Painless (62 page)

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.”

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.

Wow, he must have loved Vesile like crazy if he still broke down twelve years after she’d left.
 

I felt so bad for him.

===

“All right everybody,” Brandon said over the microphone. He stood in front of the two paintings still covered in black silk, “There’s one more surprise. The final unveiling. I’m sure you’re all wondering about the two paintings that are still covered up.”

The crowd murmured agreement.

“I’ll let Christos fill you in himself.” Brandon handed the mic to Christos and stepped out of the spotlight.
 

Christos had been so busy for the last hour, I hadn’t said a single word to him.

“Some of you may know,” Christos said to the crowd, “that a very special woman came into my life nine months ago. If you haven’t met her, you’ve already seen her in my painting entitled LOVE. That’s me and her, Samantha Smith, together. Samantha, will you come up here?”
 

Gulp.

Christos shaded his eyes from the spotlight with his hand and searched the crowd for me.

Nervousness suddenly seized me. Did I have to stand in front of everyone? Of course I did. But maybe I wouldn’t have to say anything.

“Go, Sam,” Madison prodded at my elbow.

“Yeah,” Romeo said, pushing my back gently, “get up there.”

I didn’t have a choice. I made my way through the crowd and stepped into the spotlight. It was really effing bright. I squinted until my eyes adjusted. I hoped nobody was snapping photos. I probably looked terrible.
 

Christos took my hand and held it in his.

I’d never felt so on the spot in my entire life. Literally.

Christos smiled at me, gazing into my eyes. He said to the mic, “What none of you know is how much Samantha means to me,”
 

His blue eyes burned into my heart in that moment, in a good way. Oh my god, where was this going?

“Samantha has been an inspiration to me since the day we met,” Christos said. “If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know that I’d be here tonight.”

Gulp.

“Samantha saved my life, and for that, I am forever grateful. But more than that, she has been my guide. She has shown me how to embrace myself, to be me. Not someone else. Her courage blows me away every time I think about it. She moved all the way to San Diego from Washington D.C. with the dream of becoming an artist. And she never wavered from it. She stuck to her guns, no matter what challenges life put in her way. She has come so far in such a short time. She has a natural talent for art that I’ve never seen before. Sadly, for all her hard work, Samantha has never had a painting in a gallery show.”
 

Christos paused while the crowd went “Awww.”
 

He continued, “But she should. She’s an amazing artist already, and she’s just getting started. So, without further ado, I introduce you all to master artist Samantha Anna Smith.”

One of the two remaining black silks dropped to the floor.

I was going to cry all over myself.

It was my phoenix sunset landscape painting I’d done for the Contemporary Artists Show, the one Brandon rejected. I couldn’t stop myself. Tears ran down my face.

The whole room clapped. I was overwhelmed by their energy. I leaned into Christos and hugged his chest. I was laughing and crying at the same time. I couldn’t believe what was happening. My tears dripped all over his black T shirt. I buried my face in it.
 

Christos leaned down and whispered in my ear, “You have no idea how much I love you Samantha Anna Smith.”

No, I think I did. I sobbed and laughed.

After a minute, he muttered “Are you okay,
agápi mou
?”

“Yeah,” I sniffed, “I think I died and went to heaven.”

The crowd was starting to make a bunch of noise. Everyone was talking about my painting.

“Hold on,” Christos said into the mic. “We have one more surprise. When I saw this painting of Samantha’s that you’re looking at now, I was blown away by it. She’s only been painting in oils for six months, and I think it’s fucking incredible.”

Several people in the crowd chuckled.

I spontaneously pulled the microphone down to my mouth and said, “I had a lot of good advice from all of the Manos men. I couldn’t have done it without a million tips from them.”

The crowd chuckled.

“It was all her,” Spiridon shouted from the back.

More laughs from the crowd.

“Go, Sam!” Madison shouted.

I think it was Jake next to her who did one of those really loud whistles.

“SAAAMMMM!!!” Romeo squealed. “I want to be your baby daddy!”

I heard Kamiko laughing next to him.

I was going to pass out from happiness in about thirty seconds. I was totally, joyously overwhelmed. I’d never felt so accepted, or so important, in my entire life. It was incredible.

Christos spoke into the mic, “I’ve been so inspired by Samantha’s transformation from a mousy little girl to an amazing artist, I wanted to immortalize the person I know her to be in my final painting of the evening.” He motioned to the big painting behind him still covered in black silk. “She has a warrior spirit, and she is indomitable. I wanted to pay tribute to that.”

Christos nodded to Brandon and the final black silk fell away.

The crowd gasped and went silent.

It was so quiet, not even the dropping pins made a sound.

I was almost afraid to turn around and look at the painting.

But I did.

Oh, my god.

It was amazing.

It was me, a life size painting of me as a naked angel with wings of fire. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I stood in a graceful pose, my arms spread wide to the sides, the pose I’d held in our studio until my neck and shoulders had cramped into knots. The huge angel’s wings sprouting out behind me were made of fiery red and gold feathers. I floated in the air above the surface of the earth, which was a wide curve at the bottom of the painting, running from left to right. The purple blackness of space, surrounding the golden orange flames dancing around my legs, held thousands of shining stars.

Christos’ portrait of me as a fiery angel had a similar palette of colors to my phoenix sunset. They looked like a matched set. His and hers paintings honoring the energy of creation, done in red jewels and molten gold.

I was overwhelmed. My knees gave out.

But Christos caught me.

He always did.

I was the luckiest girl on the planet.

===

After Christos unveiled his painting of me as the fiery angel, everyone crowded around the two of us. They couldn’t get close enough to Christos. Everyone wanted a piece of him. It was kind of scary, actually. It was this weird mob mentality fame thing. I guess this was what being famous was like. It was weird being the center of attention, but with Christos beside me, I was fine.

People were asking both me and Christos tons of questions about the paintings and our relationship. We just answered them as they asked. Everyone was entranced with the idea that we were two painters in love, inspired by each other’s creative ideas. I guess maybe I took it for granted. Not in a thoughtless way. I just never really stopped to think about how special what we had really was.

One of the most common comments we heard was about the similarity of color palette and subject matter of our two paintings. When people asked, Christos told everybody casually, “I know genius when I see it. I just took Samantha’s idea and ran with it.” That was a total exaggeration, but every time he said it, even after the hundredth, I was stunned and flattered and blushed like crazy.

I did so much smiling, my cheeks started to hurt. