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The people I had in my mind had already gone, but would never leave. It wasn't until getting away from the ghosts of my hometown that I made real friends, like Shell. And though I dated, no one had the spark to illicit reaction. The spark I had with my imaginary man.
Mystery Guy always beat out the men in real life, and after a while I assumed I would never find someone who made me feel the way I did for that split second as a young teen. But then I met Raphael Teresse. And we had sex full of magic. Mystery Guy was gone. It was just Raph. The real man behind the mystery.
Shit.
None of the mundane time-wasters I chose for my day were effective. Raph still ruled my mind. He looked at me like I was the only woman on the planet. My knees weakened when we connected.
He paid close attention to everything I said and did, but that scrutiny didn't feel like the judgement of the rest of the world. With Raph, I felt safe. He brought out sides of me I never knew I had. Sides I always wanted to have. I could be adventurous and wild and could let go a little. Last night I let go a lot as we came together in his luxurious hotel room.
Raph was all about luxury. It was his business. Hell, it was him. Being with him felt like a vacation. But vacations always came to an end. That's why I left him.
This is bad. Knock it off, Lia.
I scrubbed the kitchen tile with fervor. The apartment had been tidy before, but now it sparkled with untended neuroses. Everything was dusted, polished, shined, and perfectly aligned.
I glanced at the Kit-Cat Klock Shell had bought at a yard sale, its wide, shifting eyes taunting. It was still early. I didn't know how to burn through the day.
Shell wasn't around for the cleaning extravaganza. She was still in bed since we had stayed up til the sun came up. When I slipped into the apartment, Shell was right where I left her. She was shocked, thinking I would be out all night, so I filled her in on all the sordid details.
It felt like a huge grey area. I needed to find something, anything, to get my mind off this, if even for a precious few hours. Running on four hours of sleep and cleaning the whole apartment from floor to ceiling didn't do it, so what else was there?
After Shell and I said our goodnights, I put in a little more work on the design, adding boldness and longer, flowing patterns. My feelings and emotions gave me the vision for the greatest design work of my life. I didn't need to touch the project again until the presentation.
My work was inspired, and I felt at peace with it the way it was. All that remained was seeing Raphael again. My heart pounded and my stomach did a little flip at the thought.
"What on earth are you doing out here? Any sane person would still be in bed."
Shell was never a morning person, or for that matter, a mid-afternoon person. I couldn't understand how she functioned during the work week. It must be all the catchup sleeping on the weekends.
"I made some breakfast cups, and I pulled out the espresso maker you got for Christmas last year from that barista guy, Nick." I gestured to the food on our peninsula.
Shell trudged over to the kitchen and poured some coffee. After a couple sips, she snapped her fingers and whirled toward me.
"Oh, right, Nick! I meant to tell you. I got in touch with him after you said you wanted to go check out the club scene. I wasn't going to mention it since it's Sunday, but you seem like you could use something to do. Wanna be my date? I don't know if we are going to one of Raph's, but Nick thinks it's the happening spot. At the very least, it would be valid competition. We could take the train. It's not like you work tomorrow. And I took a personal day."
"You took a personal day? It isn't even tomorrow yet." I narrowed my eyes, and she grinned.
"Well, I'm going to! You're not at work, and I have vacation time left somehow. I can't let you have all the fun while I toil away with Derrick the Fat."
Shell threw hand against her forehead and leaned into the drama. I stifled a giggle.
"You don't even work for him!"
"Hey! Don't underestimate his ability to make everyone in the office miserable."
I had almost forgotten about Derrick. I was still waiting on him to get back to me about the design, but I could send along the polished design concepts in the interim. It was weird that he wasn't responding this weekend since I had emails from him telling me about things I needed to do the following week, every weekend since I started at Design Everything.
"You know? A night out sounds perfect."
"Awesome! Let's go shopping for new dresses. You need something slutty for a club, and I know there's nothing in your closet that fits the bill."
"Slutty?"
Shell barked out a laugh and nodded.
I shrugged. "Let's do it."
Shell and I browsed a couple boutiques, hunting for club attire. The more daring me didn't struggle to shop like I had before.
