyone doesn't. Muhahahaha.
Anyway, I hope you liked it!