13. Drawing Danielle

DANIEL'S POV
I stood at the private tennis court of my dorm with my racquet in hand. My friends and I were playing tennis ball with two against two. Roe and I on the left side of the court and Jay and another guy 'Rino' on the other. I stopped playing as my head was spinning uncontrollably and all I could hear was;
'And are you perfect Mister?'
'Are you perfect Mister?'
'Perfect..?'
I couldn't get the girl off my mind since my previous encounter with her yesterday. Even when I went to Roe's I wasn't me, all I could think of was who she was and why my heart thumped incredulously when I saw her face. Or why her eyes and glare seems so familiar? Who is she? And why was her presence having such influence on me? I mean, I never cared about girls since Goldie left me and I believed all girls are heartbreakers and evil, except of course my Mom and sisters, Jay's Mom and sister. They were the only females I've cared about so far after my break-up. So how is it that she seems to be breaking the strong barrier I've made about myself from women? This and so many questions bothered me. I couldn't tell my friends what happened and Mark was yet to inform me about her either.
I could see the tennis ball flying with speed towards me but I couldn't do anything as my hands seemed to be partially paralyzed.
'Are you perfect Mister?' Her eyes and glare why does it look so familiar? Have I seen her before? No it's the first time I'm meeting her. But then, what's with the familiarity feeling.
Pangg!!
The ball collided with my head, the impact of the hit making me lose balance and fall.
Just great Daniel! A girl's taken over your thoughts and now you fell...My subconscious mocked.
Shut up! I hissed inwardly.
Yeah, I do that a lot. Communicating with myself inwardly is a huge part of my habit.
"I'm so sorry Daniel. Are you alright?" Rino asked as he ran over. He was the one who tossed the ball.
I smiled as I touched my head. Thankfully it didn't hurt much and nothing broke.
My precious skin that is...
Roe stretched his hand and helped me up, while studying me carefully.
"It's alright. I'm fine." I said.
"Are you sure?" Jay asked as he walked over. Rino's face still held the apologetic look as he watched me. He's our dorm neighbor.
"I'm not bleeding and there are no swells. See?" I said showing them my head. "It hurt a little though but it's fine. You guys get back to the game." Roe and Jay chuckled as they exchanged glances, before looking at me. I gave them a puzzled look.
"Game you say?" Roe chuckled "We've been losing for like five times now all thanks to you and your absentmindness. Let's end the game guys." He said.
Wait! Have we?
No we haven't! My subconscious scoffed.
The others nodded in agreement.
"It's not so interesting Dan, to see you losing. You that's the King of Tennis ball losing easily like this means something is wrong. Let's get back to the dorm." Jay added with a small smile.
"Alright guys. You can go ahead. I will practice some more." Rino said picking up his racquet.
"Yeah, see you around." I said, picked up my racquet and walked with my friends back to the dormitory which was very close.
_______
"So Daniel, can you tell us what's going on?" Roe said leaning on the sofa. We were already in the dorm sitting in our living room. Jay bounced a tennis ball up and down as he nodded in agreement to what Roe said.
"Can you believe a girl asked me if I'm perfect?" I said the disturbing question that's been bothering me all the while. Jay stopped bouncing and stared at me with raised brow.
"What? Why?" He asked, surprised.
Roe sat up Immediately "I don't get. Why would she ask that?" He asked equally surprised.
"Now that's a very good question guys." I said, leaning closer.
"Yesterday Mark and I were walking by the science hallway on the way to meet you at the lab, with him giving me updates about the hotels, when this girl who was so engrossed in her phone bumped into me and slightly stepped on me. Funny thing was that, she only said sorry and walked on hurriedly without looking at me or Mark..." They listened attentively. I continued "you can imagine how rude that was, so I stopped her and she asked me if I was perfect. Just look at that." I ended. Roe leaned back on the sofa and looked at me questioningly. Jay smirked knowingly.
"Dan, what did you say to her or rather how did you stop her that made her reply you that way?" He asked calmly. Well my friends know me well enough to know when I'm omitting a sentence.
I leaned back on my seat with a shrug.
"I asked her if she was blind that she couldn't see me coming." I admitted simply.
"There you go Dan. That was very rude of you. She apologized didn't she? Yet being who you are, you still said that. She simply retaliated in the best way possible. I'll like to complement her on a job well done. It's a good thing you met a girl who didn't tolerate that stubborn and arrogant attitude of yours towards their gender. Kindly tell us more about her." Roe rebuked. I rolled my eyes at that. Jay just smiled. He loves smiling a lot which is good. But this particular smile was different, what's he thinking?
