DRAWN (11 page)

“Show me what you got, kiddos.” Shelley’s smile is more menacing than inviting. She’s in her thirties, with jet black hair and porcelain skin. She’s poised with a capital P and absolutely terrifying, like the Evil Queen in Disney fairytales. Or Victoria Beckham with menopause.  

Shelley has been my agent for five months, but Jace has been with her for almost a year. Before our surprise meeting at Shelley’s office, Jace and I were just nodding acquaintances in school. All I knew of him was that he’s rumored to be the governor’s love child while he recognized my face as the one that got voted The Girl with a Virgin Taboo during freshmen initiation.

Jace doesn’t do
manga,
though. Instead, he’s obsessed with graphic novels. The kind you’ll expect from Frank Miller and
not
Stan Lee. I’ve seen some of his works, and his skills are amazing. He’s also published. I’m not.

Jace whistles when he catches sight of my latest drawings, which Sascha have fanned all over the table like a deck of mega-sized cards.

I strive not to blush but fail.

“Somebody’s certainly inspired,” Jace says slyly. He’s obviously heard the rumors about Yuki and me.

“I’ve been reading a lot of
hentai manga
,” I quip while trying to glare Jace into silence.

Shelley studies my drawings intently. “I have to say, this is an utter surprise,” she remarks slowly, “but it’s extremely good, KC.” Her perfectly trimmed fingernails tap a rhythmic beat on the paper. “They’re really, really good.”

Since Shelley’s praise is the hard-won kind, I can’t help becoming giddy at her words. “You think I’ll get a bite this time?” The last work we submitted had received interest from various publishing houses, but it was just that – interest, which was basically like someone saying he has a crush on you but he’s not going to do anything about it.

That kind of crush hurts me really bad.

“It’s…” Shelley pauses.

I hold my breath. I know she’s weighing the pros and cons of giving me a more definite answer than her usual we’ll-sees and it’s-hard-to-tells. She’s the most risk-aversive person I know, but that works fine with me since it balances quite nicely with how impulsive I tend to be.

Shelley snaps my drawing pad shut with a sigh and pushes it back to me. “If you keep on drawing like this, then
yes
. I’d be very surprised if we
don’t
get more than one bite, actually.”

Wowza.

Jace and I hi-five each other then we look at Shelley expectantly, our hands outstretched.

Shelley looks at our hands like it’s smeared with weeks-old grease. “Do I have to?”

“It’s for good luck,” I cajole.

She sighs again, but gives in. It’s the shortest hi-five in history.

We buckle down after that to work on edits. Shelley visits us in the boardroom from time to time, going over plot points with us and inspecting every completed scene meticulously. It’s almost six in the evening when Jace and I are done. Thank God we only do this once a month.

When we get back inside his car, Jace presses a button that has his roof retracting from view. As Jace reverse drives his car out of its parking slot, he turns to me with a raised eyebrow. “Well?”

I frown, not understanding the expectant look on his face. “What?”

“Shelley said you should draw more of those smut scenes.”

My eyes narrow. I know that tone, and it’s not welcomed. “Whatever it is you’re planning, don’t.”

“I haven’t said anything!”

“I know you, Jace. Don’t.”

Jace and I have become quite close in the past few months, but we’re more like siblings than each other’s darling. He’s a nice guy, really, but he also likes to mess people around for the heck of it. In fact, he and Yuki are sort of alike that way. Yuki’s just more subtle.

“I wonder if your boy toy---”

I choke at the irony.

“---will get jealous when he finds out we’ve been together the whole day.” He glances up at the darkened skies. “And night.”

I don’t like to share.
I can almost feel the sting of Yuki’s glare when I recall his warning.

I scowl at Jace. “Whatever it is you’re thinking, don’t do it.”

“So it’s serious between the two of you?”

“None of your bloody business.”

Jace hoots. “Oh, man. Really? How the heck did you get someone like Yuki?”

I grimace. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“I’m just being honest. He can have any girl in school. And…” He looks at me thoughtfully. “I just don’t see the attraction, KC. There are a lot of women who have bigger boobs---”

“Are we really going to talk about this?”

“---bigger butts, and they definitely have more sex appeal than you do. So what gives?”

Tell me about it
, I think. I debate about telling Jace what Yuki’s said. That I’m
fascinating.
But I decide not to since it doesn’t really make sense.

“Just don’t make trouble,” I warn him.

“We’ll see.”

“Jace!”

“But you know, you should spend as much time as you can with him.”

“What is it with you today? Why are you playing the Love Guru all of a sudden?”

He grins. “I’m just saying---”

I cover my ears. “I really don’t want to hear it.”

“---you and Yuki Himura can, err, read a lot more
hentai
to improve your drawing.”

I try not to blush. Okay, it was a lame excuse. Like I said: I suck at lying. Terribly. “Just drop it, will you?”

Jace glances at me interestedly. “Oho! Something’s telling me that you’re more hands on when you’re working on your
manga
?”

I almost answer, but I catch myself in time. “Just drive,” I snarl.

Jace laughs.

We quarrel the rest of the drive, but I do it half-heartedly. Jace’s words keep playing in my mind. My heart is back to beating at a restless, erratic rhythm because I suddenly feel like I’ve gotten a green pass to do
more
things with Yuki as his toy.

It’s a quarter past seven when we get to my house. “Call me tomorrow, okay?” I remind him since Shelley has given us assignments that we think we should work on together again.

