AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lucas doesn’t say anything and I take that as ayeswhile I guide him down the sidewalk towards the direction of our hotel. The street is quite busy for this time in the evening and several street performers hover outside, playing their violins while standing under a tree. The parks here are beautiful. Boulder is one of those cities people overlook. It’s not New York or Chicago with their tall skyscrapers. It’s not Los Angeles or Miami with their beaches. It’ a simple town, not quite small, not quite big, with mountains peaking in the background. Honestly, it reminds me of Aurora. Maybe that’s why I like it so much. It reminds me of home.
My phone buzzes, but I ignore it, suspecting it’s my mother asking about summer for the hundredth time. I’m going to have to tell her no at some point or she’s going to continue calling me in and out of class. I know she will hate my answer and twist it around on me, blaming me for any issues between her and that boyfriend, but I don’t care. There needs to be some boundaries between us. Just because she’s accepted my boyfriends doesn’t mean I have to accept hers. I’m not the one who broke marital vows. I’m not the one who cheated and destroyed a family. Ok, maybe I’m placing too much of the blame on her shoulders. Dad could have done something. But I don’t flaunt my boyfriends to her every chance I get like they’re my trophies.
Lucas opens the door and we enter the hotel lobby. The lights make my eyes wince. The chandelier hovering above makes the tiled floor glisten, casting a bright light that hurts my eyes. The hotel we’re staying out is called The View, and is one of those two-star hotels that tries to come off like it’s four stars. The chandelier does work though. It distracts away from the hotel desk’s tattered fake wood frame, which is slowly coming off. The only reason why I notice it now, is because it’s the only place I can look. The floor is mopped, except around the corners where layers of desk seem to seep into the floor. And there is that one sticky spot in the middle that my foot always catches on.
We enter the hotel’s bar, the tile floor stopping and the navy carpeting beginning with swirls of yellow lines that don’t connect, or seem to form a picture. Lucas pulls out a chair for me at the bar, ever the gentleman, and plops himself down, his elbows on the table while his hands grip his hair. Well, if he’s going to be stereotypical, might as well order some absinthe shots and get it over with.
I slip off my coat and slide into my seat, smiling at the bartender, dressed in a white button down and clean black slacks. “Can we get two beers?” I ask.
“No, scotch. Neat,” Lucas says without looking at the bartender, his tone woeful. I hold back my eye roll.
“One scotch neat and a beer,” I say to the bartender, who nods his head. I cross my arms and turn my hardened gaze on Lucas, who still refuses to look at anyone other than the wooden bar. “So, are you going to continue being a bump on the log the entire night, or are you going to talk to me?”
Lucas sighs. “What’s there to talk about?”
“I don’t know,” I say with a shrug, “where we want to go tomorrow, what we want to do. Or maybe about why you feel like you failed tonight.”
Lucas groans.
“You know you won’t feel any better until you talk about it,” I say while the bartender places our drinks onto the table. I nod at him in thanks. “Drinking your feelings away will only get you so far.”
“Drinking my feelings away is exactly what I want to do right now.” Lucas slides his scotch closer, yet I notice he doesn’t take a sip. I’ve never seen Lucas drink scotch. It’s too bitter for me and I hate the way it burns my throat on the way down. Maybe it’s something he used to drink with his parents when they would go to fancy parties to lift his spirits. I can’t imagine him enjoying those events. He scowls into the dark liquid, still refusing to meet my gaze.
“Do you want me to leave you alone then to wallow in your self-pity?”
Lucas sighs and finally looks at me, his bottom lip jutting slightly out in a pout. “No.”
“Then what can I do to make you feel better?”
Lucas shakes his head. “Nothing.”
I slide a hand towards him, lacing my fingers with his. “There must be something.”
Lucas doesn’t say anything. He’s being stubborn. I hate it when he’s this way. It’s hard to get in, to get him to let go and open up to me. I decide to switch tactics and say, “My application was accepted for the May Art Market.”
Lucas perks up, his eyes widening on me in both alarm and excitement. “That’s amazing.”
I shrug. “I guess.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
I push my hair away from my face, feeling nervous about talking about this given I don’t even know if I will take the position. “We’re here for you. I didn’t want to distract you.”
“A distraction would have been lovely.”
“I don’t even know if I will take it,” I say, followed by a long sigh. “It’s $500 to rent the stall. If I want to make back that money, I will need to sell at least a fourth of my work, and I don’t even know if I will be able to do that given the other artists partaking in it.”
“You will,” Lucas says, leaning close to me, his lips merely an inch away. “I’ve seen you work. You should do it.”
I tilt my head, a coy smile taking over me as I say, “Now, if only you had that kind of confidence with your own work.”
Lucas’s mouth twists and he gives me a look as if I tricked him. I have done no such thing. I am concerned about the May Art Market, but I wanted him to advise me as I would advise him so he can see how he’s worried about nothing. “That’s different,” Lucas breathes. “My work—”
”Is amazing,” I finish, my smile growing as I press myself close to him, my breasts against his arm, my legs sliding against his. No one but us and the bartender is here. I doubt anyone will have anything to say how close we are given the bartender is looking at his phone, appearing absolutely bored with his life.
Lucas releases a shuddering breath, his eyes lowering to his lips. My body flushes, heat pooling inside me at that look. “How do you know?”
“Well, you got published of course.”
