AllFreeNovel
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It was Frank. He was the first to arrive. Him and his new lady friend. She had agreed with him about love not being worth it. About love being just an illusion, that day down by the lake. Then she smiled at him. That was pretty much all it took. They’d been together ever since.
“No. No. You’re right on time. Come in. Come in.”
“Looks like we’re the first ones here,” Frank mused. He was freshly showered and clean shaven. He looked good, healthy.
“I’m sure everyone is right behind you. Why don’t you head over to the bar and help yourself to a drink. There’s wine in the bucket.”
“No. No. Not for me,” Frank said, shaking his head. “I’m sober close to four months now.”
Romeo patted his friend on the back. “Good for you.”
“But please, honey, you go on. I don’t mind at all. Really.”
“I’m okay for now,” she said.
“Hey-Ohhhhhh…!” Marco sang, with a wide grin as he walked through the front door.
Romeo cringed when he saw. “Holy cow… What did you do now?”
“What?”
“Your teeth.”
“Oh… that… I’m going full on hip hop my friend.”
Marco had done unspeakable things to his smile in the interim. There was gold everywhere and a piercing through his lower lip. He had moved out of town and into the city shortly after that night at the lake. Romeo hadn’t seen him in almost two months.
“You’re kidding.”
“I am not. I’m gonna be on TV.”
“Say what?”
“Yup. I just got cast on this new reality show called Rock dat Recipe. It’s like Drop the Mic meets Hell’s Kitchen. You gotta cook a dish and then rap a song about it. If you suck, the judges throw rotten tomatoes at you. It’s totally cray cray.”
“But the only thing you know how to cook is cheesesteaks. And you can’t rap.”
Marco chuckled. “It’s all in the attitude my friend.” Then he changed direction. “Is that you?”
He was talking about Ant. He was talking about the pictures up on the wall.
“A couple of them.”
There were a half dozen large format photographs hanging in the dining room. They were each different, but they all shared the same theme. Each was a picture of a belly. Or, more specifically, each was a picture of a female belly with a flower painted upon it. Deep colors, dramatic lighting, very moody, very sexy…
“Which ones?”
“I’ll never tell,” said Ant. “Help yourself to some booze. The bar is open.”
Marco clapped his hands and rubbed his palms together. “Now we’re talking.”
The pictures were Romeo’s, of course. He’d also been spending a lot of time in the city. A lot of time gallery hopping and a lot of time with her. He’d found his inspiration, his muse, his technique, and his art had vastly improved as a result.
He hand painted the models, posed them, lit them, then photographed them. He’d even learned how to manipulate the pictures in Photoshop to give him more of the feeling he was looking for. This was part of a series of a dozen he had done. Six were here and the other six were hanging up in a gallery seven blocks south. Four of them had already sold.
“Hey guys,” said Ant, smiling at Benny and hugging Nikki.
Nikki nodded approvingly. “The place looks great.”
