Sticky Flowers

[Jimmy Halloway]

Jimmy heard that women loved flowers. It seemed to be the case after a previous encounter he had. But he wasn’t sure how one was supposed to find flowers at this time of the year. In the spring it was easy, he could go outside and look in the yard for some flowers but there was snow covering the ground right now. It left him quite puzzled as to how to do it then. Which was when he thought he could ‘make’ the flowers. Not by planting seeds and watch it grow, of course. What he thought of brought him to the art studio.



He tried to look in the cards he had for flowers but other than the word flowers, he had none. He knew about daisies and roses and had seen some flowers he didn’t know the name of, he thought he should do well with all those images. At first, he tried to draw a rose. Sadly, if Jimmy may have a phenomenal memory, he had but very basic drawing skills. Finding some colored paper, he decided it might be easier to cut them from this and, preferably, go for easier to make flowers. Like the daisies. He cut circles from a yellow sheet then cut several petals in white and red paper. He also cut long lines for the stems and leaves from green-colored papers. He looked at every other color of paper there were and made petals from each of them. Always the same pattern, it was just easier.



Now came the very difficult task of gluing every bit together. First the petals to the circle and then the stems and finally the leaves. Jimmy took out some glue and work slowly to get every petal done. It didn't take long for one to refuse to stick to the heart of its flower and stayed on his finger instead. Then started the wiggling fingers dance to try and remove it. Before long, he ended up with several other petals, one leaf and even one of his yellow circles glued to his hands. He tried to remove them delicately but it ended up as crunched paper. He looked at the mess and then around himself. He wished he could say help but he couldn’t see someone around to help. He looked back at his hands. What was he going to do?

[Paul Wilkerson]

Paul had already check the other classrooms. The last room to check was the art room. He had lost his notebook. Lucky for him it was it wasn't one of the notebooks he used as a diary. It was just for class notes. If it wasn't in the art room then Paul was deem it lost forever.

It was no surprise that someone was in the art room. For all the art nerds the art room was the place where it was happening. But, Paul did raise an eyebrow. The poor guy had multiple pieces of paper stuck to his hands. "Looks like you're in a sticky situation."

[Jimmy Halloway]

Jimmy was pretty ashamed of himself right now. Had he still lived at home, he could have heard his parents fighting over this, his mother yelling that he cannot do anything right and his father telling her to leave him alone, that it was not his fault. At least he was spared this scene that would only have aggravated the matter. Not to add that his brain had already started to make him forget things about his family. But that was not the problem here.

He looked at the boy who walked inside the art studio. He talked to him and the situation. Jimmy looked down at his hands again. He lifted them up to show the situation he was in. Sticky indeed. “I’m making flowers,” he explained. He didn't know the boy per se but his brain was already scanning through every image it made to find his face. Names could elude him at times but he generally remembered a face. Before his brain could go through that however, Jimmy was already asking him “Help.” He was originally talking about the glued pieces on his hands, but if the boy also wanted to help with the flower making, he was all up for that as well. He didn't even wonder what this guy was doing in here or the fact he may have a very good reason of his own to be here.

[Paul Wilkerson]

"Ah," Paul nodded his head. He wasn't sure how he was suppose to respond to making flowers. The idea of paper flowers seemed childish to Paul. Whatever. Paul went over to the table where he was sitting in class. He checked the floor thinking maybe it fell. After a moment of crawling on the floor Paul spotted his notebook. It was under another table. Someone must of kicked it. He grabbed it and dusted it off.

Paul stood up as the kid was asking for help. Paul took one look at him. He was humored. "Yeah," he plopped the notebook on the table. It wasn't like Paul had to be somewhere or had something to do. He might as well lend a helping hand. Besides, the kid was cute. Paul couldn't complain. "What made you want to make flowers?" Paul asked as he started taking paper off the guy's hands.