"Guys, you know I dislike girls and having one stepped on me then rudely walked off after muttering a silent 'sorry' without looking at her victim isn't something to go down well with me. The annoying thing was that when I tried to confront her she called my name." I complained. Roe raised his brows.
"Daniel, it's a good thing you are this way because of a girl. That's awesome." Jay smiled.
Huh?
"I'm not anyway. I'm just annoyed that she walked out on me, after ridiculing me and Mark." I defended.
"Tell us all that happened," Jay added.
I told them everything including how she called my name, make a snide comment about Mark and how she rudely walked off. But I didn't tell them my heartbeat accelerated when I first saw her face. If I did they wouldn't let me hear the end of it. I didn't tell them and yet Jay was already catching a hint. He's too smart!
By the time I was done they were already laughing deeply.
"Hahaha hehe...Wait she caught on the fact that Mark is your body guard?" Roe laughed.
"Someone who knows my name and I don't know hers, it's easy for her to know Mark was my body guard even when he was dressed simply." I said with an eyeroll. Roe laughed more.
"We really need to see this girl Roe, don't you think?" Jay laughed dramatically clutching his tummy.
"Definitely. Please describe her." Roe added.
I tapped my right foot impatiently at their so much laughter.
"I will only do that when you stop laughing." I said. They gulped and shut up.
"Is she beautiful?" Jay asked, leaning closely now very interested.
"Jay must you always be a Casanova? Receive sense." I smacked his head playfully as Roe laughed heartily.
"Ouch! That hurts." He said feigning hurt. I grinned.
"Now listen guys since you asked me to describe her. Yes she's beautiful with tanned brown skin, she's got height, slender but naturally endowed in every aspect possible. Long brownish- black curly hair and she's grey eyed." Jay's face lit up with recognition when I finished.
"You know her?" I asked interestedly. Since Mark isn't here yet at least I could do with my friends knowledge of her, if there's any though.
Jay and Roe exchanged glances. What's with this two and exchanging of looks. Now do they know something that I don't?
"Maybe it's her." Jay said to Roe. Roe shake his head negatively.
"For all we know, she isn't the only black girl in campus. This might be a totally different person from who you think." He said.
Wait! Who?
"From his description it seems it's her." Jay argued.
"We can't conclude since we didn't see her. There might be others fitting this same description." Roe interjected. I looked from one to the other as they argued.
"Guys! What's wrong with you?! Can't you answer me. Do you know her or not?" I asked impatiently. They stopped arguing and looked at me.
"We ain't sure Dan. The one we think it is might not be the one you met." Roe finally said
"Dan can you draw her?" Jay asked
"Of course. But why?" I asked dumbly.
"Please do. That way we'll be able to identify if she's the one we know and tell you what you want to know." He said.
"Okayyy" I drawled. Then stood up to get my materials from the shelf in the room. They had better know her.
Yeah, I'm an artist. I draw to while away time or when I'm bored. Painting doesn't take me more than ten to fifteen minutes. It's something I love doing too, aside modeling. I've several art galleries around the state.
I was out in no time with my tools. I sat down and began to draw and paint her just as I saw her. I painted her eyes just as it was. Even the powerful glare it held that seems to send shivers down my spine each time I think about it. In no time I was done. I smiled at my work, she's really beautiful even without a smile.
I flipped the framed board so my friends could see her.
"What the heck!" Roe exclaimed.
"Damn! It's her." Jay affirmed.
I dropped the picture on the table and stared at them.
"It's her?" I repeated "Who is she?" I asked, looking from the photo to them.
Just then, the doorbell chimed. I stood up and walked towards the door. I could still hear them talking.
"I told you so. Didn't I?" Jay said to Roe victoriously.
"Yes, but it's good we did confirmed. Now we have to tell him who she is." Roe said. "But he's supposed to know her, didn't he see her at the cafeteria that day?" He added.
"I doubt he did, remember you guys weren't paying attention back then even when I told you I know the girls. Dan had left Immediately I said that because he didn't want to see any girl and you, you only saw her because you waited with me. I doubt he did since she was backing us." Jay said.
Now what are they talking about?
I opened the door to see Mark standing by the door, he looked apologetic immediately he saw me. I rolled my eyes and let him in.
"I'm sorry Sir, something came up at the hotel that's why I couldn't come earlier." He apologized.
"It's okay. Hope you cleared whatever that was?" I asked
"Yes Sir," He said.
"Good. Come sit down and let's talk about your findings".
He walked with me to the living room and sat down after greeting Jay and Roe. His eyes located the picture on the table and he was surprised. I shrugged.
"Get to it," I said. He brought out an envelope from his bag and passed it to me. I sat down and try opening it.
"What could that be?" Jay asked peering closer.