Rouge

by Isabella Modra

  Eli’s expression was that of confusion, but Hunter wouldn’t know because she refused to meet his eyes. A lot of people grew uncomfortable around her when they learned the tragedy of her parent’s death and the fact that Joshua was the only family she had. She expected Eli to say something like ‘I’m sorry’ and try to change the subject.

  “That explains why you call him Joshua then.” He took another sip of champagne.

  “He doesn’t like the name ‘Josh’,” she said with a smile. “He thinks it makes him sounds like an eighteen-year-old quarterback.”

  “So then you’re not a Harrison?”

  “I am,” she shrugged. “It avoids questions.”

  “Right, got you,” he winked. “Do you miss your parents?”

  Hunter looked up into his eyes, those strange, tortoise-shell eyes, and saw the sincerity in them. Eli wasn’t just being polite. He really cared.

  “Yes... and no. I never knew them, so I don’t know what it’s like to have parents. It’s more of a... longing. For a mother who teaches me to do my hair and a father who has to approve of all my boyfriends before I can date them. I can’t get that from Joshua, he’s too...”

  Eli blinked, waiting for her reply. Another professor was called and thanked for his contributions.

  “He’s just... Joshua.”

  “You must be very close.”

  “It’s complicated,” she told him, her eyes on Mr. Bradshaw. “We aren’t very alike. Kind of the opposite, actually. But I do love him like a friend. He’s been there for me all my life, provided for me, given me everything I could have wanted.”

  “Except what only your real parents could give you?”

  Hunter found herself pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to talk to Eli, at how readily he understood her.

  “Exactly,” she said. Eli smiled at her and shied away from her gaze. “You didn’t answer my question before.”

  “Which question was that?”

  “The reason why you’re here.”

  Eli’s soft features suddenly hardened. He stared down at his drink and swirled the half empty glass so the champagne almost slipped over the lid.

  “Right. My... my father is a good friend of Mr. Bradshaw. He’s a very successful business man and often attends benefits such as this. He drags me along in hopes I might gain contacts and make a name for myself.”

  “You don’t sound too pleased about that,” she noted.

  Eli sniffed angrily. “I don’t think he understands that I have no intention of following in the family business.”

  “Which is?”

  “He’s the Chief Executive of a law firm in the Upper East Side. He’s very public about power and wealth, thinks the world revolves around it.” Eli watched Mr. Bradshaw hand the last plaque over to a short, fat man who was sweating like a pig and then announced that he would like to take a moment to explain some of the plans for the university this semester. “He never used to be like that though,” Eli continued. “Ever since Mom left, he hasn’t been the same. It’s like she took all his feelings with her, so all that’s left is greed.”

  Hunter felt a pang of pity for Eli. He and his father were clearly very different, even if she’d never met the man. And without a mother to turn to, who did Eli look up to?

  “I’m just sick of it, you know? He’s always trying to change me, but he doesn’t understand that I’ll always be who I am. No amount of boring benefits can mold me into a goddamn businessman.” His gaze moved now to Mr. Bradshaw, who was closing his speech and stepping off the stage. The noise grew as though someone had turned the volume dial up. Joshua was talking with Mr. Bradshaw, and then Mr. Akerman joined them.

  Eli snorted. “I hope Joshua is a confident man, or my dad will tear him up.”

  Hunter looked to Eli, and then back at Mr. Akerman. Suddenly it clicked.

  “That’s your dad?”

  Eli glanced at her, some of the hate replaced with alarm. “Did you meet him? God I’m sorry.”

  “He wasn’t that... okay, he was kind of rude, but-”

  “He’s always rude.” Lifting his glass, Eli swallowed the rest of his drink and leaned behind Hunter to put it back on the table. Wincing, he moved away from the plant and shot the green fern an evil glare. “I hate fake plants,” he said. Hunter laughed at him. “What?”

  “Nothing.” She glanced back at Joshua, conversing with Mr. Akerman and Mr. Bradshaw, in his element with the important men, and hoped he didn’t kill her for this. “Do you want to get out of here?”

