Chapter Twenty-One
NATE
After spending a few hours talking with Alex about ideas, she has already started making changes around the gallery.
She wants to do a launch, but then we realized the artist would need to be present, which kind of blows the anonymity thing right out of the water.
So instead, she’s just going to get the place ready, and we’ll open for business and have signage on the street.
She is hoping for a week from today and wants me to get some new pieces in the gallery to fill it up a little more.
And seeing as the band doesn’t have much going on this week, I’ll spend it all painting at the gallery in the back studio.
But for now, I’m heading home.
It’s been a long night and day, and I need to relax and go to bed.
Matt’s already home when I walk inside, and he’s making his way through another tub of Ben and Jerry’s.
“Dude, you’re gonna get fat, and Whisper won’t be happy either,” I say.
He smirks. “So, was Zaria your present?”
Shaking my head, I pout. “No, Alex was.”
He furrows his brows. “Alex?”
“Mmm… Alex is, well, interesting.”
“Who the fuck is Alex?”
“Ria thought hiring me a manager slash curator was a good idea, so she sent me Alex.”
“But no Ria?”
“No Ria.” I shake my head.
“Bummer, but you can reach out to her now. Say thank you for this interesting Alex character?”
“No. Apparently, Ria is doing Alex a favor, and that’s all it is. It’s nothing to do with me.”
“Double bummer. I’m sorry, bro.”
Shrugging, I head up the stairs. “Lay off the damn ice cream.”
Matt’s chuckles echo from below as I walk to the bathroom to wash away the pain in my chest. Ria’s gesture is fine and all, but I had my hopes up, which has made this ache worse, and I know that no amount of scrubbing will get rid of it.
After about two minutes in the shower, I give up and head straight to bed.
The stress, the heartbreak, the video, it’s all catching up, and I am exhausted.
My last thought before I close my eyes is I will at least have something to put my energy into, leaving less time to stew on Ria.
***
I wake with a clear plan.
I’m going to put all my energy and focus into my gallery.
Over the course of the week, I’ve been busy in my studio, painting and getting lost in the process. Alex has been great, giving me helpful tips and leaving me when I’m in the zone.
She kept busy as well, and now the gallery is an open space with light shining from all angles. It looks incredible, and just as Alex hoped, everything is ready for today’s opening.
I have to say, I’m more than a little nervous.
What if we’re open all day and no one comes in?
We purposely haven’t done excessive advertising, sticking to only a few flyers around the area for today’s opening. To be honest, I’m not expecting many people, if any, but Alex is more optimistic than I am.
I didn’t want a fanfare. Instead, I opted for a natural growth gallery. It’s important to me that my art speaks for itself, with little to no influence, so each sale is genuine.
I’m out the back in the studio while Alex is preparing the last-minute touches, and I’m putting some finishing strokes on a canvas when a gust of wind blows in from the window.
It takes hold of the cloth covering the canvas and lifts it, exposing the almost-finished dove I was painting for Ria. The one I was going to gift her.
It immediately makes me think about how Ria should be here today to share in this moment.
The door swings open, and Alex rushes in.
“I’m about to open the doors. I thought you might wanna be there when I do that for the first time?
” she asks, then looks at the dove that’s previously been covered every other time she’s come in here.
“Oh my God, Nate, that’s amazing. That needs to be put on the floor for sale. ”
“It’s not for sale,” I snap.
She looks at me, tilting her head. “Okay, sassy pants… not for sale… got it. But recreate it and sell a second one ’cause that fucker’s awesome, Nate. No cap. Now get off your ass, it’s opening time!” She leans up on her toes and rushes back out into the gallery.
I stand and cover Ria’s dove before walking out into the gallery. It looks great. She’s done a fantastic job with everything. Alex walks up to the front door, turns the sign from ‘closed’ to ‘open,’ unlocks it, and pulls it open. I watch as she stands back and jumps on her toes.
“Ooh… ooh… someone’s coming. Act cool, Nate,” she whispers.
