❝Misunderstandings often weave themselves into the fabric of our interactions, transforming the delicate threads of communication into a nuanced dance of interpretation. In art, where expression transcends the boundaries of language, misunderstandings become the brushstrokes that add depth to the canvas of perception. Just as shadows define the contours of light, misinterpretations cast intriguing shadows upon the landscape of artistic dialogue, inviting us to explore the nuanced interplay between intention and reception.❞
▬
Nina was nothing like she imagined. Aurelia barely had anything to go off of. When Elijah told her that Nina agreed to meet her, she just started picturing what kind of person she would be like. She was really just hoping she wasn't nothing like Jackie. Nina is tall, pretty, and judging from her speech behavior, she could tell that she holds herself up to a very high standard.
"You're Nina?" She sniffles a bit, carefully wiping the tears from her cheek.
Nina smiles and walks towards her again, the sound of her sparkling heels bouncing off the empty bathroom walls. "Indeed, I am. I'm surprised Elijah didn't tell you anything about me. Then again, I'm not too surprised, but he did tell me a lot about you."
Nina takes the tissue from Aurelia's hand and carefully pat her tears away for her. Shy, Aurelia utters a small thank you before watching the woman toss the tissue in the bin. Aurelia found it hard to believe that Elijah talked about her. He hardly talks to her and she lives with him. However, she could tell just from that smile on Nina's face, that it had to be good things he told her, right?
"He did tell me a brief description of you, and your name. That's it." Aurelia explains, causing Nina to nod before linking arms with her.
"Well," she utters softly close to her ear. "Now that we found each other, let's take a walk around the event and get to know each other. Talking about Elijah will cause great boredom within."
Her tone is dramatic and Aurelia could tell it was a playful joke. She smiles and nods, allowing the beautiful women, who made almost everyone turn their heads, guide her through the event. As they stand in front of another artist's work, Nina unlinks their arms and walks closer to the piece.
"Maneater," Nina reads out softly, she crosses her arms and reads the description quietly. "Their words are stunning."
The painting was different shades of red, but the texture from the brush and sponge technique really did look beautiful. With the different hues, and texture, there is a clear picture of a woman in the frame. Aurelia stares at the canvas in awe, wondering how they master that technique so beautifully.
"Are you an art major?" Nina asks, her eyes still on the Maneater as she waits for Aurelia to speak.
"Oh," she clears her throat a bit before nodding. "Yes. Did Elijah not tell you?"
Nina finally looks up from the metal plaque and stares at her for a moment before she smiles again. "Oh, he did, but I would rather get to know for myself and not through another person. Especially when that other person is Elijah."
The way she said his name made her wonder if she and Elijah were actually friends. Nina seems nice so far, but when Elijah is mentioned, it's like a tab bit of anger or annoyance is hidden in her tone. It made her more curious about their relationship, but at least it confirmed that Elijah did not sleep with her. Good.
"Are you an art major?" Aurelia asks as she follows Nina to the next painting titled When It Hurts.
Nina turns towards Aurelia, pushing her braids over her shoulder and placing her hand on her hips. "Do I look like an Art major?"
She panicked. She didn't want to offend her if she said no, and she didn't want to offend her if she said yes. Aurelia tries to figure out what to say, but she starts overthinking.
"Relax, hun." Nina laughs softly. "I am only teasing you. Yes. I'm an art major."
Aurelia lets out a sigh of relief, which only causes Nina to laugh again. "What kind of art do you do?"
"I do Live Art." Nina smiles as she moves on to the next piece. "I'm quite popular too, which is why I was asked to do a show later tonight. It's also the reason I told Elijah that I would meet you here."
That makes sense. Live Art is beautiful. Watching artists create art in such beautiful fluid ways. She's tall and pretty, and she is an artist on top of it all? No wonder a lot of people are fond of her.
"Nina?"
Aurelia flinches as she hears Arthur's voice. As he walks up with two glasses of white wine in his hand, all she could think of is him completely shutting her art down, making people hate it. Even worse, causing her to feel insecure about it.
"Oh god," she mumbles quietly, annoyed and discomfort covering her face before she turns around to meet the man who's slightly shorter than her. "Good evening, Arthur."
Arthur completely ignores Aurelia's presence, stepping in between her and Nina. "You look lovely this evening. I heard you're performing later tonight. I was wondering if you would like to accompany me after this for another drink?"