  “What?”

  “You want to get away, right? It’ll piss off your dad, and Joshua’s already claimed his award.” She followed his lead and skulled the rest of her drink. “Come on! I’m saving you from these boring benefits you hate so much, and you can thank me by buying me a coffee.” She looped her arm through his before he could object and pulled him to the elevator.

  seven

  A car beeped a sharp, low pitch as the driver slammed his foot on the brakes. Hunter and Eli laughed to themselves, gripped their coats tightly and ran to the other side of the road where there were no cars to run them down. Hunter almost slipped on the ice covering the road and they laughed again, louder this time, clinging to each other before either of them fell and were run over by the busy New York traffic. Lights gleamed all kinds of colors around them and the remnants of the snow storm brightened the streets as if the roads were coated in sugar.

  “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” said Eli as they dodged the walkers and couples along the sidewalk. “My dad’s going to kill me.”

  Hunter sighed and shook her hair away from her face, the coffee Eli had bought her clenched in one hand. She loved the city of New York, especially at night when the lights were bright and the cars were less. At ten-thirty, there weren’t so many people crowding the streets. Most were men, women and children enjoying a Sunday night out with their family.

  “Relax,” she replied. “I’m sure your dad will forgive you.”

  “He probably didn’t even notice I left.”

  Hunter raised her eyebrows at the snap in his tone. Jeez, he really hates the guy. She couldn’t exactly blame him though; he wasn’t the kindest man she’d met. And nothing like Eli.

  “All my dad cares about is his girlfriend, his money and his job. I have no place in his life, except to embarrass him.”

  Hunter felt like saying he was lucky to even have a father, but then Mr. Akerman didn’t sound like a very good example. Hunter had always envied people with parents, but she never considered their relationship. Was it worth having a father who used you as a tool for his career and stopped you from following your dreams and ambitions? That, she’d never know.

  “Sometimes I wonder how he could possibly hate me so much. And his girlfriend is even worse. She’s only with him for his money.”

  “How long have they been together?”

  “Three years. My mother left when I was nine. That’s when Dad’s true stone-cold career-worshipping personality came out. He used to pretend to care for me, take me to the museum and out for dinner on his days off, but then he just stopped caring altogether. He went out with a few different women before settling on Melissa.”

  Hunter threw her empty coffee cup in the bin and wanted to say she was sorry for him, but nothing came out of her mouth.

  They walked in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes until the mood was lifted when they passed a man strumming his guitar on the sidewalk. Eli dropped a twenty in his guitar case, and he smiled gratefully up at him.

  “That was nice,” Hunter said as soon as they were out of earshot.

  “I’ve learnt to give a lot since my father became rich.”

  “At least you use your money wisely.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Joshua has a lot of money too. He uses it for expensive things though, like a nice apartment and good clothes.”

  “Do you have a job?”

  Hunter nodded. “I work at a
restaurant downtown. Ever heard of Red Palace? It’s Chinese.”

  “Nope, sorry.” He wrapped his coat tighter around his neck. “So… do you actually go to college?”

  Hunter laughed. “How old do you think I am?”

  Eli blushed. “I don’t think I want to answer that now.”

  “I finish school in the summer,” she said. “From there, I’m hoping to get accepted into Hamilton.”

  “Cool,” he nodded. “What do you want to study?”

  Sighing, Hunter looked at the concrete ground as her heels crunched over the remnants of snow. She didn’t want to admit to Eli that she had no passions or goals or any kind of path to walk down, but what could she say?

  “I... I’m not sure yet.”

  He smiled at her, and it wasn’t a pitying smile, but one that said he related.

  “Everyone’s like that these days. I know I want to follow something to do with animal rights, but I also love music. And I know I don’t want to go to college, even though my dad keeps pressing it.”

  “Joshua is the opposite. He’ll nudge me in a certain direction, which in this case happens to be Colombia, but since he’s not my dad, he doesn’t get to run my life.”