I grin, watching her as she straightens out her outfit, which is quite formal compared to the rest of her appearance. She looks from me back to whoever is coming and grins.
“Whoa, dude, this is trippy,” she says.
I furrow my brows, wondering what she means, until I notice it’s Matt walking through the door.
Alex gushes, smiling brightly, and pushes a flyer into his face. “Welcome to the gallery of Artist Anonymous. We hope you enjoy your time here today. I’m the curator, Alex. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask,” she says.
Matt looks at her, his eyebrows furrowed with confusion as he takes the flyer. He’s gazing at her like he is in a state of shock, and I tilt my head, studying him. There was a flicker of something in the way he looked at her, but it was gone in a flash. I doubt Alex even noticed.
“You’re Alex?” he asks.
She nods. “Mm-hmm.”
He shakes his head, a slight smirk playing on his lips. “But you’re not a dude?”
She chuckles as I furrow my brows, watching him. “Um… nope.” She places her hands on her tits, squeezing them, and nods. “Yep, definitely not a dude.”
Matt scoffs and shakes his head. “Nate, you said Alex was a dude.”
I jolt back, looking at him as if he’s lost his mind. “What? No, I didn’t.”
Matt shakes his head. “No, you’re right. I guess I just assumed. How did I not know you were Alex? Dude, Ria sent you a chick. No wonder you knew it was over for good.”
“Mmm…” I slump my body, the truth in his words weighing me down.
Alex keeps looking between Matt and me. “Wow! It’s astounding,” she says, and I roll my eyes as Matt looks at her and raises an eyebrow.
“What?” he asks.
“Well, you look so alike at first glance. But really, you’re nothing alike. There are so many subtle differences,” she says, and Matt and I both tilt our heads in unison.
“Really? People always have such a hard time telling us apart,” Matt says.
“Pfft, nah. I’d be able to tell you two apart easily.
The first sign is that little bit of gold you have in your eyes, which differs from Nate’s.
His are just blue, whereas yours turn more to a golden green.
Plus, you have more of a subtle freckle pattern just under your right eye. Nate doesn’t have that.”
“Wow! Your attention to detail is quite, um… scary,” Matt says as I chuckle.
“That’s what makes me good at art. I see the beauty in everything.”
“Even a dipshit like Nate.” Matt chuckles to himself, and I roll my eyes, shaking my head.
“Well, come in, have a look around. I think you’ll see Nate is actually pretty damn good.”
Matt raises his eyebrow again, looking at Alex as she defends me. He nods and walks in. “I can’t believe I’ve never been here before.”
“It’s not like you knew about it, though. You know… in your defense.”
“True. Now I know where you used to disappear to.” He smiles over at me. “I’m proud of you, bro. Learning to read, Funging your Shui, opening a gallery, you’re really stepping it up. I like this new you.”
“I couldn’t have done it without Ria. She pushed me to be better. I wish she could see this.” I sigh. “I miss her, you know?”
Alex winces and then looks to the street.
“Shit! People are actually coming. Quickly go away… like now,” she murmurs, gesturing for us to shoo.
I laugh along with Matt, and we walk off to another wall.
We look at one of my paintings as if we are interested in buying it, while a group walks in.
Alex gets right to work, but I tense and chew on my bottom lip.
“Stop looking around. You’re being obvious,” Matt says.
“I’m nervous. What if they hate everything? What if they’re critics, and they review really badly?”
“Dude, you’ve been open five minutes. You need to calm the fuck down. Do I need to get Whisper in here to calm down your ass?”
“No, I don’t need him in here…” I pause, “… rearranging. Let’s go out back. I can’t handle watching.”
Matt chuckles. “Pussy.”
We walk out to the studio, and Matt looks around, taking in all my half-finished pieces of work. “Dude, this is really amazing.”
“Nah, it’s just something I needed when we weren’t touring or rehearsing.”
