twenty nine

                                    

                                          
Seraphine
Derek hadn't spoken to her in a couple days, mostly just leaving her to her own devices. After a day of following him around like a lost puppy until he slammed their bedroom door and locked it on her, she gave up trying to win him back. 
When he was out of the apartment, Seraphine would hum along to her sonatas as she graded Dr. Reeves' journals, searched for internships to report back to Dr. Michaels, compiled an argument in favor of Dr. Wern, and edited Dr. Brummer's beautiful manuscript. 
This most recent one he gave her to read and correct was a series of poems, ranging from loving to solemn, heartbreaking to joyous, and everything in between. Many tears were shed by Seraphine, and she would hastily wipe them away from the paper before jotting in her notes about punctuation or a synonym to a word she believed was overused. 
Most of the poems didn't have notes at all. 
It's late on Thursday when Derek gets back into the apartment. 
Seraphine had gone to Dr. Brummer's class that day, and as she had done with her other professors, slipped the stack of papers she'd edited for him onto the desk and found a seat in the back row. She listened intently, but would never stare at him--only the board. 
She knew, deep down, that if she were to allow herself to get lost in his eyes, in any of her professor's gazes, she would be too lost to find her way back to Derek. 
"Sera," Derek calls from the entrance, and Seraphine perks up from her position on the couch. This is the first he's spoken to her in days, and he greets her with an old nickname? 
Not one she loves, sure, but still. 
"Yes, Derek?" She sits up straighter, putting her sketchbook down. She looks away from Derek when he's paying attention to his shoes and quickly slips the drawing of Liliana under the couch cushion she's sitting on.
They met up yesterday for their first session, and mostly just talked and giggled over the coffee Liliana had insisted she pay for in return for Seraphine gifting her the most beautiful portrait of her she knows she's ever seen. Seraphine tried to argue that she hadn't even seen the base of it yet, but Liliana just waved her off and demanded they talk about Dr. Michaels. 
The topic of her professors, the Kings, Liliana so graciously reminded her every now and again, made Seraphine uncomfortable, so she would only discuss them for a few seconds before directing the conversation back to Liliana's portrait. After a few tries, Liliana finally got the gist and dropped it, but not before pouting in a way that made Seraphine playfully glare at her. 
When they walked into Dr. Michael's class, their arms were intertwined again, but they were early this time. Seraphine led Liliana straight up to Dr. Michaels' desk, set down her research, and walked back to their usual seats. 
Seraphine had filled Liliana in on her new job as the Kings' assistant, and Liliana had damn near fainted. But after lots and lots of reassurance that it meant absolutely nothing, (something that Seraphine was still trying to convince herself was true), they finally began to focus on Liliana's portrait. 
"I hope you make me look regal," Liliana gushed as she turned up her nose and fixed her palms like she was holding a tiara on her head. Seraphine smiled, flipped to a new page in her sketchbook, and met Liliana's eyes. 
"I'll make you look ethereal, Liliana." 
"I was thinking, babe," Derek's face turns up into a smirk, and Seraphine's smile fades just a tiny bit. 
Oh no. 
"Maybe we could go out again? Like we did last week?" At the mention of last Thursday, Derek's eyes darken in anger, and Seraphine's stomach twists with nausea. She licks her suddenly dry lips and tries to swallow down the bile rising in her throat. 
"Why...why would you want to go out, when we could just stay in, and, and maybe watch a movie together?" She suggests, trying to direct him onto a different path, but one look at his face and she knows it's all for nothing. She sighs and stands, forcing a smile onto her face. 
"I'll go get ready. Black or red?" She asks, looking over her shoulder at her boyfriend as she goes to their room--which he finally let her into last night. Derek looks her up and down, and she feels a rush of heat fly up her gut. 
She can't tell if she's turned on or terrified. 
"Red." 
~~~
The club they arrive at an hour later, Atlantis, is crowded. Seraphine feels anxiety surge through her at the amount of people surrounding the building, and imagines twice as many inside. 
"Derek, maybe--" she tries to protest, putting a hand on his thigh as he pulls into the parking lot, directly into a VIP spot. This realization makes her words die on her tongue, and she looks at Derek out of the corner of her eye. 
VIP? Since when is he a VIP for a club I didn't even know existed? 
Her blood runs cold. 
Is he...is he--
"Alright, babe, let's go! Wirt's already waiting for me at the front, and there are a couple people I've been dying to introduce you to." 
Seraphine's head is spinning as Derek gets out of the car and rounds it, pulling open her door. His tone is excited, the hand he's got outstretched for her to grab is inviting, but his eyes are mischievous and almost...angry. And the VIP spot is so confusing, Seraphine can't think straight. 
She grabs his hand, and he tugs her out of the car, up to the front of the line, and into the club.