Sam maps out Gabriel's fingertips first with black charcoal.
Sam maps out Gabriel's fingertips first with black charcoal. They end up smudged in between the sheets of his sketch books. He uses pencil next and lovingly sketches out each knuckles and tendons on Gabriel's hand. He draws out the lines he's already memorized by touch and his pencil extends up and up.
Sam paints the blue veins on the inside of Gabriel's forearms with watercolor; and let's the paint drip from the top of the paper, down. It forms a drop on the bottom of the paper before splashing down onto the floor and forms a bright blue dot on the carpet.
He tries oil paint for Gabriel's legs. He finds the chemical smell sickening but he loves that it stays wet even after days. He paints the toes over and over again, sometime in red and browns and yellows, one over another, until, in the end, he can't name the color anymore.
Sam's always loved Gabriel's thighs, he loved the soft white in the inside and how red would bloom like a rose when he kissed there. He fills the space with white pastel and rubs until his own fingers are the color of Gabriel's thighs and loves the way the red pastel looks on it, like a kiss.
Then Sam cuts out all the pictures of Gabriel he has and collages them to make Gabriel's torso. He thinks it makes a wonderful sort of statement about his art.
Of course Gabriel's face is the hardest. He bites the inside of his cheek so that he doesn't mess up; he won't get another chance at it. It takes what seems like an eternity, the blood is making his hands slippery in the dark and his grip on the knife starts to feel numb. But he knows Gabriel's face, he's memorized it with his own fingertips a thousand times. He knows the exact feeling of Gabriel's lids, he has softly touched them before when they were covering those beautiful eyes of his. He peels them off. It's a messy job and his shirt is soaked by the time he finishes, maybe he should have invested in an apron.
But in the end, Sam thinks, standing back to admire his masterpiece, the effort had not been wasted. Sam smears some of the blood on his lip and kisses Gabriel's forehead goodbye. After all, signatures are important.
