TWO WEEKS LATER

 

I’m in the studio painting, pouring my heart into another canvas. The brush strokes along the textured fabric with ease, acrylic smothering the board with the pain I’m feeling. Nothing but raw emotion seeping from my fingers into the canvas as I work my feelings into the artwork. This one’s a moody piece, of a woman who looks eerily similar to Ria. I hadn’t intended this piece to be about her, but somehow lately, all my work seems to have something connecting to her.

I miss her… I fucking miss her, but not a lot can be done about that. She’s made her choice. I have to live by that. I dab the brush giving the artwork a stipple effect and exhale as the piece is coming together. This place, this gallery… Ria was right, it’s perfect for me, and having Alex here is the exact push I need to get me moving in the right direction.

Music is my life, but art is my passion and in my downtime, I want to be spending as much time here as I can.

Moving my brush into the jar of water, I swirl it around removing the black paint. Alex strolls in looking at the painting in front of me. She half-smiles and exhales tilting her stature with her hand on her hip. Her eyes move to me and I raise my eyebrow at her judgmental face.

“What?” I ask and she lets out a bemused laugh.

“You want to call her,” she simply states then looks to the painting. Obviously, she can see the Ria resemblance too.

Exhaling, I drop the brush into the jar of water, stand up and throw a cloth over my shoulder while stepping over to the sink to wash my hands. “No, she said she didn’t want me and made that fact perfectly clear.”

Alex is quiet as I turn on the taps and rinse my hands under the warm soapy water. I turn in time to watch her walk out of the studio and furrow my brows thinking it’s not like her to give up so easily. Shaking my head, I turn off the tap and shake my hands a couple of times to rid the excess water then grab the paper towel to dry. Swinging back around just as Alex walks back in, I notice a bottle and a couple of shot glasses in her hand. I grin a little when I see it is, in fact, a bottle of tequila and I let out a small laugh.

“Alex, you have a bottle of tequila in your hand.”

She looks down and opens her eyes wide and fakes shock. “Holy shit, I do too. How the fuck did that get there? Wow! The tequila fairy must be invading my privacy again. I’ll get you, you damn fairy. Fucker always tries to get me drunk… Oh well, guess I’ll have to share with you now, right?” she asks pulling up a stool and plonking down on it.

I laugh shaking my head and sit down next to her. “You’re seriously weird, you know that?”

“I know, it’s why I’m so crazy irresistible to all men and the fairy kind.”

I snort as she pours us each a shot. “We’re at work you know?”

She shrugs and tilts her head to the side looking at the clock on the wall. “The gallery closed over an hour ago, so officially we’re off the clock, boss man. To me that means it’s happy hour. So shut up and bottoms up, big boy,” she says clinking her glass to mine then slamming the tequila down her throat. Her nose wrinkles up after she swallows in a cute little way which makes me chuckle, but I follow suit and throw back my shot of tequila which burns all the way down, but I like the hurt. It reminds me that even though I’m numb I can still feel something.

“Why are you so nice to me?” I ask.

Alex pours me another shot of tequila and I raise it to my mouth, pouring the contents down the hatch.

Alex laughs and raises her eyebrows insinuatingly. “Because your brother is so freaking hot.”

I can’t help it as I spit out the tequila in a shocked laugh. It sprays all over the bench and an unused canvas as Alex smirks swallowing another shot.

“What the fuck?” I ask and she laughs shaking her head.

“No, just kidding. You’re face though… priceless! I’m nice because you’re a great boss, an incredible talent and a wonderful man. I’m nice because you are.”

“Okay, so I get why you’re single, you hate men because of your ex, right?” She nods. “But honestly Alex, you’re a stunner. A little kooky, but you’re amazing. Any guy would be lucky to have you.”

She takes another shot of tequila and then hands me one. I take it and swig it back. “So, Matt’s the older twin, right?” I nod. “And he’s a commitment-phobe, yeah?”

