Chapter Twenty #2
He looks at me and furrows his brows. “It says… Go to your gallery, I have a present for you there. Wait? What gallery? You don’t have a gallery…”
Exhaling, I slump my shoulders. “I do, it’s just no one knows about it. Except for the cleaner and Ria.”
“What! Do you sell stuff? You should be selling stuff. Can I see it? Dude, how did I not know about this?”
“It’s not an open gallery, more like my own private exhibit. But Ria said I should open it and sell my stuff. I just kinda forgot about it, and since—”
Matt slaps my shoulder and shakes his head. “Dude, you should open it. You’re a great artist, Nate. Your paintings are amazing. You know I’d support you in this.”
“I know, we’ll see.”
“Well, are you gonna go? The present might be her.”
“Yeah, we’ll see about that, too. Hopefully, it is, then I’ll know we’re okay. If not, then I know we’re over for sure. But either way, I have to go.”
“Yes… go! Tell me what happens.”
“I will,” I reply as I rush off down the stairs and out of the building.
The entire car ride, I can’t help but think that the present is her and she’s changed her mind. She wants me back, and we’re going to be okay. I pull up at the gallery and race inside, but it’s dark with no sign of Ria anywhere.
“Ria,” I call out, and then I hear footsteps.
She steps into the light, and I smile, reaching out to embrace her, but jerk back in surprise when a petite blonde meets me with aqua highlights, a nose ring, two lip piercings, and very dark but big doe eyes.
Despite her grunge arty look, she’s quite stunning, and I’m taken aback. “Ah… not Ria.”
She chuckles. “Um… no, not an actress. As much as I’m perfectly suited to being famous and am brilliantly stunning, sadly… no, I’m just Alex.”
Smirking, I raise my eyebrow. “Okaaay, just Alex… and… what are you doing here?”
She smiles, opening her arms wide and spinning around like a kid in a candy store. “This is my new home, Nate,” she calls out.
I tilt my head, slightly confused. “It is?”
She stops spinning and puts out her hand abruptly. “Alex O’Donovan, I’m your new business partner.”
Scoffing, I tilt my head even further. “Ah… come again?”
“Oh, Nate, you filthy dog, you. Not on the first date,” she quips and runs around the gallery, looking at the artwork. “These pieces… I can’t. I am literally obsessed. I might die! They’re like really eclectic, Nate. You have such an eye for detail. Where did you study?”
I shrug. “My bedroom?”
She bursts out laughing and shakes her head.
“Oh my God, working with you is gonna be lit! Picture it… brighter space, windows wide open, cute lil’ street sign out front catching every passer-by.
Nate, this place is about to go viral IRL.
We’ll be selling these paintings faster than Taylor Swift tickets. ”
I stand here in shock, wondering what’s actually happening. “Um… sorry, who are you?”
“Oh my God, are you not listening? I’m Alex, your curator slash manager, and I’m going to run this gallery for you.”
“And… where have you come from?”
She smiles. “Well, there’s this bird called a stork, and when a baby is born—”
“Alex!”
“God… okay, sheesh. Ria hired me. Said you need a push in the right direction.”
“But she didn’t want to come with you to see me?”
She sighs. “She’s confused. She doesn’t want to give you the wrong idea, but she doesn’t want to see your talents go to waste, either.”
“I see.”
“Hang in there, Fred Astaire, you’ll be right.”
“You’re a little weird.”
She nods, popping out her hip with the brightest smile on her adorable little face. “Thank you. That’s so nice of you to say.”
“Yeah… definitely weird. But how will this work? Do I pay you?”
She smiles and shakes her head. “Well, I’ll never say no to payment. But Ria has covered me with a seven-day-a-week salary for a year. So you’re stuck with me for the next three hundred and sixty-five days, bucko!”
Opening my eyes wide, I gasp out of shock more than anything else. “Wait! She paid you to work for me every single day for the next year?”
“Sure did.”
I shake my head. “But what about Christmas… and Easter? Thanksgiving and fucking, I dunno… Hanukkah?”
“Well, I don’t think for a second that you celebrate Hanukkah, but don’t worry. I’ll be available all those days.” She winks. “She paid me double time and a half for holidays. So yeah, I’m working those days for sure.”
“Alex, this is too much. She doesn’t need to pay you for this.”
“She said you’d say that and that if you said no to accepting me as your manager, to tell you that I will be out of a job and back on the streets.
See, you’re actually really helping me out as much as I’m helping you out here, Nate.
She said that would help you decide to keep me or not.
” She grins at me like she knows she’s just won the battle of wills, and I groan, running my hand through my hair.
“Why were you on the streets?”
“Douche boyfriend…” She exhales. “Left me with nothing, literally. He stole everything from my apartment and my bank account. Wiped me out in one fell swoop. Left me with zilch and with no family to fall back on, I had to go to the streets. Lame as fuck!”
“That’s rough.”
She winces, her confident outlook faltering slightly before it’s back up again.
“Yeah, but you roll with the punches. I was studying art and business before the douche came into my life and took everything. Ria made an appearance at a homeless shelter I was boarding in. We became good friends, and she helped me get back on my feet. I finished my art and business degree, and now I can put it to good use, working for you.”
“Okay. I don’t know anything about selling art or running a gallery, so I’m gonna leave that up to you, but I’d like to remain anonymous. I’d like people to buy my art because they like it, not because they know the drummer from Recoil paints it. Do you know what I mean?”
“Anonymity… got it! I already have ideas for sprucing up this place and opening it to the public. It’s going to be great, Nate, I promise.”
I walk up to her and put out my hand for her to shake. She smiles and shakes it firmly. “Okay, let’s do this.”
“Big yes energy!”
Maybe Ria wasn’t the chance that was coming to me today?
Maybe it’s Alex and the gallery?
Perhaps Whisper’s at it again?
Nah… I chuckle.