The voices of my neighbors yelling at each other through the thin wall wake me up out of my sleep. I groan, covering my ears with my pillow. The sounds of objects clattering and stuff being thrown against the wall make me jump out of bed. I wrap my robe around my body and sliding on my slippers, I make my way to the front door. Swinging it open, I see their door open and the girl storms out in a huff.
" You are a lying, cheating, no-good son of a bi-," She yells until she sees me. " Can I help you," She asked me. Clearing my throat, I start to speak. " I-I was wondering if you guys could keep it down a bit," I bit my lip, tightening the robe around my body.
She looks me up and down before making a face. " Is this the girl you cheated on me with? I should have known you would be sneaky enough to do this, Anthony," She yells at him as he just stands in the doorway. I slowly back away into my apartment, shutting the door softly.
"God, I hate it here," I slide down my door with my legs sprawled out. I look over at my paintings that I'm gonna present at the art exhibit tonight and smile. All the long nights, empty iced coffee bottles scattered everywhere, headaches on top of headache will all be worth it and I will finally be able to leave this hellhole.
A sudden knock on my door knocks me out of my thoughts and I scramble to my feet. " Who-Who is it," " It's Tara and Mark," I swing open the door with a huge smile on my face to reveal my best friends in the entire world.
"Hi," I exclaim excitedly. They walk into the living room as I close the door behind them. "What are you guys doing here," I ask them. " We are here to help you get ready for your big debut tonight, love. So, get dressed. We are going shopping," Mark says, dragging me into my bedroom.
"But, I have something to wear though," I tell them as they rummage through my closet. Tara turned around with a deadly look on her face.
"Sweetheart. This is the most important night of your damn life. You only get one shot to dress to impress someone to buy your gorgeous art," She says to me. I was defeated and sat on my bed as they took out clothes for me to wear.
We are now walking the streets of SoHo with coffee in one hand and a bag of clothing in the other. Mark and Tara are currently gawking at a group of men in fancy-looking suits seated at a table outside on a patio of a restaurant. I roll my eyes at their behavior and walk away giggling. Tara wolf-whistled to them, causing their heads to turn towards us. "Tara, what hell is wrong with you," I yelp, hitting her shoulder as my face starts to feel hot. "I am so sorry. Please ignore her. Her mother dropped her on her head when she was little," I ramble quickly as the men just laugh at her. Mark and Tara laugh at my reaction. "Why do you have to do that? They looked like they were in a very important meeting," Tara sighed, resting her arm on my shoulder. " Trust me, they looked like they needed a good laugh," Mark nods in agreement.
Sighing, I flag down a cab. I turn to them as a cab stops near me. " You guys are still coming, right?" I ask them. They nod their heads with a reassuring smile, I get into the cab and head home.
I make my way up the steps to my brownstone home as the same woman from this morning is walking out of the building with her boyfriend trailing after her. I look away from her but I guess I caught the wandering eyes of her boyfriend. He gives me a small smile and a wink, she catches him and starts going off by the time I make it inside.
"He just will never learn," I shake my head, opening the door to my apartment. Paintbrushes, paint-splattered clothing, empty paint bottles, and empty bottles of coffee are everywhere. "This place is a mess."
I drop the bags on the counter, place my hand on my hips and analyze the room before gathering all the bottles, pushing clothes baskets into the laundry room, and scrubbing the floor.
I plop down onto the couch, sighing as I sink further into the seat. Glancing over at my phone, I realize that it's 6:30 pm and the exhibit starts at 8 pm.
"Oh, shoot, "I yell, jumping up from my seat. I run to the bathroom and start getting ready.
I look through the bags of clothes and take out a purple body con dress with a bell sleeve. Quickly, I get dressed and run into the bathroom to do my hair. I take it out of the Bantu knots I put in my hair the night prior, letting each curl fall until I separate them. " Should I put on a full-face or go bare," I ponder as I hold an eyebrow pencil in my hand.
"They aren't going to pay attention to me anyway," I say as I do a light makeup look, finish separating the strands of hair and take a deep breath in front of the mirror.
