EMMA’s POV :
"What's that?"
Tristan asked as he saw me putting up a painting on my bedroom wall.
"A birthday slash housewarming gift from Ian,"I replied.
Ian spent the night last night, but he had to return to the city early this morning.
I was sore and tired from our late night sessions, I ended up sleeping until late.
That afternoon, I woke up to a USPS delivery guy ringing my doorbell and giving me this big framed
thing wrapped in brown paper.
On the wrapping was also a card and it said: Dearest Emma, Since I can’t bring you to the gallery just
yet, I’m bringing a small piece of the gallery to you.
Happy sweet nineteen, my love.
So grateful you came into the world because you make my world better every day.
All my heart and soul, Ian.
Ian sent me a painting of his original work, titled Paint The Town Red.
On the painting were a skyline of New York City and a silhouette of a girl standing in the middle of it all.
Everything was in black and white except for the girl and the umbrella she was carrying and it was
bright red.
After hanging the painting on my bedroom wall, I stood in front of it for a couple of minutes just staring
at it and wondering what it meant.
"I'm assuming this painting’s about you?"
Tristan stood next to me and tilted his head to the side, studying the painting.
"I guess so?"
"What do you think it means?"
"I'm not too sure.I've been staring at it for the past fifteen minutes.The title is Paint The Town Red, but
the town is in black and white..."
I had texted Ian thank you for the gift and he asked me if I liked it or not.
I told him of course I loved it, and then he asked me if I knew what the painting meant.
I wanted to say yes, but I had been staring at it for a while now and I had no clue.
"I think I know what it means,"
Tristan said suddenly.
"What?"I turned to him quickly.
"The only thing that’s red is the girl with the umbrella.That’s the town, not the actual building,"
"What?"
"The town...the place...or maybe his home is her, not the city itself,"
"Wow..."
I paused for a moment as the realization hit me.
What Tristan said was true.
I was calling me his world, this is what the painting meant.
"Damn, Tristan, that’s some observation skills you got there,"I went to grab my phone and texted Ian
right away.
I wrote to him: "Am I red? Am I your world?"
Seconds later, he texted back: "Bingo.I knew you'd get it, you're such a smarty-pants,"I was smiling to
myself as I read his text.
Even though I wasn’t the one who figured it out, I shamelessly took the compliment.
"So, your boyfriend painted this? He’s a great artist,"Tristan said again, he was still admiring the
painting.
"Yeah, he is,"I nodded.
"I'm assuming last night went pretty well?"Tristan said with a sly smirk.
"Yeah, you can say that,"
"Actually, I don’t have to ask.I've heard everything.These walls are pretty damn thin,"he said as he
knocked on the wall a few times.
My eyes shot up instantly.I was being so loud last night and Tristan was sleeping in the room next door.
"Oh my god...don’t tell me..."
"It’s alright.I’m used to it.I lived next to my sister my entire life.It's the same thing,"he laughed and
shrugged.
"Tristan, I am so sorry you had to endure that,"
I said as my hand went to cover my mouth, "I didn’t think you'd hear..."
"Everything? All night long.What was it, like, five sessions?"he teased.
"Oh my god!"I slapped myself on the face out of sheer embarrassment.
"Ha-ha, at least you're still apologetic.Sophie would just gloat," Tristan laughed again as he made his
way to the kitchen.
"Tristan...If I buy you lunch, will you erase last night from your memory?"
"Make it lunch and dinner and you got yourself a deal,"he was totally milking it.
"Fine!" I breathed.
"But not a word of this ever again, especially not in front of Sophie,"
"Aye-aye captain,"he grinned innocently and kept laughing.
Oh sheez.I need to remember I have roommates now.I can’t just have crazy bunny sex with Ian around
the apartment without a care in the world.I need to maintain some type of dignity here...Sheez.
After my birthday fiasco and Ian and I made up, everything was right again in the world.
He still busy had a lot of work to do, but he always made sure to make some time for me despite his
busy schedule.
Once school started however, I was starting to get busy too.
As a sophomore, I would have to declare a major by the end of this academic year.
To help me pick my major, Sophie and Tristan pushed me to attend some of the student clubs at
school.
Sophie was an active member of the Korean Society on campus and Tristan was working in the school
newspaper.
It wasn't a bad idea.Joining all these clubs would give Aa SA im het me an idea of what I would like to
major in.
I first started with the cooking club, and I got two words for you: free food.
Not only that I got to learn cooking various cuisines, but I was also able to bring home free food every
week.
Tristan and Sophie loved it.
Still, cooking wasn’t my passion so I stopped attending the club after a month.
Then I joined some cultural clubs and it gave me a lot of insight on diversity and the different cultures of
the world.
I learned a little bit of Japanese and got into K- Pop for a bit.I also enjoyed old movie nights at the
French Society.
They gave out cheese and wine, so fancy! I also joined a sports team.
I was pretty active back in high school, I was on the swim team and I did cheerleading.
I didn’t think I was good enough for the varsity teams at UPenn, and I didn't wanna commit to it either.
So joining the sports team for me was mostly for exercising and good health.
Finally, I visited the school newspaper a few times because Tristan insisted that I go check it out.
I wasn't much of a writer or a journalist like him, but I did enjoy print media because I loved to read.
Tristan said that I had a good eye for visual arts, so he put me in charge of the advertisement section in
the papers.
