Page 108 of Heartstruck at Dawn
“I just saw William’s aura.” Juan Pablo jerked his head toward the elevator. “I can see your energy in his electromagnetic field. And in yours, I see his. Would you say he’s a kindred spirit? Or is the connection deeper than that?” Juan Pablo asked with a subtle frown. He seemed entertained.
“Um, I don’t—he’s my neighbor. My—my aura should be fully charged with Nathan’s energy. You’re probably mixing them up.”
This entire conversation was backfiring on me.
“Nathan’s there too. Don’t worry,” he said, placing his hand on my shoulder. It made me feel extremely uncomfortable. “You’re basically getting an aura reading right now. This one’s on me.” He winked.
There isn’t going to be another one.
“I’m going to end this conversation because I can tell you’re uncomfortable.” Juan Pablo closed his eyes for a second. “Mhm. You’re not ready for any more information at the moment. But there’s just this one piece of information I’m being allowed to share with you. May I?”
I nodded because what the heck. The conversation was already weird enough as it was. I was curious about what he wanted to say.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself.”
“What do you mean?”
“It means you need to think about that,” he said, walking up to the door. “I’ll talk to Nina today right before I leave. I promise.”
“Thank you.”
“And don’t forget, Billie,” he said with a laugh. “The heart wants what it wants.”
March 15, 2010
Lily:Hey! Are you home? Can you come up to my apartment really quickly?
Me:Sure! I’ll be right there.
Lily:See yourself in. Door’s open.
Tobias’s movie premiere was next Thursday. I was so happy and excited for him. It was also going to be my first time going to the movies in almost seven years. I was thrilled about doing that with Nathan. It was an unconventional date, but still, we were going to dress up and sit down to see a film in a movie theater. We were looking forward to it.
I walked into Lily’s apartment, and there were three racks of dresses, two elegantly dressed guys in all-black suits, and a woman with short, curly, grayish hair and translucent acetate glasses talking to Lily. One of the guys went through the clothes while the other one sat with his leg crossed, taking notes on a small pad.
Joel sat in the living room and drank a beer as he watched a deferred transmission of a Hammarby soccer match as if all of that wasn’t happening right beside him.
“Billie! You’re here!” Lily shouted from afar. I walked toward them and said hi to Joel on my way there. “This is Ilaria, Marcus, and Elijah.”
“Hi! Nice to meet you.” I shook their hands as Marcus eyed me from head to toe.
“Can you remove your jacket, please?” Marcus said to me. “Eli … yes.” Elijah handed Marcus a measuring tape. I glanced at Lily, wondering what was happening.
“Ilaria is our stylist, and Marcus and Elijah work for Enzio de Luca. They’re here to dress us for the premiere.”
“Us?” I asked as Marcus took my bust, waist, and hips measurements.
“She’s basically a Lily but somewhat shorter from what I can tell. And a bit more—” Marcus squeezed his butt. “But same hip-width, so it doesn’t change things much. We’ll raise the hem once Ilaria chooses the shoes.” Elijah kept taking notes on his pad.
“Nathan is going to flip when he sees you on Thursday,” Lily said, going through one of the racks. “Ah! I’m so excited!”
“Lily, I don’t think it’s necessary. I mean, I have a couple of dresses. I was planning to wear one of those, and—”
“Nonononono. You’re arriving with us. Sitting with us. And leaving with us. People are going to take your picture, believe me.”
Pictures. I swallowed hard.
I was so excited about sitting in the theater to watch a movie that I hadn’t given much thought to the event’s logistics. I thought Nathan and I could probably sneak in while they walked the red carpet.
