Chapter 16 ~ Eva's Apartment
The smoke hit him at the same time all the colors swarmed, crowded, and overflowed in his brain. The warm, painful smell of too many burned incense along with that of freshly brewed coffee made for somewhat of an exhilarating effect. But it was not the smell that caught Elijah's attention first. Nor was it the candles lining the mantel, the black shrouds draped over the lamps. He was not distracted by the lowered blinds, the lack of sufficient light. Instead he was focusing on the contents of the living room. The vibrant colors attacked his eyes, but not unpleasantly. Strung across the living room was a line of photos, being hung out to dry. Resting in chairs and against walls were canvasses, both large and small. And hung up or laying around everywhere were charcoal sketches. Upon closer observation he noticed that they all had the same subjects. The photographs were all black and white. They were striking pictures of himself, Orlando, and Calissa. The emotion that they conveyed was so real it almost scared him. He turned his attention to the many colored canvasses. There was Calissa, stunning once again in her red dress for the Oscars. And there, curled up in her chair, with her blanket and customary coke. She looked so sad... Once again his attention shifted, to the numerous sketches that were haphazardly laying everywhere. He found himself face to face with Orlando in one of them. After studying it, he recognized where it was from. It was earlier that week, when Orlando had burst into his room, ready to rip him apart over an innocent thing. All of it was so real, it made his head spin. He turned on his heels to meet Eva's glowering face.
"Idiot." She hissed. There she was, in all her black-garbed glory, looking for all the world like she was in some hole-in-the-wall cafe.
"What do you mean, idiot?" He became defensive, all he wanted to do was talk to her, how was he supposed to know what she was keeping up here? She began to explain why he was an idiot, but his focus was elsewhere. His eyes had rested on the largest canvas of them all. In the middle was a striking picture of Calissa. At the top, in scrolling, charcoal letters was written "Calissa's Choice". All down the sides of the canvas were sketches and and small paintings of the three of them, emotions varied. It was incomplete. The first half of the canvas was covered in such artwork, but the other half was blank. He assumed it would be covered after Calissa made the aforementioned Choice. A slap across the back of his head brought him back to Eva.
"Did you hear a word I just said?" Her voice was low and menacing.
"No, I'm sorry..." He looked towards the ground apologetically, but there, at his feet, were more sketches. He broke his gaze and forced himself to listen to her.
"You are an idiot because you have just fucked up my entire project! No one was supposed to know that I was doing all this. Now that you know, you'll act differently around me, I won't be able to see your real emotions and therefore I won't be able to complete the project! Fortunately I got two rolls of film of just you, or else my photograph section would be completely fucked. I can just fool around a little with the sketches and paintings and see if I can't do some damage control. You are such a moron." She looked at him, exasperatedly. He still didn't talk. In fact, he resembled a guppy with his mouth open like that...
"Well? What do you want?" Tired resignation, a tone she was forced to use far more than she would have liked.
"I...I just wanted to talk. I am so sorry, I...we, well, we didn't know what you were doing...we certainly didn't suspect this much." He looked truly apologetic. Eva took a mental picture so that she could paint that later. She had used most of her small canvasses on Elijah's eyes. She felt that sketching him lost their beauty and they really were the windows to his sould. She rarely had to paint or draw his entire face to get his emotions right.
"Sit." A friendly command, but she retained her superior tone. Like someone speaking to their loyal cocker spaniel...He did as he was commanded.
"Eva, I don't know what to do. I can't sit here and watch Callie like this, it's killing me. And I don't know who she's going to choose. I didn't want to make her have to choose, but you were right, there's no other way. But now I have to sit and watch her, day in and day out. The day when she has to finally decide is coming and I don't know what I'm going to do if she decides to go to London." It all came pouring out, in one breath. You know how you're supposed to feel a great weight lifted off your chest whenever you say something like that? Elijah didn't...
Eva sighed, took a deep breath. She couldn't hold this back from him. She couldn't just sit here and watch him in the agony of not knowing. She knew what it felt like. Maybe this wouldn't be any better, but she had to say something. "Elijah..." She began hesitantly. "Maybe this isn't my place to tell you this, I mean, Calissa should be the one you hear it from, but I feel I have to tell you."
~*~ Downstairs ~*~
"Orlando?" Callie called from her chair, being to comfortable to move. She finally had peace of mind. She knew what she had to do. It had been one hellious week of sitting and thinking and trying for all the world to decide. Finally, she had made it. The hardest desicion of her life. Orlando rushed in, happy to hear Calissa utter his name after this week of tense silence.
"What is it? Do you need something? Can I help you with anything?" He asked anxiously, maybe she was sick or something. She simply looked up at him, all her emotions jumbled on her face. She didn't know whether to be happy or sad. Whatever it was that she was feeling, she needed to tell Orlando of her decision. How was he going to react? "No, not a thing. I'm fine. I have decided."
