Just as Olivia had predicted, the place was empty. Without the rest of her family around, it actually seemed...peaceful.
Her family owned the penthouse suite of the apartment building; so you could guess why it seemed more vibrant than deserted, even when it was empty.
The two girls walked into Olivia's bedroom, fingers still intertwined. Olivia gripped onto her girlfriend's hand just a tad bit tighter when they entered the room.
"So this is where the great Olivia Jauregui sleeps," Emma commented, causing the girl beside her to let out a chuckle.
"Well, if you don't count the past few nights...yeah, this is where I spend most of my time if I'm not at school,"
Emma looked around the room. A white desk stood tall in the corner, queen-sized bed with white satin sheets draped over the soft mattress...and a beautiful nook in the far end, directly opposite what Emma assumed was Olivia's bathroom.
"Oh..."
"Hmm?" Olivia hummed in response.
Walking over to the nook and running her fingers over the polished wood, Emma smiled. "This is beautiful,"
"I know...I tried to make my room as cosy as I could...because...you know, I spend most of my time here and in my workshop,"
Emma nodded in understanding. "Speaking of which, can you take me to your workshop?" she took a few steps towards her girlfriend. "I want to see where you work," she whispered, sending shivers down Olivia's spine.
"Of course, my love. Come," she held out her hand, to which Emma graciously took.
They walked over to the room just beside Olivia's. By now, they were in the far corner of the upper floor. It was nice, Emma could very much understand why Olivia picked these two rooms and claimed them as hers.
Half a minute of Olivia fiddling with the keys and a couple of swear words later, the girls were in the room.
Emma giggled when she saw the scene before her. Empty jars everywhere, paintbrushes strewn across the table and multiple easels — some with blank canvases and others with beautiful paintings seated on them — stood tall in the middle of the room.
"You're so talented, Liv," Emma breathed out. She was in awe at the paintings. Every single one of them, no matter how big or small, seemed to have significance. Olivia made sure of that.
Olivia stood behind her awkwardly. It was the first time she'd ever shown anyone her paintings, let alone the girl she didn't think would be in her house to begin with.
"T-Thanks," she rubbed her arm shyly. "It's not the best...I probably could do better—"
Emma cut her rambling off. "Show me," she spoke softly but with affirmation in her voice.
"Really?"
More nods came from the younger girl as she held onto Olivia's arm. "I want to see you work," she explained. "I want to know what thoughts run through your head when you paint,"
"How about a portrait of you?"
Emma ceased her movements on Olivia's arm. "You're kidding," she laughed.
"No," Olivia shook her head in response. "I'm not. I specialise in portraits. It's been the type of art I've been into since I could remember. I would still be doing it, probably, if our school offered that class but..." she trailed off.
"Well, as long as you don't make me look hideous...I'm all yours," Emma beamed.
Olivia simply chuckled in response. "I don't think anyone could make you look bad, Em,"
And that was the truth. Olivia was so whipped, anyone within a mile radius could sense it. She was determined to make this work, no matter what it would take.
She grabbed a stool and told Emma to take a seat. As her girlfriend got comfortable, she walked into her bathroom through the connecting door and filled up a couple of jars with water. She knew she'd be working with many colours and didn't want to walk back and forth so...three jars would have to do.
"You comfortable?"
Emma nodded and smiled. "Paint away,"
Before she could get started on painting, however, Olivia first needed to create a sketch of Emma'a portrait. She picked out a charcoal pencil and let her mind take over.
It wasn't long before she was ready to paint.
Olivia dipped her brush in water and began mixing a variety of colours; anything she deemed good enough to encapsulate the beauty before her.
Funny how she'd wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible, but somehow found herself in a situation like this.
Oh well.
10, 15, then 20 minutes went by. Olivia was halfway through her painting when she heard the front door open, familiar voices flooding the room.
"Fuck," she swore.
Emma furrowed her eyebrows and glanced at the clock. They'd been here for about 45 minutes, just under an hour.
"I thought you said we had a little more time?" Emma asked, recalling their conversation earlier.
"I thought we did," Olivia mumbled, already scrambling to clean the place up and pack whatever she needed to go.
Emma too, got off the stool and helped Olivia. "Babe, calm down," she said, trying to keep up with her girlfriend's frenzied pace.
"I really don't feel like talking to them right now,"
"I know honey, but...how are we going to get out undetected?" Emma asked. She didn't see a way out for them besides the front door, so leaving without alerting anyone was definitely a challenge.
"I- I don't know," Olivia grumbled as she poured the dirty water away and washed the bow empty jars.
"Maybe it's not such a bad thing," Emma wondered aloud. "Talking to your family, I mean,"
"Em, they're the one who've shut me out. Ever since I was ousted. Do you really think it's time to make amends right now?"
Emma flinched at Olivia's tone.
That didn't go unnoticed.
"I'm sorry," Olivia wrapped her arms around her girlfriend protectively. "It's just-" she sighed.
Emma ran her fingers through her girlfriend's hair in an attempt to comfort her.
"It's a really sensitive topic for me to talk about," Olivia explained. "I don't know...they've never treated me differently, no matter what happened between us. Then one day, all of that changed,"
The tears were starting to fall.
"I guess...I really want to make up for all the lost time, but I don't know how! Maybe you're right. I'm avoiding them..."
"Hey," Emma'a soothing voice was music to Olivia's ears. "I'm here for you, okay? No matter what you choose to do next,"
"Promise?"
"Of course I promise, my love. I-"
At that moment, the door opened to reveal a girl, seemingly a year or two younger than Olivia.
"Livy?"