I put on my shoes, grab my phone and purse along with my paintings and leave, locking the door behind me. It is now 7 pm and I am 15 minutes away from the exhibit here in Brooklyn. I flag down another cab, a man opened the door for me when it stopped. " Thank you so much," I say to him as he just nods. Sighing, I finally tell the driver the address and relax for the time being.
My phone goes off, I quickly answer it.
HELLO?
Hey, girl. We are here. Where are you?
I'M ALMOST THERE. ARE THERE A LOT OF PEOPLE THERE?
No, but we are starting to hang up some of your work that we brought with us.
WHAT? YOU TOOK THE WORK THAT I HAD NEAR THE WALL?
Yes, it looks so good.
THAT WASN'T PART OF THE EXHIBIT
The driver stopped as I dug through my purse to pay. " Here you go. Have a nice evening," I opened the door and stepped out as Mark comes outside to help me. " Thank you, Mark,"
"Come on, girl. The guys here are beautiful and they are surrounding your pieces," I smile softly as I walk into the building. Tara sees us and drags me by my elbow over to my corner. I hung up the last and my favorite painting onto the wall. " I'm here and I'm ready for whatever," They hug me as I stand to the side as the exhibit finally starts.
The night goes by smoothly until Tara starts hitting me on my arm. " Ow, ow. What the heck," " It's the same guys from earlier today. They are here. They are even more handsome up close. Oh, my gosh," She breathes out. I turn in the direction she's looking in. A group of men that look like they could be bodyguards to the man in the middle but he had an annoyed expression on his face.
I roll my eyes and turn back around as more people come over to look at the art. " Miki Williams?" A middle-aged man walks over to me with his glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. " Yes, I am," I smile softly. He chuckles, placing a hand under his chin before speaking.
"I must say...these paintings are incredible. It holds so much emotion and pure, raw talent. I'd love to buy a piece or two from you. $200 a piece?" He suggests and I nod agreeing with the said price.
"Great. I'll come to collect the paintings at the end of the night," He hands me $400 and I place it in an envelope in my purse. " Thank you, sir," He nods while walking away.
Later on in the night, Mark comes over to me and loops his arm with mine. "What's wrong," I ask him. He looks at me with a sly smile. "You know those guys we saw earlier," I sighed in dismay. "What about them," " Well, they wanna buy your biggest and most precious piece," He says.
" That one isn't really for sale," " I would pay a great price for it. It's my mother's birthday gift. I think she'll like it," A young man with striking steel grey eyes. He was tall as hell with a subtle Italian accent in an Armani suit.
I admit he is very handsome but he seems a little arrogant. " What's your starting price," Mark asks him. I gasp and tug on his suit, stomping my feet slightly. "What are you doing," I whine.
" I'll pay $1500 for it," My jaw drops as the man spoke and before I can answer, Mark answers for me. " Deal," The man smiles and starts to write out a check. He hands it to me with a sly smirk on his face. Taking it from him, I read the name on the check. "Luca Martinelli?" I question.
"That's my name. Don't wear it out, sweetheart," He chuckles and I grimace at his behavior. "Grab the painting and let's go," He instructs. " You can't take that right now. The exhibit isn't over yet." I say to him.
Tara walks over to us with an envelope full of money. " Where'd you get that, "I ask her.
"Miki," She squeals. I jump at the sudden noise. " The exhibit is over. Your paintings sold the most!" " Stop playing, Tara," I plead with her. "We can leave now," Mark says handing my purse over to me.
"Wait. I think my mother would appreciate it if her favorite artist would be at her dinner tonight," I look at Luca. I shake my head," I'd rather not. That's an intimate get-together but you have a nice rest of your evening," " She'll go with you," Tara answered. " Tara, what the heck is wrong with you," She rests her hands on my shoulders. " You deserve it. Go have some fun. He said his mother loves your work. Could you give me your keys? We will put the rest of the stuff back in your place," Sighing, I hand her my keys and turn to face Luca, who was waiting with his hand out for me to grab it.
" Let's go," I say to him as he pulls me away from my friends. We walk out of the building, a gust of wind hits me and I shiver in place. " Here's the car," The driver opens the door and he gets in first, then I follow in after him. His phone goes off and he starts speaking to someone on the phone.
This is going to be a long night, I sigh to myself.