Paparazzi

Chapter Three: Julianna / Rafael

𝘽𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙗𝙤𝙣 𝙗𝙮 𝙂𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙩

'𝗖𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗜 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝘁
𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗼𝘅
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗜'𝗺 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴
𝗜 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗽

______________________________________

JULIANNA

MARCH 2020

The sun's heat no longer touched her like it used to. Julianna sighed, upset that Frenchie was the first thing on her mind this morning. She'd been getting better the last few days, keeping herself busy with schoolwork and her Master's thesis. She was even able to paint a small piece that wasn't about him, or about her with him, or about what he made her feel. It was a very ugly and useless painting, but she painted it with a new kind of inspiration. That was progress to her.

Still, the sun reminded her of his dimpled smile and his energy. He was the morning person, not her. He was the reason she liked getting up in the morning. She was still trying to find a new reason to keep doing so, or else she'd wake up at noon to find she missed her morning lecture.

After one last spritz of her rose water, she left her studio to spend some time at the gallery where some of her works were still on display.

"Hi Ronnie," she greeted the curator with a kiss on the cheek. "How are you today?"

"Baby, I'm so glad you came. You have a very special customer who's been looking at your pieces. It's marvelous. He's marvelous, like," he paused, giving her a side-eye gesture with dark brown eyes, his brows lifted. "Girl."

She chuckled. "Does this very special customer have money?" she asked with a childish tone, taking off her bag and opening her Hydro Flask for a sip of water after her walk around the corner in the hot sun. Julianna owned a car, but wanted to be considerate of the environment, so she chose public transit when it was feasible. The gallery wasn't too far away from her studio.

Ronnie shook his head. "You have no idea."

Around the corner, a man with a hat came to view talking animatedly with Beatrice, whose face was lively and red. She looked like she'd been walking at an accelerated pace, her forehead glistening with sweat. It wasn't often you could see her blushing under her brown skin, but it was obvious today.

Julianna took her sweater off and placed it around her waist. She looked up at the two coming her way and immediately the hat caught her attention. She took a step forward, squinting her eyes as if to make her vision clearer.

The man walking next to Beatrice was the man who spilled coffee on her last month, the same one she ran into at the Mexican restaurant that same night. She laughed, shaking her head at the odd coincidence that she didn't think would be considered that after a third time.

"I know, right?" Ronnie agreed, also staring at the man with nothing but hunger in his eyes. "A whole snack if I've ever seen one."

It was her turn to side-eye him. "Wipe your mouth, I think you're drooling."

Ronnie wiped his mouth dramatically, patting down the front of his jacket, a smile appearing on his face as they closed the distance.

"...And you're in luck because the artist is actually here herself," Beatrice continued, a little tremble in her voice.

"Yes, very lucky. Usually, the artists are never able to make it last minute when a client wants to look at their pieces, but Julianna is a regular. Workaholic, I tell you," Ronnie joked.