That’s Lauro. And he’s…seeming quite timid.
They’re just ahead of me, around a bend of trees. I’m not a total asshole, so I make myself known. “Sorry, guys, I’ll just pass—”
Neither of them even acknowledges me.
“What’s the problem? Theproblem? Roz!”
I jump a foot in the air. “Yes?” I squeak.
“Come over here for a second.” I really can’t stress how odd it is to be hearing Em berating a wilting Lauro.
I immediately follow directions because, if it’s not obvious by now, I’m totally scared of her.
“Here.” She thrusts a piece of paper in my hands and I tip it toward the circle of coppery streetlight a few yards away.
It’s a beautiful portrait, done in Lauro’s typical style. Flowing cursive that wraps around form. It’s clearly Em, but a softened version. She’s bent over a drawing pad like a nymph might touch her fingers to a crystal-clear lake.
“It’s…” I fish for a word and find Vin’s. “Lovely.”
“Right,” Em says with a vicious nod. “ButIam not.”
Lauro straightens. “Em, you’re—”
“Don’t give me that, Lauro. There is absolutely nothing ofmein this portrait and you know it. I’m erased.”
She’s trying to shove the drawing back into his hands. He’s refusing to take it. “Nothing of you—”
“You’ve been doing this since NYU. You come to class with a smile for everyone, flirting and, and, andwhatever.You buy drinks and pretend you’re the party. But I see you, Lauro.” She pokes two fingers against his chest so hard it makes the drawing crinkle where she’s pinning it against his heart. “Iseewhat you’re drawing. How you see people. This silhouette bullshit. Continuous line around the outside. You don’t come to class to give or…or tolearn.It’s disrespectful to the model. Who comes to class and strips naked for you. You offer nothing in return.” I wonder, for a moment, if it’s really the model she’s talking about. But she’s plowing on. “If you were really looking, Lauro, really trying, if this drawing were actually an offering to me, I wouldnotlook lovely. I wouldnotlook graceful. I know myself. I am neither of those things. I hunch over the drawing pad. I frown and look ugly and Idraw.I draw what Isee,Lauro. But you? You are not trying to draw people. All you’re trying to do is contain them.”
Lauro isn’t blinking, his chest is moving up and down under his shirt. He’s clutching at his heart and the drawing has crumpled terribly under his fingers.
“Em—” His voice is just a husk.
“It’s all just stylized flatness,” she says, and now he shrinks back. This more than anything has sliced him to the bone. She’s clearly touched something fearfully tender for him. “It’spretty,Lauro. But meaningless.”
His breath comes out in the sort of exhale people do when they lift their bloody fingertips and realize they’ve been stabbed.
“I think…” I whisper gently, and touch her shoulder with my fingertips. “I think that’s enough.”
It’s obviously not my business, but turns out I do like Lauro after all and he seriously looks devastated.
She jumps under my touch and turns her wild gaze on me.
“Hi?” I squeak because I’m scared she’s about to rip my heart out.
“I’m—I’m leaving now,” she says artlessly. “I’m going. So. Bye.” And she turns on her heel and speedwalks away from us and onto the bike path that rings the park.
When I turn back toward Lauro, he’s turned away from me. His shoulders are heaving and his hands are over his face.
“Go away, Roz. I’m sorry I’m an asshole. I really am. But please.”
“Yes. Right. Okay.”
He grunts and I take that as my cue to do as he wishes and leave.
“You okay?” Vin asks as I settle myself back down on the blanket beside him. “I was about to come find you.”
“Yes. I’ll explain later,” I whisper back, because I don’t want Shan overhearing; she apparently took my absence as an opportunity to sit right next to Vin. He looks weary. And happy. We’ve got a whopping three whole New York City starsin the apex of the sky and it’s time to go home. But Vin and I are Vin and I, so instead of leaving with our empty casserole dish, we scour the area for trash, use Vin’s key ring flashlight to help find Reggie’s wallet that he dropped in the grass. We’re in the middle of the park, so Vin takes ten minutes and carries Esther’s bag of lawn toys to the east side for her, putting her and Fabi into a cab. By the time he gets back, Sari has fallen asleep on one of the blankets so Daniel hoists her and Vin hoists the portable grill. Only Penny and Stacia are left to walk with us and Penny eventually takes pity on Liam, who is sleepwalking, and lifts him up too. We make it to an old crappy pickup truck parked on Central Park West. There’s a terrible approximation ofStarry Nightpainted across the side.
