Chapter 28: A Long Night

Dana POV:

"So, you're not gonna tell me anything about yourself? I mean, you literally know everything about me, and you've witnessed shitty aspects of my life that not even Blake has. Yet, I know literally nothing about you, besides your name and what you do for a living," I say to Jason, who is busy pouring himself another glass of wine.

"So did you propose that we drink together just to get me to talk about myself?" he asks.

"No, of course not! I just felt like having a drink just to clear my mind and since you're not working today, I thought it'd be nice to have you join me. Besides, it's always better to drink with a friend than to drink alone. It helps you feel less lonely," I reply to him, muttering the last part and he chuckles.

"Are you lonely?" he asks.

"Me? Lonely? How can I be lonely when I have you around?" I tease playfully and he lets out an even louder laugh.

"I don't think I'm the best person to depend on though because I'll only make you feel even lonelier," he replies, sounding both serious and unserious at the same time.

"You wanna know something about you Jace? You have a knack for confusing people and it's almost as if you do it purpose and you don't even realize that you do it on purpose," I tell him and he furrows his brows, obviously confused.

"You do realize you just contradicted yourself, right? I mean, how can I not realize I'm confusing people when I'm doing on purpose? Does that make any sense to you?" he asks with a bored look on his face. I let out a soft sigh before chugging down half the contents in my wine glass.

"You know what, forget I said anything. I think it's the alcohol talking," I respond tiredly, not exactly ready to deal with bickering with a persistent Jason.

"Hmm, okay then, if you say so but just so you know, I don't think you're drunk enough to say something that precise. It feels like you have something to say to me and let me advice you, if you have something to say to me, you better say it and be clear with me. You never know, maybe if you let it out, I'll help you make sense of whatever it is that's confusing you," he says and now, I'm definitely confused.

"Are you a light drinker Jason?" I ask.

"Nope, I'm not. Why do you ask?" he replies.

"Well, I just think you're starting to sound a little abnormal which means you're either drunk or you're just trying to confuse me on purpose but whichever option it is, I hope you either stop with the drinking or just drop the joke," I drawl, and he smirks.

"You're cute," he says out of nowhere and that was when I came to a conclusion that Jason is indeed under the influence of alcohol and at this point, so was I.

"Cute? Me? Why would say something that ridiculous? I'm not even close to being cute!" I hiss at him, raising my voice a little more than I intended to.

"Has nobody ever told you that you're cute or are you just trying to sound surprised?" he asks.

"Well, it is surprising coming from you so don't act like you did not expect me to be surprised," I scoff at him.

"Anyways, it's a harmless compliment so there's no need to be surprised. I was only being honest," he replies and maybe it's the alcohol or the fact that I had a pretty slow and tiring day but something about what he said made my insides both uncomfortable and giddy at the same time.

"What makes you say I'm cute though?" I ask daringly in a low voice, and I can assure you, it's the alcohol talking.

"Do you really want to know?" he replies, taking a small sip from his glass whilst I slowly downed whatever was left in my glass.

"I wouldn't be asking if I didn't," I say to him. He lets out a light chuckle before gulping down the rest of his drink and turning to face me with an unreadable expression in his eyes.

"Well, I don't know, I just think you're cute. The way you talk is cute, the way you laugh is cute and you look cute even when you cry. To sum it up, everything about you is pretty much cute. Happy now?" he replies. For a split second, I forgot Blake was in the picture and I wanted to kiss him so bad.

"This is what I mean when I say you have a knack for confusing people. Now, I'm certain that you do it on purpose," I tease, trying to make it seem like I was only joking but deep down, I really wasn't.

Jason has been confusing my thoughts ever since I met him. Just when I thought my messed-up feelings were a thing of the past, he says that I'm cute, and now, I'm back to where I started and it's even ten times worse.

"I don't think I confuse people though. I just think people get confused simply because they want to get confused. I'm pretty much an open book so there's absolutely nothing to be confused about except if you decide to take the things I say too literally or if you overthink my actions. I think that's when you'll start to get a little confused and that isn't on me, it's on you," he responds and something about his words almost sounded like a subtle warning for me not to take him too seriously.

"So what? I shouldn't take your words seriously? So, you're one of those guys who purposely use their words to mess with people and then act like they didn't say anything that's too big of a deal? Do you enjoy teasing people with the things you say knowing well that they'll probably read meaning into your words but after talking your shit, you then act all innocent and clueless?" I blurt out, not enjoying the fact that he thinks he could play around with my thoughts and then act like he didn't just do it on purpose.

"Okay relax yourself Dana, you don't have to get so worked up. What I mean is, most people don't try to understand the kind of person I am, so they take everything I say quite literally and then they say I enjoy confusing people which isn't the case. I just say things randomly and expect that you should know me enough not to take me too seriously," he attempts to explain. I couldn't help but wonder how exactly his head works if he can't even realize that he's only being more confusing.

