sculpted | l.s. DISCONTINUED

three

Louis Tomlinson  •  Now

Silence was draped over the room, like a tablecloth, as the door opened. It was so silent that I could hear my heartbeat, which felt like it was going to burst out of my chest at any moment. Everyone must have been holding their breath because once the door shut behind a pair of black shoes, the room felt tighter. We were all on edge, as if something as simple as a breath could ruin everything. The silence was broken at last when the man took a step forward and cleared his throat.

"Hello everyone," he began, looking around the open space and at all the artists. "For those of you who don't know who I am, my name is Victor Pierre Rousseau, but you can call me Mr. Rousseau. Tonight, I will be walking around and examining each of your pieces. At the end of the night, three artists will receive a card with my email, where you will send me various images of your other works." He took a few more steps forward then continued. "Continue how you were, just pretend I'm not even here." And with that, the conversation and faint music began again.

"You should come over after all this, we can talk more about displaying your art in my stores," Desmond stated, my attention returning to him and reminding me that other people exist.

"Yeah, that sounds great," I smiled. "If you'll excuse me, I have to get ready for the critics."

"Oh of course, I'll make sure to put in a good word with Victor for you"

"Oh no, you don't–"

"No, no Louis, I insist," he said, kindly as he placed a hand on mine.

"Thank you so much sir, this means so much to me."

"It's nothing," he shrugged. "Alright, well we will let you prepare. Harry," he called, turning around. "Come." Harry nodded and followed along, his head down. I watched as they walked down the stairs and right before they were out of sight, I saw Harry turning and nodding a goodbye. I smiled to myself, as he had already vanished with his Father, and turned back to Liam.

"Louis," he said in a concerned tone. He has this voice he uses when he's either annoyed, concerned, or disappointed. This one sounded like a bit of all three. He must've seen the smile still plastered on my face because when our eyes met, he closed his and shook his head. "You better not be falling for him."

"Liam!" I whisper-yelled, then laughed at his annoyed face. "I'm not falling in love with him, I just met him, for fucks sake!"

"He's not a good person, Louis. Not the type of person you should be involved with."

"What do you mean? You don't know him either."

"I've heard things about him. That's why I was so suspicious when you walked up the stairs with him."

"What things?" I asked, starting to get frustrated. Liam stepped forward, so that he was right next to me and whispered in my ear,

"He's a player. There are countless articles on him leaving different women's houses. He sleeps with a new person almost every night. Plus he's engaged." Engaged?

"Well like I said, I'm not falling for him," I reassured Liam. "He just seems like a nice guy." With a nice body. And nice hair. And eyes. And laugh. "There's nothing there, Liam."

"Alright, I just don't want you to get hurt."

"I know, and I appreciate that," I thanked him and took a deep breath. "Okay, now let's get ready."

• • •

    The two of us immediately went silent and stiffened up at the sound of someone coming up the stairs. We didn't have to communicate, or even look at each other, to know that it was time. Victor carefully and slowly made his way up the staircase and stopped once he reached the balcony, turned his head to get a look around, and continued forward. Looking at a painting, and facing the opposite of us, we relaxed and both let out a breath.