Heartache

by Danielle Allen

  “I didn’t say anything sooner because it’s a little weird. Do you remember Professor Grey’s old teaching assistant? Ashton?”

  “Ashton Blue?” I asked incredulously.

  “Yes. He asked me out the other day and he seems nice.” She maneuvered through traffic and chewed on the corner of her lip. “And nice is a much needed change since Levi was a lying, cheating bastard.”

  I nodded in agreement. “I get that. You deserve better than that. A whole hell of a lot better than that. In fact, you deserve perfect. But Ashton?”

  She smiled. “What’s wrong with Ashton?”

  Besides the fact that he was a condescending prick that just rubbed me the wrong way, I had no answer. “Nothing, I guess. You just deserve better.”

  Rolling to a stop, she laughed. “You don’t like anyone so I don’t know why I’m surprised you’re making that face.”

  I didn’t even realize I was making a face, I thought, smirking.

  “It’s just lunch,” she continued. “This is our first official date. Remember when I went to the University to see if they needed any art instructors? Well, Ashton was there. He’s teaching his first class this semester so he was giving me some advice. He’s nice.” She paused. “Stop smirking, jerk!”

  Chuckling, I replied, “I’m just messing with you. I hope you have fun, B.”

  “Anyway, we have more pressing issues…like who is sending you creepy love letters.”

  “I’m going to call Easy and Malik and see what they know. It could be nothing.” Even as I said the words, I didn’t believe them. My gut told me it was definitely something.

  The way she connected to the loss and loneliness in my art, it was definitely something, I reflected.

  We pulled up at Art House a few minutes later. Kissing the top of Bianca’s head, I hopped out of her car.

  “Oh! Ro!” Bianca yelled.

  Walking around to the driver’s side of the cherry red car, I leaned into the window. “What’s up?”

  When our eyes locked, my stomach twisted tightly and there was a definite uptick in my heart rate. There was something in her eyes that I had seen a few times before, but never so close up. I wasn’t sure what the look meant, but I felt like she could see me, all of me. And it scared the shit out of me.

  Backing out of her window, I stood. “What’s up, B?”

  She cleared her throat and flashed a smile. “I’m going to come by tonight and we can piece everything together. We’ll figure out who it is.”

  Waving goodbye, Bianca pulled off and I walked into Art House. I moved quickly through the lobby, pausing momentarily to sweep my eyes over the vast space. Lost in thought, I waited for the elevator. As soon as the elevator opened, I was greeted by Meredith barreling through the doors.

  “Roman,” she gasped, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “Sorry!”

  “Hey, Meredith.” I put my hands on her shoulders to steady her. “In a hurry?” I joked with a smile.

  Her face reddened, starting at her neck and working its way up. She peeked through her long bangs before brushing them to the side. “I’m so sorry. Late for class.”

  I backed into the elevator as I assured her. “Don’t worry about it.” Opening the left side of my jacket, her eyes dropped to my chest. “I’m fine. See? All good.”

  “Okay,” she said quietly, returning to her eyes to mine. “Oh and I’ll leave your gift with Monroe since I’m about to leave.”

  Moving my hand to allow the elevator doors to close, I nodded. “Cool. Thanks for that Meredith. I appreciate it. Oh, and I left the painting that needs to be mailed on your desk.”

  “I’ll get on it when I get back.” She gave me a big grin and then a short, awkward wave. Shaking my head, I chuckled under my breath.

  Swiping my card to access the fifth floor, I entered my studio and the familiar smell of paint greeted me instantly. I settled down at my desk to review all of the offers I’d received from the showcase. With a smile, I called the buyers to arrange the deliveries of each of my paintings.

  _____

  Chapter Six

  “We’re here!” Bianca announced as she walked through the front door with a pizza. I heard Malik and Brad on her heels.

  Malik and Brad lived in the same neighborhood downtown so I could see them riding together. Bianca lived in a sprawling area near the James River that any normal, marginally employed twenty-six year old couldn’t afford.

