5. Sienna
five
Sienna
Maybe I overreacted, but ugh! The nerve of him.
Nothing screams toxic masculine energy than a man inserting himself in your space and trying to dominate everything you’ve worked on.
Not only did he completely disregard the fact that I have ten little ones depending on me as their teacher, he ignored my set schedule that I had curated with my boss.
After leaving work abruptly, I received a nice long text message from Calista, alerting me of my new schedule, what’s required of me, and new locations to meet my student at.
Not only did Jace trample on my plans, he had to have bribed someone because I’m virtually off of work every day except for Wednesday and Fridays.
Two days that I had planned to work on the Winter Showcase with Daisy earlier today.
Heaving a loud sigh, I feel like I’m going to explode as I enter The Sweet Tooth for the second time today. My skin thrums with frustrated energy, and I try and fail to contain myself as I stalk towards the front counter.
“Back so soon?” Saree’s honeyed voice is like music to my ears as she pops up from behind the counter, smiling like a mad-man.
She must sense my anger because the smile drops immediately as her brows furrow, taking me in.
My clothes are slightly tousled and my hair is fuzzy from yanking on a hoodie in the car.
My shoulders are bunched up, and I’m pretty sure that I’m wound so tight that the slightest touch would cause me to combust.
“Talk or eat?” she asks, looking down at the register, tapping away .
“Eat. Definitely eat.” I frown, reaching for my purse when she holds a hand out to me, effectively stopping me in my tracks.
“I got this, baby girl. Go sit down and take a breather.” Saree’s smile is warm as she gestures towards the lavender, pink, and sage green bean bags chairs in the “quiet nook” of the bakery.
The quiet nook is essentially a small area where customers have a small array of books and comfortable seating to read and eat their baked goods.
With a groan, I plop down on the sage green one and grimace, cursing it mentally for its color.
Why does my favorite chair have to be the same color as his eyes?
My frown softens when Saree brings me a small tray of Lavender Love Macarons and chocolate chip cookies with a small peach ginger tea.
My muscles unwind as I take a tentative sip of the warm tea, blowing to cool it down.
Instinctively, my hand moves without thought towards my phone, successfully pulling up the one app that kept me in touch with my friends over the past two years.
Muscle memory is a hell of a thing.
Without fail, I find myself on Jace’s art page, my fingers caressing the screen as I scroll through the millions of paintings, sketches, and sculptures he’s made in the time we’ve been apart.
I scroll until I find it, the painting of the unfinished girl.
It’s a brown skinned model in a perfect arabesque.
Her body is light as a feather as she reaches out with a sophisticated hand, reminding me of someone on a mission.
She’s graceful and poised, her shoulders relaxed with the confidence of knowing her work and executing it perfectly.
But that’s not what sends me for a loop—it’s her face.
He’d captured the woman, up until her neck. The painting was posted a year ago and he’d titled it Unfinished: The Girl Who Loved.
Further down, there were more paintings of landscapes and people, but that ballerina always stuck out to me .
As I scroll to the bottom, I stop as my eyes land on a painting that hadn’t been there last week.
It’s me.
As a young girl, probably around twelve or thirteen, smiling as I look off to the distance. My messy array of curls are carefully painted to show the one time I’d allowed myself to not care about my appearance as a kid.
Jace had told me he wanted to paint me, and I agreed after my parents missed yet another one of my recitals in Summerfield.
I did summer classes here to spend time with Cleo and her friends before going back to California for school.
When I’d realized my parents hadn’t shown up, I couldn’t leave my room at uncle Clef’s for days.
It wasn’t until the scrawny, blond kid from next door with hair like Hercules and a smile that could kill stumbled into my room, grinning like the Cheshire cat, that I realized life wasn’t that bad.
Jace spent that entire day trying to brighten my spirits by giving me snacks I wasn’t allowed to eat at home, watching TV with me, and just being there for me.
It wasn’t until he’d suggested painting me that I smiled.
He did everything to make me laugh that day…and now he’s grown up to be an annoying douchebag.
Earlier today, he and that girl were all over one another, and now he has the nerve to go to my place of work and demand changes in my schedule to suit him?
What a narcissistic pig.
I’m about to let out my fourth sigh when the wind chimes of the room go off.
My head whips to the door, an unnatural feeling boils in my gut as I look at it.
Did he follow me here? Is going to apologize?
Instead, Aric stares back at me. My shoulders drop at the sight of him and the feeling in my stomach dies as he makes his way over.
“Hey! I didn’t know you liked this place,” he says, smiling brightly at me .
The sight unsettles me after receiving an even brighter one from a man that I loathe just twenty minutes ago.
I curl my lips in, biting them slightly before plastering on a smile.
“Of course! Who doesn’t love a bakery?” I ask, but my voice sounds scratchy and unnatural.
“Right…so I was thinking about our date—”
Date? When did I… Shit.
I forgot I even agreed to that, and it was only this morning that I had. How can I get out of—
“So, yeah… are you allergic to anything? I have a few restaurants in mind—”
“Only strawberries.”
Hello, three foot hole, allow me to dig an additional three feet because what the fuck was that? I was supposed to say, “ Oh, I’m sorry…I have to walk my pet fish, Melinda ,” or something along those lines.
Instead, I’m stuck going on a date with a man.
A man.
Eugh.
Could you see my shoulders quiver?
I don’t know if it’s just me or the fact that I’m awkward as hell, but the idea of going on a date with a random man gives me the creeps.
There, I said it.
I’m creeped out.
No I’m not…that’s a lie if I ever told one. I did want to go on the date. Aric’s cute enough, after all, but then Jace freaking Heart sat his perfectly golden ass down in my studio and now my brain is fucked up.
Fuck men. They’re useless, anyways.
I don’t know how or when, but I make it back home to the apartment to find the girls already in their rooms, probably getting ready for their classes tomorrow.
Dragging myself through my night routine is as easy as squeezing unripe lemons. My mind is sore from dealing with Jace and starting a new semester, and my body is sore from everything else .
By the time I’m securely in my bed, swishing my feet under the covers to warm myself and get fully comfortable, my mind wanders back to my list.
I haven’t checked it at all today.
“A girls got needs…I need to get this list done.” I huff a sigh, walking my sock clad feet against the hardwood floors of my bedroom over to the tote bag hanging on my desk chair.
Rolling my eyes at myself, I dig my hand into the bag. Wait a minute…
Pat. Pat. Pat.
It’s got to be here somewhere…I never leave the house without it.
Snatching my bag off of my desk chair, I tilt it up, exposing all the bag's contents to the ground as my eyes frantically search for the missing paper.
Birth control… Check.
Five sticks of gum… Check.
Four different lip oils… Quadruple motherfucking check.
Where is it?!
My heart drops as my world comes crashing down on me.
No.
No.
NO.
No.
No…
My list is gone.