  “And he works in the Geology department at the university?”

  “Yep. He and Dad used to explore rock formations all over the world before I was born. Things like volcanoes and mountains and caves by the sea. They loved it. Joshua still misses that part of his job, but he always says that he had his chance to explore and passing on the knowledge to those more enthusiastic is something he’s really passionate about.”

  “No offense,” Eli said, “but I find anything to do with rocks nowhere near enthusiastic.”

  “I couldn’t agree more,” she replied with a smile.

  Not far from the hotel, she and Eli passed a small theatre with old-fashioned golden light bulbs and grand sandstone pillars. The moment Eli saw the ‘NOW SHOWING’ sign, he gasped and nearly gave her a heart attack.

  “We have to see this!” he exclaimed, pointing violently at the poster.

  “What is it?”

  “I have absolutely no idea, but it looks pretty exciting.” Eli snatched her hand before she could rebut and yanked her inside the theatre.

  It was classic and held a sort of mystery, like old things you find in an attic. The carpet was a royal scarlet and the candy bar was small, selling expensive candy. The silent film that Hunter had never heard of before had only just begun.

  Eli graciously offered to pay for the tickets, but Hunter bluntly refused; he’d already paid for coffee. They bought a box of popcorn and hurried into the theatre. The screen was showing credits on an ancient slide that stopped and started, lines and dots appearing on the screen at random. Hunter and Eli took two squeaky seats near the back and realized after a moment that they were the only people in the theatre.

  Her eyes drifted to Eli on her left, watching the way the movie played in the reflection of his glasses. A smile broke out on her face at how simple he was, and how she didn’t know him at all and suddenly she was having the time of her life. Without worrying about where Joshua was or the scolding she’d get when she got home, Hunter enjoyed the escape for the brief period it lasted with her new friend.

  “I’d never seen a black and white movie before now,” said Hunter as they stood outside the theatre trying to hail a taxi. While they had relaxed into another world inside the warmth of the theatre, the storm outside had begun to rage again. Hunter tried to keep her wild hair behind her ears and not in her face as cars zoomed past. The streets were almost deserted, the cars too afraid to brave the flush of snow about to pour down on them. It was quite late into the night, after all, and not the warmest of weather.

  “I’ve always loved them,” Eli smiled, as if reminiscing a time long ago. “They have a certain elegance and simplicity that modern movies lack.”

  “I prefer the decade classics – Pulp Fiction, Ferris Bueller, Terminator, stuff like that.”

  “Ahh, the ‘epics’ right? Let me guess… you like classic rock and vintage T-shirts and you have a secret poster of Indiana Jones in your bedroom.”

  Hunter dropped her arm and gaped at him sarcastically. “Oh my God, how did you know?”

  Eli shrugged, smiling crookedly. “It’s a given.”

  “So which school do you go to?”

  “Jackson,” he said, rubbing his hands together and blowing hard.

  “Seriously?” she gaped. “How come I’ve never seen you there before?”

  “You go there too?”

  “Yeah, but it’s a big school and I keep to myself mostly.”

  “Me too.” Eli stopped waving down taxis for a moment and instead peered at her with a frown. “Actually, now that I think about it, you do look familiar. You were-”

  Hunter put a hand up to silence him. She knew it would come up sooner or later. If he recognized her, it would be as the ‘school slut’. And not because of what she looked like, but because of the rumor. “Go on, say it. I’m the girl who got caught with the Principal’s son between her legs on his father’s desk. I’m the one who has no real friends because all the girls hate me and all the guys just want to root me. And I’m fine with that. I’ve learned to live with it for the past year and a half. And you know what, I-”

  “Hunter!”

  A taxi drove straight past them and as it did, the tires rolled through a puddle of ice. Before Eli could shield her, the snow had sprayed their entire front, soaking them to the bone.

  “I was just going to say,” Eli chuckled, wiping himself down. “That you’re the girl with the beautiful red hair I catch a glimpse of every now and then.”

