Page 146 of Lovestruck at Sundown
The woman ignored Riley. “What does William Sjöberg even see in you?” she said in a bitter tone. “Look at you.” She waved a hand over my hair, making it fly behind my shoulder. I pulled back, and Nolan stood between us.
“That’s not how you pronounce Sjöberg,” my other friendLydia said mockingly. Clara and Riley giggled. The woman searched for the source of the mockery, but she was too intoxicated to focus on them.
“I will sell this photo of you on a date with another guy and William will see right through your cheating ass,” the absurd lady said, pulling out her phone and clumsily clicking on the screen as she looked for the photo in her library. She said William’s name with such familiarity it was almost embarrassing. It’s funny how some people feel like they know their favorite celebrity on a personal level because they’ve seen every single movie and interview and know a thing or two about their personal lives.
“Oh, man,” the drunk lady said in a deflated tone, staring at the screen with disappointment. I peeked behind Nolan to look at her screen. The only visible thing in the photo was the luminosity of my magic scarf, obscuring everything else around me.Ha! It worked!The photo was worthless.
Agent Hawthorne’s silhouette took form as he approached the table with a slow, graceful saunter, like a predator closing in on his prey. Short, dark waves. Perfectly kept stubble. Stunning and angular features. Amber-brown eyes framed by dark-framed glasses that gave him an intellectual look. As usual, he was wearing an all-black ensemble. This time, it consisted of a turtleneck, dress pants, and a long wool coat.
His presence in this college bar seemed out of place. He looked more like a teacher mingling with his students.
It would be hard to forget what he looked like after today.
“Good evening,” he said to the lady, his voice a deep and velvety baritone. “Care to join me outside for a chat?”
Clara, Lydia, and Riley stared at Agent Hawthorne in awe. Hell, even Nolan was staring at him with half-parted lips. I would’ve laughed if I hadn’t been more curious about how he would handle the annoying woman. It reminded me of the effectCaleb had on others wherever he went. Shocked, she took a step back to properly survey Agent Hawthorne, who wouldn’t keep his eyes off her.
“He’s William’s bodyguard,” I whispered to my friends, using my hand as a mouth shield. “I’m borrowing him while William’s away.”
“Ohhh!” they replied in unison but kept their gazes glued on the scene before us.
The woman struggled to tame the long, dark chestnut strands of her straight hair, which stuck to the sides of her sweaty face and neck with no luck.
Agent Hawthorn looked at me and jerked his chin at the woman, to which I replied with a nod.Yes, take her to a galaxy far, far away.
It was past midnight, and I already knew the next day was going to suck. I had to get up early for work, followed by an intense day at school and boxing lessons with Grant afterward. I only had two margaritas, but lately, that was enough to give me a slight headache in the morning.
Thankfully, when we left the bar, the coast was clear. We didn’t see Agent Hawthorne for the rest of the night, and when Aaron drove me home, I sat next to him in the passenger seat. I’d been doing that lately, and he wasn’t complaining or asking me to sit in the back. It was nice.
He smiled more and even allowed himself to laugh here and there. Naomi thought that with Aaron’s father passing away, he had found a sense of peace. The constant distress about his father’s health and the guilt of being far away from home was gone.
Naomi and Aaron returning from the funeral as an official couple was probably the main reason though behind his brighter attitude, and I was thrilled for them.
My phone buzzed as I told Aaron what had happened with the drunken lady at the bar. I pulled it out and saw an incoming text from William.
W.S.:Won’t be able to make it for Thanksgiving.
The three little dots appeared at the bottom as he wrote another message. One I didn’t know if I wanted to read. I closed my eyes and threw my head back against the headrest. I hadn’t seen him since he left in August. I had been patient and understanding. He was working on the biggest project of his career. Of his life, really. And I wanted to be supportive of him, but I also didn’t want to pretend that it didn’t hurt that he broke his promise.
The three little dots disappeared and appeared again a few times. It was killing me. I was sad. Angry. Upset. And it wasn’t his fault. We both had made the conscious decision to embark on this long-distance dating journey, along with all the obstacles and the added degree of difficulty that William’s celebrity status brought to the table.
But I needed him, needed to see him for a few days at least, to remind me we were strong enough to deal with the madness surrounding us and the growing distance between us. I was tired of putting on a brave face, of telling myself this would be over soon, one day. Only to reset the timer and see him leave again, and so on, for the next decade until he was done with his commitments to that franchise and to any other project that came up.
I wanted him to feel fulfilled and successful with everythinghe was doing. But as much as I kept reminding myself we weren’t his parents, I couldn’t forget how their marriage went up in flames because of Sivert’s fame and success. William himself had told me countless times how his father was always away and how he and his brothers grew up watching their dad leaving for months at a time.
Again, I knew William wasn’t Sivert, and on a wider scale, I knewwewerenotour parents. But my therapist once told me when I was dating Nathan that sometimes we inevitably repeat our parents’ patterns. She claimed that we attract specific partners to unconsciously help us fulfill that need to honor our lineage by living similar things as they did.
For some reason, I kept attracting partners who, even if they couldn’t be more different personality-wise, ended up doing the same thing my dad did to me and my mom growing up. Constantly traveling for work, becoming absent, and making me feel utterly alone.
December 9, 2011
The university renteda space in the Bowery for our final exhibit, which was scheduled to show for the next ten days. Lily, Nina, Cecile, and I arrived an hour early. The men planned to join us at 8:00 p.m. sharp for the opening. CJ and David were coming, too. It’d been a while since I saw them, so I was excited when they confirmed their attendance. Nolan and my other friends from school promised to come, too. Naomi was busy earlier so she said she would arrive an hour late.
My friends accompanied me as I ensured all my photographs were perfectly installed. Once everything looked perfect, I showed them each of the displayed pieces.
“Goodness,” Lily said as she approached Nolan’s portrait. “I still remember that portrait of Thomas you showed me the day we met. And I remember loving it. But this …” She shook her head and moved on to the next portrait. It was Cecile’s. She’d owed me a portrait since the day she stood me up two years ago in Paris and I had to photograph Caleb instead. Not complaining.
“The lighting, the texture. And the eyes,” Lily continued. “You have a gift to capture emotion. Seriously, you’ve outdone yourself. These arespectacular.” She glanced at me over hershoulder. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”
