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I watched as Claudia schmoozed with the crowd, pointing out pieces and talking about them. Then I saw Robert come around the corner. I smiled and walked over to him.
“Mr. Porter.” I held up my arms and hugged him.
“Hey, sweetheart,” He kissed my cheek. “How’s it going?” he asked.
“Great, thanks to you and my mother,” I replied walking alongside him.
“It was my pleasure,” he said, holding out his arm for me to take it. “Claudia has been raving about your work since last night, so I thought I would come see it for myself.”
“I’m grateful for her enthusiasm,” I replied, looking over at her. Nick walked through the crowd, and I stopped short, my heart picking up speed fast. He stood in front of the table where my sketchpad was on display. I watched as he hovered over the sketch. His fingers strummed the table.
“Excuse me,” I said, looking up at Robert. He nodded, then followed me with his eyes as I made my way over to Nick. I ran my hand across his back as I came in close.
“Hey.” I look at him. “Do you like it?” He didn’t say anything. His fingers stopped strumming and were turning white from pressing down on the table.
“How do you do it?” He whispered so low that I almost didn’t hear him.
“What?” I asked, tilting my head to get a better look at his face. He slowly turned to face me, water in his eyes.
“How do you do it, see me this way?” he choked.
“How else would I see you?” I gulped my body began to tremble. His eyes were so focused on mine. Then he looked back at the sketch that I had done of him, in pencil, except for his eyes, I had used a pale blue shade to bring out the colour of his eyes, making them looked so real.
“This almost doesn’t look like you sketched it. Every detail is flawless—I’m speechless.” He rubbed a shaky hand across his lips.
“When I told you that you touched me, I meant it. I never forgot anything we shared together,” I replied, feeling the tears well.
“Lauren!” Claudia called out. I turned in her direction, and she waved me over.
“Excuse me,” Nick said, walking away.
I turned to stop him but he had gotten too far for me to reach. All I could do was watch him disappear in the crowd. I closed my eyes and sighed. Then I heard Claudia call for me again. That was the last time I had saw Nick, that night.
At the end of the night when everyone had cleared out, Claudia sat on the corner of the desk by the front door.
“That went really well, guys. I’m very proud of our numbers this evening. Tomorrow is Saturday, and I think that it will be an even bigger event. Lauren, my father bought one of your pieces.” She smiled.
“Oh really?” I smiled, proudly.
“Yeah, the one of the woman reading a book,” she said.
“My mom,” I said with a big grin.
“How sweet.” She smirked. “Well, I have some cleaning up to do, so if you want to stay to help, that’s great. If not, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, stood and then walked away. I stayed behind to help her. Plus I had some questions that needed answering.
“Claudia, can I ask you something?” I began.
“Of course,” she said, throwing napkins away.
“Is Nick seeing anyone?” I bit my lip nervously.
“Not that I’m aware of,” she replied. “Why?”
“Oh—uh—I was just wondering,” I stuttered. She stopped cleaning, stood there a moment, and then turned to face me.
“You still care for him.” She smirked.
“I never said that.” I blushed.
