Gypsy Candles

Chapter Eight: Tired

Chapter Eight::Tired.

“So how was the Philippines?” Blair asked Fleur.

The three of us were standing in a huge crowd, all gathered here at the house Piper and Lucas shared, in order to celebrate Fleur’s homecoming.

“It was…it was amazing. It was honestly just the best experience,” her voice was soft and she seemed a bit overwhelmed by the attention everyone was paying her.

“And it was hot. I mean, look at my sister’s tan!” Piper teased as she came over.

By the light in Piper’s grey eyes and the huge smile on her beautiful face, you could tell she was beyond excited for her twin to be home.

“Anyways, Aubrey, come with me; I want to introduce you to someone!” I waved to Fleur as Piper dragged me away from her and, moments later, found myself face to face with a rather handsome guy.

“Aubrey, this is Nathanial Grey. Nate, this is Aubrey Cutler.” He smiled wearily at me, his blue eyes shining with caution from beneath his dark hair. I gave Piper a strained smile –was she trying to set me up? She rolled her eyes. “Oh my gosh, would you two relax. I’m not trying to set you two up.” We both visibly relaxed. “Nate, I know that you’re a student at Yale law to become an Entertainment Lawyer which is why I was going to introduce you to Aubrey! Aubrey is the Executive Editor at Luxuria Magazine which means that she basically knows everybody in the business and she’ll be a great contact for you. Plus, I met your wife like two minutes ago and she’s lovely.”

My eyes bulged out of my head.

“You’re married?” I asked, surprised, and immediately blushed. “I just mean…you look so young,” I added quickly.

Piper laughed and Nate smiled at me. 

“Yeah, I’m only twenty-three. I met Lilly a year ago…she frequented this bar my band and I used to play with-”

“Which band?” I questioned, always eager for information.

He smiled wearily.

“Pent Up? You may have heard of i-”

“Wait, you’re in ‘Pent Up’?” I asked, my voice clearly delaying its shock.

Pent Up was this local band that signed with a huge record label a few months ago. Everyone from this area was beyond excited about them and was hoping they’d make it big.

“Ha…no…well, I was. Umm…I was the lead guitarist, but right before we signed our deal a few months ago…I found out that Lilly was actually going to have a baby,” he shrugged and smiled, but I could hear the disappointment in his voice. “I decided to opt out of signing with them to finish law school so I could support Lilly and the baby. She’s a senior at Yale and is studying to be a teacher. We just got married a few weeks ago and –oh, here she comes now.”

I turned to see a woman with light brown hair making her way to us.

She was pretty –nothing in the league of Piper or Fleur- and her smile just oozed sweetness.

She came up to Nate’s side and he immediately reached out to draw her to his side.

She reached out to shake my hand as he kissed the side of her forehead.

“Hi, I’m Lilly,” her voice was genuinely kind and her smile was the definition of charming.

“Aubrey Cutler. It’s great to meet you. Your husband and I were just talking about how you’re studying to be a teacher?”