"So, you calling me cute isn't something I should take literally because you just like to say the most random things. Gotcha," I drawl dramatically, clicking my tongue to show that I wasn't very impressed with his choice of words.

"First things first, Dana, I never say what I don't mean. I may say the most random things, but I never say things that I don't mean, especially not to ladies. I wouldn't want to offend anyone. Secondly, is there another reason why you're irritated by my responses cause you're starting to sound like it's pretty personal," he says, and I honestly can't believe this man.

"You really should have stopped after the first point," I say to him tiredly, pouring myself another glass of wine and gulping it down immediately. The minute the slightly bitter liquid went down my throat, I knew it was a mistake on my part to have gulped down that much alcohol and I knew if I stay back here with Jason longer than five minutes, I might make a mistake I'll end up regretting.

"Well Jason, I'm going to bed. I think I'm already drunk as it is and I don't want to start saying things I don't even mean," I tell him before getting up to leave but to my surprise he pulls me back down and uses his hand to move me closer to him till I was barely inches away from him face.

"W-What are you doing, Jason?" I ask shakily, trying as best as I could to avoid looking directly at his face.

"Would you like to see my paintings, Dana?" he asks randomly, and I'm confused.

"Y-Your paintings? I thought you normally don't let anyone see them?" I ask, wondering why he's asking me to check out his paintings with his face just a few inches away from mine.

"I don't know, I just want you to see it. I need someone else's opinion and since you're the only one here, I'd like for you to see it and give me an honest opinion," he replies.

"I don't know anything about paintings though so are you sure you need my opinion?" I ask.

"I just need you to say the first thing that comes to your mind the minute you look at them. That will be more than enough for me," he responds. I let out as shaky breath as I can literally feel his hot breath fanning my lips.

"So, what if I end up not liking them?" I wonder out loud and he chuckles.

"Well that simply means, there's a high chance my exhibition won't be as successful as I want it to be," he responds nonchalantly, and I frown.

"I haven't even seen them yet and you're already making me want to not give an opinion," I hiss.

"Please do, Dana. I really need one or else I won't be confident putting them on display. Besides, if there's one thing about paintings, it's that people see different meanings based on their different personalities, beliefs, or experiences. So, what you see at first glance may or may not be what someone else sees. Your experience and your way of thinking will determine how my paintings will seem to you," he explains and for a moment there, I completely forget just how close I am to him.

Something about how he really wanted me to check out his work made my stomach churn, and I couldn't help but feel nervous.

"Okay fine, I'll check out your work but first, could you please let go of me? I really need to move," I mutter in a somewhat desperate tone.

"Oh, my bad," he replies before finally letting go of the tight grip he had on my waist.

"Thank you," I let out a sigh, as I'm finally away from his face and back to thinking with a much clearer head, I think.

"Let's go check out your paintings," I drawl in a childlike tone, picking up the rest of the wine almost empty wine bottle and instructing him to pick the wine glasses.

"I have a no food or drink rule for my studio Dana, so we can't drink in there," he says, and I roll my eyes.

"I'm not taking these in there silly, I'm dropping off the rest of the wine in my room and you can just leave the glasses in the kitchen," I instruct and he nods before walking towards the kitchen while I hear upstairs and dropped off the wine before heading towards his studio and waiting for him to come up so he can open up the place himself.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," he says as soon as he arrives, and I immediately shrug off his unneeded apology.

"Come on in," he says nervously. I am surprised by what I see.

"What do you think?" he asks. For a few minutes, I'm too gob smacked to come up with any words.

Whenever I thought of Jason's studio, I probably thought it would be the typical type of studio I've come across in either movies or wherever else my brain may have come across an idea of how it looks like but to my surprise, waking into Jason's studio almost felt like I walked into a toddler's bedroom but the only difference was that instead of a tiny cradle and a room filled with toys, this one had several covered paintings and a few empty canvases that were neatly arranged to the side.

"Was this room perhaps a baby's room before you occupied it?" I ask, genuinely curious to know and he laughs.

"I knew you'd think that way. Actually, it wasn't a baby's room and I actually painted this myself," he responds and again, I'm surprised.

Why would a grown ass man paint a room with super bright colors like baby pink and baby blue? He even has baby handprints on every corner of the wall.

"Is there a reason you chose to do this to the place? I mean, is there like a backstory or something?" I ask.

"Not really though, I just thought it would be interesting and unexpected. All of my studios look like this, even the one in my apartment," he replies and something else catches my attention.

"Your apartment?" I reply in a questioning tone.

"Well, yes, my apartment Dana. Don't tell me you think Blake and I have been living together since we started going out? I only just moved in last year but prior to that, I had a place of my own," he replies.

