Paint Me a Picture with Nothing

Chapter Eight

The strong aroma of Alex's coffee rang through the author's apartment as he relaxed on his couch. It wasn't often that he had some time to just let loose. He was usually working, and working, occasionally sleeping, then working again. It was a cycle he loved to hate, in a way. Sometimes he pondered about how life would've been if he followed his parents' path of being in the family business. He didn't see the point of slaving over a hot stove, literally, to not get anywhere in life. His parents' hated his decision from the start, but Alex knew the benefits. He knew what he wanted and he was good at it, a powerful combination that Alex has grown to cherish.

His caramel eyes glanced down at his phone, the screen illuminating to show the time of the day. 8:53 A.M. A small, almost inaudible sigh escaped from Alex's lips. Taylor was supposed to arrive at his flat at 9 to drop off some work and discuss plans for the novel. He knew her pretty well to know that she should've arrived ten, sometimes fifteen minutes early.

The sound of a knock on Alex's door startled him a bit, but he was quick to his feet and quickly went to open the door, nearly tripping over his feet. He immediately saw Taylor, the look of distress and exhaustion masked her features.

"A little late are we?" Alex teased, he was in a slightly better mood now that he was able to work on future plans going toward his novel. "It's fine, but c'mon. We need to talk." He finished before leading the way inside, plopping down on his couch soon after.

Taylor tilted her head to the side a bit at Alex's mood. She's never seen him so lively, but that was beside the point. As she walked in, guilt quickly flooded her mind. "Alex." She said quietly as the younger of the two stood in the foyer area of his flat.

Alex rolled his eyes with a tiny smile. "Taylor, sit." He responded as he patted the spot next to him on the couch.

"No, I can't. We need to talk, and not about your novel."

Alex furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at her. "What's wrong?" He asked, noticing the color in her face suddenly leaving her body.

Taylor took a deep breath. "I can't do this. Working for you just isn't the best. We can't work together."

There's always that moment that happens throughout life. The feeling of your heart dropping and literally feeling your world crash as everyone around you remained constant. The feeling of losing a child to cancer, knowing they've fought harder than anyone ever imagined. The irreversible heartache of losing a family member or lover to a traumatic accident or terrorist attack. Alex didn't quite understand why the fact that Taylor announcing that she's resigning cause this feeling, but he couldn't help but feel lost. His mind was suddenly thinking of how he was possibly going to finish his novel. He needed her, even if he didn't need her ideas, he needed her company.

"Alex... Did you hear me?" Taylor asked after a few minutes of receiving nothing, but silence from Alex.

The author flinched and looked at Taylor, his emotionless hazelnut eyes meeting with the dark chocolate ones of Taylor's. "Fine." He replied simply as he turned to look at his computer. "Just leave whatever you've done on the counter and that'll be it."

Taylor's eyebrows instantly shot up. She was shocked, to say the least. The fact that Alex took it so well was truly surprising, but something about how Alex responded to her departure seemed fishy. As she placed everything that she had worked on, she noticed how Alex's previous facial expression had contoured into a pained expression.

Alex caught Taylor's eyes for a second before he quickly averted his eyes back to his laptop. He soon heard the door shut, which made the elder develop somewhat of a numb feeling. He was never good with goodbyes, but over the years, he's learned to grow accustomed to them; however how much he prepared, he couldn't shake the feeling.

---

Alex was awoken by Jack barging into his flat angrily. His black and blond hair messy as he stormed over to the half-asleep elder.

"Alex!" Jack grumbled as the author just stared at him with droopy eyes.

"What, man?" Alex mumbled sleepily. He didn't quite understand why Jack was standing over him, and why the hell he interrupted his nap.

"Do you know what today is?"

Alex shrugged in response and looked around his flat, he was out of it ever since Taylor left earlier, which was strange.

"Alex!" Jack hissed. "I needed you to help me looking over my marketing assignment. You're the literature genius! I just needed you to spend a couple of hours looking over my writing and helping me improve it to make it sound more convincing, but look at where you are! You're fucking taking a nap!"

Alex's eyes averted up to Jack as he scrunched his face up a bit. "Stop yelling, I forgot, okay?" He asked quietly as he sat up.

"You forgot?! I help you all the time, but the one time that I needed you the most, you forgot!" Jack scoffed. "You don't realize how many times I've had to help you with your novels. Hell, I got Tay for you, but you couldn't he-"

"Taylor left." Alex interrupted.

Jack was about to continue, but the words that came out of his mouth just made him stare at the author. "She left? What do you mean she left?"

"She quit, this morning. She got fed up with me, I guess." Alex mumbled with a shrug.

Jack stayed silent for a second before slowly sitting down. "Oh," He said quietly as he looked over at Alex. "But why do you look like you just lost your puppy or something?"

"Do I really?" Alex asked as he looked up at Jack, earning a nod from said boy. He hadn't looked at himself ever since he woke up, but he never showed emotion in his features. The thing is, though, he felt like pure and utter shit. He felt as though he lost his puppy, but instead of his puppy, he lost someone important, and the fact that he realized that made him open his eyes to the way he's been acting. He now knows why Taylor left.

"I've been treating her terribly." The author commented as his eyes went wide in shock.