If You Close Your Eyes It's a Beautiful World

[MIRANDA LYN MORRIS]

Miranda was anxious to get out of the house today. She was in such a great mood to go out and waste time by people watching and get an inspiration on what to put in her sketch book. Plus it's such a warm day out today she just couldn't wait to get out into the sun. Plus with all the excitement going on in her head. She couldn't get out of the house fast enough.

She got her sketch book, got her sunglasses because it looked to be a bit bright out today, and headed to the park. The park was her favorite place to draw, because there was so much inspiration she can get from that little area. There could be couples holding hands or, a child and a dog playing frisbee or, two buddies hanging with their friends. The possibilities are endless. Plus it's more entertaining to her to draw people rather than just take a picture of them. One there's more hand work, and two taking pictures of random people seemed a little stalker-ish to her.

Finding a spot to sit on a bench. she got all her art stuff out, her colored pencils, some paints, markers and of course her sketch pad. Once she was all situated she looked around to see what interested her today. Then she decided. Why not just draw the park itself? She's always drawing the little details in the park but never the park itself. So she began working on her drawing and let her hands be in control. And another thing about Miranda. When she's busy on her drawing, she doesn't even know where she's at anymore. Her mind and body just escapes the world and into the picture.

[LEVI SEBASTIAN ELLIOT]

Levi whistled cheerfully to himself as his arms swung by his side. His pace wasn't particularly faster than anyone else, but because he was so tall, he naturally had a very large stride. He could feel the soft grass beneath his bare feet and could smell the sweet scent of the various flowers planted in the park. Levi had never exactly been one to take things for granted, but lately, the smell of the flowers, the brightness of the sun, and the vibrancy of all of the life around him seemed more real to him. He appreciated it all so much more because he knew that at any moment, it could all be taken away. Especially from him.

His mind didn't exactly run along these same deep thoughts, though; his attention had been caught by two children playing with a kite. The two kids were boys about 10 or 11, probably brothers or cousins by their appearance. He chuckled as he watched them run, trying to get the kite off the ground. It did lift a few feet, and he regarded the sight with interest, curious if they would get enough momentum to make it actually go higher, since it wasn't really windy today. Levi's eyebrows rose as the kite passed right in front of a girl's face--so close, in fact, that Levi was surprised that it hadn't smacked her in the nose.

Levi walked over to the bench, chuckling at the previous event, and sat down on the opposite end of the bench. Still, she was oblivious to his presence. Her focus made him smile, "What are you drawing?" he asked after several moments, wondering if she was so deep into her work that she would even acknowledge him.

[MIRANDA LYN MORRIS]

Miranda was so concentrated into her work that she forgot where she was. She couldn't hear anybody, she couldn't think of anything else but her art work. And her work was really coming along.

Her hands were starting to cramp up so she took a little break for a while. She put her pencil down beside her and stretched out her hands and cracked her knuckles. For some reason, cracking her knuckles has become her nasty habit. She liked the way it felt and it always felt good after words too. She was becoming a little thirsty so she took a quit drink from her water bottle then went back to her drawing.

Suddenly, noticed a shadow coming across her paper. It startled her a little and took a quick glance at who was walking by. Some guy, attractive looking by the looks of it. Came by sitting next her. She scooted over a little bit and gave them both a little room. She set her art kit under the bench and got everything situated for them both.

Miranda of course being the shy type. She started getting a little nervous with the guy sitting next to her. Oooh what is he doing here sitting next to me? She thought. Looking away from her trying to control her emotions. Once she got back herself to calm down, she looked back toward his direction but not exactly giving him eye contact yet.

He asked about her panting and she looked down and her, incomplete black and white drawing. She looked up at him finally and said, "Oh, I'm just drawing the park. I'm bored and haven't really drawn much in a while so I just drew what first came to mind," Giving him a little grin.

[LEVI SEBASTIAN ELLIOT]

"Oh, I'm just drawing the park. I'm bored and haven't really drawn much in a while so I just drew what first came to mind,"

Levi casually glanced at the girl's sketchbook, curious, as she spoke. It was a black and white drawing of the vista in front of her--the park. He smiled at her, "Well, I couldn't tell that you haven't drawn in a while. It looks pretty good to me," he replied, laughing as he added in a light, joking voice, "And, you know, since I'm a really awesome stick figure drawer, you should totally take that as the absolute highest compliment."

He leaned back against the bench, his arms resting awkwardly on the top of it. Being nearly seven feet tall made it difficult for him to set in most seats comfortably. Actually, being that tall made it difficult to do a lot of things--but as he had always been tall, it wasn't exactly a nuisance he noticed on a daily basis. Levi moved his gaze from her sketching to her face, his stormy blue-grey eyes twinkling, "I'm Levi," he told her, figuring it was probably a good idea to introduce himself.

