a Piece of Art

7.0 T H E S E C R E T

   I felt truly proud of how I had become during my first few weeks here. I felt happier, I talked more and I had friends.

   I could be open about my thoughts, real about my opinions and still be appreciated. Naomi had, over the days, become undoubtedly my best friend. She took it as her job to protect me under her wing. We spent hours and hours in my apartment just chatting and hanging.

   Every Friday night since they first invited me over, Jackson, Blake and I went to the movies. We watched every movie that they were showing, and if we didn't have anything new to watch, we just saw another one again. Up until the point that the people at the cinema knew us. I enjoyed these times the most, during the movies I didn't have to talk, but we could laugh together and always comment it afterwards. It didn't matter if it was a shitty movie or even for kids, we spent our Friday nights dedicating ourselves to the movies.

   I worked a lot with Leah and spent the majority of my classes either with Naomi or Steph.

   None of them knew much about my past life, I knew they all wanted to ask but I kept avoiding it. I somehow wanted badly to talk about it, but I just knew I couldn't. That why I felt so bad the first time their directly mentioned it.

  Naomi, Steph and I were sat in the library that afternoon, the weather rather cold to be outside like we usually did. They were deeply entangled in a discussion about whether or not Naomi should say yes to the latest guy who had asked her out when she abruptly changed the topic.

   "Anyway, are you ready for the gallery's big opening tomorrow?"

   No, I thought. While Steph excitedly chirped yes.

   "I even have already choose the dress I want to wear."

  I wouldn't wear a dress. That's something I did know. That's something that would be expected from me back at my childhood house.

   "What about you, Lizzie?" Naomi asked.

   "I don't know, I don't have many formal clothes... but I guess some nice pants and a blouse. I haven't really thought about it."

   Both of them nodded.

   "Is Liam coming?"

   "Yep! He was so excited when I told him about it." Liam had been Steph'a boyfriend for over a year. Ever since high school. Steph always seemed like the tough one to me, but her boyfriend was the sweetest thing ever. Somehow it worked for them.

   "Will you be bringing a date?" She asked me.

   "I guess I could ask Blake or Jackson to accompany me."

   "Ask Blake. He'll love it." Naomi laughed.

   "Yeah, he totally has the socks for you! It's so weird, I had never seen Blake actually interested in someone." Steph added.

   "He so does not." I scoffed.

   "Oh my god, if you two dated that would be great." I could tell Naomi was already picturing it in her head.

   I knew it was pointless to argue with them so I just laughed it off. Making a mental note to ask Jackson to accompany me, just in case.

   There was only much they could talk about the event, and we have been doing so ever since we first heard about it, so when they finished it, the dreaded question came.

   "So, does your family know about the whole thing with the contest?"

   Steph had already told us everything about how her father was incredibly proud of her and flipped colors as soon as she told him.

   "No... My-my family... is complicated to say the least." I gulped. I could do this. "We are not really on speaking terms."

   None of them seemed to know what to say. "Oh, I'm so sorry Lizzie." Steph reacted first.

  "If you ever want to talk about it, we are totally here for you, we won't ever judge you." Naomi offered with a sweet smile.

  "Yeah, totally. I don't talk to my mom either since middle school, so I would understand."

   I smiled gratefully at them. "Thank you, it's just a touchy topic at the moment."

   They understood and quickly we were talking about something else.

***
  
   I was working behind the counter when Jackson entered the coffee shop that afternoon. We had already talked earlier after lunch, when I asked him if he could please accompany me to the opening. I truly didn't want to go alone.

   He didn't hesitate for a second before accepting. He was always one to join the fun and he was definitely way more of an extrovert than I was.

   "Hey Lizzie. How are you?"

   "Hey Jackson! I'm good. Working. What brings you here?"

   "Just in need of a coffee. I have some time before my next class." He paused for a second. "Where's Leah?"

   He seemed to know perfectly that she worked at this time.

   "She's taking her break. She said she needed something from the store. Why?" I couldn't stop myself from asking. I had the feeling this had everything to do with Leah absence during lunch.

   He seemed ready for the question. "I just had to give her back a book." He got up from his seat. "I'll just go look for her there and be back for that coffee, yeah?"

   "Sure." I knew it wasn't my business to pry, so I continued cleaning the counter, ignoring how suspicious the whole situation seemed.

   Jackson left right after.

   Not even ten minutes later I saw Leah appear through the corner, I could see her through the glass. Se seemed mad. I was about to get out of the shop and approach her when Jackson appeared soon after.

   I felt again like an intruder, an outsider, prying on their intimate moment. They seemed to be fighting.

   Jackson tried to grab Leah's arm but she quickly tugged it out of his grasp. She said something else and he lowered his head.

   All the anger seemed to be gone from his face, just longing. To my surprise, next thing he did was cup her face between his both hands and kiss her. As mad as she was, Leah returned his kiss without a doubt.

   I looked away, and pretended I hadn't seen a thing when Leah got back from her break.