“What the fuck are you wearing, Jake?” Madison demanded, her brows knit together.
Jake wore one of those black T shirts with a tuxedo silk-screened on the front in white. At least his shirt was long sleeved and hugged his tan, muscled body flatteringly. He also wore black jeans and black Vans tennis shoes. His blond hair was golden and naturally feathered and weathered. It draped across his forehead in this way that probably made anything with a double X chromosome want to run their fingers through it.
“I don’t have a tux,” Jake hissed apologetically. He thrust his hands into his pockets. He looked like a giant kid out of his element.
Madison rolled her eyes and smiled at him. She tip-toed up to kiss his cheek. “I still love you, you big surf bum.”
The lights overhead faded down suddenly and the DJ softened the volume on the dubstep until it was a murmur.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” Brandon said over a microphone from somewhere in the room.
The chatter of conversation around the room quieted. All eyes turned to Brandon, who appeared near the DJ booth. A spotlight shone on him.
“We have a very special event here tonight at Charboneau,” Brandon continued, “and I want to welcome everyone to a once in a lifetime experience. This is a first, ladies and gentlemen. You may have noticed that the placard out front read simply, Manos. All of us in the art world know there are three Manos men. How could I, Brandon Charboneau, have made such an oversight?” He paused and smiled expectantly.
The crowd chuckled.
“I assure you, it was no oversight.”
I saw Christos, who stood with some of the older patrons, grin and roll his eyes at Brandon.
“Because tonight, ladies and gentlemen,” Brandon said mysteriously, “we have all three Manos men in attendance. Spiridon? Nikolos? Christos? Will you please join me?”
The three Manos men worked their way through the crowd into the spotlight next to Brandon while the crowd murmured.
It only took a second before people started clapping. I mean, loudly. Soon, people were cheering. I had never appreciated how famous the Manos men really were until now. But I didn’t know then that this was only the tip of the iceberg.
The Manos men now stood beside Brandon. They all smiled and waved, and they all looked so damn handsome and humble. I was truly the luckiest girl in the world to be part of their family. Well, at least an honorary member, since I was only Christos’ girlfriend. It’s not like I was his wife. But, boy, was I proud of all three of them right now. I started tearing up with joy.
Madison bumped my elbow and whispered, “It’s okay, Sam. Let it out.”
“I don’t want my mascara to run,” I sniffled, dabbing the corner of my eye with my pinky.
“Here’s a handkerchief,” Romeo said, proffering one from his coat pocket, “It’s silk. Go ahead,” he said affectionately. “I’ve only blown my nose in it once today,” he grinned. “I’m kidding.”
I giggled and took it to blot my eyes.
When the applause died down, Brandon said, “Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, not only do we have all three Manos men here in attendance, but we also have their masterful art.”
On cue, spotlights came on throughout the gallery, illuminating all of the black silk covered paintings on the walls.
“The Manos family is back!” Brandon cheered over the mic. “Welcome to the first ever showing of the unseen art of Spiridon, Nikolos and Christos Manos!” He was yelling on his final words. He handed the microphone to the DJ so he could clap vigorously.
The entire room joined him.
“Yeah!” Jake shouted.
“Woo hoo!” Madison cheered.
“All right, Christos!” Kamiko clapped.
“I’d do him!” Romeo shouted.
I grimaced and smiled at him. “You are so Romeo, Romeo!”
He grinned wide, “I know, right?”
My friends were awesome. Normally, I wasn’t the kind of girl to cheer at social events. But tonight was special. And I couldn’t help myself. I cheered away, “Yay, Christos! Woo!!!!”
It didn’t take long for the whole room to explode with noise. It was like being at a concert when a famous band came out on stage at the beginning of the show. The room roared with approval and applause.
It was totally overwhelming.
The spotlights still shone on The Manos Men. Christos stepped between Spiridon and Nikolos and put his arms around their necks. They bowed in unison.
After awhile, the cheering faded.
Back on the mic, Brandon said, “Anybody ready to see some art?”
“Yeah!!!” the crowd shouted.
