"Without cleaning the brush off," Janice continued.
That would have been helpful about two seconds sooner, Dominick thought to himself. He dipped the paintbrush into the blue, and then into the white, causing Harmony to lift her brows at him.
He wanted to open his mouth and explain what had happened—to tell her he messed up and was only trying to recover so that his painting wasn't the worst in the class. But one word popped into his mind: confidence.
He grinned at her and shrugged. And Harmony surprised him by laughing.
The two of them, along with the rest of the class, continued step by step through the process of painting. With each new instruction—and each sip of wine—Dominick grew more comfortable with the class.
His painting looked similar to everyone else's and he was having fun letting his creative juices flow. Maybe painting wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.
When he'd finished the last stroke of red, he set his brush down and eagerly waited for the next color they would use. Dominick was so caught up in the class, he barely registered the nervousness he should be feeling next to Harmony.
He was having... fun.
"That concludes the background. We want to give that layer a few minutes to dry. So take this opportunity to clean your brushes, refill your drinks, and prepare yourself for a little game. The winner will get a voucher for one free class to use at a later date."
Dominick reluctantly did as he was told. He hated that they had to take a break just when he felt like he'd hit his stride. But he also felt a small bit of apprehension over the next part. Would it get more complicated?
"Are you the competitive type?" Harmony was leaning over so close, he could smell the wine on her breath.
A corner of Dominick's mouth lifted. "It depends. When it comes to academics, I'm pretty hard on myself. It's how I got big enough scholarships to go to Florida Southern."
Harmony placed her elbow of the tabletop and propped her chin in her hand. Her eyes looked heavy as she looked up at Dominick. "So, you're like super smart?"
"I work hard. It's not exactly the same thing. But if you want to think I'm some kind of genius, I won't argue."
Harmony's grin widened as she sat back up. "So does that mean you are competitive?"
"Like I said, I am with my grades." Dominick waved a hand at his painting. "Something like this, less so."
"Why is that?" Harmony titled her head to the side. "Do you think you're too good for art?" The words could have been interpreted as hostile, if not for the playful tone of voice and the sly grin on her face.
"Maybe I think I'm not good enough for it," he answered with the same teasing tone.
Harmony looked at her canvas, then to Dominick's. She gave an exaggerated once-over of the entire room. "I don't know about that. Your background looks like everyone else's. Maybe you haven't given art enough of a chance."
"Or maybe art hasn't given me enough of a chance."
Harmony sat back in her chair, looking at Dominick appraisingly. "Maybe she hasn't."
Dominick wondered if they were still talking about his skill, or lack thereof, when it came to painting. Or were they talking about this date? He knew his words had a double meaning, and with her last statement, it seemed like hers did too.
Plus, the way Harmony was looking at him right now, as if she were trying to decipher a puzzle, made him hopeful she was coming around to the idea of dating him in earnest.
"How did the evening end?"
"Are you asking me if he gave me a kiss goodnight? We didn't get the chance."
5
What in the world was she thinking?
Was she really flirting with Dominick of all people? The wine had to be the only explanation. There was no other reason for her to be making the comments she’d made.
Maybe she hasn't?!?
She might as well have thrown herself at him right there in that classroom. Harmony thought of the picture in her pocket. On it was her real date. Pax was handsome, and charming, and would know that merlot was her last choice when it came to wine. He wouldn’t have gotten hit in the head with a car door like Dominick.
But would Pax have walked Harmony to her car?
Of course, he would.
The woman in front of the class clasped her hands together, causing eighteen pairs of eyes to dart in her direction. "It's time to start the contest. Please take the paper plates from the tabletops and place them on your head. Think of your favorite animal. Using whatever brushes and paint colors you want, draw your animal. But make sure you keep the plate on top of your head."
What kind of game was this? And what would Harmony draw?
Dog? No, too hard.
Cat? Same problem.
Ugh. Not only was Harmony battling a slight buzz, but trying to draw an animal on the top of her head? She'd be lucky if it turned out to be more than one giant blob.
All around her, participants were getting to work. A quick glance at Dominick showed he'd already started. He had mixed red and white together to make pink.
She bet he was doing a pig. Smart choice. There were only so many animals that color. It wouldn't matter if there were three legs and the curly tail was larger than the rest of the body. People would know what it was.
Harmony then realized Dominick had never completely answered her question about being competitive, nor had he asked her if she was. If he had, she would have answered with a resounding yes. Contests were exciting to Harmony, and she hated the idea of losing. Second place was just the first loser. And she did not want to lose to Dominick or any of the other people in the room.
Did she care about the voucher? Hell no. The class was cheesy, and she doubted she'd be able to drag anyone to one with her—not if they were paying full-price for their spot. But she liked to win.
"You'd better get started. Time's almost up." Dominick's voice knocked her from her silent musings. All around people were setting down their brushes.
"Crap! There was a time limit?" she asked.
Dominick's brows lowered as he looked at her. "Janice just gave the one-minute warning."
One minute?!
