The Replacement Girlfriend

Chapter 39

39. Unsaid Confessions

By leaving his phone behind, Chase thought he could escape the excruciating reminder of what he was doing to Krislynn, but he was quickly reminded that God had never liked him all that much as he came into a clearing inside the park. Tall lamp posts decorated the sides of the walking path like flickering stars in the night sky, and everywhere – everywhere – he looked, there was a couple on a date, a couple holding hands, or a couple walking their dog perhaps after a homemade dinner over a perfect conversation.

The whole scene disgusted him, and he couldn’t have felt more out of place with the disarray that was his clothes and his face. His gaze shifted over to LaCienega who was only a step in front of him and watched in fascination as she turned around – how the light seemed to reflect off of her eyes, how her hair fanned out as she spun around, each strand shimmering as if it were made out of glitter. “Chase?”

He looked at her blankly, caught off guard for a moment before his eyes focused. “Yeah?”

“Let’s sit over there.” Her hand extended and pointed towards a fountain of three dolphins in the center of the park. Water sprayed upward from tiny jets on the inner edge of the fountain and the droplets of liquid cascaded down like a show of falling comets – nothing more but specks of silver sequins. “It’s pretty there.”

Chase nodded briefly and followed her to the fountain before he took a seat on the surrounding concrete edge. LaCienega made herself comfortable and inhaled a lungful of fresh air before smiling happily to herself. She spoke of random things Chase could have cared less about, asked him things about his work, how his upcoming movie was coming along, and Chase answered robotically – not sparing a brain cell in the process.

It wasn’t so much that he found the things she talked about uninteresting – though he did – but rather because he enjoyed watching her talk more than he enjoyed listening to her. When she spoke of things she didn’t like, her lips would press together, and when she spoke of things that she liked, her eyes would light up – though she smiled uncontrollably only when she spoke of Jace.

Her expressions were of course, nowhere as animated as Krislynn’s, but there was a sort of refined beauty in LaCienega that propelled Chase to tangle himself up in awe. She was like a valuable painting in an art gallery surrounded by red ropes and ‘do not touch’ signs. He adored the painting, yes, but even more than that, he just really wanted it in his own private gallery.

When LaCienega briefly mentioned her irritation with the socialite Jace was currently working for, Chase took the chance to fulfil his own curiosity of their relationship. “How did you guys meet anyways?” He raised one eyebrow at her inquisitively. “Jace went to Harvard right? And as far as I know, didn’t you go to Columbia?”  

“We met each other a lot earlier than that.” LaCienega smiled shyly at the memory. “I think I was eleven. Yes, eleven, so Jace must have been thirteen back then.”

Chase frowned. “Then how come I never met you?” He suddenly asked.

“Because we only saw each other at business parties,” she replied. “Remember? My father owns a law firm and Jace’s father–”