"Oh, that makes perfect sense,"

"Anyways, enough about my choice of interior. I'm gonna be showing you two different works and I want you to just say the first thing that comes to mind, understood?" he reminds me.

"Sure bro, go right ahead," I reply.

He moves closer to one of the covered paintings and slowly removes the piece of cloth covering it, revealing a weird painting that showed both a man and a woman standing away from each other but with their hands still locked together. The painting from what I could tell has a pretty dark theme and when I looked more closely, I noticed that inside the painting of the man and woman, they were tiny looking heads that looked like heads belonging to newborn babies.

"This is weird," I unconsciously blurt out.

"What is?" he asks from behind me with squinted eyes.

"I don't know, everything about the painting feels weird," I tell him.

"Kindly elaborate on why you say so," he insists.

"Well, first, there's a man and a woman standing far apart but still managing to hold hands and then, there's the baby heads drawn inside them precisely in the stomach area. The first thing that actually comes to mind is that this is a family. At first, I thought, could it be a family that's expecting a baby? But seeing how the parents are distant and are barely holding on to each other, I think it's maybe a family that's falling apart," I explain, surprised at myself for actually coming to that conclusion.

"Am I right?" I ask Jason, who hasn't said anything but keeps staring at the painting and me.

"Remember when I said earlier that paintings can have different interpretations depending on a person's experience or way of thinking? Well, this is a clear example of such an instance," he replies.

"So, I'm wrong?" I ask, confused.

"No, no, you're definitely not wrong. Your interpretation is based on your experience and looking at my work and your conclusion, I see why you think the painting depicts a family that's falling apart. My own interpretation isn't far off either, it's just much deeper. For me, the baby heads are food particles in the stomach of the parents because they were gobbled up by them," he explains. Not only am I confused, but I'm also creeped out.

"Wait, what? Why? How? Why?" I question, not understanding how he even came up with such a sick concept.

"Relax Dana, the painting is simply an illustration of a dysfunctional family. The eaten babies represent the abuse that the children are going through and how it's eating away their childhood and who are the people eating away their childhood? The parents who are abusive. As for the parents barely holding on, it also represents a dysfunctional family and how the parents are barely hanging on to each other while transferring all of their aggression and anger to the children in their stomachs. It sounds sick but I like it," he explains and for some reason, I start thinking he's one of the eaten babies.

"Can I see the other one?" I ask, not knowing what else to say to his weird but somewhat understandable interpretation.

"Here," he replies, calmly removing the piece of cloth over the second canvas.

The second painting looked a lot more colorful than the first but weirdly, I could also tell this was dark themed. The painting had a little boy sitting at the far end of the canvas with his head resting on his knees and on the other end of the canvas, another little boy standing with his head hanging low. Surrounding him were dark colored butterflies and light-colored spiders which I found pretty weird and intriguing.

The painting seems pretty plain and simple at first with just two little boys surrounded by spiders and butterflies, but when I look closer, I see something I wasn't expecting: guns and knives.

The last thing I expected was seeing tiny looking guns and knives with tiny wings on them.

"Wait, are those really flying guns and knives?" I ask.

"Yes, they are. Anything coming to mind?" he asks and I'm blank for a few seconds.

"Wait, are the two boys perhaps suicidal?" I ask slowly, hoping I was wrong about it.

"Wow, didn't think you'd actually guess it but yes, that's the concept but as always, that isn't all there is to it," he replies.

"The thing is, the two boys are in fact the same person, just different scenarios. On one end, he's crying and on the other, he's simply deep in his thoughts. The light-colored spiders, the guns and knives with wings and the dark colored butterflies all have their meaning. You know how spiders usually represent something bad and something no one wants around well, in this case, it is still something bad, but it represents how the little boy already views this bad thing as a good thing. He's of the impression that the spider represents his happy place hence he's so used to the bad, he no longer knows what's good,"

"As for the butterflies, they usually represent beautiful and good things and, in this case, they still are but the problem is, the little boy doesn't see them for what they are. He's of the impression that the good is bad and the bad is good, hence, he is neck deep in all kinds of pain and unhappiness and he doesn't even realize it. As for the flying guns and knives, they represent the suicidal thoughts of the little boy as he slowly becomes so depressed and sad that he sees suicide as his only option left. So, the concept isn't just suicide, it's more like the road leading up to suicide," he explains, and I am short of words.

"How can something so depressing be so beautiful and touching at the same time?" I wonder out loud.

"That's art for you Dana, sick but at the same time eye opening and intriguing," he replies, and I subconsciously smile.

"Your art is beautiful Jason and I mean it," I tell him genuinely. I honestly wished I could ask him what inspired the concept of his work but for some reason, I couldn't. If there's one thing I'm sure of though, it's that Jason has a story, and his story is somehow related to his paintings.