"Swept Away" written by VeGirl 2014 © All Rights Reserved
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When Isa first met Gary at the gallery, she found out that Robert had called him to talk about her before he had left for work. Gary revealed that they had gone to school together.
"I had a crush on him for years." Gary whispered and Isa laughed. She'd had more than a hint about this guy's preference, it had in fact been quite obvious from the start that he was gay. "So, how do the two of you know one another?" Gary wanted to know, and Isa was a little ambigous in her explanation.
"Okay..." He said with a disappointed face. "So you're not going to tell me anything more than he did?" He had a devilish smile and his eyes glistened. Gary suggested that he'd show her around the gallery, before she was meeting the boss.
Isa liked the gallery straight away; it was light and airy, albeit the low ceiling which only gave it an intimate feeling in her point of view. The gallery hadn't opened yet for the day, so the few people they met on the guided tour were staff and artists. Gary seemed to be impressed by her versed comments on the art displayed around them.
Gary pointed out who Angela Scott was, the owner of the gallery and the boss Isa was about to meet. She was talking to a man, and as Isa and Gary got closer, Isa recognized Andreas, an artist from Sweden she had met several times. Gary had no time to react before Andreas and Isa held each other in a tight embrace while laughing.
"What are you doing here?"
"Showcasing of course; I suppose you didn't come for the opening?"
"If I had known, I certainly would."
Both Angela and Gary watched as the two rambled Swedish with each other. After some time they became aware that they were being watched and apologized.
Gary took care of Andreas, while Isa got a private conversation with the boss. The two women got along just fine and it was soon clear that Isa had got herself a two week internship. Angela asked what kind of assignments the school wanted her to do and Isa explained and promised to hand over the instructions as soon as possible.
When the meeting was over, Isa sought out Andreas again and the two of them agreed to meet for lunch the following day.
Isa smiled on her way home, where she opened her laptop and e-mailed the guidance counselor at her school that the position was filled, who to contact, and then Isa logged into the school intern-web to find the assignments she was supposed to do. When all that was done, she called Wilma, her best friend to tell her the good news.
"Have you checked the net for some news about Hans?" Isa asked, of course referring to the new character in their favorite show. Isa wanted to squeal so badly, but Robert's instruction about secrecy was clear in her mind. She certainly didn't want to get him in trouble.
The two friends had both waited anxiously for it to be announced, but now Isa knew. "I've heard rumors over here that it's about to be announced in a few days."
"I hope he's worth the wait."
"Oh, he is!" Isa said. "I mean; I'm sure he is." she corrected and cursed herself mentally. Robert had gone off to work two days after New Year's Eve and Isa had to admit that she missed him. How can you miss someone you just met?
~ ~ ~
Isa got into the working routine fairly quickly. The English language was no problem and working in a gallery she had done before. The best thing about this first week was to have Andreas around; the two of them had so much fun and laughed so hard that Angela had to tell them to keep it down. Luckily that was the only bad remark Isa had that week. Her coworkers and new boss were really pleased with her work.
During work hours Andreas and Isa had to concentrate, but by lunch they really freaked out, goofing off and laughing like crazy. There were a lot of people who turned and looked at as they sat at Momofuku Milk Bar in the neighborhood.
That first Friday at work was intense, with a lot of people and no time for a real lunch break. A bagel was all Isa had time to get for lunch, but Angela promised that if she stayed over lunch, she could get off earlier that night. So, when Friday night got closer, Gary and Angela had to take care of the visitors themselves, while Isa took off.
Andreas met her outside the gallery with a hug and they walked off hand in hand.
"I still remember your opening at the gallery in Malmoe. Do you remember that guy who walked straight into the sculpture there?"
Andreas laughed at the memory. "I have never seen a guy disappear so fast in my life."
"I don't know why, it wasn't as if he ruined it, It was steel for crying out loud." Isa laughed and Andreas put his arm around her shoulders in a familiar way. It was so good to see the guy again even if there had never been any romantic feelings between them.
Andreas had reserved a table at a really nice restaurant where they had a delicious dinner that night and took a couple of glasses of wine. As always, they had a really good time together, talking and laughing; turning heads with their foreign tongue.
When it was time for desert, they walked over to their favorite hang out. Isa was a little tipsy when they tumbled in there and ordered 'crack pie' and 'compost-cookies' just because it sounded completely crazy. As they sat there, laughing and feeding each other pieces of pie, someone stopped by their table.
"I see you haven't missed me much."
Isa looked up to find those sparkling blue eyes she had missed all week.
"Robert!" she jumped up and flung herself around his neck. He backed off a couple of steps due to the impact. "There you are, with your blue eyes and your dishous... delishousness."
She didn't notice at all the way she slurred, but he did. His fierce reaction to the intimate feeling between Isa and that guy had surprised him and he was glib by the change of attention.