I didn't wanna admit it at first, but I came to enjoy working for the advertising department.
I learned that a good ad should not only be visually appealing, but also catchy and has a strong
message.
With all these clubs plus my afternoon classes, a little bit of social life, and a decent amount of sleeping
hours, my schedule was packed.
Still, Ian and I would make time during the weekend to go see each other.
We couldn't meet every week, but we'd meet once every two weeks.
Or at least once a month.
We would alternate on who goes where.
This week it was my turn to go visit him in the city.
We were great at making time for each other.We've learned a lot from our previous experiences.
It wasn’t about the quantity of the time, but about the quality.
Whenever we see each other, even if it was only for a day, we would drop everything and our focus
would be on being together.
It was Saturday morning and I was getting ready to leave.
I planned on taking the 11 AM train to the city and grab lunch with Ian by the Grand Central Station.
It was late October, so the air outside was a little chilly.
I put on this cute white sweater and my black leggings and I completed the look with my knee-length
boots.
I was just about to leave the apartment, when suddenly I heard yelling from Tristan’s room.
"I told you! She was just using you!"
Sophie’s voice was loud and year "You don’t know the whole story.Just butt out!"
Tristan clapped back.
"No! You're my brother and I'll kill anyone who takes advantage of you.You're too nice, Tristan,"
"I am not!"
"You are too!"
His bedroom door was open, so it wasn’t hard for me to take a peek inside.
Tristan was sitting on his bed while Sophie was standing in front of him with her hands on her hips.
The tension in the air was thick and heavy.
"It's none of your business, Soph!" Tristan spat.
"You're my brother so your business is my business!"
"Guys, what’s going on here?" I said cautiously with my head peeking in.
"Nothing," Tristan muttered quickly.
"Emmie, good, you're here,"
Sophie said as she turned to me, "You can settle this for us once and for all,"
"What is it?" I asked.
Sophie motioned for me to come in and I followed it.
I was standing next to her in front of Tristan, and he just rolled his head back in annoyance.
"You remember Monique Steele?" Sophie said.
"The girl that Tristan has a crush on?"
"Yep, that’s the one,"
Monique Steele was one of those blonde, pretty, and popular sorority girls.
Apparently, she went to the same high school with Tristan and Sophie, but they weren't friends.
Monique was always part of the popular clique and Tristan and Sophie didn’t make the cut.
For the past few months however, Monique was slowly noticing Tristan because they took a couple of
classes together.
They were assigned a group project together and Tristan was finally brave enough to ask for her
number.
Tristan talked to me about Monique from time to time.
I could tell he liked her a lot, but she always kept him in the friend-zone.
"Sophie, just stop it," Tristan groaned in frustration.
"Don’t bring Emma into this,"
"Into what?" I asked.
"Emmie, this bitch would always text him whenever she needs something.Like, he went over to her
apartment at 1 AM in the morning to help her fix her broken Ikea shelf," Sophie was fuming.
She only paused for a moment to catch her breath and she continued ranting.
"She'll get notes from Tristan, and she'll let Tristan buy her things.But every time I see her, she’s always
flirting with the frat guys.Plus, she always bails on Tristan whenever he asks her out.Tell me she's not
playing him?"
I glimpsed over at Tristan who was lying in bed and his gaze was stuck to the ceiling.
"I hate to say it Tristan, but it sounds like she’s playing you," I said to him.
"She's not okay? She told me she likes me,"Tristan defended quickly, pausing for a moment before
saying, "as a friend, for now,"
Sophie and I rolled our eyes automatically at his words."That's what a bitch would say to string you
along, you poor innocent soul!" Sophie clapped.
"Emmie, please talk some sense into his thick head.Monique's birthday is coming up and she asked
him to get her a$ 2,000 purse.He’s about to blow his life savings on a dumb bitch who's just using him,"
"She asked you to get her a $2,000 purse?" I gaped.
"She didn’t ask me, she just said she wanted it and… I told her I can get it for her..."
Tristan’s reply was getting less and less convincing.
"Tristan!" I scolded.
"What?" he gaped.
"For a smart guy, you can be really dumb,"
"Yes, you tell him, girlfriend," Sophie nodded in agreement.
"Guys, she’s not...a bitch, okay? She’s nice to me and she likes me," Tristan was still trying to defend
her.
"Prove it then. Ask her out right now," I challenged.
"Yeah, do it!"Sophie followed.
"But...it's a Saturday...she probably has plans already,"
"Do it anyway.If she agrees to go out with you, we'll drop it,"I promised.
Sophie and I weren't taking no for an answer.
Tristan thought about it for a while and he finally relented.
Letting out a sigh, he grabbed his phone and started typing nervously.
"Did you text her?"I asked after watching him type something on his phone.
"What did you say?"Sophie followed.
"I said, hey it's Tristan.What are you up to today?"
Sophie and I nodded along.It sounded like a good text.
Now we just had to wait for her response.We waited for quite a while.Minutes passed and there wasn't
a reply.
Tristan was getting anxious too.
He really wanted to prove to us that she was the real deal.
Sadly, he didn’t know that Sophie and I could spot a bitch from a mile away.
Tristan was definitely way too good for her.
He was such a smol bean.
Just like he always protects us from drunk guys at the bar, Sophie and I must protect him at all costs!
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