The Painter & The Pianist

xvii.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Monserrat's eyes locked onto Susan's green ones. Her stature reminded him of his sisters, and as he thought of her, it was hard for him to feel hatred toward her. Monserrat loved his sister, and he found a piece of her in Susan, and it made his stomach turn. He took in a sharp breath.

"I'm here because of Amadeus. He's my boyfriend." Monserrat crossed his arms as he felt Addison's eyes on the back of his neck. If Susan hadn't been standing there she would have corrected him with a swift and curt, "Ex."

"Oh you're Monserrat?" She smiled at them, which caught them both off guard.

"Y-you know my name?" Monserrat's mood lightened as he up at the fact that she knew his name, 'Had Amadeus told her about me?'

"Nuh uh, girl! No amount of name knowing is gonna get you outta this. You aided and ebbed to cheating!" Addison scowled at the accused. Susan simply laughed and shook her head. "You got it wrong!"

"What do we have wrong, Jessibell?" Addison snapped. Monserrat tried to look as stern as Addison, but he wanted to know.

"Okay be a little nicer, please. Let me start with the fact that Amadeus didn't quite remember that night. So, he came here thinking we slept together as well, and I'll tell you the true story, just like had to with him." Monserrat nodded as she allowed them passage into her apartment.

As Addison and Monserrat sat together on the couch, Susan sat across from them on the coffee table. "So, we got drunk that night. Amadeus was way more drunk than me! He was like wasted. Well, he was too drunk to remember his address so I took him back to, well, here."

She made a small gesture to her small home. "We were completely soaked. So, I took off his jacket and put it down. Then, I wiped his hair with a towel, because it was cold in my room that night and I didn't want him to get sick. Well, he explained his problems to me. I felt bad for him, and I thought that he had broken up with you. So, I-I moved in for a kiss, and h-he leaned, too."

Monserrat bit his lip, afraid of what was about to come next. "Well, he was leaning for another reason. Before I knew it, I was covered him vomit. He quickly passed out after that. So, I took off both our clothes and put them to wash. I kept his underwear on, don't worry. I laid him sitting up on the bed and covered him with my blanket. I slept on the couch."

"The next morning I was making breakfast, and he ran out before even grabbing his coat."

"He...he told me that h-he cheated on me..." Monserrat's heart was about to soar, and it probably would have if Addison hadn't set her hand on his shoulder. She kept him grounded and in touch with his reality.

"He thought that he had. The truth is, I was trying to, um, heal from my ex. From how Amadeus was talking that night, my drunk mind thought that maybe you two had broken up. So, I decided to, um, have a...well, you know..." Susan's eyes looked down in a little shame. "I didn't mean to hurt your relationship."

"Well, uh, thanks for the apology." With a few nervous movements, Monserrat finally settled into a comfortable position in his seat. "But why was he here just now?" Addison lifted an eyebrow at her.

"He was grabbing his coat." Susan tried hard not to sound suspicious. "Okay but why would he go out of his way to get a coat?" Addison turned on her super-secret-stalker-interrogation mode. "There was something he wanted from it, you'd have to ask him about it." She flashed a small smile at them.

"Okay, I think we've learned enough for one day, Addison. It was nice meeting you Susan." Monserrat got up and he ignored the pout on Addison's face. "It was nice meeting both of you as well."