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Driving down the road, away from my family, I already feel relaxed.
* * *
“Nina! Where the fuck have you been?”
I drop my bag over the counter and hunch over. “I’ve been busy.” I laugh.
“I can tell—you look exhausted. Get over here!” Alex walks over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist.
His hug lasts longer than it should, but I find comfort in how much he missed me. Alex, a person who has been in my corner over the past two years. He’s the kind of person who puts others’ interests before his own.
When I walked in looking for a job, he told me he didn’t have any openings. He saw the expression drop on my face and told me he would make a job for me if I needed it.
I didn’t need the money; I have enough of it because of my family. I told him that I didn’t want a job, but it would mean the world to me if he let me sell my paintings at his gallery. In that moment, he told me he would do anything to help me out.
I found my best friend while I was searching for a normal life.
He steps away from me as I look him up and down. His cargo pants are covered in paint, and so are his arms.
He smells like fresh acrylic.
“How are you and Jacob?” I ask.
“Good. He’s been acting weird lately, but I think school is getting the best of him.”
I walk over to the cart of paint brushes and bring them to the sink and begin washing them.
Alex met his boyfriend, Jacob, at a night club. They have been together for years, and they fit perfectly together. I’m kind of jealous of their relationship. They’re best friends who spend all their time together. They’re in love.
It’s plain and simple: I’ve never been in any kind of relationship where I felt even a sliver of love. Come to think of it, my first kiss was when I was in Paris, and the guy’s breath tasted like clam. It was awful.
And on top of that, once we broke apart our kiss, he tried to get to third base in the middle of a restaurant. Who the hell does that?
“Yeah, school can do that,” I say as if I know what college is like. I’ve wanted to go for a while, but I didn’t want to put in all the hard work for something that wouldn’t benefit my future.
Art benefits me. It’s a passion I have carried with me for years, and I intend on keeping it. I could be locked up by my future husband, but that wouldn’t stop me from creating.
“Why don’t you just finish cleaning those brushes and meet Brooke for lunch or something? I just texted her that you were here, and she keeps blowing up my phone asking for you.” He laughs while handing me his phone to read all of Brooke’s messages.
Alex wasn’t lying: she’s sent him eleven of them in the ten minutes I’ve been here.
I giggle as I hand him back his phone. “All right, I’ll go meet her at Benito’s.”
“Sounds like a plan. And Nina, I’m having a bunch of my friends come to the art exhibit I’m observing in two days. I’d love it if you’d come.”
I have no idea if I will be able to make that one, no matter how much I want to. “I might be able to. I’ll text you Friday and let you know?”
“Sounds good!”
I set the brushes on a dry towel and pick up my bag. “I’ll see you in a bit.” I push open the large clear door, making the bells above me jingle as I step onto the pavement.
Giovanni’s leaning against the hood of his car.
I throw my head back in defeat, trying to laugh at the situation, and walk toward the coffee shop I’m supposed to meet Brooke at.
“And where do you think you are going now?” he asks as he catches up to me, trying to grab my bag off my shoulders.
“Are you following me?” I concentrate on the city in front of me, trying to avoid looking at him again.
