My Scratch Pad

:: complete and incomplete thoughts, daydreams and illusions ::

Chapter 3: The Girl

"I thought you had a date," Colleen said to her best friend as soon as she saw her walk into the room.

"I did," Megan said, kicking off her shoes and dropping her bag unceremoniously on the couch.

"And...?"

"It's done," she said, sitting on the couch and leaning back. She turned the TV on.

Colleen put down the book she'd been reading and walked to where her friend was. "It's eight thirty," she said. "You left, an hour ago."

Megan shrugged. "It finished early," she said, flipping from one channel to another.

"Okay..." Colleen said, not sure what to say. It wasn't normal for Megan to be home so early, and from a date, too. With Jake Gonzalez, no less--wait, wasn't he the guy whom she was obsessing about for over a month now? She looked at her friend again, and only then realized that something was seriously wrong. "Oh no, what happened?" she asked, finally figuring out what tone her voice (and words) should be in. "Did he stand you up?"

Megan groaned. "I knew you were gonna say that!" she said.

"He stood you up?!" Colleen exclaimed. "Really?" she asked, not believing a guy could actually do it to the prettiest girl in their school.

 

by: distantorigin at 08:00 | link | comments

Chapter 2: The Ad

Mark blinked. And blinked. And blinked several times more at the sight that greeted him, as soon as he entered the studio where he and his friends worked/hung out. He blinked again. It was that unbelievable.

Technically, he was just staring at a wall with a poster on it. Nothing new. Nothing different. Only, this poster was red. And it had pink hearts on it. And on one of the big hearts, was a picture of his face. And the words "Win a Date with Mark Rosales!" Below it were several sentences written with a smaller font, and at the bottom of the poster was an actual Per DTI-NCR Permit Number (5442 Series of 2008).

He blinked again. And finally heard Jacob's voice; "I said, how do you like our masterpiece?" he asked his friend, who seemed to have turned into stone, the moment he walked in the door.

"It was my idea," Adam said proudly. "Okay, no, it was Jacob's idea. But I was the one who made it official and got the permit and stuff."

Mark looked at his two friends and narrowed his eyes. "So you're both responsible for this?!" he said, glowering.

Jacob looked sideways at Adam. "I told you he'd get mad."

Adam just shook his head. "Mark, Mark, Mark," he started. "This is nothing! It's just something to tell all the available girls out there that you're looking for someone. It's going to help you!"

"How is this going to help?" Mark said loudly. "If anything, it'll just embarrass me more, and the few girls left who don't know me well enough to dislike me, will avoid me as well!"

"Wha--avoid you? No! How can they avoid that face?" Jacob said, pointing to his picture. It was one of the pictures taken during one of the gaming convention they'd attended last year, where he'd dressed up as one of the debonair characters of a fantasy game. Truth be told, Mark thought he didn't look at all bad in the picture, but still, to see it in the middle of a big pink heart was ridiculous.

"Especially when they read the description that comes with that picture!" Adam said.

Mark's eyes immediately went to the text below the picture, and read it quickly:

With his big heart and big mind
he is Romance, embodied

"What do you think?" Adam asked.

Mark turned from the poster and walked towards his work desk. "I think you guys are crazy," he said. He sat down on his chair and started working on coloring the page he hadn't finished the day before.

He and his friends worked as artists for a well-known comic book publisher. And because they knew the owners well (they were hand-picked by the owner to work on the comic books, in fact), they were allowed to make the studio their own--meaning, they had their own key, and could pretty much use whatever equipment they wanted, for whatever purpose they wanted. Hence, the printing of a contest poster promoting oneself (or one's friend), was no more difficult than calling for pizza delivery. Of course, there was the tedious task of actually making the poster, which, much to his dismay, was actually well-made, with his picture in gray scale smudge, and the pink hearts having just the right shades to compliment the pictures and the text. Under other circumstances, he would've critiqued the poster, and told his friends that they did a good job, artistically speaking. But he just didn't feel like doing that right now. It was one thing for his friends to laugh at his loneliness, but quite another for them to get everyone else laughing at his expense.

"Hey," Jacob started, sensing that their friend might be a bit more sensitive than usual. "It's just a joke," he told him as he and Adam walked to his side.

"Yeah," Adam said. "We won't even put up all 10 posters. We'd just put up 5, if you want."

Mark gave him a pointed look.

Adam raised his hands in defeat. "Okay, okay!" he said. "We'll put up 2."

Jacob laughed, but said, "No, seriously. We won't put 'em up if you really don't want us to put them up," and then he added, "although we should really tell you that it's registered already, and you know, poster paper doesn't come cheap. It'd be a bit sad if all our efforts go to waste..."

Mark rolled his eyes.

"I bet you wouldn't be that upset if you already had a girlfriend," Adam told him. He picked up one of the posters and held it right in front of Mark's face. "This is your key," he said in a tone that he probably thought was what hypnotists used. "Behind this poster, is the girl of your dreams..."

Mark furrowed his eyebrows. "That doesn't make any sense," he pointed out.

"Ah, but when does love ever make sense?" Adam said.

"You guys are crazy," he repeated, shoving Adam and his poster away.

"So, that means you're in, right?" Jacob asked.

Mark shook his head in disbelief. "It means that at the state I'm in now, I can't possibly make very good judgements of anything, so if anyone calls me desperate, for agreeing to such foolishness, so be it."

"And... that means you're in, right?" Adam confirmed.

Mark laughed and shrugged. "What have I got to lose?"

****

by: distantorigin at 03:45 | link | comments