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“School’s headmaster… well, for the time being, wanted to meet you,” he said, guiding me forward. “Brielle—I mean, Principal Mallick. This is Sloane. My girl.”
His girl.
We hadn’t discussed that at all.
So why are you getting butterflies hearing him say that?
Because I liked it. I did.
Just get out of your head.
That was so hard and definitely in front of the academy’s headmaster. I knew this woman to be Ares’s mom, but I hadn’t met her. I’d only heard her voice during the morning announcements.
Dorian presented me forward to her, and when I say this woman was one of the loveliest women I’d ever seen, I meant it. She had long dark hair, which was bumped under just slightly. She wore the style over one shoulder, her dark blouse and black trousers accompanying it. Since she wore so much black, that made the pop of red on her lips stand out, as well as the little bit of silvery gray hair she had. She had only a little bit on one side, the style similar to Rogue from those X-Men movies.
Standing in front of her, I assumed this woman was older, but it was only because of her hair could I tell. She was so very lovely and had a familiarity about her I didn’t quite understand. It was as if I’d seen her before, but that didn’t make sense. Perhaps, it was because I knew Ares, and I supposed he did look like her a little.
Blinking, the woman had a hand on her blouse, and I realized in that moment I was just staring at her. The woman put out her hand, and I was glad she had. I was being rude.
“Brielle Mallick,” she said, our hands connecting. Her head tilted. “I wanted to meet the girl who’s responsible for getting my son into design school.”
She faced Dorian in that next second, and when he nodded, grinning, her attention drifted back to me.
“Sloane,” I returned, happy to hear that news. I had no idea Ares had already gotten in. I smiled. “And I doubt I’m responsible for Ares getting into school. He’s a great artist.”
Our hands were still shaking, but Brielle stopped them. I let go, and when Dorian ventured back to me, her gaze followed him.
He hooked an arm around me. “She’s being modest.” He looked down at me. “Sloane’s very talented.”
“I’ve seen it.” Brielle glanced between the two of us, back and forth a couple times before her hand closed. She pushed some of her gray hair back. “I’ve just come from the piece you both worked on. Dorian’s been telling me you helped Ares, and it’s nothing like what my son has done before.” She wet her lips. “I’m sorry. You said your name is Sloane?”
“Noa Sloane,” I said. “But yeah, I do go by Sloane.”
“I see.” She eased closer, her hands coming together. “So you’re into art, then? Art like Ares?”
I was and decided to show her some of it. I had my sketchbook still in my hands, so I flipped a few pages for her.
Brielle studied them over my shoulder, glancing between the drawings and me. I was taller than her, like most people, so I angled to give her a good vantage point.
“These are wonderful.” She actually sounded awed, and that made me feel good. I wasn’t sure what Ares got from her, but if she had passion like he seemed to, that might be it. Her lashes shifted in my direction. “You are very talented. To which schools are you applying?”
I stopped for a beat. “This is going to sound hilarious, but I haven’t thought about it.”
“Oh. Why not?”
“I moved around a lot growing up.” I closed my sketchbook. “My brother and I—”
“You have a brother?” she angled in, and I nodded.
“Bru and I—short for Bruno—moved a bunch,” I said. “Us and our dad. At least, we used to.”
“Used to?”
I started to say, but Dorian’s arm returned to my waist.
“He passed,” he said for me, and I was happy he had. I could talk about my dad, but I didn’t necessarily like talking about the fact I was an orphan.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Brielle’s hands came together. Her lips parted, but then they closed. She smiled. “Well, I would like to hear more about you. Your college plans? I’m always available to offer guidance on that.”