Harmony quickly dipped her brush into the black paint. She made what she hoped was a passable circle on her plate before returning the brush to the paint. Continuing to move quickly, she drew a couple of squiggly marks on the plate. Just as she finished the last stroke, the instructor called time.
Talk about your close call.
"Alright, folks. I want you to lower your plates and look at them." Laughter rang out all around the room. Harmony was less than amused by her work.
Just to punctuate the fact that it looked nothing like she'd intended, Dominick leaned over and asked, "What is it?"
"It's an octopus," she answered evenly.
His smile returned. He must have looked at all of this like a game. The thought irritated her more than it should because of course it was a game. "Now I see it, with the eight tentacles. Wanna guess mine?"
Harmony looked down at his plate. "Dolphin?"
"No, it's…" Dominick's smile fell as he hesitated briefly. "It's a pig. I thought for sure the color, and the curly tail would have been a dead giveaway."
Harmony let out a puff of air. "I know it's a pig. I bet the whole class will know it's a pig." She sat back against her chair and crossed her arms over her chest, forcefully keeping her gaze on the front of the room waiting for the instructor to say something else. Janice was walking around the room, giving everyone far too much time to look at their plates. Harmony had the strong urge to pick her paintbrush up and make her blob into something that actually resembled an octopus.
Just as she was reaching for it, a chuckle from beside her caused her to drop her hand. She turned to see Dominick's eyes wide. "You're a sore loser!"
"Am not." She kept her eyes from meeting his gaze.
His finger poked her arm. "Yes, you are. You're mad that I didn't know what your drawing was. Well, don't be. I have a terrible imaginatio
n."
"I'm not—"
But her words were cut off by the teacher. "I've walked around the room and have chosen three people to bring their plates up here."
Janice pointed to two girls on the other side who both squealed in delight as they walked to the front of the room. When the instructor's eyes moved in their direction, Harmony felt her heart sink. She didn't want her painting to be judged by a bunch of drunk people with no skill. Maybe she could persuade Dominick to claim it as his own.
He is still trying so hard to impress me, it could be considered an act of chivalry, she thought. He seemed obsessed with the idea of being the perfect gentleman.
But when the woman up front pointed to Dominick instead of her, Harmony felt sick. What was worse than having your work rejected? Having your date's crappy pig win.
Dominick smiled at Harmony before standing up. "Don't worry, if I win, I'll let you have the voucher."
"I don't care," she responded rolling her eyes.
"Of course you don't."
The next several minutes consisted of each contestant telling the class what they painted. Harmony didn't care. And now that she knew she was out of the running, she twirled her brush in the black paint and got to work on her octopus.
There was a class vote, and Dominick won. Although, Harmony wasn't shocked in the least. The appreciative awws from everyone when he said he drew a pig made it obvious he'd be the crowd favorite.
Dominick practically bounced back to his seat. "My lady." He bowed and handed the voucher to Harmony, which she greedily snatched from his hand and shoved in her purse.
"Wow," he breathed looking down at her plate. "You totally would have won if we got to see what we were doing."
A biting response sat on her lips, but when she looked up at Dominick, Harmony realized she'd impressed him. It wasn't even a good painting of an octopus, but the compliment was still appreciated.
"Thanks," she ended up saying, though it still came out as a grumble.
He mumbled something under his breath that sounded a lot like the word "confidence," then grabbed his brush and drew a pink line straight threw her octopus.
"What was that for?" Her voice was shrill from the shock of it, rather than actually being upset.
"For being a sore loser and taking my voucher anyway."
She narrowed her eyes. "You gave it to me."
Harmony was confused by his words until she saw the smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He was flirting, and she found herself wanting to flirt back.
"Oh, it's on!" She dipped her brush in the black paint and covered the pig.
His mouth fell open as his hand flew to his chest. "You killed Babe!"
Harmony lowered her voice and narrowed her eyes. "She deserved it."
Dominick laughed and dipped his finger into the red paint in front of him. He put in on the octopus. "Then I'll be the evil fisherman."
A giggle burst forth. "That's horrible. I bet you don't cut the plastic rings on soda cans, do you?"
"Wait." His face was serious. "You're supposed to do that?"
"Of course you are." She struggled to keep her voice light. He was joking, right? Not that she was a crazy activist, but she thought it was something everyone did. With Dominick, it was so hard to tell. He'd gone from awkward and shy to fun and confident in the course of a painting class.
When she saw the humor in his eyes, Harmony knew he was teasing her again.
Maybe it was the wine that made Dominick fun. Harmony thought she should top off their glasses to make sure the night continued on this way.
Unfortunately, the plastic cup was on the edge of the tabletop, so when Harmony started filling it, it became unbalanced and fell—right onto Dominick's pants.
She expected another easy smile—the kind she'd been growing accustomed to over the last thirty minutes. Harmony hoped he would see she was having a good time and it was just an accident. Instead, what she got was a look of horror.
His voice was stricken when he spoke. "Oh, no!"
Harmony grabbed for the paper towels on the table. She started dabbing at his pants, not sure if she was making things better or worse.
Dominick cursed under his breath, and she thought she heard him mutter, "Conrad is gonna kill me," but she couldn't be sure. Who was Conrad and why would he care if she spilled wine on Dominick's pants?