[Jimmy Halloway]

The idea was probably childish and saying this to Jimmy would likely put him down. He was trying to act his age, as he figured acting like them would help him think like them and so be just as smart, but it was difficult. Not to add that he found himself pretty smart to have thought about making flowers, since he couldn’t get real ones. The guy was ignoring him however, crouching on the floor to do something Jimmy really did not understand. “What are you doing?” he asked, looking under tables as well, in case the answer would be more obvious that way. But it was not. All he saw was the tables and the chairs and a boy on the floor with something in his hands. The fact it had not been in his hands before did not cross his mind, making it then impossible for Jimmy to get it was the reason why he was looking there.

At least he wanted to help. Jimmy smiled at that. He tried to calm his enthusiasm however. He knew people tended to like it at first but few chose to try this a second time. As he helped him pull the paper petals off his fingers, he offered the boy his hands to make the job easier. “Girls love flowers,” he shared with him to explain his presence here. He didn’t need to say more, he figured the rest was pretty self-explanatory.

[Paul Wilkerson]

Why were all the cute guys either taken or straight? But, it's not like Paul would do anything about it. He wasn't one who told people how he felt about them. Even if it was simply calling someone cute. "Is your girlfriend allergic to flowers?" Paul wasn't trying to be nosy. To him it seemed like the logical reason to be going through all the trouble of making paper flowers.

Paul focused on pulling the paper off the guy's hands as he listened to the answer. When the guy finished, Paul's mind started to wander. He ended up with how on earth did the guy get into this situation. Paul totally got why one would put glue on theirs. He was one of those people. Purposely have glue on his hands to peel off later. As to why one would have paper glued one's hands left Paul in the dark. "There." One hand was free.

[Jimmy Halloway]

See, this was the reason why Jimmy made things all so complicated for other people. He couldn’t make the difference between girl friend and girlfriend. He had some girl friends, or at least he did from his point of view, but no girlfriend. Likely never would as well. As he had a girl friend, it was normal to call her his. As for the allergic part, however... “I don’t know. But girls love flowers right? And it’s winter. You can’t find flowers in winter.” To him, his logic was sound. He couldn’t go out anyway, unless he was accompanied by a staff member, and it generally was only to buy some clothes or stuff that was essential. He had no reason to go in town. He wouldn’t even know how anyway.

Jimmy was very much like a child, he needed supervision. At least he didn't cut himself or anything bad like this. It was just a bit of glue. Had the situation kept on and the boy not showed up, Jimmy could still have worked to remove them or wash his hands. It was clear though that he was a helpless little creature. Not so helpless anymore however, as he now had one hand free from the glued paper. He moved his glue-free fingers. “Thank you,” he told him. As soon as he’d be freed, he’d go back to making the flowers, even if that meant ending up in a similar situation later on. A question popped into his head though, and he looked at the boy. “You here to do art?” This was the art studio after all, what else would someone be here? That is, if paper flowers could be considered art.

[Paul Wilkerson]

”You have a point there.” During the winter it was hard to find flowers. Unless one would go to the store or something. Plus it was the thought that counts, right? The time and love put into a gift would show. And that's what people like. Or did Paul have some weird view of the concept?

”Nah, I lost my notebook,” Paul pointed to the notebook on the other table. "I came to find it.” Sure, Paul took an art class for the credit. He wasn’t one of the art nerds that would be the next Leonardo da Vinci or Picasso. The only place where Paul’s art was displayed was on the fridge at home when he was a kid.

[Jimmy Halloway]

Jimmy was so used to be wrong or weird or just simply dismissed that he was genuinely surprised when the other boy said he had a point. He had? True, the logic made sense to him but most people tended to say that it was too simple to be right. Being told he may be for once was quite surprising for him. He stared at Paul with wide eyes. He could almost hug him, if Jimmy knew what hugs meant to people. For once, he wasn’t told his logic was stupid.

He had to get one thing wrong though. Far from downing his mood, it brought it back to normal. He couldn’t have gotten that smart in a few minutes, he had to have Jimmy moments too. “And you found it,” Jimmy said as he could see the book Paul set aside before helping him out. Speaking of helping him... “You want to make flowers?” He doubted it would be bad if someone helped him. Plus it would be fun. He’d do something with a friend - obviously it didn't take much to be Jimmy’s friend. Besides, Paul was wrong, he was not doing it to flirt with a girl or to give his to his girlfriend. He just wanted to give something to his girl friends that would make them happy.