Isa introduced Andreas to Robert in English, and continued to introduce Robert in Swedish to Andreas. "This is my hunk." She stage-whispered to Andreas, not that Robert had understood anything what so ever in Swedish. "Come, sweetie; sit down!" Isa pulled Robert down on the chair next to her and started to feed him small pieces of cookies.
"How drunk are you?" He asked blunt, curious of what she had said about him to the guy opposite them.
"What, are you my big brother now?" Isa snapped and giggled like a bacchanal. With the small amount of food she had got during the day, the drink before dinner perhaps hadn't been the best of ideas.
"She might be a little bit drunk." Andreas told Robert.
"Well, we'll have been eating crack...pie." Isa giggled at her joke and both guys rolled their eyes.
"We only had a few glasses of wine at dinner and a drink before that." Andreas did his best to defend himself. "Looks like that was enough..."
Robert was annoyed and thanked the lucky circumstance that he happened to spot her through the window; who knew what this guy's intentions might have been.
They stayed for a while and walked together a bit on the way and then Andreas walked off, while Robert and Isa walked home. Robert was relieved to find that there didn't seem to be anything more than friendship between Andreas and her.
~ ~ ~
The next day, the apartment was silent and looked empty when Isa came tippy toeing through the rooms, looking for aspirin. No one was to be seen in the living room and the kitchen seemed empty, but as soon as she opened the refrigerator for a bottle of water, a perky voice broke the silence.
"Hi sweetie, want an aspirin?"
Isa turned to face Robert and did her best not to show how her head hurt. "I'm fine, thank you very much." She used her perky voice, but was certain the smile looked a bit fake.
Robert leaned closer. "Liar!" he whispered, sending chills down her spine.
Robert left with a smirk and Isa made a face to his back while she picked out a bowl of cereal and shook a couple of aspirin from the can, carefully to make it as silent as possible. He kept teasing her the entire weekend before he left New York to go back to Greenville to start shooting scenes. The way he had been teasing her, Isa was first relieved to see him go, but then realized how much she missed him. She missed the way his eyes sparkled with color and the way her stomach fluttered and her skin tingled as soon as he was close, the considerate way he held out a chair for her and how he always knew she wanted something to drink.
Boy, was she in too deep, Isa realized, with her brother?
The week went by really fast despite the fact that Andreas wasn't there to attend his exhibition at the gallery. Isa was now more familiar with where to find things and didn't have to ask the others for every little thing, which was a relief.
Isa called Sandra, an old classmate and the two of them decided to meet. They had a lot of catching up to do since highschool. When she arrived at the coffeehouse they had decided on, Sandra had a one year old baby on her arm.
"Felicia, it is so good to see you!" she hugged Isa totally ignoring that her mouth was hanging open in surprise. "This is Carlton, my baby." She beamed and held up the little one who was quite charming.
"Wow, you're a mother?"
"Yes, a wife and stay at home mom," she revealed proud. "You remember Cameron from the football team?"
Isa furrowed her eyebrows a bit. "Yes..."
"My husband!"
Isa blinked. "You weren't interested in him!" she exclaimed and Sandra laughed.
"No, not in highschool, but he changed after that, and we've been married in a year and a half now."
"Wow..." Isa just shook her head slowly.
"But tell me about you; are you back in New York?" She wanted to know and Isa told her sad story about the abusive boyfriend, the bad break-up and how she was now in college.
"What are you studying?"
"Art history."
"Isn't that a rich girls dream?" She mocked.
"It is not" It's a respectable job!" Isa defended, but they both laughed. "I'm here on an internship and I'm going back to Sweden after that."
"Oh no! You have to stay here so we can catch up." She whined. "So... do you have a boyfriend?"
Isa thought about Robert. "Not at the moment..." She answered vaguely.
"Oh, oh, I know the perfect one for you!" She exclaimed energetic.
"Not you too!" That was Isa's turn to whine. "My mom has already tried that," she laughed and so did Sandra. "I'll think I'll pass."
They had a cup of coffee and talked while Sandra put her son in the stroller and pushed it back and forth in the tiny coffee house for him to sleep. It turned out that the two girls had nothing in common anymore, even if they once were the best of friends. Isa missed Wilma and thought about the cultural differentials she had never reflected about earlier. It felt like Sandra and Isa had outgrown one another, but it was really good to see each other anyway. Isa was looking forward to Friday night, when Robert was coming home again.
The last day of her internship came and passed and Isa got some really good reviews to take home to school. She knew that Robert's flight was arriving at five, so when Isa huried home from the Gallery at six, she knew he was already there.
Robert sat back in the couch when she arrived home; Isa walked straight up and hugged him. "So, you haven't missed me much."
He laughed. "Sorry, have been with my vamps."
"I'm quite jealous."
"I was just about to ask if you wanted to come with me."
Isa's mouth fell open, and what could she say more than: "Of course!" with a huge smile.
.