Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Throughout the week, there were times when Elizabeth found herself thinking about Sarah. She'd be in the middle of sketching something for a new project and then realize that she was sketching Sarah's face. She would always turn the page and start again. Denial was no longer just a river in Egypt, it was much closer to home now.

Even Sarah started noticing the change in her behavior. It was Thursday before Sarah called her out on it. They finally had time to eat breakfast together that week. The smell of the eggs, potatoes, and toast permeated in the air and made Sarah and Liz start salivating. They dug in quickly and somehow were on their second plates before conversation started.

"What's going on with you this week, Liz? You've been acting strange and I'm not the only one who has noticed. You're mom called this week and said you didn't call her Tuesday for your weekly talk."

Liz felt herself look up and get caught in Sarah's eyes. She blushed and looked back down at her plate.

"Nothing. This commission is really kicking my butt. I've been through a bunch of sketches and several ideas and haven't gotten anywhere yet."

She felt her flush again with the lie. It technically wasn't a lie. More of a half-truth. Sarah looked at her questioningly and then blinked and smiled.

"It's okay. I haven't had time to do anything either. The publisher wants me to do a book signing after it's released and they were telling me all of the cities on the tour. I didn't really want to do it but it seems that I'm going to let myself be talked into it. It sounds like a bunch of fun."

Liz smiled at her, not really looking at her eyes. She was staring directly at her forehead. She looked back down at her plate and inhaled the rest of it. Sarah hadn't started eating again and was still staring at her.

"What? Do I have something on my face?"

Sarah shook her head no.

"Did I do something wrong? Are you made at me?"

Elizabeth stood up and put her plates in the sink.

"No. What makes you think that?"

She held her breath when she felt Sarah walk behind her.

"Because you're acting weird. You're like my sister, Liz. I want you to be able to tell me what's going on with you."

It was then that Liz knew that she was starting to fall in love with her best friend. Her heart was starting to break. A tiny fissure was already starting and she knew it would continue to grow if she didn't do something about it now. She knew she could never cross that line with Sarah.

"I know that, Sarah. Honestly nothing is bothering me, okay?"

She pushed past her and walked down the hallway to her studio. She was about to close the door when she felt her eyes close.

"I'm going to work for a while, Sarah."

She heard a soft voice call back at her.

"Okay."

She closed the door and locked it. Leaning against it, she felt a tear fall down her face. Liz had no idea when it started but the love she felt had taken root in her heart and it felt like it was being torn from the top. She opened her eyes and blinked several times. That was it.

Liz walked over to her easel and grab her palette, paints and palette knife along the way. She started painting, without preliminary sketches, without plotting or planning the first stroke of her brush. The dark Prussian Blue seemed to sink back on the pure white canvas. She sunk her brush in the Alizarin Crimson and found her mixing it together with the Sap Green without the palette knife. For the first time ever Elizabeth found herself painting with everything she had.

It took twenty-three hours to get the basic starting blocks of what was going to be her first masterpiece. She stopped several times to take a food and coffee break. The coffee maker in her studio breathed the smell of freshly brewed coffee throughout the room. She was in such a place that she hadn't realized the moon had come and gone until she stepped back and glanced out the window to see the sunrise.

As a rule she never kept a clock in her studio because she found herself early on glancing at it when she was stuck and talking herself into taking a break. Now she found that she talked herself into finishing just one more section before leaving and it ends up being two hours later. Like now.

She took a swig of the coffee and put it down and continued to paint. It wasn't until she heard a door close that she realized Sarah must be up. An hour or two later and she smelled food and found her stomach grumbling. She stopped just long enough to walk to the kitchen and make a plate of the food that Sarah had made.

"I guess you broke through the block, huh?"

"Yeah I'm on a roll. I'm going back in."

Sarah grinned at her and Liz felt her heart constrict a little bit. She ate quickly and put her plate in the sink. She walked back to her studio and closed the door, locking it behind her.

It were times like these that Sarah desperately wished she knew what was going on in Elizabeth's head. She shrugged it away and walked to her room. She started getting dressed for her meeting with her agent. On her way through the hallway she yelled at Liz's door.

"I'm going to a meeting! I'll be back later!"

She thought she heard a grunt in reply. She found herself chuckling all the way down the stairs.

It was finished. If she touched it anymore she would mess it up. It was scary, gorgeous and unplanned. It held emotion and it was powerful. It was going to remain untitled. There was not a title in the world that could give this anymore clarity.

