Page 30 of The Artist's Rival

“I should,” Ellie nods, in love with the idea of showing Tatiana her home. To roll with her in the untended wild grass, walk along the serpent-like roads slithering ahead in the familiar forests of her youth.

Their afternoon passes slowly, lazily rolling its hours ahead.

“I need to get going soon,” Ellie finally announces, getting up from the blanket.

“Alright,” Tatiana follows suit, collecting their things. “See you at the studio tomorrow?”

“Sure,” Ellie kisses her forehead tenderly.

Tatiana laughs and pulls Ellie closer, laying kisses all over her soft cheeks. Having gathered everything in a particularly disorderly fashion, they head out of the park, holding hands and discussing the differences between the ambience of parks and forests. How something wild becomes tame, a wolf turned into a puppy.

–

Back home, Tatiana’s phone rings ceaselessly while she’s struggling to unpack her groceries picked up on the way. She bends and twists to reach the phone, dropping a bag of apples on the floor, watching them roll around and clash with each other.

“Yes?” she finally manages to shout.

“Would you like to grab some coffee in about two hours? I have a time slot in the city and nothing to do,” Connie says in one breath.

“Pff, sure.” Tatiana shrugs, also without any rigid plans. “Text me the address and I’ll be there.” She manages to unpack everything and stretch, practicing some of the relaxing techniques Ellie has been telling her about. She doesn’t know whether she feels truly relaxed, or simply closer to Ellie, but either way they contribute to her good mood.

–

Once in the I, the two friends plunge right into the details of Tatiana’s new collaborative exhibition. She talks excitedly about all the sketches she gave to Ellie to expand upon, and how well she felt painting the ones she got in turn. Then, she mentioned the unfortunate house.

“She did what??” Connie leans over the table in disbelief.

“What? She just asked me to change the colors, that’s no big deal,” Tatiana explains, surprised by such a harsh reaction.

“No, Tat, she’s influencing your style a lot in this exhibition.”

Tatiana sits back, perplexed. Ever since beginning the project, she has been more than willing to implement the insignificant changes upon Ellie’s requests, but she blamed that exactly on their nature—insignificance. She knew that the project meant more to Ellie than to her, and out of kindness she chose to comply with Ellie’s advice. That’s what she has been telling herself, each time she would see her art evolve into something new to her. At the end of the day, art is a particularly fluid subject.

“I think maybe we’re just inspiring each other,” Tatiana says, “that was kind of the point of the project, too.”

They both sip on their coffee, watching the sky darken. Tatiana doesn’t like the feeling Connie awakened in her, an offense too stinging not to be at least partially true.

“Do you actually think I’m being too soft?” she asks, after a while passes in silence.

“I really do,” Connie admits. “I love your bold vision and decisiveness, and also…”

She shifts on the chair, about to say something important.

“What the fuck, tampering with your part of the project? Just leave the house blue,” she concludes. Tatiana nods, smiling.

“Just leave the house blue…”

–

On her way to Ellie’s studio, Tatiana anxiously grips at the wheel. She knows they’re about to have a tense conversation, but she’s not shy about her boundaries. After talking to Connie, the house, in particular, began infuriating her. Besides the paintings, why was it always Ellie’s studio? She keeps asking herself, rocking to the music coming from the speakers. The summer clouds roll ominously above, dimming the recently strong sun. She takes aggressive turns, disregarding the other cars. She has always been prone to exaggerating her own agitation, quickly spinning into swift conclusions and actions.

She barely manages to stop before a pedestrian crossing, a hair width away from running over an elderly lady. The lady in question shakes her head at Tatiana disapprovingly, then makes her way across the street. A few alleys away from the studio, Tatiana decides to get out of the car and walk the rest of the way.

–

“Hi!” Ellie welcomes her warmly, still tender after their afternoon away at the park.

“Hi.” Tatiana enters, upset to be the bringer of a heavy conversation.