This was hardly what I expected from an art gallery opening. But what did I know? It was frickin’ awesome!
The DJ cued up a bumping dubstep track at the exact same moment all of the black silks rippled to the floor beneath each canvas.
The crowd literally gasped.
The room was filled with art. Portraits I’d seen in Nikolos’ studio. Landscapes I’d seen in Spiridon’s house. And Christos’ nudes, and a few other paintings I couldn’t see. There was so much to look at.
Everyone gazed around the room, speechless. After a moment, people gravitated toward the paintings and the conversation was soon as loud as the music.
I walked around the room with the gang, looking at all the art. I made comments about the portraits I’d seen Nikolos working on at his house. They all looked amazing and had lots of character. But my favorite was still his portrait of Spiridon, maybe because I knew Spiridon so well and the portrait practically breathed when I looked at it.
As for Spiridon’s landscapes, I’d seen some of them before, but not all. In any case, I’d never seen them properly lit in a gallery. They glowed from their frames like portals to another reality. You could feel the breeze on your face or the sun in your eyes. Amazing.
“These paintings are incredible,” Kamiko said. “It’s almost like I can smell the ocean breeze in Spiridon’s art like I’m right there. It’s unreal.”
“I know, right?” I said, in total agreement.
“She’s just smelling my farts,” Romeo joked.
“Romeo,” Kamiko’s face pinched into a grimace, “your farts smell nothing like an ocean breeze. Believe me, I know.”
I threw my head back and laughed.
We finally worked our way through the crowd to Christos’ paintings. We’d all seen the female nudes before in the studio. But none of the gang had seen the LOVE portrait of me and Christos.
“I can see your boobies!” Romeo said.
I blushed instantly. This is what I was worried about.
“Don’t worry, Sam,” Madison said. “Half the planet has boobies, and the other half has seen them before.”
I rolled my eyes. I hoped nobody recognized me. I’d forgotten to bring a disguise. Oh well. Maybe there was too much chaos in the gallery for anyone to notice I was the naked girl in the life size painting hanging on the wall under a spotlight.
Some older guy beside me in a tux was glancing between my face and the painting, back and forth.
“Yeah,” Romeo said to the guy, “that’s her.”
I rolled my eyes, “Thanks, Romeo,” I hissed sarcastically.
“Any time,” he giggled.
The older guy said, “It’s an amazing likeness. That’s Christos with you in the portrait, isn’t it?”
I nodded.
“I’ve never seen an artist do a self portrait with a woman beside him,” the man said.
“She’s his girlfriend,” Romeo said, “That’s why the painting is called LOVE.”
“That’s wonderful,” the man smiled, then turned to a woman with silver hair who was obviously his wife. She smiled at me before the two of them examined the portrait in detail.
“Romeo,” I asked, “how do you know so much about Christos’ paintings?”
Romeo said, “Oh, uh…”
“What the fuck!” Kamiko literally shou
ted. She was several paces ahead of us. “I can’t believe it!”
“What!” Mads said, pulling Jake along as she moved to see what Kamiko was talking about.
I followed them until we all stood before a huge portrait. Of Romeo. Jumping in the air exactly like Mario from Donkey Kong. Romeo was dressed in his traditional black steampunk attire. His monocle hung suspended in the air on the S curve of the monocle string. Romeo too was suspended in mid flight, his arms thrust down with his fingers splayed, his jacket billowing out around him, his knees flung forward and back like he was hurdling over something. He had the largest open mouthed smiled I’d ever seen. The painting was beautiful.
“What’s it say on the card?” Kamiko asked. “What’s the title?”
Madison leaned down and read it. “It just says, ‘Romeo’.”
Romeo grinned, “Because that’s all it needs to say.”
Christos squeezed through the crowd. “What do you think?” he asked me.
“I love it!” I smiled. “When did you do it? I had no idea you were working on this.”
He cocked his eyebrow, “Whenever you were working at my dad’s house.”
“It’s so good, Christos,” Madison said.
“Thanks,” he smiled. “Hey Jake, I’m loving the tux.”
Jake glanced down at his T shirt tux. “Seriously?”