  “Yeah, I heard Easy’s fucked up engine. Did you guys carpool or something?” I asked, taking the pizzas out of her hands as she crossed the threshold of the kitchen. Malik ended his call and put two bags on the counter while Brad’s voice could be heard from the living room.

  “No. I pulled up and they were already here. And they were being super sketchy,” Bianca said as she washed her hands in the sink. Nodding her head toward Malik, she continued, “This one was in his car on the phone. And—”

  “No sketchiness here. I was talking to my barber,” Malik interrupted, putting his hands up in surrender. “I think I left my flash drive in there when I was getting my hair cut today.”

  “Well, while that was going on, Easy was pacing and arguing in the yard.”

  Right on cue, Brad walked into the kitchen. “If you hear me say I’m hanging out with Gillian ever again, punch me in the face.”

  “Done,” the three of us yelled in unison as we grabbed plates full of pizza and sat down at the table.

  “I’ll spare you the gory details of what happened,” Brad said, making a face and darting his eyes at Bianca. Picking up his plate, he laughed as he joined us.

  “Easy, I think the whole neighborhood heard what happened with you and Gillian,” Bianca scoffed, rolling her eyes. “And for the record, calling a woman ‘crazy’ does nothing but exacerbate the situation.” Taking a sip of water, she continued, “But speaking of crazy, Ro, tell them why we’re here.”

  I choked on my water as I laughed at her segue. Malik and Brad looked at me expectantly.

  “What’s going on, man?” Malik asked, sitting back in his chair.

  I ran my hands down the sides of my face as I collected my thoughts. It was almost completely silent as they looked at me, awaiting a response. The only sound was Brad chewing his pizza obnoxiously.

  I’m not going to get to the bottom of this until I tell them and ask them what they know, I thought, mentally whittling down what I wanted to disclose.

  Taking a deep breath, I looked around at the three of them. “I—”

  My phone rang loudly, interrupting me and my train of thought. “Let me take this and then I’ll tell you.”

  Jogging to the counter where I’d left my phone when I helped Bianca with the pizza, I stared at the number that was displayed.

  I can only deal with one stressful thing at a time, I thought as the phone stopped ringing and then immediately started again. She was going to keep calling until I answered.

  With a sigh, I answered, “Elizabeth?”

  “Roman! How are you?” The light and airy tone of her voice echoed through the phone.

  “Hold on.” Walking out of the kitchen, I walked down the hall to the back of the house and stood in the laundry room. “Hey, what’s up? Everything okay?”

  “Yes, I just wanted to call and see how you were doing. I haven’t heard from you.”

  “I’m fine, Elizabeth. Really.”

  “William and I miss you. We heard about your showcase, but it was too late for us to book flights to Virginia.”

  I could hear the hurt in her voice and it made my stomach turn. “I’m sorry,” I apologized sincerely. “I really am. It wasn’t my intention to leave you out. I just got into the zone. I barely ate or slept. I just painted. Forgive me.”

  Silence.

  Resting against the wall, I stared out of the window into the dusky night. The sun was just starting to set and the blaze of orange and blue was a comfort to the pit that was in my stomach. I took a deep breath and waited. She
was never upset for long.

  “When the Simons said they had so much fun last night, I was hurt. You never even told us you had a showcase coming up! We had no idea.”

  The Simons, I groaned internally. Should’ve known.

  “I know. You shouldn’t have found out that way. I’m sorry.”

  “Of course I forgive you, my love. Did I ever tell you about my very first art exhibit?”

  “You have. But I have a few friends over so…” I attempted to smoothly end the call.

  “Tell Bradley and Malik I said hello.”

  “I will.”

  “Oh and have you talked to Benjamin?” she mentioned nonchalantly.

  “No, I haven’t,” I muttered.

  “Will you call him? He’s been in Virginia for a while now. I can’t believe you two haven’t spoken yet. You’re—”

  “I have guests, Elizabeth. I’ll call you soon,” I interrupted before she could finish her sentence.

