Chapter 4
For the next few days, Macy was not very sure how she had survived working alongside Victor this long because for some reason, Victor seemed to bring out the inner serial killer in her. As far as she knew he was one arrogant son of a bitch who she could have done without ever having to have met. But Leo saw it differently. The weird ‘rivalry’ between the two was a sign of something brewing between them.
“What kind of thing?” Macy asked as she looked at him.
“You know, the thing. The one thing you claim is for sissies?” he said matter of factly and she shook her head.
“Please.” She rolled her eyes.
“Oh come on, Macy. You know I’m right.”
“About what? Why the hell would you think I feel something…anything for that douche?” she asked, a little agitated.
“Because this is the first time you have talked about someone this much.”
“Well, in case you missed the memo, it is because the man is really annoying.”
“So are you telling me that you haven’t stolen a glance at him every five seconds you are on a job together? Or even wondered what he has under all that gear?” he asked and she took a long deep breath. She had done all that. She had even began having dreams about him. Something she was not very proud about. “I mean, how long has it been? A month?”
She nodded.
“Yeah, a month. And I really don’t want to talk any more about all this shit.”
“Really?” Leo asked, smiling. “Because all you have been doing every single day since you met him is talk about him.”
“I was venting, Leo. There’s a difference,” she said and he laughed.
“Actually, there isn’t much difference.” She rolled her eyes and went on tossing the salad. “You know, the last time you talked this much about something that annoyed you is was when you hated on the Hunger Games movies. And you and I both know that the only reason you did that was to throw the rest of us off your scent because you were as much a Hunger Games fanatic as the rest of us.”
“You are talking crap and you know it,” Macy said in a soft voice, avoiding his line of sight as much as she could.
“Really?” Leo asked, smiling. “That’s why you have gone to two different Comic-con events dressed as Katniss?”
Macy looked up from the salad she was making and rolled her eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“I know that last year you went for both the San Diego and Phoenix City Comic-Con. One as The Girl On Fire and the other as the Mockingjay.”
Macy looked up at Leo who was grinning widely.
“Have you been snooping in my room?” she asked.
“Please, I didn’t need to play detective to find the skeletons in your closet. Andre told me all about it. Plus his timeline was abuzz with all those photos you took together,” he said and Macy sighed.
“I knew I shouldn’t have taken Andre.”
“What? You guys looked perfect together. Him as Cinna and you in a feathered costume? It couldn’t have been more perfect.”
“Shut up.”
“So that is how I know that this little rivalry act you have with this Mr. December…I can see right through it.”
Macy turned around and took two plates from the cupboard. She could still feel Leo’s eyes on her as she served the steak and salad dinner they had prepared together.
“Heard from Andre, yet?” she asked, trying to change the subject. And he knew it too.
“Don’t try to change the subject. This is about you,” he pointed out as he sat at the counter. “And I’m over the whole Andre thing anyway.”
She looked at him and raised an eyebrow over the other.
“What do you mean when you say that you are over the whole Andre thing?” she asked and he shrugged.
“I mean exactly that.” He grabbed a fork. “I’m over it.”
“Wait, what?” she asked as she looked at him eating. “You guys were so happy together. I mean…you were even moving in with him and everything.”
He nodded as he took another bite of his food.
“I was,” he said in between bites. “Was being the operative word here. He chose something else…someone else.”
Macy felt her heart skip a beat and she raised a curious eyebrow.
“Andre cheated?” she asked, her voice a little higher than she would have intended. “With whom?”
He looked at her and forced out a laugh.
“Me.”
Macy shook her head and put her fork down.
“You have words coming out of your mouth, but I am not really understanding a word you are saying.”
“Andre has been a married man for five years.”
“But you have been together for three,” Macy pointed out and he nodded.
“Exactly.”
“But….” She started and he shook his head.
“Let me make it simple for you,” he started. “While I was struggling to make my mark in the fashion industry, Andre decided to take a short cut and married a rich Italian old guy with galleries across Europe…but I don’t know how I never saw it…” His voice trailed off. And she knew that this was not easy for him to talk about. She reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze.
“I’m sorry,” she said in a soft voice.
“Don’t be,” he whispered and looked into her eyes. “That crap showed me enough to let me know when something real is happening, we shouldn’t waste any time.”
“Something real?” she asked and he nodded.
“Remember as kids we were always told that the only people who made fun of you were the ones who liked you. Boys who wanted to kiss you and girls who only wanted to be your friends?” he asked and she shook her head.
“So Victor Racine wants to be my friend?” she asked.
“That would only work if we were still in middle school or at the group home but we are not the same people anymore. Plus I think he wants a little more than that.”