We sit for what seems like hours, discussing life in general and how I miss Ria. I show him the unfinished dove, and he tells me I should finish it and send it as a ‘thank you’ for Alex. I stew on that thought for a while and figure it’s probably a good idea, and that I might actually do it.
Eventually, Alex comes in and smiles so beamingly that I take a second to admire her features.
“Okay, you want the good news or the bad news?”
I sit up a little taller. “Um… in that order, I suppose.”
“Okay, the good news is we sold your first painting.”
I look to Matt, my eyes wide open, and let out an excited “whoop whoop” before he high-fives me. “Yes! Good going, bro. I knew you could do it.”
Alex keeps smiling, but I remember there’s bad news, and I furrow my brows. “Wait, what’s the bad news?”
She grins wider, bending down slightly for emphasis, and opens her eyes wide as if she is about to tell a huge secret. “We sold all the paintings in the gallery, Nate.” She lets out a slight squeal at the end as she jumps in the air like a lunatic.
My head swirls as I almost fall off my seat, reaching out to the wall to steady myself.
“Fuck… what? Sorry, what?”
“The collection sold out,” Alex says.
“That’s good, right?” Matt asks.
Alex laughs. “It’s great. Amazing even. But now he needs to paint a whole new collection.”
Shaking my head, I exhale and run my hand through my hair. “Who bought them all?”
“A heap of people. They’ve been streaming nonstop.”
“Fuck! What if I can’t keep up? I only have a couple of dozen finished paintings back here.”
“Well, the band doesn’t have anything happening at the moment.
So be here, paint, put your love of art and the misery of missing Ria onto the canvas, and get your business up and running.
Alex is obviously too good at her job, so you need to get ahead before we need to take off again.
” He gives me a wide smile. “Be here… paint, Nate. I’ll keep tabs on the Recoil side of things while you get lost in acrylic or whatever you paint with. ”
“Thanks, Matt, this means a lot.”
Matt’s voice is steady, warm. “I know it does. That’s why I’m supporting you. I will always support you, Nate.”
Before I can even respond, Alex claps her hands together. “We need to celebrate.”
Matt’s instantly on board. “Yes! We do.”
I groan, sinking further into my chair. “No, I have to get to work.”
Alex scoffs, rolling her eyes. “Work schmerk, you can start tomorrow, boss. Tonight, we gotta celebrate. You, your hunk of a brother, and me. The three amigos, the three musketeers, the dueling banjos plus… another banjo. Fuck, I don’t know.
Don’t make me keep making up stupid puns.
Just fucking get your mopey ass out of that chair and walk down the street to Finlay’s. ”
“Finlay’s?” Matt asks.
“The Irish pub down at the end of the street,” Alex clarifies.
Matt grins. “Yes! I’m so down for that. Alex, you might just be an angel.”
She laughs, her eyes bright. “I’ve been called far worse. I’ve been called far better, too. So you have a ways to go there, sexy twin,” she sings, and Matt chuckles.
He tilts his head, amused. “Better? Than an angel?”
“It was something like… God… oh God… yes, yes, God… you get my drift?” she says, raising her brows with that damn smirk before tossing him a wink.
I roll my eyes. Of course, she went there.
Matt clears his throat, shifting awkwardly, and I swear I can see the way his brain short-circuits for a second. Alex must notice too, because she giggles and slaps his arm playfully.
He flinches a little—nothing obvious, but I catch it. Then she spins on her heel and heads for the door, a satisfied grin on her face.
I glance back at my brother, who’s still watching her walk away like his brain’s buffering. His expression is somewhere between confusion and arousal.
“What the fuck is going on in that head of yours right now, bro?” I ask.
He exhales, eyes still on the door. “I have no fucking clue.”
I guess that’s the Alex effect, she rampages in like a hurricane, then just as quickly she leaves you in her wake with you having no clue what the fuck just happened.
And I adore her for it.
Now I’m going to have a night on the town with my brother and a gale force hurricane.