Alone (14 page)

“
No, I think I might just walk to the gallery. Make sure everything is the way I want. Do you want to come?”

“
Actually, I have plans to meet some of my old friends. I’m sorry.”

When Sara left to meet her friends, I was really kind of angry with her for not wanting to go to my show. This was so important to me and my future, it really hurt that my best friend wouldn’t come. I knew that she was uncomfortable in crowds but I would like to think that if it were me, I could put that aside for one night for my best friend.

I decided to call my mom. I figured if I called and we got to talk for a minute, it would give me another week before she called again. She wouldn’t rain on my parade immediately after the show. Things were obviously looking up when I got her answering machine.

“
Hey mom. It’s Willow. I was just checking in. It looks like I’m going to be busy for the next week or more so I’ll give you a call again when things slow down. Talk to you then.” I hung up wondering if she would call anyway or if I really did manage to hold her off.

I decided that it was late enough that most of the set up should have been done at the gallery. When I walked in, it was really very quiet. I knew someone had to be there, the door was unlocked. The feeling was surreal, having only my work displayed on these walls. I walked around looking at each piece taking in the atmosphere. I was glad I decided to come in before the show, it would have been too much to walk in later and see strange people staring at only my work. I was getting even more nervous now. I saw Aaron adjusting the lighting on one of the paintings concentrating hard to get it just right.

“
Hey Aaron. How are things?”

“
A little hectic. Just making sure the lighting is right. You nervous?”

I laughed a nervous laugh but shook my head no anyway.

“
Hey, that guy, Mr. Patterson is here,” he said just over a whisper.

“
Really? Where?” I hadn't seen him since that fateful dinner two months ago.

“
Um, I think he's by you're sculptures.”

I took off in a hurry to find him. I couldn't wait to hear what he thought of the things he was seeing. His opinion mattered the most to me, if it weren't for him, tonight wouldn't be happening.

“
Willow!” Jace called.

“
Hi Jace.” I reached out to shake his hand, he took it and pulled me into a hug. I could feel myself turning red.

“
Simply amazing,” he said letting go of me. “I'm excited, are you?” All I could do was nod. “Right, nervous too I suppose,” I shrugged. Where did my voice run off to? “Don't be nervous. I'm nervous enough for the both of us.”

“
You're here early,” I finally managed to choke out.

“
Yeah, I just wanted a personal preview. I hope you don't mind.”

“
No, not at all.”

“
So I was going to ask you during the show, but since you're here, do you mind telling me about a couple of your paintings?”

“
Sure, no problem.”

“
Well,” he started as we walked to another part of the room. “I'm most curious about your two self-portraits.”

“
What? I don't have any self-portraits.” I turned to look at the paintings he was referring to. The two versions of Sara. “Oh! That's a friend of mine, Sara.”

“
You're kidding me.”

“
No, she let me paint her one night.”

“
She looks so much like you! The eyes are exactly the same! I thought for sure you were working off an old photo of yourself.” I was looking at the paintings recognizing the strange similarities. “I know the hair is longer, and the features are a bit younger than you are now,” he trailed off. “I'm sorry Willow. I honestly thought.”

“
It's alright. I guess I can see what you mean. I never really noticed before now.”

“
Well, don't be surprised if some of the others make the same mistake.” I nodded. “What made you do it like that? Like she had been beaten?”

“
She was. She's looking much better now. When we met a couple months ago, that's what she looked like.”

“
How?”

“
She never really explained. She just said she'd been beaten most of her life. She's a street kid, or was. I don't really know anymore. She's sort of allusive about herself.”

“
She's beautiful though.”

“
You see it too? I mean, when I first saw her, I just couldn't get over how beautiful she is even with the bruises. The beauty just seemed to radiate from her.”

“
Why two versions of the exact same thing?”

“
I did the black and white one first. I don't know. It just looked like she was depressed. Just another face in the crowd, someone you'd walk right by and not even think about. So I was going to completely scratch it after I used it as a reference for the color version. This one showed so much more that I wanted to portray. You can see more of her innocence, and the eyes. You can actually see the happiness hidden somewhere inside. So I was only going to show this one. Then, I took a step back and looked at them both together and realized the message is so much different and so much simpler with the two together. This is what so many see,” I said pointing to the black and white, “And this, this is reality. That's how I came up with the name 'Illusion's Reality' for the two.”

“
It's astounding.” He was looking into my eyes. “You're right, the message is completely different when you separate them. Will she be here tonight?”

“
I don't think so. I invited her of course, but she was afraid she wouldn't fit in here.”

“
That's too bad.”

“
Yeah, I know.” I suddenly wished I had pushed a little more for Sara to come but it would probably have hurt more if she continued to refuse.

“
So,” Jace said changing the subject, “Which is your favorite creation?”

“
It isn't here,” I said immediately thinking about
City Woods
.

“
Oh. Why didn't you bring it?” he sounded so disappointed. “We wouldn't have put it up for sale, or is it just too personal?”

“
No, it's just too big and it's a permanent fixture,” I explained.

“
One of your older pieces?” He asked. I could tell he didn't think I could have enough time to take on a big project just before the show.

“
I started sketching it out the day before I met you,” I said smiling.

“
Oh my God!” he said, “How did you do all this and a piece too big to bring here? My God Willow, do you ever stop?”

“
Not really,” I responded laughing.