[MIRANDA LYN MORRIS]

Miranda was never normally the one to make friends. At least not that easy anyways. She has a few close friends but she just stick with those that she's got. And even when she is with her group of friends, she's usually the quiet one. She sometimes wishes she wasn't so shy like that. But it's just in her nature.

The boy sitting next to her turn to look at her instead of looking at her sketch. He started introducing himself to her and she didn't want to seam rude so she just replied, "Hi Levi, my name is Miranda." She gave him a quick grind and turned back to watch the kids playing.

She was also somewhat happy that she was possibly making a new friend. She doesn't remember the last time where she could just talk to somebody and not have to feel nervous like she does. But how can one boy do that to her? She wasn't even really into boys. Not that she didn't like boys, just never had an interest in the idea. "So, what are you doing here?" She asked Levi, trying to make conversation.

[LEVI SEBASTIAN ELLIOT]

"Hi Levi, my name is Miranda."

"Miranda," he repeated, a smile growing across his lips. Levi found that he liked her name, liked how it sounded on his lips. Thoughts about how she had received her name and why her parents had chosen it crossed his mind before he added, "It's a pretty name."

He followed her gaze and watched the the kids playing, paying particular attention to the two boys who were still trying to get a kite in the air without there being any wind. It made him laugh inwardly at their stubbornness; he could relate to a child's fascination with the impossible. Levi still did have a fascination with the impossible.

"So, what are you doing here?"

Levi's shoulders shrugged as he half grinned at her, "Why on earth not? It's a beautiful day outside," he replied before tilting his head backwards to look at the sky, not caring that he looked a little weird, "Besides, look at those clouds. I swore I saw one in the shape of a sea horse, once," he mused, "You never know when you'll get a chance to look at them again."

[MIRANDA LYN MORRIS]

Miranda started feeling more and more comfortable with him talking to her. She was actually starting to feel happy that they met today. He was really nice and she had to admit. He was kind of cute, even though she tried to avoid the subject to avoid any unwanted feelings about him.

Miranda set her sketch book aside.Figured as much as long as Levi's around, she won't be able to finish her drawing as of today. She then giggled when he started talking about the clouds in the sky, he does this sort of thing? she thought, remembering only doing this as a kid with her and her dad. She looked up at the sky. Focused at a cloud and tried to draw a picture with it using only her brain.

It was a strange form of art, but art nonetheless. Looking at the cloud that Levi was talking about, the one that looked at the seahorse, she thought looked more like a dragon to her. But she didn't say anything. She didn't want to seam like a know-it-all. She pointed at another one next to it. Joining him in this little game, "And that looks like a big fish that wants to eat him." She laughed. It was kind of funny bringing violence into the cute pictures.

[LEVI SEBASTIAN ELLIOT]

Levi looked to the right of the cloud he identified as a sea horse and chuckled, "I can see that," he agreed, head still tilting backwards awkwardly. "It'd have to be a tuna fish, though." He studied the cloud, but he was unable to recall what a tuna fish looked like at that moment. It wasn't a really weird looking fish, he remembered, but Levi couldn't tell you whether a tuna fish was black or white, fat or skinny.

"I had to do a project on the seahorse in elementary school," he added after a moment in conversation, "I don't really remember too much about them. There's 47 species of them, I think, and their name comes from two Greek words meaning "horse" and "sea monster"...Ummmm," Levi sat up straight, half frowning in thought as he attempted to dredge up more information on the seahorse, "Oh! The father carries the babies. That's sorta a popular one everyone knows, huh?"

He looked at her, smiling as he laughed at his own oversight. The fact that the male seahorse carried the babies until birth was something that lots of children knew about, purely because of how strange it was.

[MIRANDA LYN MORRIS]

Miranda looked at the tuna fish and thought about fascinating fish are. Fish are also one of her favorite things to draw. She always imagines what it's like to swim deep in the sea, seeing all the beautiful creatures. All the amazing things that goes down in the water. It also amazes her how fish can swim around and not have to worry about coming back up for are so you don't drown. She is also a fan of seafood so the thought of fish made her a little hungry. Then erased the thought from her mind.

Levi then began talking about seahorses. She thought seahorses were so cute. The way they were all small and that they looked like well... seahorses. They were fascinating creatures. Except her favorite animals were pandas. The way they lay around all lazy like there's not a care in the world. Miranda wishes she could live like that sometimes.

