"Professor DuBois. You're serious?" Marlow snickered behind her fingers as Janine clicked her tongue and undulated in her chair to the soft beat playing above them with a wink- "Oh yeah! Alcoholic divorcee just really does it for me. I bet his cynicism tastes like rum."
"We don't know that he's an alcoholic." Just that he always smelled of hard liquor and mint. The raven-haired woman rolled her eyes, a crimson smirk edging around a sarcastic snort. "No, you're right. That was water in that steel bottle always glued to his hand." Marlow caught the piece of candy her friend flicked at her with her teeth and flashed her a triumphant grin. "Anyway," the redhead said, a sour tang bursting in her mouth, "You're coming to my exhibition right?"
"Depends, is your pretentious boyfriend going?"
"Stop it, he's--"
"In love with himself? Come on. He probably gets off to his own reflection."
"Janine! For once can you just...not?" Leaning back into her chair, lightly tapping her pencil against the top of her sketchbook, she huffed, "I don't know why you hate him so much."
"Because he's an asshole."
"You're an asshole."
"But a lovable one." Janine folded her arms over the table, brows waggling above roguish hazel eyes. Charming as ever. Marlow sighed, betrayed by a grin, and shook her head at the woman who'd helped her with her very first art show. Who'd been around to witness her best moments and support her at some of her worst. The best friend she'd ever known.
"You're coming?"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Sin."
When the women left the cafe, it was only Marlow who made it to the other side of the door. She woke up with tears in her eyes and longing in her chest, sat up dragging her hands over her face until she scrubbed away the image of her best friend in a closed off gallery room with her lips on her boyfriend's neck, and stopped racking her brain trying to figure out how her favorite person in the entire world could go and break her heart.