“I think he was, but he’s been more open to the idea of settling down lately for some reason. But he has this idea about his perfect girl. He has this shopping list of requirements. It’s so stupid. He’ll never find a girl who matches them all.” Nodding, she exhales. “He’s picky. He’s a douche. He’s so used to the slutty scene of the rocker lifestyle. So much so, he wants the exact opposite of that. I think what he’s looking for only exists in a nunnery.”

“Ha! The rocker and the nun… it could work, stranger things and all that jazz,” Alex quips with a smirk.

I chuckle. “He’s too much of a perfectionist. Everything has to be his way exactly. I honestly don’t think any girl would put up with him, other than a doormat.”

Alex snorts. “Ha… Matt and his doormat.”

I chuckle and nod. “Exactly. In my opinion any girl would be nuts to go out with him, he’s the crazy brother.”

Alex laughs. “Right ‘cause you’re so fucking sane with your moody art and your crying into your canvases every day through your paintbrushes, Mister I’m-so-normal man.”

Shaking my head, I shrug. “Touché.”

“See Nate, there’s no such thing as normal. I’m not normal. You’re certainly not normal. Matt’s not. Ria’s not. None of us are normal, per se. Not even Robert over there,” she says pointing to Robert the cleaner who has a nineties style mullet and wears overalls two sizes too big.

She’s right. There’s no such thing as normal, and in this day and age, I guess that’s a good thing.

“So what are we doing tonight?” Alex asks.

“We?” I reiterate.

“Yes, we. You’re always couped up in here at night painting, and I go home and come back the next morning to see you here already. Like… do you even leave or do you live here… sleeping on the floor using your canvases as blankets and your brushes for pillows like a goddamned freak? Are you a freak, Nate? Are you?”

I chuckle at her witty prompting and I shake my head. “I’m not a freak, Alex.”

“Good, then we’re leaving now and going out.”

“We are?”

“Yes. C’mon. I have just the place to cheer you the fuck up.”

“Man, you have such a way with words.”

She grins pouring us another round of shots and raises the glass for me to clink together. “Cheers big ears, drink that fucker, then let’s go.” She slams the shot down her throat, then grabs my hand with one of hers, the bottle of tequila with the other and yanks me out of the studio. I chuckle trying to keep up with her fast pace, but she’s rushing quickly, and it’s making my usual somber mood almost cheery. I manage a small chuckle.

“Alex, slow the fuck down. I haven’t eaten all day and this liquor is making me wobbly.”

She scoffs shaking her head as we race toward the front of the gallery. “Pish posh, Nate. Tonight we’re having fun, and you, you’re going to unwind. If that means getting trashed, you’re gonna. So shut up and drink, boss,” she says shoving the bottle into my chest.

I smirk raising an eyebrow at her and shrug.

It can’t hurt.

What’s the worst that could happen?

It’s not like I need to function tomorrow anyway. Hell, I’m the boss I can take the day off if I want to. She’s right. I’ve been moping around like a fucking lost puppy for days now. I need to let my hair down and try to forget about Ria. So I take a swig of the potent liquid as Robert chuckles while mopping the floor.

“Robert, you good to lock up?” Alex calls out.

“Yeah, you kids have fun,” he calls back.

I nod at him as we walk out the front of the gallery and onto the street. The night air feels damp, and only the street lights illuminate the gray night sky. The overcast ominous clouds fill the dreary atmosphere with purple and black tones. It’s not late, but it looks it, as the moon is hidden beneath the over-clouded heavens.

“Where are we going? To a pub or something?” I ask and Alex scoffs then shakes her head.

“God no, pubs are for pussies. We’re going somewhere far more hardcore.”

Tensing up, I clench my jaw wondering what kind of shit Alex is into. I don’t know her all that well, after all we’ve been working together for only a short time. Sure, I spend a lot of time with her but honestly, I know nothing about her. She could be an underground raver. She could be into BDSM. She could be one of those people who thinks they’re a freaking vampire. Fuck knows what I’m about to get myself into.

