Swap

Chapter 25

BRIDGETTE

Hearing the man speak up, Lorraine looked up from what she was doing and her face turned pale when she saw me.

My eyes went back to the naked man in the center of the room. And when he realized he was actually naked in front of someone not included in the group, he reached out for the piece of cloth behind him and covered his most sensitive part.

“Excuse me, miss. Are you part of this group?” another man asked. I recognized him from yesterday. The others were also there. Well, who could have thought they were artists?

“I…I…uh…” I couldn’t utter a word.

“Who did not lock the door?” a woman asked with irritation.

“She’s with me. I’m sorry,” Lorraine must have finally found her composure. She stood up, placed down the paintbrush she was holding and walked towards me. Now, her face was angry.

I looked behind me and found Scott back in the hall, holding up his hands in a way that said, “This is all you. I’m out of this.”

“Lorraine!” I gasped, feigning surprise. “I didn’t know you’re a painter!” I said, looking at the group behind her. They were all still looking at me in their own artistic, weird kind of way. The model at the center was looking really uncomfortable when just a while ago he was the first one to ask who I was.

My sister grabbed my arm and pushed me out of the door, closing it behind her. “What are you doing here?” she hissed. “Did my sister send you to follow me?”

Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. She thought I was her sister’s friend, Cara. I looked behind me at Scott. “Look,” I whispered, “we saw you yesterday and she thought you were in trouble. She didn’t want me to do this but she was really concerned so I followed you when I saw you in the same street earlier.”

Lorraine studied me for a while with suspicion before she finally gave a small nod. “Please tell her I’m okay. I’m not in trouble. I’m just painting for Christ’s sake.”

“I know that now.”

“But you can’t tell her about this. She’ll tell mom and dad and they won’t like it one bit.”

I frowned. “Why?”

She looked at me dryly. “They think I’m the perfect daughter who will soon become a lawyer.”

“Well, you can be both a painter and a lawyer,” I pointed out.

“It’s not that easy,” she snapped. “Please, just leave and don’t tell a soul. Tell your boyfriend to shut his mouth as well.”

I looked over my shoulder at Scott. He was pretending I was not with him. The bastard. “Fine.”

Lorraine turned to get back inside.

“You’re not using drugs, are you?” I asked before she turned the knob.

She looked at me incredulously. “Why would you ever think that?” And then she was gone.

“She didn’t take it well, I assume,” Scott said beside me.

“My sister’s an artist,” I said with disbelief. “She’s not an artist. How can she be an artist?”

“And you would have believed if you found out she was using drugs?” he asked.

He was right. “I should really see her works.”

“Can we go now?” he inquired as I just stood there.

“Yes, of course.” We started to walk back to the stairs. “You didn’t hear anything, did you?” I had to ask.