Cheated [NaNoWriMo]

Noon Day 6

Her hands expertly shaped the sculpture's shape. Jillian sat on a stool in her doorway watching Angelina work.

A door slammed shut down that hall, causing both girls to peer down the hallway.

"I wish whoever that was would stop it already," Angel mutters, her annoyance clear within her tone. Jillian waves it off as if swatting a fly.

"They're probably just jealous that you got the largest studio. People can be that way sometimes. It's probably just a phase though," Jillian suggests as she turns towards the hall once again.

Angel goes with Jill's suggestions as she continues with the sculpture. A grandfather clock down the hall chimes twelve times as Angel wipes her hands off on her apron.

"We better head out or else Roger will kill us for being late," Angelina says as she tosses her apron onto her cluttered desk. Jillian rises from her seat and walks down the hall casually.

Angelina looks into each room while she walks. Only one door is closed. She stares at it for a few moments before turning to the room opposite. Ben is inside working on his newest painting.

"Hey Benny, who's your neighbor here?" she asks as she points towards the closed door. Ben lets out a chuckle followed by a tired sigh.

"Her name is Harmony Rockway. She's a great artist sure, but she doesn't have very good people skills. She doesn't have an agent either, so she doesn't sell much of her work to the higher classes," Ben replies as he sets a paint brush in a jar of clean water.

The paint floats in the water, coloring it an odd orange. She stares at the orange water for a while, trying to remember where she first saw that color. Suddenly she snaps her fingers.

"How much did that painting of the field with the sunset sell for?" Angelina asks Ben excitedly. He smiles lightly as he pulls the paint brush from the water again.

"I think it went for a couple thousand. I got 1500 though since the agent needs a cut. If you ask me though 500 bucks was a little much," Ben replies with a light laugh.

Angel lets out a chuckle of her own as she leans on his door frame. "I should probably get going before Roger cuts my head off."

"We wouldn't want that to happen before our next date," Ben replies cheekily. Angel scratches the back of her neck awkwardly at the statement. He stares at her for a few seconds before dabbing his paint brush into some pale blue paint.

He seems slightly annoyed at Angelina as she stands there for a few more seconds without an explanation. Ben sighs and puts his paint brush down.

"Just tell me. I can handle it," Ben hisses at her. Angel flinches and stares at the ground. She doesn't want to tell him, but she does need to.

"Technically we aren't together, I mean Roger and me, but I think it's going to go some where’s," Angel says as she fiddles with her fingers. Ben stares at her, a glint of disappointment in his eyes.

"I can't stop the inevitable," he replies at last. The clunk of his paint brush into the jar causes Angel to look up. Ben rushes past her and down the hall; he takes a sharp turn into the bathroom.

Angelina walks down the hall and past the bathroom. She ends up on the street next to Jillian, who is trying to get a cab.

"We can walk. It's not that far," Angel says. Her tone has a hint of annoyance in it, but nothing too bad that Jillian would notice. She smiles at Angel and shrugs her shoulders. With one of her manicured fingers, she points towards the sky.

Gray clouds hover above the pair. Angel cringes slightly and helps Jillian try to attract a cab. Finally, one stops for them. Jillian pulls her phone out her back quickly to check the time and cringes.