Levi continued giving Miranda random facts about seahorses and gave him her full attention. It was actually kind of funny the way he was describing the animal. It was like he was talking to the class about his project. She started to think about her own animal project in school. Kind of giggled at the thought. "I remember those silly things. I had to do one on a flamingo. And now I have to do reports and old men."

[LEVI SEBASTIAN ELLIOT]

Levi raised one arched eyebrow, "You had to do reports on the flamingo? All I can think of when I think of flamingos is how much they stink!" he exclaimed, laughing as he remembered the many trips his family had made to the zoo in Atlanta when he was a kid. Levi had always attempted to hurry away from the zoo entrance as soon as possible because of the stench. His youngest sister, Terra, always liked them for some reason. Levi had always teased her about having no sense of smell. She never took that very well.

"And now I have to do reports and old men."

Both eyebrows were raised now as he held in another laugh, "You have to do old men?" he asked, lips betraying him as they began to smile at the edges.

[MIRANDA LYN MORRIS]

Miranda laughed at Levi's comments on flamingos. She never exactly smelled a flamingo. Doesn't even exactly remember the last time she's been to a zoo. So because she's never seen a flamingo in person. She took his word for it. But they cool looking animals. The way that some of them can be all hot pick and look so vibrant and can stand on one foot straight up without loosing there balance. She sometimes tried doing that herself but failed.

Then she notice she said something totally wrong. Instead of saying "I write reports of old men." She said "and". And just right there her flustered with embarrassment. She covered her face and laughed. "Did I say "and" I meant "of". Oh my goodness that's embarrassing..." Reason why she don't talk to boys so often. Right now she just wants to crawl under a rock and never see this boy again.

[LEVI SEBASTIAN ELLIOT]

Levi was unable to suppress a smile as Miranda's face tinted pink, and she covered her face with her hands. He leaned back against the bench, hiding his chuckle. Instead, he said, "You think that's embarrassing? I remember a few years ago when my family lived in Atlanta, I had the biggest crush on this girl named Anna. I must have talked about her all the time because it eventually irritated my sisters, Terra and Alessandra."

He allowed a chuckle to escape at the memory as he shook his head, "But Anna and I didn't talk much because we were on opposing sides of our debate team, and Anna had this 'no talking with the enemies' policy....Kinda silly, if you ask me. Anyway, like I said, my sisters were annoyed hearing about her all the time--as if I didn't have to listen to them talk about boys they liked--so the night before my debate, they drew red hearts with Anna's name in them all over my face. In Sharpie. The debate that day was...interesting."

His lips quivered in laughter that he was holding in at the memory. Finally, he let out a laugh, "I did get her to kiss me, though, so it wasn't too bad," Levi grinned, "I was eleven."

[MIRANDA LYN MORRIS]

Miranda still can't shake the embarrassment off of her head. She's not as red before but still laughing about it. She was happy he didn't look at her like a total freak. She was actually kind of surprised that he was so calm even when she was freaking out over pretty much what seemed like nothing to him.

She liked that Levi tried to make her feel better by talking about his embarrassing. She actually even got a laugh out of it. Even though she didn't think that it was too embarrassing. She was happy that he was trying to make him feel better. Made him seem like a real good friend. Some that she was able to trust.

He talked about the girl he liked and that he kissed her. She thought it was cute and kind of funny the way he was talking about her. "That's cute." She grinned looking at him with her head resting on her right knee. "I don't remember the last time I ever kissed anyone. Or even having a crush on anybody. It must have been nice though."

[LEVI SEBASTIAN ELLIOT]

"I don't remember the last time I ever kissed anyone. Or even having a crush on anybody. It must have been nice though."

Levi chuckled, "I'm sure it was," he replied, glancing at where a watch would be on his wrist, if he was wearing one. He frowned, forgetting that he wasn't wearing one, then he shrugged, not caring. His gaze turned to Miranda, a sudden idea coming to him, "Do you have any particular plans for the rest of the day? I was thinking of heading over to that spring fling in the middle of town. I'd love some company if you weren't busy!"

[MIRANDA LYN MORRIS]

Miranda couldn't help but get a little excited that Levi asked her to hang out with him down town. She figured she was just getting excited over nothing, but it still seamed fun to walk around with him. She kept her emotions in check and focused on what was happening at this present junction.

She looked up at Levi and said with a goofy smile, "I would love to accompany you." She was glad she accepted the offer. Even though she told herself she wasn't into guys like so, Jesus Miranda, calm down, you barely met him and now you're talking as if you're getting married. Miranda said to herself. And it's true. He probably doesn't even like her that was and she's getting all crazy. Besides, no one gets together on the first day.

She packed up her art stuff in a bag specifically for her arts. Then went back to Levi. "So, where are we headed?"