Painting Clovers 9 Chapter 8

"Dude, who's that dude?" I didn't even notice Lester crouching beside me. My attention is focused on Lena and that guy. Who on earth is he?

"Stay there." I heard Lester say before he disappeared beside me. I couldn't move anyway.

The guy is wearing an expensive looking dark suit, he looks older than her, older than me, even. Probably around his mid to late 20's, a little too old for her if you ask me. He has this look in his face, worry, concern. There was tenderness in his expression. Lena's hands were on the table and he placed his hands on top of them. I clenched my hands, they were shaking slightly. Then later a smile formed in his face. Then they were laughing, I can see Lena's shoulders shaking from the laughter. Then something to their side caught my eye.

Lester was in the table near Lena's, he was waving his hands slightly so I could see him. He pretended to be interested in the menu. Truly, if this isn't about Lena, I would have laughed by now.

Then I saw Lena and the guy get up so they could hug. That's when I left. That's too much for me to take. There was something to be said about that hug. It was too personal, too natural, too beautiful. There was emotions involved, anyone could see that. And even as much as I hate to admit it, Lena does look happy with him. Whoever he is.

I felt my phone vibrating and saw it was Lester calling, I disabled the vibrate mode and shoved it back to my pocket. Well I'm not gonna turn it off, my mom might call. Yeah, totally being a mama's boy right now.

I headed straight to our room, grabbed my camera and went out, I needed some air. I don't really know where I was going, I just didn't want to stay here. I keep seeing her hug that guy. Who is he anyway? I know I don't really have the right to get jealous, but damn it I am. I thought we were getting along well. I thought we were heading the same way, I guess it was just me.

I ended up in town and took pictures of anything and everything. When it started getting dark I made my way back to the hotel.

I heard her as soon as I reached the door. She was singing. I didn't know the song but it sounded a little angry, I think. I pushed open the door and I saw her sitting on the window pane, smoking. It's funny how she never seems to smell like cigarettes, there is the faintest trace but you can barely smell it, but then again she only usually smokes in the wee hours on her balcony. Come to think of it, this is the first time i see her smoking out in the rooms. I nudged her back lightly and lean on the window pane beside her. She gave me a tight smile and offered a cigarette. I shook my head no, I don't smoke.

"How was lunch?" I asked trying to sound light, I don't know if she bought it.

Her expression changed for a split second. But since I was watching her, I noticed. There was a look of hurt, and guilt. She covered it up with a small smile so I chose to pretend I didn't see the slip.

"It was okay."

"Who were you out with anyway?"

"Just someone. How was your lunch?" She asked leaning on my side.

"It was good. I went to town actually, just took some pictures, wanna see?" I exhaled, I had to let it go for now. I learned that if Lena doesn't want to talk about something, she won't. She'd tell me about him when she's ready.

She nodded so I handed her my camera and we both looked at the pictures I took earlier. I haven't seen them either.

The first picture was of an old tree in the middle of a three-way intersection. Lena told me it had been there since she could remember. As we went through the pictures, she would share some memories about the things in the pictures, she would tell me about their history, or anything at all. She was starting to relax and I feel the familiar comfort around us. When we reached the end of the pictures, we were already on the balcony floor, laughing. We were having such a good time with each other that I almost forgot about the guy earlier. Almost.

That night I waited, I stood in front of my balcony door waiting for Lena to show up at her side. But she never did. Somehow that made me feel uneasy. She meets some guy for lunch then suddenly she doesn't go out to her balcony like she does every night.

Jealousy is a dangerous feeling. I read once that jealousy is the great exaggerator. I tried to be rational maybe I am exaggerating, he could be an old friend, or even family and that hug didn't really mean anything. Maybe she just has something else to do that's why she's not out in her balcony tonight. But whatever I told myself, I still couldn't get the jealous feeling out of my system.

I had a hard time sleeping that night, I tossed and turned until finally the universe took pity on me and I fell asleep. Lucky Lester was already asleep when I got back to our room so he wasn't disturbed.

==

Today I didn't wake up with a smile on my face, I still dreamt of her of course, but he was in there too. The guy from yesterday. Again with the great exaggerator. I decided to ask Lena about him later, it's better than losing my mind assuming things that are probably not true.

I was getting a little nervous to ask her, I debated with myself the whole time I got ready and made my way to the cafe, but I decided I was determined to find out about him. So imagine my surprise when the guy in front of me in the line at the café turned and I am standing face to face with the guy.

He was holding a cup of coffee and had just finished paying and was about to leave. He was smiling at the staff and seemed really happy about something. I stood there staring openly at him, if my look wasn't hostile people might probably think I was staring because I had a thing for the guy.

It's hard to deny that he is handsome, I'm man enough to admit when other guys look good. No need for insecurities. Right. Coming from the guy who couldn't sleep well last night because he was being too paranoid. He was about 5 inches taller than me, his hair is slightly curly and is all tussled in his head, he has a slight shadow in his chin where he hadn't shave, but what I was actually staring at is his eyes. Sounds gay, I know, not like there's anything wrong with that.

Two bright orbs of gray looked back at me with slight confusion.

"Oh Sir, this is Mr. Cortez."

The voice of the staff from behind of the counter pulled his eyes away from me and I turned to look at the staff too.

"So you're the guy." He said it more to himself than me. He looked me up and down, his whole stance held an air of confidence and authority. If not because of those eyes I would have punched the guy there and then.

"Who are you?" I asked, feeling slightly ashamed. Looking at the guy's eyes now, I know for sure that he and Lena are related.

"I'm Liam DeSille, Lena's Brother." Even in his voice there is power. He extended a hand and I shook it. Brother huh, I couldn't help but relax as relief washed through me, then shame for being so jealous. "I'm uh.. Asher Cortez. Lena's friend."

"Oh I know who you are." He answered calmly, a little amusement in his voice.

I looked at him, brows furrowing. He just laughed and shrugged. "Why don't you get your coffee and let's have a little talk."

I nodded and made my order. He raised an eyebrow when my order was given and I was holding 2 cups of coffee, he then shook his head slightly and I heard a soft laugh.

With drinks in tow, I followed him to a booth in the far corner of the café.

Chapter end