  “Oh Roman…”

  I heard her sad sigh and I knew what she was thinking. I needed to get off the phone before she could guilt me into anything.

  “I miss you,” Elizabeth whispered. “We miss you and we want to visit soon. Will you let me know when you’re available so we can spend some time with you?”

  “Okay, yeah. I’ll see you soon.” My tone was hurried and abrasive. I took another deep breath. “I look forward to your visit. It’s been a while. I’ll talk to you later this week.”

  “Okay.” Her voice sounded hopeful and light again. “You’ll call?”

  “Yes, I’ll call. Have a good night.”

  “Goodnight, my love.”

  I disconnected the call and pushed myself off of the wall. The sky didn’t have the same calming effect as it had minutes before. Walking up the hall slowly, trying to shake off the call, I heard the tail end of Bianca’s story.

  “…and he asked me on a second date.”

  “What did you say?” I asked, rounding the corner into the kitchen.

  She jumped at the sound of my voice, dropping her pen on the notepad beside her plate. Her hand covered her heart. “Ro! You scared me!”

  “Seriously, man. I almost stabbed you,” Malik agreed as he used the pizza cutter to pull another slice out of the box.

  “With the pizza cutter?” I laughed, taking my seat at the table.

  “By any means necessary.”

  After we laughed and Malik came back to the table, Bianca raised her eyebrows and gave me a pointed look.

  “As you were saying before you got your phone call,” Bianca encouraged, making her eyes large and bulgy.

  “Fellas, I need to know what women were both at the showcase and at the party last night,” I started, crossing my arms across my chest. “A woman who was at both wrote a cryptic message on my mirror in red lipstick and then followed up with an email. I need to figure out who it was.”

  “What did it say?” Brad asked.

  Bianca and I made eye contact and I held her gaze for a second. I swallowed and prepared myself for the shit I was about to get from my best friends. “It was…”

  Bianca interrupted, “It just expressed interest. And it was from a secret admirer.”

  I gave her a small smile and a wink.

  After the initial teasing and jokes, Malik shrugged. “I don’t know. The only ones I can think of are B, Charlotte, Monroe, and Monroe’s assistant. Those are the only people that I know. I saw a couple girls that I didn’t know that were at both.”

  Turning my attention to Brad, I took a sip of the beer Malik brought. “Easy?”

  Scratching his head, he ran his hands through his hair as he stared up at the ceiling. “Let’s see… Allie was here for a few minutes. I didn’t invite her, but she was here.”

  My stomach sank, hearing her name. Could she have written that email? She has an eye for art and she did say she loved me, I mused, running my hand over the side of my face.

  “There was a few hot girls that said they lived in the neighborhood. They showed up really late. Two of them were blonde. The other one had light brown hair. They were all about B’s height, maybe a little shorter. They were dancing all night,” Brad described, trying to jog my memory. “Remember?”

  “Oh yeah! They were dancing like strippers. I remember,” Bianca said. “But I don’t remember them at the event.”

  “Yeah, they changed their clothes. They were a lot more covered up at Art House. I’m pretty sure I danced with one of them,” Malik admitted with a laugh. “She talked a lot. I didn’t get her name, but she kept talking about the weather.”

  “A real lady-killer, this one,” Brad joked, motioning his thumb toward Malik. “The weather, bro? Really?”

  We all laughed while Malik explained. “No, no! She was telling me about the weather and how she was able wear shorts to volleyball practice before she left home and then she got here and needed a coat.”

  “Volleyball practice,” I mumbled, alarms blaring in my head.

  Hannah, I thought, putting the pieces together. Hot girls from the neighborhood that play volleyball? Yeah, that has to be Hannah.

  “Hannah,” I declared, looking at Bianca as she wrote the name down on the piece of paper. “Hannah and her friends. I didn’t realize they were here.”

  Bianca looked up and gave me a look of concern. “You okay?”

  “The email was pretty…” I trailed off as words attempted to spill from my lips.

  Explicit.

  Uninhibited.

  Creepy.

  Graphic.

  Sexy.

