“Then how about you do not speak to her as if she’s a burden,” Damian shot out. His eyes were filled with annoyance at Jeff, and a pit of discomfort hit my stomach. “Besides, you drove here. You probably shouldn’t drink more.”
“Excuse me?” Jeff asked, turning his stare to Damian. “How about you back off? I can speak to my girlfriend however I choose.”
“True. I just don’t see why you’d chose to speak to her in that manner,” Damian said, sitting up straighter. The two men were puffing out their chests as if they were about to go to war for some reason, and thankfully Kelsey stopped it before it could get too intense.
“Let’s raise a glass in the air for Stella and her first art showcase!” she said, holding her wineglass in the air. “May this be the first of many!” she exclaimed.
The men pulled themselves together and un-puffed their chests. They held their glasses up and cheered to me.
Thankfully the moment of uncomfortableness disappeared as we finished our meals with no bloodshed. We drove back to the property, and Kelsey went on her way after exchanging numbers with Damian.
Really? He gave her his number? That was good, I guessed. Right. It was. That was what I wanted to happen. Sure. Of course.
Since it was a Wednesday, I already had my overnight bag packed to go back with Jeff.
“I’ll go inside and grab my bag, then we can go,” I told Jeff.
“Yup, I’ll be here waiting.”
I dashed inside to grab my things and then looked over at Damian, who was standing in the kitchen getting a glass of water. “Thanks again for coming tonight. It seemed that you and Kelsey were hitting it off. And it seemed that you and Jeff got along for the most part, minus the awkward moments and—”
“Why are you with him?”
“What?”
“Jeff. Why are you with him? He’s a complete dick for brains, and his ability to give a damn about anyone else outside of himself is ridiculous.”
“That’s not true…”
“It is, and I know you’re smart enough to know it’s true. Does he do that often?” Damian asked.
“Do what?”
“Undermine you and your dreams?”
“Oh. No. I mean, you probably just took his reaction to the news about the showcase the wrong way. Jeff is a realist. He knows that my art isn’t good enough to make a living from, and I can be a bit floaty, and my dream-like mind takes on its own road. I envision a crazy life where I make my living on my artwork alone, and well, that’s just ridiculous.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m not good enough.”
“Who told you that you weren’t good enough?”
Where do I start?
I pushed out a smile. “It’s okay, Damian. Not all dreamers get their dreams to come true. Some are sent back to reality.”
He grimaced and returned to filling up his glass of water.
“Okay, well, you have a good night. Thanks again for coming tonight. I know it wasn’t the most comfortable situation.” I began turning to leave yet paused as I heard him begin to speak.
“What if it was Maple?” he asked.
“What?”
“What if Jeff told Maple that her dreams were too unrealistic and she wasn’t talented enough to achieve them? How would that make you feel?”
“I’d be enraged.”
He slipped his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “So do that.”
“Do what?”
“Give yourself the same level of love and protection that you give to people you love. For the record, I’ve seen your artwork.” He walked over to me, standing inches away from my face, and lowered his voice. “You’re more than good enough.”
Words…
They were just simple words, but every time Damian offered them to me, I secretly wanted him to give me more.
He left me standing there stunned, leaving chills racing over my body as my heart tried to calm down from the way Damian made it beat uncontrollably.
18
Stella
* * *
“Breathe, Stella, breathe,” I murmured to myself.
I was a basket of nerves the day of the art showcase. It wasn’t getting any better, seeing how I hadn’t been able to get in contact with Jeff all day. He had a show the night before, and I knew it took him a while to regroup after his DJing jobs, but I’d hoped he wouldn’t have partied as hard knowing the biggest day of my career was happening the following evening.
Stella: Where are you?
I’d already texted Jeff four times and called him five, with no response.
“He’s going to come. There’s no way he would stand me up today of all days. I'm sure his phone just died. I’m sure there’s a reason for him not being here on the day that means the most to me.”
I stood in front of the bathroom mirror at my gallery show, trying to shake off all my nerves, and trying to shake off the fact that Jeff hadn’t arrived yet. It was a quarter past nine and the show began at eight. Yet still, my boyfriend was nowhere to be found. I had to stop hiding in the bathroom. Otherwise, people would start to wonder why the artist was not walking around her own display.
“Stella? There’s someone who just arrived saying they’re waiting to see you. I’m guessing it’s your boyfriend,” Marie, the organizer of the event, said from outside the bathroom door.
I swung the door open, feeling the butterflies in the pit of my stomach intensifying with knowing that Jeff had finally arrived. I wanted to be angry with him for being late, but all I really cared about was sharing my artwork with someone I cared about.
“He’s here?” I asked, swinging to open the bathroom door. I smoothed my hands over my white gown and felt my cheeks hurting from smiling so hard from the idea that he had arrived. I felt as if this gallery show was so important for me to share with Jeff because for so long, it felt like nothing more than a dream. I felt as if I finally had something to show him. Something for him to be proud of. Something to prove that I was taking my career seriously, just as he did his own.
“Yes, he's here. Also, I’m shocked that you left out how good-looking he is. Like my gosh, that is a good-looking piece of man.” Marie tossed her hands up in surrender. “But just to be clear, I would never hit on him. I have my own man to do that with,” she joked.
I thanked Marie for notifying me of Jeff’s arrival, yet when I walked out of the bathroom, I was shocked to see that my boyfriend was nowhere to be found. Yet in front of me was a very well-dressed husband of mine. Damian stood there dressed to the nines as he always did, looking around at the gallery of artwork on the walls.
After shaking off the fact that my boyfriend was nowhere to be found, I walked over to Damian to greet him. “Beast,” I said, standing behind him as he stared at one of my favorite pieces. It was titled Blue. “You came.”
“I gave you my word.”
“If only others’ words meant as much as yours,” I muttered.
He raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
I shook my head and pushed out a smile. “Never mind. Is Kelsey with you?”
“We went to dinner but decided not to attend together.”