The Muse by Nicholas Matthews Read Free Book Online

“An open book containing pages filled with invisible ink?”
                “That’s not fair,” Gibson said.  “You’re judging me.”
    “Anything you want to talk about?”
                “I don't even really know you,” Gibson replied, feeling his mood going even more further south by the minute. 
                “We could change all of that,” Josie said with a mischievous grin.  “How about we grab a coffee and get to know each other?  Let me see what makes Gibson, the brooding artist, tick.”
                “I don’t brood.”
                “You’re brooding now,” Josie noted.  “Your brow is furrowed.  You’re frowning at me.  You’re brooding.  Trust me.”
                “I’m sorry,” Gibson said.  “I don’t mean to.  Maybe it’s subconscious.”
                “It’s ok,” Josie said, patting him playfully on the hand.  “So how about that coffee?”
                Gibson studied this girl carefully.  Was she asking him out on a date?  He was pretty sure he was reading the signs correctly.  She seemed interested in him.  Was he interested in her? 
                The fact that he had to ask himself that question was answer enough.  She seemed like a decent enough person.  Yet, he felt no connection with her, no spark.  Still, he knew he was a pitiful judge when it came to love.  Maybe she was extraordinary and he was simply too jaded to notice.  Maybe he needed to give this a try.  Had he built a wall around himself that protected him, yet kept everyone at arm’s length.  She had pointed as much out. 
                She had pointed a lot of things out for that matter, despite the fact that she didn't really know him.  He didn't like how forward she was or how blunt.  He didn't like her assuming nature.  He didn't like feeling as if he was being profiled.  Yet, he liked being alone a lot less.  Maybe he needed to take a chance and see what happened.   
                He had been playing it safe for far too long.  He wasn’t sure that Josie was for him, but he knew that going to coffee with her would be a good thing.  If nothing else, it might help him break out of his comfort zone.  He was stuck in a rut now, and the situation required desperate measures to get out of that rut. 
                “Sure, why not,” he said with a smile.  “Coffee sounds good.”
                “I know a place,” Josie replied.  “It's not far from here.”
               

Chapter 5
     
     
                Someone had thought it would be cute to name their coffee shop, Grounded.  It was a place for hipsters and should have appealed to someone with an artistic flair like Gibson.  However, these kinds of places made him irritable.  So many people trying to look important with their smart phones, Ipads, laptops, and books by Kierkegaard.  Very few people inside the bistro even seemed to care about coffee.  The java in a place like this was an afterthought.  People came here for the ambience.  People came here because it was the intellectual thing to do.  People came here to look sophisticated on a date because that's exactly the sort of vibe you wanted to present when meeting someone of the opposite sex.  Gibson would have suggested a different place if not for the fact that Josie seemed so excited. 
                She ordered a double espresso which seemed fitting, and Gibson ordered a black coffee, also fitting.  Once they had their drinks, Josie found a corner table near the window and motioned for him to sit.  Gibson felt a little bit odd.  This wasn't the way things were supposed to work.  The girl wasn't supposed to ask the guy out.  The guy was supposed to take charge.  And yet, in the span of an hour, Josie had flirted with him, asked him out on a date, and was now showing him to their