“
What's it of? Where is it?”

“
Oh, well, it's around the corner and it's of...” I hesitated trying to figure out how to explain it, “Would you like to see it?”

“
Are you kidding me? Of course I would!”

“
okay, well, we have time before the sun goes down. Let's go.”

“
The sun? What do you mean? Is it on the side of a building or something?”

I laughed and walked out of the gallery with Jace close behind me. This was going to be interesting. Rich and famous Mr. Patterson crawling through the window of that abandoned building, classic.

“
It's just up here. I haven't been there in a couple days, but I can guess it's still untouched.”

“
What? Willow? What are you talking about?”

“
It's in here,” I said pointing to the building.

“
Oh, um. I don't know about this. Isn't this trespassing?”

“
Yeah, I think it is.”

“
You think getting arrested a few hours before your art show is such a good idea?”

“
No one will even know we're here if you hurry up and get inside.”

“
Alright, let's go,” he said suddenly confident and he started up the marble steps.

“
It's locked!” I yelled after him. This was more amusing than I had expected.

“
What?” He asked with a look of utter confusion on his face.

I climbed through the entrance window and peeked out at him. “Let's go Jace. I'd like to have enough time to take a shower before tonight,” I said teasing.

He gave me a look but climbed through the window. “This better be worth it,” he muttered.

I laughed loudly and walked out of the room and up the stairs. “It's in here.” I wasn't nervous to show him
City Woods
, but I felt like I should have been. I was so glad when I saw that it was in the same condition it had been in a few days ago.

He stood in front of my painting staring wide-eyed at the leaves. I couldn't read his thoughts and I felt myself starting to get very nervous now. Did he love it? Did he hate it? Did I care? This was something that I was proud of. It didn't matter what anyone thought, even Jace.

“
Willow,” he finally spoke. “Willow I.” he shifted his weight and turned to look at me. “Willow.”

“
You said that already,” I urged.

“
This is amazing. This is fantastic.” Good, he liked it. “I can't even find the right word to describe this. Willow, will you ever cease to amaze me?”

“
I hope not,” I said honestly.

Then he started talking so fast it was hard to keep up. “We have to have the show here. Change of plans. We have to get your paintings and sculptures and photographs here.” I smiled as I listened to him. “I've got to call Miss Morgan and tell her. Oh my God Willow! I wish I had known about this earlier. It's going to be a bit of a rush but I bet we could pull it off.” He pulled out his cell phone and started to dial, but I reached and grabbed it before he could finish. “What are you doing Willow? We have people to call.”

“
I'm glad you like it,” I said beaming up at him.

“
That's an understatement. I want to buy the building just so I can own it!”

“
Thank you. That's quite a compliment, but we can't have the show here.”

“
Why? I know it'll be close but if we hurry,” he grabbed for the phone again and I pulled away laughing.

“
Jace, how many people are going to be there tonight?” I asked seriously.

“
At least forty.”

“
And how many of those people would appreciate climbing through a window just to see my stuff?” his expression fell. “Not to mention the lack of electricity. Should we tell them all to bring a flashlight?”

“
okay, okay, you've made your point,” he said disappointed. “It just seems, I don't know, a shame that no one will be able to see it tonight.”

I turned back to my painting deep in thought. “I don't know. I don't think I'd want to exploit it like that. It's not meant for them. It's supposed to bring a little bit of beauty to people like Sara. People who see so little beauty. You know what I mean?” His face showed that he knew exactly what I meant. More than that, he respected it.

“
You're absolutely right. Looks like it's doing its job too,” He said pointing to the wall behind me. Someone had written on it.
Thank you
. Next to that was another note.
So long without any hope, thank you for bringing just a little bit back into my life.
I started to cry.
City Woods
was reaching people, the right people. I ran my hand across the words and I felt Jace’s arm come around my shoulder. “A miracle. That's the word I was searching for earlier. This painting is a miracle.”

CHAPTER 12: WONDERFUL WORLD OF WILLOW

Arriving to the gallery, I decided that the best approach would be attempting to blend into the crowd for as long as possible. Don't call attention to myself until I had to make my speech after Jace introduced me. When I walked through the doors however, I saw that it would be impossible to stay unrecognized for too long. There was a poster sized photo of one of my paintings as well as a picture of myself from high school. Granted, I hadn't changed much but was it necessary to have my senior picture as a greeting for everyone who entered the gallery tonight? I walked away from that quickly making my way to the main room.

There were more people there than I had imagined there would be. I felt a surge of nervousness that I quickly rejected. I was not about to let nerves get the best of me tonight. I reached the two paintings of Sara and instantly felt at ease, though I could feel the eyes around me. Looking at me from side glances trying not to make it obvious.

“
You look beautiful,” Jace said from behind me. I lowered my head blushing brightly as he turned me to face him. “So what do you think?”

“
Thank you for making this a reality,” I said.

“
I didn't do anything. This is all you, remember that.”

I smiled, looking up at him but not meeting his eyes. I was afraid if I allowed myself to look even for a second at his eyes, I would confess how I was feeling for him. He put his arm around me and he introduced me to a few people who I'd missed. It was hard to miss the questioning eyes they gave Jace and I as we walked for a short time with his arm around me like I was his prize. I blushed as I could imagine their thoughts that I was his date. What a pleasant, impossible thought that was.