“Alex.”

“Oh for God’s sake, Nate, I didn’t picture you as a wimp.”

I puff my chest out slightly. “I’m not.”

“Then shut the hell up and trust me,” she says dragging me toward my security details car. I take a deep breath and bob my head up and down matter-of-factly like I’m agreeing with her even though I’m still not one hundred percent convinced I’m not heading to a dominatrix dungeon.

We slide into the car and she leans forward whispering to the driver. I crease my face up in annoyance that I didn’t hear our destination, but I guess I have to just trust her on this one.

She turns looking at me as the driver pulls out onto the road and she smiles. “You’re gonna love it, Nate,” she says grabbing the bottom of the bottle and hoisting it up to my mouth. I shake my head once with a sly smile and take another long gulp of the tequila. It burns reminding me that I can in fact feel and that I can still live even though I lost something so precious.

My chest squeezes while thinking of Ria and I wince slightly. Alex notices and places her hand on my knee giving it a little squeeze then takes the bottle from me and takes a sip.

She looks to me and sighs. “Look, I know things with you and Ria are… strained right now—”

“I think strained is not the word I’d be looking for, Alex… over is more like it.”

She frowns. “Well, in any case I want you to try and have fun. I know break ups are hard… trust me, I know. But Ria would want you to still be living. Not wallowing your life away in the studio pining for her.”

“Has she moved on?” I ask.

Alex furrows her brows shaking her head slightly. “No, that’s not what I meant. I mean she just wants you to be happy, Nate. So be happy. Live, paint, percussion-ate?” She scrunches up her face. “Is that even a word? I don’t think that’s a word—”

“Yeah, nah… that’s not a word.” I laugh.

“It should be, it’s a freaking cool word.”

I laugh with a bright smile and she smiles back at me and nods. “There it is, that smile I’ve been missing. I know this is hard. You and her had a really great thing going on. And things now are complicated and messy, but if you’re meant to find your way back together, you will… I have faith in that. It’s written in the wind and all that.”

Furrowing my brows at her words that sound eerily like something Whisper would say, I slump down into the seat of the car with a sigh as I take another long sip of the tequila. The effects of the alcohol swirling through my system making my body tingle and my head fuzzy. The buzz has kicked in, and I have no idea if Alex is feeling tipsy too, but I know if I drink too much more I probably won’t be able to walk to wherever we’re going in a straight line.

The car suddenly pulls to a stop and I furrow my brows. We’ve only been driving for probably a maximum of five minutes, maybe not even that. Alex jumps up and down in her seat and claps her hands together excitedly as she looks out the window to the right. I follow her gaze and look to the building.

I let out a small bemused laugh. “You gotta be kidding me?” I murmur and she turns to face me, her eyes sparkling bright almost twinkling with utter jubilation as her smile reaches her eyes and she bobs up and down on the seat like a fricking kid.

“Nope, not kidding. I’m very, very serious. I take Inflatable Land with one hundred percent sincerity, Nate. So lock and load my friend. Shit’s about to get crazy!”

I burst out laughing at the completely serious look on her face. Pursing my lips as she takes another swig from the tequila bottle, I shake my head with another slight chuckle. “Isn’t this place for kids?”

She furrows her brows at me and curls up her lip. “Are you calling me… me a child, Nate?”

I’m not sure if she’s playing around or being completely serious right now so I decide to err on the side of caution. “Umm, no? Just that I thought only children could play in there?”

“Ha! Shows what you know, peasant. Now get out of the car and get ready for total annihilation!” she says the last part slowly, and in a low voice like it’s from a video game or something. This side of Alex is slightly scary, but really quite funny at the same time. She seems really competitive but I think this is going to be a whole heap of fun. Which is just what I need. She opens the car door and goes to get out.

“Wow! Looks like you’re in for an entertaining night, dude,” my security detail says.

“You’re telling me,” I say as I smile at him.

