AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, really?” he asks, raising an eyebrow. “What are you thinking of doing, after you graduate?”
“Maybe manage a gallery,” I say, shrugging. “Maybe become a freelance art dealer or manage artists. I don’t know yet. I just know that I want to work with art.”
“Do you create anything yourself?”
I blush slightly. “Sometimes. It’s not my greatest talent. Even though I can see what I want to create in my head, it never comes out anywhere close. I guess I just don’t have the skills that real artists do.”
He tilts his head slightly. “That’s okay. I’m not an artist either, and yet I work with art all day long. Sometimes it’s enough to just appreciate it, rather than to make it yourself. At one point I thought I wanted to be a painter, but – it didn’t work out that way. Still, I feel happy with what I do.”
“That makes me feel better,” I say. I look up with a start – if he also works in the art industry, then that must mean he was here to do business. And here I am, taking up all of his time and distracting him from what he was supposed to be doing. “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry – I’m sure you want to get back to it. I’ve kept you out here for too long.”
“No, no, not at all,” he says, smiling. At first, I think that he’s probably just being polite, but then he leans a little closer. “I suppose I should get back to it, but… I’ll only go if you’re alright. That’s the most important thing.”
I blush a little, glad that we’re out here, where the night washes out all of the colors and might not reveal the full extent of the redness of my cheeks. “I’m fine, now. Thank you.”
“And yet, I still don’t want to go.” He makes a humming noise, then looks back at me playfully. “I think I need some kind of incentive.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, completely unsure of what he wants and yet drawn in by that playful look. It transforms him entirely, from serious artist-type to someone who looks years younger. His longer hair suits him so completely, I can’t help but notice – that edge that hints at a more young-at-heart nature underneath.
“Well, I think I could drag myself away from you so long as you promise to get together again sometime soon. What do you say?”
My breath catches in my throat. No – surely…? “Are you asking me out?” I ask.
“Yes, I am,” he says, his eyes sparkling in the reflected light from the windows. “Well? Can I take you somewhere?”
“Yes,” I breathe, without a moment more of hesitation.
Oh, god, yes.
Chapter Six
Finn
“Hand me your phone,” I say, reaching out with a smile. I can’t quite believe that she said yes. Well, actually, I can, because all of this feels like it might be fate. That she would be here today, right at the moment when she needed saving, and that I would have the power to do it. That I would see her and want to talk to her, and be given the perfect excuse to do so without even trying. Something about this was meant to be.
I take her phone and type in my first name and number, saving it to her contacts. “There – now you can call me,” I tell her. “Let me know when you’d like to meet again. I’ll take you to dinner – my treat.”
“Finn,” she says, reading from the screen, and that does something to my insides. The sound of my name on her lips. I want to hear it again. I want to hear her scream it.
But right now, regretfully, I have other things to do – and since we’ve already agreed to meet again, I no longer have any excuse to linger around here.
“It was nice to meet you,” I say, my hand still holding the phone, her hand also cupping it. On a whim, I grasp her wrist and pull it upwards, twisting as I go, so I can kiss the back of her hand. “Until next time.”
I turn to walk away then, because if I stay any longer, I will stay forever, and she won’t be going anywhere but home with me. I do still have a job to do, and I’m sure she has her own plans, so I step into the busy gallery and take a breath. I have to keep moving.
But it’s as I’m stepping towards a group of investment bankers who I know are usually good for a few sales that something strikes me. I didn’t get her number, which was intentional; I want her to reach out to me.
But I also didn’t get her name.
If she doesn’t call me after all, I need to get a second chance. And to do that, I need to be able to find her.