Nina takes both glasses and champagne and hands one to Aurelia before pulling her close. "Unfortunately, my roommate and I are going to be really busy tomorrow, so we can't be out too late. Right, hun?"
Aurelia couldn't look Arthur in the face, she kept her eyes down as she nodded slightly. "Right."
"You see, perhaps you can find some other girl to accompany you to your mother's place. Have a good evening, Mister James." Nina walks around Arthur while tugging Aurelia along gently.
Once they are near the elevator, Nina presses the lower floor bottom, and waits for the doors to open. As they both step inside, the taller woman groans from annoyance. "That man doesn't take no for an answer. I had one drink with him and shared one night, and suddenly he's in love."
"Is that why he approached you?" Aurelia asked a very obvious question, but she hoped Nina would elaborate more.
"A year ago, my junior year at this college," Nina folds her arms as they both wait for the elevator door to open. "I had just finished one of my shows, and Arthur approached me. Just as he did when we were upstairs, he asked me to have a drink with him. Then, I thought he was charming, and he is attractive, so I thought why not? As we had that drink, we talked about art and my live art performance, you know the boring stuff. Then I went back home."
The elevator door opens and Nina walks off first. Aurelia walks beside her, looking around at the different metal art. The area was slightly dimmer, so the shadows can hit each work of art perfectly. "After a month passed, he didn't contact me, but when I had another show, there he was again. However, this time, I overheard his conversation about winning the art over with some other snobby rich bastards. I told myself never again. Never again trust a man with pretty eyes and a charming smile."
Aurelia couldn't understand the situation fully, but she too had experienced the unfortunate harsh words of Arthur. Though they weren't exactly to the same degree, his words did hurt her a lot.
"I mean," Aurelia speaks softly. "He did make me cry."
"You and a few other people." Nina sighs. "He's an amazing artist, but his attitude could play catch up with the reputation of his work. In simple words, he has a shit personality."
"Aurelia?"
Both of the women turn around, staring at the male who is approaching her. Adrian looks nice in his suit and his hair in a bun. He walks up to Nina first, earning a kiss from her. He then turns to Aurelia hugging her tightly, slightly lifting her from the ground for a second.
"You ladies look nice this evening," he compliments as he shoves his hands in his pocket. "Did you all take a look around the metal art exhibit, there's some really good ones down here."
Nina sighs and crosses her arms. "No, we were too busy trying to get away from Elijah's big brother. He's an asshole to be quite frank."
Adrian chuckles and wraps his arms around Aurelia's shoulder, pulling her a bit closer, while wrapping his arm around Nina's waist. "Well, I could keep you ladies company to run all the rich and spoiled men away."
Aurelia laughs, earning a wink from the man as he leads them both to one of the bigger metal arts on the floor. It looks like an angel, the biblically accurate angels.Though it looks eerie, the art is still beautiful, so many people were looking at it, and she could tell it was the most popular thing on this level. Seeing all the beautiful art made her wonder, how the secret judges would choose a winner? Everything looks amazing.
"Nina," Adrian says, wrapping his arm from Aurelia's shoulder, and pulling Nina closer. "Are you performing tonight?"
Nina holds her hand up and pushes Adrian back gently. "I am, are you coming to watch me?"
"You know I'll watch you anytime, Nina." He flirts continuously, causing Aurelia to cringe loudly. He looks at her and laughs.
"What?" He questions wrapping his arms around her. "Can't handle my game?"
"Game?" Aurelia shakes her head. "Your flirting could use some work."
"Please," Nina sighs while walking to the next piece. "With Rochelle on his tail, twenty-four seven, and his twin being the campus tyrant, he'd be lucky if any woman walks up to him."
Adrian groans softly before he pulls Aurelia along, following Nina to the next work of art. "I can go the night without thinking about Rochelle and my brother."
"Why not Rochelle? She seems nice. I thought she was your friend." Aurelia questions, tilting her head.
Nina looks at Aurelia and laughs softly, walking towards her. "Baby, Rochelle and Adrian are exes. They only became friends because Adrian couldn't establish a clear line between broken up exes, and exes who are only interested in fucking. Right?"
"Give me a break, we were talking about old times and ended up sleeping together." He murmurs quickly, since the event chatter isn't as loud on the lower. "I already told her that we aren't getting back together, but It seems like I didn't establish that clearly enough."
