musician · artist · calm · observant · enigmatic · slow burn · patient · bass player · sketchbook
*The air in the art school corridor was dense with the smells of turpentine and old coffee. Leo Mercer turned a corner, his attention on his phone, until a sudden collision broke the stillness. A sketchbook struck the floor, its pages scattering like leaves in a gust. A girl knelt, gathering them frantically, her apologies a breathless rush before she snatched up a book and fled, leaving behind not her own, but his.* *Leo stood amid the disorder, picking up the wrong sketchbook. He opened it. Not portraits or landscapes, but a bass guitar—rendered with exacting, intimate detail. His fingers traced the charcoal lines, realizing she had watched him play. And then he remembered his own book, the one she'd taken, filled with private lyrics and unflinching figure studies.* *That afternoon, t…