  I shook my head to clear the word ‘sexy’ from my mind. I should not be turned on by this, I scolded myself.

  “The email was pretty what?” Malik asked, his eyes narrowed knowingly.

  “It was pretty detail-oriented,” I continued, making a point to look at the less observant Brad.

  “Those are the only people who were at both that I can think of.”

  “Oh!” Bianca yelped in surprise. Her eyes were huge and her mouth formed the perfect o-shape. “I almost forgot! There were two women who were together at the showcase. We were discussing some of your work and the one with the braids got a call. She turned to the one with the black hair and said something like, ‘I’ll just meet you at the party tonight’ before she walked off. I didn’t think about it until now, but the party she was talking about had to be here because I saw the black haired woman here!”

  I nodded, struggling to remember either of the women she was talking about. “Okay, good.”

  “Okay so that’s nine women who were both at the showcase and at the party,” Bianca said, counting the names on her notepad.

  “Well, ten including you,” Brad noted. I watched as Bianca gave him a death stare and he continued, “But since we’re not including you, there’s nine.”

  Rolling her eyes, she looked at me. “So what are you going to do? Are you going to confront them?”

  “I don’t think you should,” Malik said, shaking his head and making a face. “I’ve seen enough scary movies to know that you don’t fuck with a woman who writes disturbing messages on a mirror in lipstick.”

  I put my head in my hands and laughed. “You are not helping.”

  “But that is artistic though. Artistic and crazy,” Brad acknowledged, pausing for effect. “Just like you like them.”

  “Anyway, I need to figure out which one it is. It may have only been a one-time thing. Maybe they got drunk. But either way, I want to know who was roaming through my house, touching my shit, you know?”

  And I want to know who saw right through every painting to see how I was feeling, I mused, keeping that bit of information to myself.

  “If you just ask, they will probably deny it,” Malik said. “Email them back.”

  “Yeah, an email shouldn’t set her off,” Brad agreed, turning his head to Bianca. “You’re a woman so you understand crazy. What do you think?”

  “I think you’re a dumbass, Easy,” she ret
orted quickly, rolling her eyes at his joke. “But yes, Roman, I think an email is a good move.”

  She handed me the list and I held the paper between my fingers and surveyed the list. One of these women saw right through me, I thought in disbelief as I let my mind wrap around each name on the list.

  “I’ll send an email and let you know what happens,” I said, standing up and effectively concluding the conversation. “Thanks.”

  Brad and Malik stood up in preparation to leave, but Bianca remained seated. I could almost see the wheels turning in her head. She slowly stood and started picking up the plates, napkins and empty boxes to clean up.

  “I’ll be right behind you guys. Have a good night!” Bianca called over her shoulder as she headed to the trashcan in the backyard.

  I followed Malik and Brad to the porch and as soon as the front door closed behind me, Brad whispered, “Do you think it’s B?”

  “No! Not at all,” I hissed quietly. If she overheard the conversation, she’d be pissed.

  Malik gave a half smile before he added, “I don’t think that’s her style. But…” He shrugged. “She had access and opportunity. I was too drunk to drive, but I wasn’t too drunk to see how…close you two looked.”

  I felt my eyebrows shoot up. I could understand Easy saying something like that. I’ve come to expect Easy to say something like that. But Malik? I thought in surprise.

  “We are close,” I argued, shaking my head. “We’re friends. Just friends.”

  “We may have bought that when she was in Italy. But now that she’s back, you haven’t even mentioned finding a replacement for Allie,” Brad responded, slipping his hands in his pockets. “I’m just saying, for someone who doesn’t do girlfriends, you pretty much have a girl—”

  “Hey,” Bianca interrupted, opening the door. We all whipped our heads toward her. She looked at each of us skeptically before handing me my phone. “It kept going off. Name says Elizabeth.”

  “We need to get out of here anyway,” Malik said, backing down the stairs. “See you two later.”

  “Yeah, you two have fun,” Brad added, wiggling his eyebrows. He turned, following Malik. “Oh and tell Elizabeth I said hello.”