Christos gave Jake a thumbs up. ‘Only you, bro.”
Jake grinned and nodded while they bumped fists.
At that moment, I happened to notice that two paintings between Christos’ other paintings still had black silk over them. One of them was really big. “What’s up with the two covered paintings?”
“It’s a surprise,” he flashed his dimpled grin at me.
“Oh really?”
“You’re going to love it.”
“Like I love the LOVE painting?”
He nodded, “Yeah.”
“I can’t wait!”
“Well, I’ve got to keep circling,” Christos said. “People are asking questions a mile a minute.”
“Okay,” I waved as he was swallowed by the crowd.
He wasn’t exaggerating. Everyone wanted to talk to him. They all looked up at him with sparkling eyes, in awe of the rockstar artist. I was so proud of him.
===
At one point, the gang had wandered off to look at more art. I stood talking to Spiridon and Nikolos in front of one of Spiridon’s large landscapes.
Brandon suddenly squeezed through the crowd and stuck a red dot on the landscape. “Another one sold,” he smiled at Spiridon.
“How many is that?” Spiridon asked him.
“Nine, and more on the way,” Brandon smiled.
“Hey, Brandon” Nikolos said, “who’s selling more, me or dad?”
“Right now, Spiridon has you by two.”
Spiridon clapped Nikolos on the back, “I told you I’ve still got it.”
“Yeah,” Nikolos said to him, “but Brandon says I’m catching up. Brandon, go sell more of my paintings.”
Brandon grinned and shook his head, “They’re all selling.”
Nikolos chuckled, “Well, just make sure more of mine sell. Can’t let the old man show me up.”
Spiridon rolled his eyes. “Ahh, youth,” he grinned.
“So,” Brandon said to Spiridon, “tell me something. I’ve been trying to get you to sell these landscapes for years.” He motioned to the paintings on the walls. “But you said you wouldn’t because they meant too much to you. You even turned down Stanford Wentworth’s offer for the lot a few months ago. Why’d you change your mind now?”
Spiridon shrugged his shoulders. “You yourself told Christos he needed more paintings on the wall if he wanted a successful show. I wanted my grandson to have a successful show. It’s that simple. Seeing him succeed means more to me than keeping these old paintings.”
Nikolos nodded agreement. “The more the merrier, right?”
Brandon nodded. “I can’t thank you both enough for agreeing to do this. And thank you, Nikolos, for suggesting it. I’m so glad Christos agreed to it. And you, too, Spiridon.”
“It’s the least we could do,” Spiridon said, “for family.”
Nikolos nodded.
“Well, thank you,” Brandon said. “This is truly a historic event.”
“Yes it is,” Spiridon said reverently.
Everyone was in such a good mood, it was contagious.
Brandon smiled, “I need to get back to it. People are waiting for me because they want to buy more art,” He raised both eyebrows and smiled before withdrawing into the ocean of people in tuxes and black dresses.
I glanced at the placard on Spiridon’s painting. The price tag read, $475,000. Jesus Christ, the Manos family made money like crazy when it came to selling their art.
“Where did you paint this one, Spiridon?” I asked, motioning toward the landscape. It was a gorgeous painting of sun breaking through clouds over a huge mountain valley.
“Yosemite,” Spiridon said.
“You mean you went back after that deer tried to eat your watercolors?” I quipped.
“You remembered our story about the deer!” Nikolos chuckled.
“Of course I remembered!” I grinned at him. “I remember all your stories. I’m going to write them all down someday,” I winked. I looked around for a moment and sighed, overwhelmed by all the excitement and the amazing art. “Wow, you guys,” I smiled, “You have so many awesome paintings here tonight. I can’t believe it.”
Spiridon and Nikolos smiled back at me.
Spiridon shrugged, “It’s just art.”
“Just art,” I scoffed. Maybe they were bored with lavish gallery openings after decades. What did I know?
“Hey,” Spiridon said, “remember that show you had in New York? I think it was 1984?”
Nikolos chuckled, “I’ve tried to block out all of 1984.”
