Try And Stop Me (Girlxgirl)

Nine

Taylor

I entered the building bearing cheesy flowers in my hand and a clutch in the other. The dress I wore was a floor length gown I'd picked up about an hour ago. It was black with sequins and lace covering my body, and the only thing keeping my body concealed was a nude slip I had on underneath.

I walked to the elevator and waited for it while my hand shook nervously. I don't know why I was nervous. Michelle was my fucking girlfriend and had been for a long time now.

I was going to blame it on seeing her art on display for the first time. I was nervous for her.

As the elevator arrived, I got on it and pushed the button that would have me on my way to the fifth floor, where the art show was. I'd never really been to one. Michelle tried to make me go with her, but I was always so busy when she asked. It made my heart give a little squeeze in my chest because I knew that I could have gone, if I cared.

Maybe I was a really shitty girlfriend. Maybe Michelle was better off without me.

I finally arrived and was slightly overwhelmed at how many people were able to fit in one room. They were all wearing cocktail dresses and suits and I just knew Michelle was dying. This wasn't her scene. He scene was skater skirts and maxi dresses, no evening gowns and Armani.

I walked off the elevator and delved further into the room, looking over the top of everyones heads to find Michelle. When that didn't work, I started looking at the art posted in the walls and on standies. It was all so boring. All so abstract and edgy. Nothing like Michelle's painting which held a much deeper meaning than angst and depression.

By the time I made almost a 360 around the room, I landed on something that was Michelle's and was pleased to see her talking to people. At least she was coping well.

She spotted me and excused herself from the conversation, walk-running into my arms. Her smile was huge as she pulled away and not even her thick eye liner and red lipstick could make it look less innocent.

I leaned down and kissed her lightly before pulled away and presented her the flowers I bought. "For you." I muttered, my voice thick. Maybe I was being overly emotional about all of this, but it felt damn good to know she wasn't sitting at home waiting for me like a drug addict waiting for the next hit.

She took them and laughed. "What do you think of them? My paintings?" I looked at them. There were five total. I'd seen them all when she'd painted them in our living room, where I'd watch her for hours, but here they looked even better.

Bigger, bolder, every swirl of color, every brush stroke accentuated by the lights shining on them. It looked like it had taken her years when we both knew it took her mere hours to paint what was now being oogled at by almost two hundred people.

"I love them. I love you. I'm proud of you." She grinned and got on her tippy toes and kissed me passionately before letting go. I wrapped my arm around her waist and clung to her.

"You look stunning in that gown." Michelle said. I chuckled. "This old thing?" She smiled but lowered her voice when she answered. "And by stunning I meant irresistible." She made me blush and I ducked down to kiss her cheek.

We almost bumped into another person and I looked up to lay my eyes on a women about three inches taller than me. She had long wavey black hair cascading down her back and shoulders. Her dress, a brilliant emerald green, was revealing and short, showing off incredible legs. Her eyes blazed through me. Then she looked at Michelle with a warm smiled and I felt Michelle tense up.

"I've heard so much praise for your work I'm starting to think you painted every peice in this room. No other artist's name has touched this many lips in one night." Michelle beamed and looked up at me. "Did you hear that, Tay?" I nodded, turned my head towards her. "Yeah. Its amazing."