Now, looking at it, Liz felt drained and empty. She wished she could say that she always felt that way when she finished a painting or a work but this was a first for her. Everything in her life had been turned upside down and sideways. Everything was turning into a new experience for her.

Elizabeth looked outside again and it looked like it was past noon. She found her stomach leading her to the kitchen and making lunch for herself. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was 4pm. What day was it? She found herself wondering. She looked at the calendar and knew that it wouldn't matter if she didn't know what the date was. She found herself looking in her bedroom for her cell phone. She found it buried under her pillow on the bed. She looked at it. It was Friday already? She found herself shrugging.

Her cell phone decided at that moment to beep and alert her that she had text messages waiting and several voice-mail messages. She checked them. Several of them were from her mother and father. Asking her if she was okay and if she could please get back to them. One of the voice-mails came from the woman that commissioned the work she just finished. Another from a gallery. Then a phone call from a man who mentioned that she gave her phone number to him at the party.

Liz found herself pondering if it would be a good idea to call him back. It had to be better than waiting around after Sarah and not getting anywhere. She found herself pushing the buttons and talking with him. They were going to meet at O'Shaunesy's Pub several blocks from her apartment. That gave her several hours to get ready. First she had to call everyone back.

Elizabeth was putting the finishing touches on her makeup when Sarah walked into the bathroom. She leaned against the doorjamb and waited until Liz was done with her mascara.

"Where are you going?"

Liz glanced at Sarah and smiled at her.

"I have a date tonight."

She walked past Sarah and into her room. She pulled out her LBD and shimmied it on. She grabbed her gold heels and sat down on the bed and pulled them on.

"Someone I know?"

Liz shook her head know and felt her hair go along for the ride. She stood up and put some last minute things in her clutch before she left. She was walking towards the door when Sarah pulled her in for a hug, catching her off guard.

"Be safe, Liz."

Elizabeth nodded her head and inhaled Sarah's scent. She drew back, knowing that if she didn't leave now, she wouldn't have the strength necessary to. She opened the door and walked out, closing it behind her. She took a deep breath and walked down the steps out to the front of the apartment building. She hailed a taxi and sighed.

Looking out the window, she knew that she wouldn't be all there for the date and hoped the guy wouldn't catch on.

It was a half hour into the date and Liz was having a good time. Charlie was a nice enough man. He was a investor and played the stock market some. When he touched her hand and asked her to dance with the band she smiled politely and said yes. There weren't sparks but she could date him. It wouldn't be fair to him or her if she used him. She knew he knew that she wasn't all there.

At the end of the date he dropped her off at home. She turned and smiled at him.

"I had a nice time."

"Me too. Next time I'll take you out when you're over him."

She looked at him like he was crazy.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

He smiled at her. His brown eyes a little sad.

"Yes you do. Let's be friends, Elizabeth. I didn't feel any attraction tonight with you but we seem to get along well."

She smiled at him and reached for his hand and held it.

"That's sounds nice, Charlie."

She got out of the car, promising to have lunch with him on Sunday. She walked up the stairs and opened the apartment door. It was quiet and then she heard a noise. A creak. A moan. She took a couple of steps more into the apartment and heard it more clearly.

"Yes! Yes. There! Mmm..."

Oh god. She had to get out of here. She was not going to listen to Sarah have sex. Leaving the apartment in a hurry she tripped down the stairs. She couldn't have been in the building for more than a couple of minutes. And her luck was up it seemed because it had started raining. A downpour started the minute she walked out the door. She started walking. Wrapping her arms around herself, she trudged onward. Her shoes were getting wet, her feet hurt and her hair was dangling around her head.

A car screeched to a stop next to her. She looked over and saw it was Charlie.

"What are you doing out here?"

Her eyes started tearing up and he got out of the car and pulled her into a hug.

"I walked in and she was having sex with someone. I couldn't stay, Charlie. Oh god. I hurt."

He hugged her tighter and ushered her into his car. He started driving and thirty minutes later, with the heater turned up full blast, he pulled into a driveway and got out. He led Liz to a door and she faintly realized it was his house. If she were worried she would have run out but for some reason she trusted him.

"Welcome to my home. I'll go and get you some clothes and we can talk."

She looked up at him and smiled a little.

"It'll take a while."

He smiled back at her.

"I've got all the time in the world."

(A/N: Edited:somewhat. Happy Reading! XD)