Vivienne

Minutes ticked away and stacked into days quickly for Denise.  Initially happy and excited to see her model the second night, her mood darkened as rest of the week trickled into Friday.  When her mother saw Denise walking out of the door for her last class of the week dressed in all black, she had to speak up. “Black?  Denise is everything alright?”  Lorraine shuffled over to her daughter and handed her something to eat. “I am sure Tatum will love it.”  She winked.

“Huh?  What mom?”  Denise blinked out of her sad trance. “No, yeah.  I am alright.  Just lost in thought is all.”  She took the sandwich and stuffed it unceremoniously into her art bag. “I hadn’t worn black in a while, I am feeling…a little…moody.”

Lorraine laughed and handed the keys to the car over, “Alright.” She kissed Denise on the cheek, “You almost look dead with how pale you are.”  Lorraine rubbed Denise’s back for a moment, “Vampire bride or the like.”

Comforted slightly by her mother’s light touch, Denise smiled and shrugged. “I think it’s the art piece I have worked on all week.  We have to have it finished tonight and I don’t know if I am ready to let it go.”  Denise cleverly stated.

“What makes this piece any different than the others?”  Her mother inquired and pointed to the barn. “You get them all back eventually, can’t you wait a few days?”

Denise gazed defiantly at her mother, hazel eyes seemingly ablaze. “My art doesn’t belong to him.”  Her voice shifted down in tone with the utterance of the last word. “She’s…”  Denise grunted and reached for the door knob, “I will be home late.”  Denise walked through the door and slammed it on her way out.

Ignoring her father’s waves, Denise got into the car and sped off toward her art school. “Why…”  Denise slammed her hands on the big steering wheel, frustrated. “...why did I squander the time I had with her?” She asked herself as the desire to rewind time to include more time to just talk to her Marion.  

Hoping that music would settle her mood, Denise clicked on the radio just to hear a broadcast of ‘Dementia’.   Listening briefly to the narrator describe a horrific and mysterious stabbing, Denise groaned when the suspenseful music and sounds started. “Horror!  That is what I am now…my mom and the radio seem to think so..ugh!”  Denise turned the dial and couldn’t find a station that she wanted to listen to. “Damn it.”

Almost as on cue, little raindrops hit the windshield of the car. “Of course.”  Denise growled and flicked on the wipers.  Denise pulled the car over when the rain came down hard enough to block her vision. “Besides Monday, it’s been clear all week, now when I want to see My Marion…the rain comes in sheets.”  Denise leaned forward and spotted a few ghoulish black clouds swirling and making shapes as the downpour kept its pace. Hooked by the patterns in the sky, Denise sat mesmerized and spoke quietly, “Caution. Patience.”  Denise clawed lightly at her itching palm, “Break.  Free.  Chains.”  Radiating pain replaced the itching, breaking the little trance Denise was in. “Ow.”  She looked down and saw that she’d scraped the skin from her hand until it started to bleed and send red streaks through the dull green glow. “Lovely.  One more thing for me to deal with.”  Reaching into her bag, Denise fumbled around until she found one of her bandanas and wrapped the minor injury.

Seconds later the torrential rain stopped and after revving the engine, Denise put the vehicle back into drive and made her way to the city limits.  “Now then…”  Denise finally smiled and looked both ways before turning onto the street heading to her school. “...I want her to see me all in black.”  Denise purred to herself and glanced in the mirror. “Maybe put on little hearts as a hint?”  She inquired and pinched her pale dusted cheeks.

A red light stopped her progress and Denise rolled her eyes and flopped back in her seat.  A light tapping on the passenger window startled the young artist and she instinctively looked over just to see Tatum desperately huddled in fear of more rain. 

“Come on, Come on!  Denise wake up!”  Tatum tapped on the glass again.

Leaning over, Denise pulled up the lock and waved her friend inside. “Tatum?”  A horn blared from behind her and Denise looked up to see a green light.

“Just go!”  The platinum blonde anxiously huffed.

Without thinking about it, Denise slipped her foot from the brake pedal and hit the gas, making the car spin its tires for a second before gripping the pavement and lurching forward. “Oh..my!”  Denise laughed and felt a measure of relief when it lifted her melancholy. “What exactly were…”

Tatum looked back and saw the older gentleman in the black car behind them shaking his fist. “He seems unhappy.”  She laughed and tugged the plastic that protected her hair from the rain off. “Thank you so much, Denise.”

Confused, Denise repeated what she’d started to ask moments before. “What exactly were you doing out there in the middle of the road?”

Caressing the little Greek letter chain her beau had given her days before, Tatum giggled and answered. “Henry and I were..were..”  She winked and used her thumb to point behind them. “You know the little motel just outside the city?  Tahiti?”

“Yeah, I know the Tahiti Motel.  It’s black and white, covered in ivy.”  Denise turned and raised one eyebrow. “That is a few miles out of town..”  Denise’s eyes widened, “Don’t tell me..you two..”

Tatum grinned wide and nodded, “Yes.”  She flopped her head back as though dreaming. “I was so nervous at first…but…”

Denise heard the rain patter on the glass once more and twisted the knob for the wipers, “I get it, Tatum.  It comes naturally, your body just..”  Denise tried to find the words and managed to just sigh.

“Exactly.” Tatum mirrored and kept with her story. “He wanted to bring me to school, but I couldn’t let anyone see me coming out of that place, what would everyone think?”  Tatum shook her blonde hair feverishly, “So I crept out and hopped on the bus, then you found me in the nick of time.”  Tatum winked at Denise. “My savior.”

Denise pulled into the small parking lot for the school, “I won’t tell anyone.  I am happy for you both, truly.”

Wiggling her finger up and down, Tatum frowned. “Speaking of black and white, why do you look like you are attending a funeral?”

“Mom made you a sandwich.” Denise laughed and pointed at her bag on the floorboard. “She evidently found out that I am giving my food to you.”

“I am so hungry!”  Tatum tossed the food into her own art bag and waited for Denise to shut off the car. “Look at that, the rain stopped.”  She opened the door and stepped out onto the wet ground. “Let’s get inside before it starts to rain again.”  Hard closing the door, Tatum beelined to the backdoor of the art building.

“Funeral.”  Looking back into the mirror, Denise felt her mood darken. “Now then, hearts on the cheeks or not?”  Nodding to herself, Denise pulled out one of her red art pencils and quickly made two hearts on her cheeks. “Queen of Hearts.”  Tossing the pencil back in her bag, Denise glanced down from the mirror and saw Tatum standing at the door frantically waving. “I know.  I’m coming, I’m coming.”

Grabbing her bag, Denise hurried to the door and met up with Tatum. “You are in a hurry.  I mean we are only doing that model again.”  Denise hid her interest behind a condescending tone.

“An absolutely gorgeous model, Denise.”  Tatum pointed to the two blood red hearts on Denise’s pale cheeks. “What’s with the hearts?”