“Does this have to do with Devon?” I asked. Renee stiffened instantly. My suspicions about Renee’s crazy mood this evening were confirmed. Something was up. I could tell.
“Why would it have anything to do with Devon?” she demanded, sounding defensive.
This was not the place to interrogate her. I looked over at Iain again, but he had turned back to his friends. And I felt a little sad for him. And for Renee.
I lifted my glass. “Tonight is about fun and forgetting. Fuck the drama!”
Renee’s shoulders relaxed and she lifted her glass in return. “Fuck the drama!” she yelled back, giggling when people around us looked at her.
“What are we toasting to?” Brooks asked, giving us his attention again.
“To living a drama-free life,” I explained.
Brooks lifted his mug and nodded his head. “Now, that’s something I can toast to.” He smiled at me and I smiled back.
“Absolutely,” I agreed.
We ended up staying at the bar until it closed at 1:00 a.m. I drank just enough to feel good without losing control. Brooks remained relatively sober and chose to head back with his friends to the frat house instead of going home.
“You ready to get out of here?” Renee asked, coming out of the bar.
“Yep. I’ll talk to you on Monday, Brooks,” I said, looping my arm through Renee’s. He lifted his hand in a wave as we headed down the street in the direction of our apartment building.
“Tonight was good. Thanks for making me go out,” I said, reaching for the bottle of water in her hand and taking a drink.
Renee squeezed my arm. “I needed it as much as you did.”
I hadn’t thought about Maxx once. I had, for the first time in a long time, been able to enjoy myself, stress free.
“What the hell?” Renee asked, coming to a stop. We were out in front of our apartment building. The street was quiet and empty.
“What is it?” I asked, wondering why she had stopped.
Renee pointed to the pavement at her feet. “Look.”
I looked down at the sidewalk. I was surrounded by a swirling, vibrant pattern of colors. A pair of giant hands seemed to be reaching up from the ground. A purposeful, violent punch to the gut. The fingers seemed to be grasping for something that I couldn’t see. I knelt down on my haunches and traced my fingertips along the curves and bends.
“It’s beautiful,” Renee said from behind me, taking a step back to get a better look. I could see that the entire thing had been done in chalk this time, not paint. I rubbed the edge of a complicated geometrical pattern with my thumb, strangely satisfied to see it smudging beneath my finger.
“Unbelievable,” I muttered, standing back up and feeling my anger ignite as I took in the very obvious statement laid out before me.
“Itisunbelievable. I’ve never seen anything quite like it,” Renee exclaimed. I had never told her about Maxx’s art. For some reason it hadn’t come up. It was another one of those mysteries I had kept to myself. But looking down at this intricate drawing, I knew that Maxx was back. He was home. And he was making good on his promise to not give up. Standing there, coming down from the high of a good night with friends, I didn’t quite know what I was supposed to feel.
Without realizing exactly what I was doing, I unscrewed the top of the bottle of water in my hand and poured it out over the drawing, watching as it splashed and spread across the drawing, erasing it, ruining it.
“What the hell, Aubrey?” Renee screeched, jumping backward as water splashed her jeans. I didn’t say a word as I watched the liquid destroy Maxx’s visual pronouncement of his feelings.
“Why did you do that?” Renee asked, following me as I walked into our building.
“Because it didn’t need to be there,” I said, knowing I hadn’t really explained anything.
“Stop dodging, Aubrey. What’s up?” she asked.
I felt dangerously close to screaming. After such a wonderful night, having it end like this infuriated me. “It’s Maxx. That was him,” I told her.
“Maxx? What are you talking about?”
“That’s his artwork. He must have done it while we were out. Which also means he’s out of rehab.” I let myself into our apartment and turned on the light. I kicked off my shoes and collapsed on the couch, draping my arm over my eyes.
