Page 44 of Who's Playing You
My least favorite was the last one she’d sent.
I think I found it! Look at this curb appeal, I’m in lust. This one’s close to the park, close to my office, walking distance to restaurants and bars AND coffee shops. There are even a couple galleries in the vicinity! Should I make an offer?
My sister needed to be committed. My mom needed to go into Philly and put her in a straight jacket and then lock her away for a few months while my plan played out. Fucking Nat! Always fucking shit up for me.
Scottie wasn’t her play-thing, she was my soulmate. And I didn’t need Nat confusing her or putting ideas in her head.
Royal pain in my fucking ass!
This isn’t what I needed first thing on a Monday morning. Up until now, I’d been floating on cloud nine after spending another weekend with Scottie.
If I thought our first weekend together was amazing, it had nothing on this past weekend. She’s a phenom.
She’d taken me to a scenic overlook on some secondary road outside of New Hope where we were able to park and set up right by the car. We then spent a few hours with her teaching me theart of watercolors while we got to know each other even more. She shared some of her recent dreams with me, but I knew she was still holding a lot back.
All in due time, I reminded myself. I had to be patient.
She was still catching up to me.
I had about ten years on her, so giving her a few weeks wasn’t too much to ask of my patience. Or so I kept reminding myself. But it was making me really fucking antsy, especially when I saw shit like this from my sister.
Little cockblocker.
After Scottie and I had laughed and painted for hours, I once again persuaded her to join me for dinner. She tried to pay, which I was having none of. She admitted that she felt bad and that right was right, and it was her time to pay.
Even though I appreciated the thought, I was put on this Earth to take care of her. That included feeding her,andpaying for it. The fact she didn’t know that, well, that was just a minor detail.
I told her that she was giving me so much more than painting classes, so that it was the least I could do. That seemed to calm her guilt. But I’mme: I always get my way.
When we left the restaurant, I once again held her hand while we walked the couple of blocks back to where I had parked the car. Had I intentionally parked it further away from the restaurant than necessary by design? Of course I did. I wanted any and every excuse to keep her longer.
So as soon as we exited the restaurant, I had put my hand on her lower back at first, only to let it dance down her arm and then intertwine our fingers together. She’d side eyed me briefly, but I saw the shy smile on her lips as she turned her face downward.
We’d stopped to look into the window of an art gallery about a block away from the truck. She looked so beautiful as she toldme about the artist whose work was on display. And then when we began walking away, instead of taking her hand once again, I put my arm around her shoulders, pulled her in close and kissed her temple.
I’d said to her, “You are incredible, you know that? Learning from you is a privilege.”
When I drove her home once again, I hated it. I hated that I was leaving her.
As we were about to get out of the car, she had grabbed my forearm before I pulled the handle to open my door. “I just wanted to say something super quick,” she’d said. Realizing she had my full attention she continued by explaining yet again that I didn’t have to feel any sort of obligation to model for her. I’d simply rolled my eyes internally because I couldn’t believe we were on this again.
This was a done deal in my eyes, and I’d all but told her that. In fact, to cement that I had suggested that she come to my house the following Saturday so that we could get started on her figure drawing sessions. After a moment of realizing that I wasn’t changing my mind, she conceded and thanked me.
I’d again walked her to her door, and then thanked her for yet another incredible day. I could tell she was a little nervous - hell - I was too!
This was all very new, yet so exciting, for me.
My body was literally vibrating every time we were together, or I even thought of her. But I couldn’t help but hug her tight to me, kiss her temple yet again and then I wished her goodnight. I watched her walk into her building, locking the door behind her, before I walked off.
I had had mandatory Rage commitments for part of Sunday, but I’d convinced Scottie to go to the movies with me in the late afternoon. I didn’t care what we went to see, and she was apparently clueless as to what movies were playing. We’d justpicked something that looked good based on the poster outside the theater.
As The Rage’s season was really ramping up now, with our first game just - seemingly - days away, it was getting harder and harder to go unnoticed when Scottie and I were out and about. It was really fucking annoying, because I couldn’t afford her getting wind of anything before I was ready to tell her the rest of what she needed to know about who I was and my celebrity.
I was still managing it, so the movies had actually proven to be a good idea. I had to do a little hide and seek when the movie let out, using Scottie as a shield for a hot second, to avoid a couple of guys who thought they’d clocked me.
I was quick to grab Scottie’s hand and usher her out of that theater, I then walked her the long way home from the theater to her apartment.
But today was Monday, and I wouldn’t get to see her again until this coming weekend. I was already in kind of a bad mood about that, and then I find Nat pulling this Philly apartment hunting bullshit.
