Diamonds in the Sky

Sean rode the elevator down to Elise's apartment at 6:55 and strode down the hall to her door. He could hear the giggling before he even reached her door. He knocked and Zoe threw the door open, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"Your dates here!" Zoe trilled, stepping back and letting Sean enter. She closed the door behind him. “You look delicious as always, Aves,” Zoe teased.

"Shouldn't you be back in Philly by now?" Sean asked her.

"Got a call while I was having coffee with Elise and I need to go to Charlotte so I changed my flight to in the morning."

“Hey,” Elise said, as she came out of the bedroom.

Sean was pretty sure his heart stopped. Elise’s hair was down, falling in waves just past her shoulders. Her dress was cream lace on top and the bottom was a peplum skirt in teal, separated by a black band at the waist. She had simple black pumps on.

“My work here is done,” Zoe announced with a smile. “I will see you in two weeks Elise.” She grabbed her coat and hugged Elise, whispering in her ear. She walked over to Sean and with one finger under his chin, pushed his mouth closed before hugging him tightly. “Take care of her for me,” she said softly in his ear.

“Delicate merchandise,” Sean said reverently.

Zoe smiled. “Thatta boy.” She kissed his cheek and then headed for the door. “Have fun you two!” She called out as the door closed behind her.

Sean turned to Elise and drank her in again. “Do I look okay?” Elise asked.

“You look better than okay. You look gorgeous,” Sean replied. Elise blushed.

“Zoe picked out the dress.”

“She has good taste.”

“I love her shoes,” Elise admitted. “She has this crazy orange pair that I just love. With spikes and this crystal skull at the toe.”

Sean chuckled. “I bought those.”

“Really?”

Sean nodded. “I’ve probably bought half her collection. The way to Zoe’s heart is her feet. I usually buy her a pair for Christmas and her birthday.”

Elise laughed. “Well if I’m ever not sure what to buy, I know who to ask when Zoe is out of touch.”

“I am an expert after all,” Sean said. “You ready?” Elise nodded and grabbed a small, boxy black clutch off the counter and slipped into her black wool pea coat. She followed Sean down the hall to the elevator and outside of the building. They made the short walk to the gallery, which was only five blocks away. Sean held Elise’s hand in his as they walked, loving the feel of her hand in his.

When they arrived at the gallery, Elise clinged to Sean as he worked the room with her at his side, introducing her the artist of the show, the owner of the gallery, and a number of other people he knew. The names and faces jumbled together but she did her best to remember what she could.
She had several glasses of champagne, overlooking the passed trays of hors devours and on the walk home, she clutched Sean’s arm and giggled. When they reached the elevator, she pushed against him and kissed him, grabbing his shirt and tugging it free of his pants, and slipping her hands across his flat stomach.

“Elise,” Sean groaned out. He reached for her hands and pulled them away from him. She pouted.

“Take me to your apartment,” she said when he reached for the 5 button.

“No, not tonight,” he said firmly.

“Please,” she purred, rubbing against him. He looked to the ceiling and breathed deeply.

“You’re drunk, Elise.”

“I'm not drunk. Just tipsy!” she protested on a giggle. She hiccuped and covered her mouth with her hand as her giggle turned into a laugh. The doors opened on the fifth floor and Sean led her down the hall to her apartment. He let them in and led Elise to the bedroom. She flopped down onto the bed, kicking her pumps off and crawling up to the pillows. Sean left the room but came back a few minutes later. He set a bottle of water and two aspirins on the bedside table. He leaned down and and swept the hair off of her face. He kissed her forehead.

“Sweet dreams, Elise,” he said.



Two weeks flew by and Sean and Elise saw each other every day. Sometimes they did lunch, other times dinner. There had been a few Rangers game sprinkled in as well and they usually met up with Hank and the others after. This night was no exception and the pair was squeezing in as much time together as they could before Elise left for philly the next morning. She and Max got together every year sometime between their two birthdays and since he had started seeing Zoe, she was always included as well, since her birthday was in January. Max had a stretch of home games so they had a lot of things planned for their week, and Sean was planning to come at the end of the week for a couple days for the party Zoe had been planning to celebrate their birthdays.