He nods to me as Alex rushes forward. “I’ll keep back out of the way. You won’t even know I’m here.”

“Thanks, buddy,” I say and slide out of the car with my bottle of tequila. Alex is jumping from foot to foot like a six-year-old. It’s kind of cute how excited she is.

It makes me almost forget why we’re here.

To make me forget…

Taking another drink of the yellow liquid, it burns in its customary way as I step up to Alex and shake my head at the flashing signs and the giant inflatable clown out the front of the building.

“This is a bad idea. You know that, right?”

She smirks grabbing the bottle from me. “Why? Scared I’m gonna beat you at everything?”

“What is there to beat me at? There’s just blow up slides and shit in there.”

She grins mischievously and shakes her head. “Oh Nate, so innocent for a hardcore rocker. Come, enter my domain.”

Raising my eyebrow at her, I smirk. “Weird… that’s the only word I have for you.”

“It’s a badge and I wear with pride.”

While walking with her to the door I chuckle. She opens it and we step through to the sounds of children laughing and screaming and I shake my head wondering how we’re even going to be let in here. She walks us up to the counter and a large guy with tufts of red hair either side of his face that reminds me of a rather obese version of Side Show Bob, smiles a little too wide when he sees Alex.

“Alexandria, how lovely it is to see you again,” he utters in a really rather nerdy way.

I try to hide my smile and watch as she grins at him like he’s a long time friend.

“Hey, Augie! I’m glad you’re back. Didn’t like your fill in, what was her name?” Alex asks, and I furrow my brows wondering just how often does Alex come in here.

Augie sighs rolling his eyes. “Oh, yes, Tamika. She came from a recruitment agency and was only here to fill in her required hours for benefits…” He rolls his eyes. “Lousy person. Terrible with the kids. We got rid of her as soon as my back came good and I was able to get back in here to work.”

Alex nods. “I heard about your back. That happened when you were playing with the kids, right?”

I start wondering how she knows so much about this place.

What the hell is going on?

“Yeah, I know I’m not supposed to bounce on the inflatables with them, but they just wanted to have some fun and you know me, they think I’m a clown and they love to crawl all over me. I should’ve known better. That’s why I’m relegated to the booth now, no inflatable time for me.”

Alex winces. “Oooh, sorry Augie, I know you love it out there with the kids.”

“Yeah, but you know, I’m getting on. Gotta look after my health and all that… No Whisper today?” he asks and my ears prick up as I tilt my head.

“No, he’s on a Korean Fung Shui retreat or something,” she says and my mouth drops open wide.

“I love that guy!” Augie says and Alex turns to me raising her eyebrow.

“What?” she asks.

“You know Whisper?”

She giggles. “You know Whisper?”

I nod and grin lowering my voice. “He’s kinda Matt and mine’s Fung Shui master at home.”

She bursts out laughing and slaps my arm. “Oh. My. God. Don’t tell me you guys are the sexy boy twins he always talks about?”

I nod. “Yep, I think that would be us… How do you know him?”

She smirks. “Oh, didn’t you know? As well as Fung Shui he’s also an art critic at the local institute… and a part time chef at a Japanese Teppanyaki bar… and a dog groomer, trainer and apparently whisperer. He kind of has his hand in a lot of baskets.”

Shaking my head, I let out a shocked laugh. “You’re kidding?”

“Nope as serious as mad cow disease.”

“The guy’s a living legend, he has mad skills,” Augie says breaking my head trip. “Anyway, I’m guessing you wanna go to the adult section again today?”

My ears pick up… adult section? I never knew this place had an adult section. But then again I’ve never stepped foot in here, so how would I know?

“Yes, please, Augie. Is there anyone in there?” Alex asks.

He nods. “Yeah, group of college kids, but they’re mainly keeping to themselves. You guys should be right to move about the inflatables as you like. But Alex… play nice, okay?” Augie says and I half-smile at his serious face.

She chuckles and nods. “Yes sir.” She salutes and leans inside the window kissing his cheek. The flush in his face is instant, and he smiles widely as she turns to me and grabs my hand leading me off toward a black door across the other side from the entrance.

“It’s good to see you again!” Augie calls out.

I tilt my head toward Alex as Augie pushes a button, a buzzer sounds and the door opens, while I glance over to Alex as if to say ‘what the fuck’ and she tries to hold in her laugh.

Alex shakes her head while leaning in and raises her brow. “Never mind, let’s go,” she blurts out as we walk through the opening. It’s dark but not pitch black, dark enough to make it so you have to squint a little as you pass through.

I’m confused as hell and disorientated slightly from the dim lighting as we walk inside. “Alex, what was that about?”

“He thought you were Matt.”

I jolt back a little as she continues to drag me in further. “Augie knows Matt?”

“He met him the other night. I took him to a thing, no biggie, c’mon, let’s go through here!” she says trying to distract me.

“Alex, what the hell?” I ask and she giggles tightening her grip on my hand.

“C’mon, you’ll see,” she says and drags me through a hallway into a larger room where thousands of glow sticks light the walls. Neon light fills the room and it kind of reminds me of music, like being at one of our concerts when the crowd holds up the glow sticks and everything looks so bright and happy. This room is amazing and I love the feeling of being in here. It works, all thoughts of Matt hanging out with Alex and knowing Augie are dropped, and I’m instantly awed by this room instead.

Music fills the air, it’s not loud, and it’s not a beat I know but it’s a dance rhythm. One that makes you want to move, want to dance immediately. I’m not much of a dancer, but I like this song. Whatever it is. I look to Alex and she’s smiling. Well, what I can see of her with the glow sticks lighting her face. She’s a good friend and I’m glad she’s trying to distract me. But as I glance at her it reminds me that she knows Ria, that I only know her because of Ria. That I should be here in this amazing place, with Ria. An ache develops in my chest as I frown and pull in a deep breath then take another swig on the tequila. The happy buzz I had is wearing into a depressing sadness as I sigh obviously a little too loudly. Alex seems to catch onto that quickly, though.

“Right, we can either shoot hoops in here or go through to the inflatables?”

It’s only now when I look around that I notice hoops all along the walls and red balls on the floor everywhere.

Alex picks up a squishy rubber ball and throws it to a hoop, it circles the hoop but falls to the side and cascades to the floor. When the ball hits the floor with a thud, the ground beneath it lights up flashing lights out like a wave across the floor in a pattern that looks like a droplet of water plunging into the ocean. For a moment I forget my woes and half-smile at the astounding technology on display in this room. It’s incredible and Alex bumps her shoulder into mine and giggles. “Cool huh?”

I nod as she grabs the bottle from me and takes a drink.

“How come we were able to bring the tequila in with us?” I ask.

Alex chuckles. “Because you were holding it. Augie was too distracted with me to notice that you had it… if I’d been holding it he would’ve noticed and it would’ve been confiscated…” She grins like the Cheshire cat. “Like I said I’m crazy irresistible to all man and fairy kind.”

“And Simpson characters apparently,” I tease.

She scoffs out a laugh slapping the back of my head and hands me back the bottle. “Be nice… but yes he does resemble a certain… evil clown. But don’t tell him that, he gets antsy about it.”

I half-laugh and pick up a rubbery weighted red ball and throw it toward a hoop. It circles the hoop falling straight through the center. The goal lights up, the back of the board explodes in firework lights and then the ball falls to the ground sending off another cascade of water ripples across the floor.

Smiling, I shake my head as Alex grabs my hand and pulls me toward a wall where a green exit sign is lit up. I smile knowing there’s obviously more cool shit beyond the door and I can’t wait to see what else Alex has in store for me to help me forget about Ria, if only for a moment. My chest tightens just a little as Alex pulls me through the doorway into a giant open expanse. My eyes open wide as I take in the sight before me.

Holy fucking shit!