VICKI'S POV
After making a few phone call, everyone went to a shop to pick up the costumes. The guys had twenties style gangster suits. Lisa and I had for fitting flapper dresses, low cut in the back for a modern twist. The show would begin at eight o'clock. It wouldn't take long for the guys to get ready, but we had to do our hair and makeup.
"What do you plan on saying to them?" I asked as I curled my hair. I didn't usually but this was a costume party.
"I don't know. I may be too angry to talk." Lisa tied her shoes.
"Maybe. You know that there's going to be media right?"
"Sure. I called them weeks ago and sent out some invitations myself."
"But you'll be there as a spectator this time."
"Yeah."
"Hey don't worry. As good as the art may be, we're there for you, first and foremost."
"I don't know if I can express what I want to. My parents got us to work our anger out in other ways. I really want to be nasty and angry at what's going on."
"I'm sure that if you can't, Shannon can. He'll tell everyone what to do with themselves." I chuckled.
"And that makes me nervous as well." She looked over smiling.
Another twenty minutes and we walked into the other room, where Jared, Tomo and Shannon waited. Jared was in grey, Tomo in black and Shannon is dark blue. Each wore a fedora and some stage makeup, mostly eye liner and black nail polish. They looked over at us.
"Oh yeah." Tomo smiled as I walked over to him.
"You like this?" I got closer.
"Oh yeah." He kisses me hard.
Lisa walked over to Shannon. He was smiling wide and chewing gum. She spun around showing him the dress.
"Now that's a dress." He slipped his arms around her.
"And that's quite a suit. Makes me want to sneak into a back room somewhere."Lisa adjusted his hat a little sideways.
"You wanna get me drunk?"
"How about I get you naked later?"
"That.....is better than my idea." Shannon pressed his lips to hers.
"Okay. We've got to get to the car. My publicist is meeting us there." Jared explained.
"What car?" Tomo asked.
"We must show up in Hollywood style. But it is an environmentally friendly car." He assured.
"Veggie powered limo." Shannon laughed.
As if on cue, a horn blasted out front.
LISA'S POV
In the car, winding through the streets of LA, finally getting into a lineup that stretched toward the gallery, I held Shannon's hand, my leg twitched nervously.
"Try to relax." He spoke calmly.
"I don't know if I can. I may be sick." I looked out the window.
"So what's the story?" Tomo wondered.
"Well, Lisa organized it so we just wanted the most knowledgable person to show us around." Jared shrugged.
"Patricia has seen Tomo at the gallery." I took a deep breath.
"So. They know we like art."
"Does your boss know about your family's business?" Vicki asked.
"Don't think so." I shook my head.
"Would you be willing to release that information?" Jared wondered.
"What do you mean?" Shannon spoke up.
"It's a big thing. Your family has the premier company to make changes for the environment. You're probably the biggest celebrity that will be there, and nobody knows who you are."
"I don't want celebrity. My sister takes care of all the promotion in what they do. I'm not needed within that right now."
"I'm happy with that. I'd never get to be with you." Shannon kisses my cheek.
"It's all about your dick isn't it?" Tomo teased to break some tension.
"Better mine than yours." He have Tomo the finger playfully.
"Fuck you!" Tomo laughed.
"Let's do this." Jared said as the car stopped at the door.
"Oh man." I tried to not shake with nerves.
An attendant opened the door. Jared, Tomo and Shannon stepped out first.
"It's going to be okay." Vicki tried to calm me.
"Yeah." I tried to smile.
Tomo ducked back in to help Vicki get out. He looked over, smiled and spoke an encouragement in Croatian.
"*Be happy with your work*" He said. "*You are the artist here*."
That seemed to make me feel better. He moved back as Vicki stepped out. I slip over as Shannon held out his hand and gave me a wink.
"It's all about you baby." He placed a hand on my back as I stepped out.
"Don't go far away." I pleaded.
Cameras flashed, almost blinding. If I hadn't been holding onto Shannon, I would have tripped on the steps. We began to walk up to the door, and a reported stopped Jared.
"You're known to be very artistic in your music. Is this a follow up on that?" The woman asked.
"We've always been into art, whether it's music, paint, video. We like to support the industry." Jared answered.
