She had arrived early and looked at a few of the paintings before the others started to show up.

He had arrived late and the art gallery was almost full with people, a few he recoginsed from the painting course.

She did the mingling thing for a bit then got down to what she and the others were here for – art. One particular display theme on reducing ones carbon footprint held her interest.

He looked at a few paintings ignoring somewhat the stares and whispers of girls around him from the course. He didn't care that people had seen him naked, it paid the bills after all and he had a lot of those, plus he was comfortable enough with his body and why shouldn't he be? It all came down to how you carried yourself. If you could appear and act confident, then that's how others portrayed you, and he was expert at getting people to believe what he wanted. When he felt confident, he felt on top of the world like he could do anything.

She noticed Mr. Cool staring intently at a particular painting, brow furrowed either in intense concentration or puzzlement. She watched him for a while, intrigued and sure he would move on quickly with boredom. He didn't seem the arty type but he didn't move.

He enjoyed art and this was one place where shallow reasons did NOT guide him. Art he mostly got. He loved the simple way a brushstroke, a symbol, even a blob could communicate a feeling, a thought. People were far more complicated. You couldn't figure a person out just by looking at them. There was an openness, a vulnerability with art. There were no fronts: What you saw was what you got. A pretty painting was nice, but it was the darker not-so-eye-catching ones that were a bit more interesting albeit harder to figure out, and today there was one intriguing picture in particular, a bit duller than the others but more refined somehow with greater details…

She wondered if he was trying to show off or attract a woman with his feigned art-interest. She looked around but there were no girls in sight. She thought about going over, perhaps she could offer her insight into the painting? But then thought better of it, he would in no way want someone like her to engage him in conversation. She did approach him though, if just to make him squirm a little…

He was a bit put out at being caught looking at the painting so intensely when she walked up to him.

She saw the slight pink flush rise up his neck before subsiding, not quite a blush but maybe slightly embarrassed at being caught enjoying something of substance for once? The way he looked slightly annoyed made her think he didn't like to be caught in a vulnerable position. It made her think of how she had made him blush previously and she couldn't help but grin broadly.

He did his best to cough and hide it. She had a ridiculous banana-wide smile on her face again so he asked "What are you grinning at?" a little tersely.

She didn't really want to say the real reason behind the grin and tried to think of a cover. Before she could stop herself she launched into a potato joke courtesy of the girl from the other night. "Why did the potato cross the road? Because he saw a fork up ahead!"

He couldn't help it, the left side of his mouth raised slightly in the hint of an actual smile.

She thought the almost smile made his face look way less concrete-like and actually more person-like. A proper one must really be something. After her own laughter had subsided and she had stopped awkwardly staring at him, she mentioned the painting and how the river running through the middle symbolised a road to recovery from a polluted, chaotic place at the bottom to a much greener and cleaner one where people stood together amongst sunflowers, a possible future biofuel.

He noticed she was talking an awful lot and honestly something made him feel a little uncomfortable but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Was it the fact that she was talking to him like it was an everyday occurrence? Or the fact that she was as liking of art as he was? Or was it just her in general?

She did realise she was talking too much as she often did when she nervous. She couldn't stop though, her sentences ran into each other and she hardly stopped for a breath. She couldn't help but think he would lose interest and walk off.

He was about to excuse himself then when someone bumped her.

She was pushed from behind and came up a little close to him.

He noticed then as they were pretty close, her glasses' frames didn't have any lenses in them. How strange he thought. He asked her why not.

She took her glasses off and fiddled with them kinda unsteadily. "Uh, I kinda just wear them for the look" she said feeling stupid.

He noticed when her distracting glasses were removed from her face that she had a nice oval shaped face and a pair of shining eyes.

She noticed his eyes, a steely blue. Hiding something perhaps…

He was glad then that a couple of others came up and interrupted. They mentioned something about a dinner, but he mumbled an excuse and left to a collection of sighs.

She sighed loudly with the others. Although some of the sighs were of longing, hers was of disappointment. Why-had-she-expected-any-different?

A/N: So…. A bit more of Mr. Cool's inner thoughts revealed. Tell me what you think of him so far?

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Thanks ReBeHa glad you like it :D