“You know the one. The one with the fire?”
Nikolos’ eyes widened. “Oh! That show.”
Spiridon nodded knowingly.
“What happened,” I asked, all ears.
Nikolos said, “I got the idea that if I set one of my paintings on fire in the gallery, it would create a real buzz in the art world.”
Spiridon grinned, obviously knowing where the story was going.
Nikolos continued, “Too bad the only buzz was when the fire department showed up and kicked everyone out of the gallery.”
Spiridon shook his head, smiling.
“Did anyone get hurt?” I asked.
“Just my sales,” Nikolos winked.
“So you won’t set anything on fire tonight?” I joked.
Nikolos looked at Spiridon, “Have I told you how much I like this girl?” He wrapped an arm around my neck and gave me a friendly hug.
“Nikolos was always about the marketing from the beginning,” Spiridon said. “He knew what he was doing, and he wanted to sell paintings. But setting that painting on fire wasn’t the only brilliant marketing idea he had, was it, son? Remember that time you covered yourself in paint and rolled around on a canvas in the middle of the gallery opening?”
My eyes widened, “You did that?”
“Yup,” Nikolos nodded. “Nude.”
“While people watched?” I asked in complete disbelief.
“For a packed house,” he said.
“How’d it go over?”
“People loved it.” Nikolos made a funny face. “I was so ‘experimental’,” he made finger quotes, “I was pushing the envelope.”
“The only thing he hadn’t factored in,” Spiridon said conspiratorially, “was how hard it was to get the paint off afterward.”
Nikolos squeezed his eyes shut and cackled as he said, “Who knew peeling acrylic paint of your privates would hurt so much!”
“What!” I gasped, covering my mouth.
Nikolos nodded, “But the worst part was getting it out of my hair. I ended up shaving my head and my jewels.”
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My mouth Oed.
“I warned you,” Spiridon said affectionately.
Spiridon and Nikolos laughed and shook their heads at the shared memory.
These two were full of endless stories about art adventures.
“So, did you sell your pubic painting to public?” I asked satirically.
Spiridon chuckled, “Pubic painting…”
I winked at him.
“Of course I did,” Nikolos scoffed.
“Did the bonus pubic hair up the price?” I asked innocently.
Spiridon and Nikolos chuckled heartily.
“Not that I remember,” Nikolos said. “But it should have. That buyer got my DNA. You can’t get better authentication than that. Hey, I should use that as a marketing angle.”
“What,” Spiridon said, “putting your pubic hair in all your paintings?”
“Why not?” Nikolos grinned.
“Know your limits, son,” Spiridon smiled smugly, patting him on the shoulder.
“So,” I said, “how much did the pubic hair painting sell for?”
“Oh, boy.” Nikolos looked thoughtfully at the ceiling, remembering. “I think two twenty five?”
“Dollars?” I asked.
“Thousand,” Nikolos chuckled.
“$225,000?” I gasped.
“Yeah,” he smiled.
“Wow, when did you do that?”
“Way back in ’88, I think. I told you I wanted to forget the eighties,” he grinned at Spiridon.
“Come on,” Spiridon said enthusiastically, “you were young. You were having fun. In those days, that was all you and Vesile did—” Spiridon suddenly stopped himself, clamping his mouth shut.
Nikolos dropped his chin to his chest and his shoulders sunk.
“I’m sorry, son” Spiridon said to him softly, draping his arm over Nikolos’ shoulders.
I wasn’t entirely sure why Nikolos was so emotional. But I did know one thing from working with him in his studio all the time. He never talked about his ex-wife, Christos’ mom, and I never asked. I really knew hardly anything about her. And from what I could tell, Nikolos didn’t date anybody at all. He just painted and spent time with friends and family.
“Are you okay, Nikolos?” I asked, suddenly worried. He seemed really distraught.
Nikolos raised his head and blinked away tears. “It’s nothing. I’m okay.” He turned his head away, trying to hide the emotion on his face. “Don’t worry about it,” he said a moment later. “I’ll be fine,” he sniffed.
Painless (The Story of Samantha Smith #3) Page 49