Jace looks like he wants to say something so I pause, my hand on the handle. “What?”

“How serious is it between you and Himura?”

“We’re just friends,” I say quickly. If I take too much time to answer, I know I’ll just end up blurting the truth.

Jace is visibly doubtful.

“Really,” I insist.

“Sure?”

I nod firmly.

“So…care to tell me why he looks like he’s dying to beat me up?”

Too late I notice Yuki’s black BMW, parked just a few feet away from my house, its custom plate YUKI mocking me in big, bold letters. When Yuki steps out of the shadows, still in his school uniform, I gasp. His angelic aura is
gone.

          Oh, shite.

          “Don’t tell him we’ve been together since morning,” Jace says loudly.

          “Will you just shut up?” I scramble out of his car, never taking my eyes off Yuki, feeling like he’s a bomb that’s about to detonate with the slightest provocation.

          I test a smile. “H---have you been here long?”

          Yuki doesn’t answer, his lips remaining compressed in a straight, no-nonsense line – a sure sign of his anger. His hands are submerged inside his pocket. I’ve a feeling it’s either that or throttle me.

          I start to babble. “It’s not what you think, I swear. So don’t get mad---”

          Yuki stiffens, gritting out, “What makes you think I’m mad?”

          Because he looks and sounds like it?

          When Yuki turns away, I panic and grab hold of the back of his blazer. “Wait!”

          Yuki stills. I tug, and I tug, and tug harder until he slowly turns around. “What?” He’s still speaking between clenched teeth.

          Anger, I think I can handle, but when I see that his baby blues have become
blank,
it reminds me of the time he’s talking to his mom. I don’t want things between us to be like Yuki and his mom. It’s just not good between them.

          “I draw
manga
,” I blurt out.

          Yuki blinks.

          I tighten my hold on his blazer just in case he decides to bolt. “Jace draws comic---”

          “Graphic novels,” Jace corrects irritably from somewhere behind me.

          We both ignore him. “We have the same agent and once a month we go to her office in Miami to work on our stuff. No one in school knows about it and…” This time I can’t meet his eyes and I look down, studying the abstract patterned grooves on the sidewalk like they’re telling me the secrets of the universe.

          “I…I didn’t want to tell you about it because I’m…” I have to force the next words out. “I’m…scared to know what you’d say if you see my…work.”

          Yuki is still silent.

          And of course, that’s something I totally can’t handle so I slowly look up.

          My heartbeat speeds up like a rampaging emotional twister on the loose when I see Yuki’s angelic smile is back, although it’s tinged with exasperation. Best of all, there’s a gleam in his baby blues that make all my sexual fantasies come back and I just want to throw myself in his arms and---

          Yuki’s low laugh startles me out of my thoughts.

          “W-what?”

          As he bends down, I can’t help thinking giddily how everything feels like
déjà vu.

          “You’re fantasizing again,” he whispers to my ear.

          I turn red on cue.

          He straightens and looks at Jace over my shoulders. “I apologize for misunderstanding,” he says politely in his best oh-so-cultured tone.

          I turn around just as Jace reaches us.

          Jace throws an arm around my shoulders.

          I quickly shrug it away. “He likes messing people around. Don’t mind him,” I tell Yuki hurriedly when I see his baby blues threaten turning into ice.

          Jace inhales sharply as he asks in a hoarse voice, “What are you saying, KC?”

          Jace is wasted as a graphic novelist. He deserves a bloody Oscar for the way he’s making Yuki’s eyes turn into an even colder shade of ice-blue rage.

          I know I don’t have to explain, but I still want to. “We’ve
never
liked each other that way,” I say feelingly, looking straight into Yuki’s eyes, wiling him to believe me.

          Jace opens his mouth, but I don’t give him another chance to make trouble. “Good night, Jace.” I glare at him so he knows I mean it.

          “But---”

          “
Good night
.”

          He laughingly throws his hands up as if surrendering. “I can take a hint.” As he walks back to his car, he says over his shoulders, “I’ll call you tomorrow, aight?”

         
And
I am going to kill him tomorrow, slowly, painfully, and cruelly.

          I almost jump when Yuki’s hand settles around my nape…just before he spins me around and captures my lips in a kiss.

          My toes curl.

          I used to wonder how is it people in love don’t get bored kissing the same person over and over. I mean, I’m only
fantasizing
about snogging with hot guys and I still get bored, after a time.

          But now I’m starting to understand why.

          With the right guy, the kisses can only get better.

Hotter. Harder. Wetter.

          When Yuki pulls away I look up at him breathlessly.

          A small smile tugs at his lips. “Liked it,
senpai
?”

          I blush but nod anyway. “Umm…do you want to come in?”

          “Maybe next time,
senpai
,” he says after a beat. “Can you go out tonight?”

          My shoulder droops. “I told my mom I’d be having dinner at home.”

          Yuki gracefully backs down. “Then tomorrow? We’ll have breakfast together?”

          I nod eagerly. “We can meet up---” I stop when Yuki shakes his head.

          “I’ll drive you to the diner. Six sounds okay to you?”

          “Yup!”

          We stare at each other. I feel like…we’re both happy, even if we’re not really smiling.

          “I better go,” Yuki says finally.

          “Okay.” I wonder if I’ll ever have the courage to ask him for a kiss first.

          “See you tomorrow,
senpai
.”