Pure Belleza | ✔️

(79)

At the apartment, I walked in and found Lucy and Max sitting at the table. The sliding door was open, letting in a breeze, although, the summer air was too warm to be soothing.

"Hey, Luce," I said, pleased and surprised to see her here. She lives in Colorado and from what I know, is super busy.

"Hey," she grinned, neither of us went in for a hug, she's never been much of a hugger. "Max was just telling me about Bernie, this girl sounds like a child genius."

"She is," I said, taking a seat at the table. "She just gave her clothing line a brand name. Valor. It's Spanish for courage."

It still gives me chills.

"Wow," Max said, folding his arms. "That's perfect. Can't wait to see that name all over New York."

"That's what I said," I chime and look at Lucy, she's beautiful, shoulder length curls and a glimmer in her dark brown eyes. She's got an incredible figure too, strong and muscular.

"How are you?" I asked. "Still fighting?" 

Lucy is an MMA champion. She's competed in global competitions, she's got a stack of trophies and magazine headlines. Plus she does a lot of charity events to raise funds for sexual assault survivors, being one herself.

"Coaching now," she said, picking at a loose thread on her cropped t-shirt. "We have a new gym being built back in Fort Collins. It's gorgeous. Mom and dad are overseeing the architectural side of things while I'll be full time running classes. I'm only thirty three but I just feel ready to be more settled, instead of jetting around all the time."

"Seems fair," Max said, pushing his seat back. "Sorry, I have to head off and meet Amalia. Luce, you hanging around? Having dinner?"

"I have a flight at five," she said. "I was just over in Jersey visiting a friend so I thought I'd come over this way and catch up."

"No worries," Max said. "It was good to see you."

"You too. Good luck with the proposal. You'll have to let me know how it goes."

"I will."

"Are you doing that today?!" I leaned over the back of my seat.

"No, shit no," Max said. "We were just talking about it."

"Oh, right."

Max left and Lucy sat back in her seat with a sigh, the warm breeze bristling her hair. "So, how are things going?" She asked. "Your dad has kept me updated on the rehab and that sort of thing. I wanted to visit sooner but I've just finished a tour around Australia."

"Oh it's fine," I said and stood up, wandering into the kitchen. "Drink?"

"Just a cold water, please."

I filled two glasses from the jug in the fridge and popped a couple of ice cubes in each one. "Yeah things feel good at the moment. I'm focusing on figuring out what I'm going to do with my life. Still a little. . . uncertain."

"You're nineteen," she said when I sat down with the glasses. "Don't be too hard on yourself. I remember what it was like though. After I was assaulted, I became so desperate to reinvent myself that it really took away from the actual healing I needed to do. Once I decided to stop going to school and got some therapy and focused on me, things started to fall into place."

"Yes," I agreed. "I feel like I'm getting to that place now, like, just giving myself to the flow and working through the assault and taking the time to discover what I love and makes me happy."

"And that seems to be the clothing stuff?" She asked, thumb running over the condensation on her glass.

"Well, that's the thing, within that, I'm not sure where my place is. Bernie does the designing and I sit around, talking to her, posting things on her socials. I did get her a meeting with a big name but she decided not to expand for a while. So I'm kind of like, what now? What do I do. I can't just sit around the apartment all the time, waiting for her to call me."