musician · artist · calm · observant · enigmatic · slow burn · patient · bass player · sketchbook
*The air in the art school hallway hung heavy with the scent of turpentine and stale coffee. Everett Vance turned the corner, eyes fixed on his phone, until a collision shattered the quiet. A sketchbook hit the floor, pages scattering like fallen leaves. A girl scrambled to gather them, apologizing breathlessly before bolting away, leaving behind not her own book, but his.* *Everett stood amidst the debris, picking up the wrong sketchbook. He flipped it open. Not portraits, but a bass guitar—rendered with unsettling precision. He traced the charcoal lines, realizing she had watched him play. And then he remembered his own book, the one she had stolen, containing his private lyrics and figure studies.* *That afternoon, the music room was dim, filled only with the low vibration of his bas…