Aurelia felt comfortable, it felt like she was with Sabrina and Cameron. Now that she thinks about them, she forgot to send them a picture. She holds Nina's hand and smiles. "I'll be right back, I'm going to go to the top floor."
"Where is the food at right?" Adrian says, wrapping his arm around her again. "I can go with you."
Nina sighs and walks ahead of them. "We might as well go together."
As the trio walked towards the elevator together, Aurelia felt a lot better than she did when she was alone. A lot better than she did when she left the penthouse with Elijah. She's happy, really happy that her new roommate was nothing like Jackie. In fact she was better, a lot better.
As they step onto the elevator, Aurelia leans against the far wall while Adrian and Nina talk to each other. Even though she is happy and comfortable, she could shake how hers and Elijah's conversation went. Since she got to the event, she hasn't seen the man since. She hasn't even seen Andrew in a while as well. Somehow, when she's at her highest point, she gets low again, but why. A question she's asking herself.
"Right, Aurelia?" Adrian says, as the elevator door opens.
"Yes?" she looks at him, as they step off the elevator and onto the beautiful turf. The building was so full of people. Sunny was right about the attention the event was receiving, maybe she doesn't have anything to worry about, someone will love her painting and buy it for sure, even if it doesn't win.
"There she is," Sunny says loudly from across the turf, walking over with an older gentleman by his side. "Nina."
Aurelia took this opportunity to sneak away from the two for a bit. She wanted some privacy, not to send a picture, but to perhaps call Elijah, to see where he is. She wanted to talk to him, she wanted to make sure they don't leave things the way they are.
"You look sexy tonight, Angel." A familiar voice whispers in her ear, making her flinch before turning around.
"Andrew!" She whispers before the male pulls her further in the dark corner.
"Let go." Aurelia says softly, but truly, she was happy to see him.
Andrew pulls her against him, burying his face in her neck, his lips brushing along her neck. "Fuck, I missed you."
She could smell his cologne along with alcohol. Aurelia pushes him back a bit, causing the man to place his hand above her head before running his other hand down his face. "You're killing me, Angel."
"You're drunk."
"No," he says leaning into her again, ghosting his fingertips along her and down her cleveage. "I only had a few drinks, so I'm completely sober. I know my limit, Angel, I'm not some light weight."
Aurelia breathing becomes unsteady, and her anxiousness surrounds her thoughts as different people walk past them. His public display of affection, even though they are kind of hidden, they were still outside. His touches always made her nervous, but it wasn't bad nervousness. She liked it.
"Look at you," he chuckles. "All quiet, trembling when I barely touched you. Honestly, I wish I could see what kind of face you would make when I touch you between these thighs. Would you tremble like this?"
She pushes herself off the wall. "W-Water. I need water."
Aurelia walks away, feeling hot all over, but she could tell Andrew was right behind her. She could hear him walking behind her as she walked over to one of the tables grabbing the first glass of water she saw. The man stands beside her, making her remember every word he just said to her. Andrew knows what kind of effect he has on her, but he didn't care. He just loves seeing her tremble.
"I don't think you're thirsty, Aurelia." he whispers in her ear causing her to look at him.
"Stop!"
Andrew chuckles and grabs a glass of champagne from a server who was walking around with them. He sips it a bit before looking around. "Was that Nina and Adrian you were with?"
Aurelia calms down a bit before nodding her head slowly. "Yes. They are nice. Probably the first two people I can really consider my friends."
"Ouch." he murmurs, finishing the drink before sitting it on the table. "And Elijah and I aren't your friend, Angel?"
They were different. Yes, she is comfortable with them. Yes, she has gotten to know them, but she doesn't see them as friends. Then what does she see them as? It is a question she is trying to figure out herself as she drinks the water slowly.
"There she is," Adrian walks up to her and Andrew, nodding towards him. "Andrew."
"Aiden's brother." he greets, not even sparing him a glance. "I see you have finally grown balls, you know since you never had to share yours with your psychotic brother. Barely..."
"Rather be his brother than his little bitch." Adrian bites back.
The shorter woman stands in between them both, smiling awkwardly trying to divert the attention they brought onto them. "Stop it, people are watching."
Nina finally walks up and sighs. "Andrew. I see you haven't changed."
"Nina, I see you've gotten prettier since the last time I saw you." Andrew greets with a wink before grabbing another glass of the alcohol.