"Are you familiar with the artist featured here?"
"Not personally. But we have an insight into who he is, from someone who's responsible for everything you see.." He gestured to the gallery.
I squeezed Shannon's hand, listening to Jared talk. "Can I run away?"
Shannon laughed. "Once we get a point across."
"Can we at least get away from the cameras?"
"Let's go." He slapped his brothers shoulder to get his attention.
Going up to the door, I saw Mr. Ward at his usual greeting spot, smiling.
"Good evening. Welcome to the Outside Gallery. Very glad that you could be with us tonight." He spoke a rehearsed speech.
"Oh believe me. We're very happy to be here." Shannon replied.
Looking around quickly, he recognized me through the costume, hair and makeup.
"Lisa? What are you doing here?" He tried not to react.
I took a deep breath and a quick look at my friends and Shannon.
"All things considered, with the work that I did to set this up, why wouldn't I be here?" I was as calm as I could be.
"Are you here to cause a scene?" He got quiet.
"Would you care to meet the people who brought me with them? This is Tomo Milicevic, his wonderful girlfriend Vicki. This is Shannon." I introduced them.
I'm sure that they put a little more into the handshake, from the wince on Mr. Ward's face.
"And I'm sure that you know Jared Leto, Shannon's brother."
"Very glad to have the opportunity to be hear tonight." Jared greeted. "Who better than Lisa to show us around?"
Mr. Ward stared back.
"If you'll excuse us. We want to check out the exhibit."
Going passed him, into the main room, I let my breath go. Paintings hung from the walls, suspended from the ceiling, just as I had designed it.
"Wow! Great job!" Tomo observed.
"I wanted the display to be part of the exhibit." I loved seeing it all together.
"You succeeded. It's amazing." Jared responded.
"Is this all throughout?" Tomo wondered.
"If they followed my plans."
"Where should we start."
"It should be laid out so we follow to the right and make the circumference."
"Let's go." Jared began walking.
People in costume were everywhere, not being instructed on how to go about the exhibit. Just by habit, I began to explain the layout, meaning behind why the paintings were put together and hung as they were. As I talked, they asked me other questions that I answered with know problem. I knew more about the work than anyone except the artist.
"Amazing." A new voice spoke.
Turning toward it, I noticed that several other had joined us.
"How do you know so much about the artist?" A woman dressed in Victorian costume asked.
"Well, I ...uh. Sorry I didn't know that so many were listening to me rave on." I answered.
"It was informative." A man in a Fred Astaire tuxedo added.
"I've never heard anyone get so involved during a show before." Another woman said.
"She's involved alright." Shannon took a sip of a drink I hadn't realized he'd gotten.
I was so involved, I forgot about the servers.
"Do you know the artist?" Someone else asked.
I lost my focus on what I'd been saying. I looked at Shannon. He nodded encouraging.
"Uh. Yes. He used to sell his paintings near my house at the beach."
That opened a flood of questions, coming from all directions. Try as I might, I couldn't answer them all and begs to get overwhelmed.
"Sounds like an artist's Q and A without the artist." Jonathan appeared in the crowd.
I turned to see him smiling politely. He wasn't high or drunk.
"Lisa, so happy to see you tonight. I didn't think that you'd be here." He stepped closer, as if to hug me.
Shannon stepped between is, staring him down. "You may want to rethink that." He warned.
Jonathan's expression changed to annoyance. "You're not supposed to be here.
"She's our guest." Jared stepped forward,
"After all. She knows this better than anyone else." Tomo added.
"Jonathan. The collection looks great." I complimented.
"It really does." He smiled smugly, looking around at his work.
"You pretentious bastard." Jared reacted. "You wouldn't have any of this if not for her. And you can't even say thank you."
"Never mind. Let's finish looking." I didn't want a confrontation in the middle of the room.
"These are my paintings. This is my work." Jonathan was quietly getting angry.
"And if Lisa hadn't told her boss, you would still be on the beach." Tomo stepped up to Shannon.
He laughed.
"I wanted your work to be seen, to speak for itself. It's an amazing collection." I said truthfully. "I never expected any payback."