  Biting her lip, Hunter wished the puddle of snow that soaked her coat had washed her down the drain with the rest of the sewerage. “Oh,” she muttered, gathering her hair and flicking out the snowflakes. “Uh, thanks.”

  “You’re welcome,” he smiled. “But about that other thing-”

  “Forget I mentioned it,” she snapped.

  “I never believed that rumor. I mean come on, anything that comes out of Benny Layman’s fat mouth is always garbage, right?”

  Hunter smiled. Of course, she knew the rumor was complete bullshit, but to hear it from someone else was a release like no other. Ever since it started at the beginning of her junior year, Hunter had lost any and all respect from the student body and lived her life alone. Not being able to prove that it was all a lie – because the Principal’s son never denied it – ate away at her every day after that first month of hell, but it made her stronger. It also made her more aware of how many asshole guys there were in the world who only wanted her because she was a slut.

  A taxi finally slowed beside them on the curb and Eli opened the door for her. “So... tonight was fun.”

  Hunter ducked inside the warm exterior. “Are you sure you don’t want to share a cab?”

  “No, thank you. I have to get back to the benefit anyway.”

  “Well,” she sighed, “good luck with your father.”

  “Same for you,” said Eli, pushing the bridge of his glasses further up his nose. “See you around, yeah?”

  “I hope so,” she smiled and he shut the door and waved.

  “Where to?” grumbled the taxi driver.

  As Hunter gave the address, she watched Eli grow smaller in the pure white snow falling down around him and waved goodbye.

  After a deep breath, Hunter swiped her key-card down the lock on the door handle and eased open the apartment door. Pearl-blue light spilled onto the floor of the stairwell, the distant commentary of a late football game the only sound from inside. As Hunter closed the apartment door behind her and dropped her key-card in the bowl beside the coats hook, she noted that it was colder inside than outside in the storm. In his anger, Joshua must’ve turned down the heat.

  Hunter rolled her eyes. Typical, she thought. He just has to make things worse for himself, doesn’t he? Now I have no choice but to argu
e with him, or I’ll end up with the flu again.

  “Joshua,” she called guardedly. She turned to the kitchen and her heart almost leapt out of her chest when he materialized in front of her, his eyes hard and a lemonade popsicle in his hand.

  With no words to say and surprise masking her uncertainty, Hunter watched him pull the ice-block out of his mouth and smile at her.

  “Popsicle?” he asked softly.

  She stared at him, wondering – as she often did – if Joshua might have lost it this time. He was always scary when angry, masking it behind this false, generous frontage. Hunter only had to wait for him to lower the boom.

  But she didn’t want to wait. She was tired and practically frostbitten, and the cold temperature of the house didn’t help her temper one bit.

  “Are you insane?” she hissed. “It’s freaking snowing, and you’ve got the temperature lower than an icebox in here!”

  Joshua shook his head slowly. “Keep your toes on Hunter, it’s not that bad. Really, after spending all night frolicking in the streets with your new best friend, I thought you’d be used to it by now.”

  She turned in the kitchen and crossed her arms. “Could you get it over with please? Go on, you know you want to.”

  He waited in silence, sticky drips of lemonade melting down the stick and creeping closer to his fingers.

  “Come on!” she shouted. “Get mad!”

  Joshua’s face changed from content to murderous in less than a second. Here it comes, she thought and braced herself.

  “How could you leave me like that Hunter?” he shouted, throwing the ice block at the sink. She jumped in surprise; Joshua never wasted ice. “Do you know how worried I was? I was about ready to phone the police when you didn’t answer my calls. Did you even check your phone, I called you a hundred times!”

  Hunter looked at her cold heels, soaked from the snow and leaving puddles on the floor. She had checked her phone, but seeing the thirty missed calls from Joshua only made her angrier.

  “I’m sorry, okay? I saw you get the award, I watched the rest of the speeches, and you looked like you were comfortable talking to Mr. Bradshaw and Eli’s dad that I didn’t-”