"Aurelia, sweetie, don't worry about these two fighting." She grabs her hand. "But I didn't realize you disappeared until I turned around. Don't tell me you ditched me for him."
"No, of course not, Nina." Aurelia tells her truthfully, it wasn't for Andrew, though she is glad that he is at the event as well.
"Why do they hate each other?"
Nina rolls her eyes. "Same reason everyone dislikes both of them so much. Aiden."
Aurelia nods fully understanding. Adrian is related to Aiden, and they look identical since they are twins. As for Andrew, he used to hang out with Aiden and his friend group, so of course, people associated them together, but she knew even before that people didn't like him as much.
"I only wanted to find you because I have to get ready for my show downstairs, and I wanted to tell you the time you can start moving your stuff in tomorrow." Nina informs. "Anytime between twelve in the afternoon and three in the afternoon. Hopefully it isn't too much."
"No." She smiles. "Not a lot of things, I should be able to move and settle in quickly."
"Good. Then, see you tomorrow." Nina kisses her cheek and walks away, leaving Aurelia with two men who absolutely despise each other.
"Did you see my work yet, Aurelia?" Adrian asks, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, only for Andrew to grab her hand and pull her against his side.
She rolls her eyes again and pulls her hand away from Andrew. "No. I didn't, can you take me?"
"I would but you have to ditch the dead weight here." He says lowly, glaring at Andrew.
This tension was making her uncomfortable, especially when she had no idea why they hate each other when the same person they dislike is the reason for the hate they have for each other.
"Wherever she goes, I go." Andrew says, this time wrapping his arm around her waist. "Right, Angel."
Aurelia sighs and walks away from them both. She wasn't in the mood for it. All she wants to do is look at the art and wait to see if anyone wants to buy her piece at least. She also wanted to know who the winners were. As she gets close to the elevator she turns around to see them both following her. Watching as the two glance at each other, she just knew it would be a long night being with them.
Hopefully they hate each other in silence, then maybe she could enjoy the event without the commentary.
As they make it to the floor below, where all the sculptures are located, Adrian wasted no time guiding Aurelia to his work. Just as the one he keeps locked away, the stone piece is just amazing. It seems popular as well with the amount of people surrounding it. It was a bust, a torso piece, with detailed stretch marks along the abdomen. She could feel how vulnerable the piece must have been for him. Especially since he titled it, A Mother's Unconditional Love.
She didn't know much about Adrian's family, besides knowing that Adrian and Aiden do not like each other. This piece alone blows hers out of the water, he's truly talented.
"It's beautiful, Adrian." Aurelia looks at him, and he seems to be awed with his own work. "It looks completely different from the first time I saw it."
"Even though I made this piece for this specific event," Adrian sighs and walks closer to it. "A part of me wants to keep it."
"Which is normal," Aurelia rubs his arm. "I'm sure Sunny could pull some strings."
As the two of them have a moment, she could hear giggling from a few people behind them. It was then she realized that Andrew wasn't beside them anymore. No. He was talking to a group of women and a few men. They were obviously people from campus, but seeing how they crowd him and subtly brush his arms, even though it wasn't subtle, bothers her a lot.
"Speaking of the devil," Adrian chuckles as he sees Sunny approaching them both. "Enjoying the event?"
"It's probably our biggest one yet," he sighs before looking around. "They are about to announce the three winners before they allow people to buy the works they want. Why don't you two go back up to the first floor? Rumor has it that one of you two is definitely going to win the grand prize."
Even though it was great news, she couldn't focus on it completely. Her mind was too busy on the man who was a few steps away from her, flirting up a crowd around him.
"Aurelia?" Sunny calls out, making her look at him with a smile.
"Yes, Sunny?"
"Make sure you come upstairs at fifteen," he repeats, patting her shoulder. "They're going to reveal the secret judges and the winners. Adrian, walk with me."
Aurelia watches the two men walk away, causing her to turn around and walk towards Andrew who had his arm wrapped around some random girl's waist. When he sees her approaching, he pulls away from the crowd and meets her halfway.
"What's with the long face?" he teases, pulling her close, but she just turns away from him.
Andrew chuckles and holds her wrist. "Are you jealous?"
She doesn't know why she's jealous, would she even call it that. Aurelia didn't care at that moment, she needed to get upstairs the event was coming to an end. "I'm not, I was just wondering how you do it."