"But you have her some. Maybe not what you thought but you still paid her back." Jared jumped in.
"Payback? I worked hard for this." Jonathan sneered.
"You call assaulting her at the gallery and your friends jumping us at the club, hard work?" Shannon couldn't hold back.
"That wasn't my fault."
"No? Must be the fault of the crack you smoke off the money you make."
"I am an artist. Who is she to me?"
"The one who believed in your art." Jared told him forcefully.
"That's bullshit. I was a meal ticket."
"She doesn't need it. Not everyone is out for themselves.
"This is LA. Everyone wants fame."
I could feel the tension growing between Jonathan and the guys. Slowly, I walked away from the crowd. The back storeroom was quiet enough for me to get myself together. My pulse was racing, my breathing quick. I wasn't sure it it was my nerves or the confrontation that was triggering the moment.
SHANNON'S POV
"Lisa?" Vicki looked around.
This stopped the conversation as me, Tomo and Jared took notice that she wasn't with us.
"She was right here." I glanced around at the crowd,
"Couldn't have gone far." Tomo added.
Jonathan laughed. "Guess she knew better than to press her luck."
"And you should be thankful that my brother is about to focus on something other than you being an asshole." Jared replied. "Come on. Let's go find her."
Trying not to run, and draw attention, we went off in separate directions. I headed to the back of the building, feeling there had to be a place that was separated from the main display areas. A woman was walking toward me, looking like she worked there.
"Hey. Have you seen a woman come through here? She may have walked out here." I asked.
"Yeah. Lisa. But unfortunately she doesn't work here anymore. If you need help, I can...." She started.
"She came with us.
But left. Where'd she go?"
"Out back. But its employees only. I figured she left something."
"Thanks." I quickly walked to a pair of doors, threw one open and looked around.
The sound of breathing, almost like someone hyperventilating, was faintly coming from inside. Breaking into a run, I searched until getting to a remote spot near the loading doors. Lisa had her forehead against the wall, fingers tangled through her hair (like trying to stop a headache), her breath coming out in shrill gasps. Walking closer, I reached out to touch her shoulder, trying not to scare her.
"It's just me." I told her, moving to take her hands from either side of her head.
She resisted my hands, trying to move away. Carefully, I turned her away from the wall. Her eyes were closed but I could see the panic in her face. Taking a moment to decide what to do, I stepped as close as I could, pressed my body to her and pinned her to the wall. I placed my hands on her neck, rubbing the skin softly. I set my face next to hers, touching her with gentle caresses of my cheek. I kept my breathing steady, hoping she would follow. It began to work. Her hands relaxed, moved to rest around my waist. Her cheek pressed into mine and her breathing became more controlled.
"Shannon?" She whispered.
"Yeah." I placed a kiss on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"I couldn't express the anger I was feeling."
"That's okay. I think we made the point."
"You shouldn't have to."
"I always will." I leaned back to look at her eyes.
She met mine. Hers were tired and expressionless.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Do you mind if I skip out of here!"
"Not alone. I'll go tell the others and we can go.
"Tell them that they don't have to leave. Enjoy the show."
I smiled. "Still you're concerned about them."
"It is a good exhibit."
"Be right back." I kissed her. "Try to stay relaxed."
"I'll think about you until you get back."
"How about what we'll be doing soon."
"That is very possible for me to do."
"That's my girl." I let my hand move down her body, with a touch.
She gave me a weak smile.
"Be right back." I whispered and stepped back.
As quick as I could, I rushed out to the main room to look for Jared, Tomo and Vicki. As I turned toward the offices, they were next to a large window.
"Hey. Any luck?" Jared asked.
"Yeah. I found her. She's so angry with all this and she can't let it out." I stopped next to them and rubbed my neck.
"Poor thing. What can we do for her?" Vicki asked.
"Nothing really. I'm going to take her home. It'll be quiet."
"Okay let's go." Tomo agreed.
I smiled. "She wants you all to stay and finish looking around."
"Why?"
"She want you to enjoy the exhibit.
"Remarkable." Jared chuckled.
"I know. Just give me the impressions later."
"Tell her that we're here." Vicki said.
I nodded. "Later."
"Night." Tomo replied as I went back the way I came.