"I'm so sorry," she said, still pressing paper towels on his legs, careful to keep her hands a respectable distance from anything else. "It was an accident."
Dominick pushed her hands away. "I know. Listen, I gotta go." He looked into her eyes. "Stay. Keep painting. Please don't drink anymore."
"What?" she shrieked, drawing the attention of some of the other people in the room.
"I only mean you had a drink at dinner and then wine here. Now, you're spilling stuff on me, and I don't want you to be drunk when you drive home."
"What?" He thought she was drunk? "I'm not drunk, Dominick. The cup slipped."
His eyes were still wide, as he patted his pant leg with the paper towel that had been in Harmony's hand moments before. "I know it was an accident, and really, I'm not mad. But I gotta go. It was…" He stopped and looked directly into Harmony's eyes. "It was nice meeting you. Have a good…" Dominick sighed. "Goodnight."
With that, he was racing out the front door, leaving Harmony with everyone's eyes on her, a half a bottle of wine, and at least another forty-five minutes of class. She took a deep breath, glared at anyone who dared look her way, and settled in to finish her painting.
"When did you ask her on the second date?"
"Why would you think I asked her on another date?"
6
Dominick walked into his dorm with several different ideas of where Conrad could put his confidence. He'd loosened up, played the part of the guy who was self-assured, and where had it gotten him? Looking like a complete tool with wine all over the borrowed pants he wore.
Not only that, he’d abandoned Harmony with no explanation. What had he been thinking?
The small space of his room smelled like pizza, and Conrad was sitting in his usual spot on the edge of his bed. On his head was the headset he always wore while playing his online video games. He looked up at the sound of the door slamming. Dominick's expression must have been more gloomy than he realized because Conrad took one look at him and set both the headset and his controller down and stood up in the middle of the room.
"Duuuude," he said slowly. "What happened to you tonight?"
Dominick shook his head. "A disaster, that's what."
"What's all over your pants?"
"I think you mean your pants." Dominick raised his eyebrows. "And it's red wine. I doubt it'll come out, and I'm going to have to buy you a new pair. Please tell me they're not expensive."
He held his breath knowing it was a very real possibility. Conrad was a walking contradiction. He was charming but rude, cheap yet cultured. For all Dominick knew, these pants that were often wrinkled on the floor of their dorm could have cost a couple of hundred dollars. It was money Dominick didn't have.
"It's fine." Conrad waved his hand in the air as if he was physically pushing the question out of the room. "Tell me about your date."
Dominick stared at Conrad, only breaking his gaze for one long, dramatic blink.
"That bad?"
Dominick let out a puff of air that might have been considered a laugh by some. "Let’s see, I already told you she thought I was going to be someone else, and now I'm home early with wine stains on your pants. What do you think?"
Conrad wrapped his hand around the back of his neck and chuckled. "That good, huh?"
"The entire night was a disaster." Dominick began pacing in the small room. "She would have been better off with Pax."
"Pax?"
Dominick stopped, and crossed his arms across his chest. "Yeah, Pax. Mr. Perfect. Blond hair, blue eyes. Charming, I'm sure. The guy she was supposed to date."
Conrad mirrored Dominick
stance and crossed his arms, waiting for Dominick to continue.
Dominick flopped down on his bed and put his elbows on his knees. "And now I'm out a bunch of money I really shouldn't have spent in the first place. This is exactly why this whole Date Maker thing was a bad idea. I'm hopeless."
"Maybe not." Conrad's voice was quiet. Dominick looked up to see his roommate's brows furrowed, his hand resting on his chin.
"What are you talking about?" Dominick asked. "Of course I am."
"No, no, no. That's not what I mean. You’re still hopeless." He smiled at Dominick, who only groaned in response. "I wonder if your packet was the one that was correct and hot coffee chick—"
"Harmony," Dominick interrupted.
"Right. Maybe Harmony's was the one that was messed up."
Dominick chuckled. "Oh, yeah. I'm sure that's what happened. And now that you mention it, all those glares were probably just her way of flirting. And the way she told me she wished I was Pax was her playing hard to get. Oh, why didn't I think of that? If only I would have stayed at the painting class, Harmony would be madly in love with me right now."
"Dominick," Conrad sighed. "You don't have to be so dramatic about the whole thing. I'm just saying it's a possibility, right? Did Morgan say she mixed up your packet? Or are you just assuming things?"
He pulled out his phone. Dominick had sent a quick text to Morgan when Harmony wasn't paying attention, but she still hadn't responded. And if Harmony had been on the phone with Morgan when he pulled up to the painting class, she hadn’t said they were on the wrong date.
While he wasn't necessarily convinced that Conrad was right, Dominick couldn't stop the small amount of hope that was building in his chest.
Maybe he and Harmony were meant to date each other, and their first date just hadn't gone as expected.
Conrad cleared his throat. "I'm guessing by that goofy grin on your face you are starting to realize your roommate is brilliant."
Meet Your Match (Disastrous Dates Book 1) Page 4