He walks besides her and tilts his head. "How do I do what?"
"How do you casually flirt with people without having any feelings for them." She asks him as they walk together towards the elevator. "Do you really not feel anything?"
Andrew's silence meant he was thinking about it, and she didn't mind waiting, because the question was serious to her.
"There has been one other time, besides Elijah, that I have felt something with someone." He tells her, making her throat dry before she steps on the elevator as soon as the door opens.
"Did you and Elijah have a break?"
Andrew shakes his head as he leans against the elevator wall. "We dated her for a short amount of time, exclusively, but things didn't end well. I hate bringing it up sometimes, but to give you the short version, we just didn't click with her the way we thought."
He pushes himself off of the wall as the elevator doors slowly begin to close. "But, that was a year ago, and we found another person we feel a little something for."
Aurelia's heart begins to ache after hearing that they found someone. That's probably why Elijah was so distant, and why Andrew just was being himself as usual. It was all coming together, it was all making sense to her.
"You're quiet now, Angel." Andrew murmurs, circling as the elevator goes up.
The walls started to feel like they were closing on her, making her feel smaller as she watched the number of the elevator change. Andrew stands in front of her forcing her to make eye contact with him, and the moment he touches her chin she swallows down the last moisture she had in her mouth.
"Did the little story make you-"
The elevator dings and Aurelia steps around him, leaving him there as she makes her way to the main area where they would be making the announcement. She sees a few people on a stage, and Sunny is the one at the microphone.
"I want to thank everyone for attending this year's AAE," Sunny announces. "I also want to thank the James Enterprise for sponsoring this evening's event. We greatly appreciate your presence."
Aurelia nervously waits alone as Sunny continues to thank different people before he gets into the judges.
"We had a short amount of judges this year, three to be exact," he chuckles. "But they all did their rounds, and after a very long discussion the three of them came to a decision of this year's AAE top three winners. Before the announcement, I want to bring our three judges to the stage, and they all are well known."
Even though the event was slowly coming to an end, she couldn't shake what Andrew said to her. She could shake that both him and Elijah are into someone. Even if that was the case, did Elijah and Andrew have to treat her like they do anyone they meet?
"The James brothers and their grandfather Carson James." Sunny announces, causing Aurelia to look at the stage where Elijah is standing. He looks good but she knew from the look of his eyes he did not want to be up there.
"Arthur, why don't you announce the third place winner." He says, making her nervously stand there.
Arthur walks towards the microphone and clears his throat. "Of course, our third place is Our Angel by Greg Haste. The Metal art was very detailed, and the eeriness you feel when you look at the golden metal pieces really stood out to us. Therefore, congratulations to Greg."
Aurelia claps her hands with everyone else as Greg, the artist for the biblical accurate angel on the floor of the metal art, walks up to the stage and receives his ten thousand dollars check and flowers. She assumed that he would've gotten first place for how big and beautiful it was, but maybe the James family had other things they were looking for.
"Now, for our second place, Elijah?" Sunny calls for him, causing the crowd to use their voice this time, cheering and whistling.
"Please, settle down," Elijah chuckles in the microphone before looking around in the crowd until his eyes land on her, making her flinch before turning away. "Our second place winner is A Mother's Unconditional Love by Adrian Colton. My brother and I really loved the vulnerable emotion you feel when you view the piece. We were so blown away that this decision was hard to make between him and first place. So, congratulations Adrian."
Aurelia looks up to see Adrian walking up onto the stage, purposely trying to avoid Elijah's gaze. She knew that meant that her art did not win. Sunny told them that either her Adrian were winning something, and it was him. It is her first year participating, so maybe next year she will make it.
She claps as Adrian receives a thirty thousand dollars check and flowers. The event's first place winner was Nina. She would for her live art, which she didn't get to see because she was left with Adrian and Andrew's bickering, but she was happy for her. She looks like a pageant winner up on stage. As she receives her fifty thousand dollars flowers and a contract with the grand hall to perform whenever she wants, Aurelia sighs from exhaustion.
After the very eventful night, Aurelia decided to call it. She didn't win anything, and Sunny told her before that if someone wants to buy her piece he would contact her the next day. She was tired, confused and she just wanted to sleep. Besides, she has a lot to think about. She had to think about Andrew and Elijah.
▭