Elise and Sean were waiting on drinks at the bar when the woman beside her bumped into Elise, spilling her drink down her side. “Shit,” Elise muttered. Sean frowned and handed Elise some napkins from the counter. She dabbed at her side.

“I am so sorry,” the woman said. Elise looked up and her gaze turned murderous.

“Vous pute!” (you bitch) Elise raged, lunging for the woman and grabbing a handful of her hair.
“Morceau de merde putain!” (piece of shit whore)

“Elise!” Sean yelled, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her away. She ripped a chunk of the woman’s hair out and she shrieked with pain.

“What the fuck, Elise!” The woman shouted.

“You know each other?” Sean asked in bewilderment.

“Honey, are you okay?” a male ran up and threw his arms around the woman protectively. He wheeled on Sean and Elise and stopped short when he saw Elise. “Elise,” he breathed softly. Elise growled and struggled against Sean, wanting to claw his eyes out.

“Elise, you have got to calm the fuck down,” Sean said lowly in her ear.

“Va te faire foutre, Henri! Que faites-vous dans ma ville?” Elise demanded. (Fuck you, Henri! What are you doing in my city?)

“J'ai des affaires ici aussi, tu sais.” (I have business here too you know.)

“No. I moved here to escape you. You can not be here.”

“You don’t rule the world. We can go wherever we want,” the woman crowed.

“You shut up you fucking slut!” Elise yelled at her.

“Don’t talk to her like that!” Henri yelled at Elise.

“Don’t raise your voice at her,” Sean said, stepping between Elise and Henri. He stared him in the eye and Henri immediately shrinked under Sean’s wordless intimidation. “You need to get the hell out of here.”

“Let’s go, Brigitte,” Henri said quietly.

Elise grabbed her hand before they could walk away. “Vous êtes marié?” (You’re married)

Brigitte smiled smugly and flashed the large diamond in Elise’s face with triumph. “Oui, le mois dernier.” (Yes, last month).

Elise’s face crumpled and she turned and ran from the bar. Sean looked on in confusion and Henri clapped him on the shoulder.

“Good luck with that one,” he said with a snicker.

He removed Henri’s hand from him and gripped the mans wrist. “I don't know who the fuck you are but if you don’t disappear from my sight in the next five seconds, I will break your fucking arm,” Sean said lowly. Henri yanked free of Sean's grasp and grabbed Brigitte’s hand and ran from the bar.
Sean set off in the direction Elise had run and spotted Hank near the bathrooms. Sean walked over to him and found Elise with him. Hank held her and whispered to her as she cried into his shoulder. Hank looked up when he heard Sean approach.

“What the hell, Elise?” Sean asked. She pulled back from Hank and looked to Sean. “Who was that?”

“That was my ex, Henri.”

“The one you broke up with before you moved here?”

“The one and the same. Brigitte is my ex-roommate.”

“Oh.”

“Hank, I’m sorry. I’ve made a mess of your shirt,” Elise said, stepping back from him.

“Its okay. You good now?”

“I’ll be fine.” He nodded and gave her a hug before passing her off to Sean.

“I can’t believe they’re married,” Elise said softly. “Its only been two months since we broke off our engagement.”

“Excuse me? Your engagement?”

Elise immediately flushed. “Fuck,” she muttered.

“You were engaged?” Sean demanded. She nodded. “Engaged? Why didn't you tell me?”

“I was trying to move on from him. He hurt me.”

“How long were you engaged?”

“Just shy of a year. We were supposed to be married at the end of May.”

Sean exploded. “May? As in two months away May?” Elise nodded. “You should have told me.”

“I....I didn’t think it was important.”

“You didn't think it was important? Elise, you were engaged up until two months ago! And you didn’t think it was important to tell me that?!”

“Sean, please.” She reached for him and he pulled away from her.

“No! I can’t even deal with you right now, Elise.” He turned and stalked away and Elise watched until he disappeared into the crowd. She sagged back against the wall and let the tears come.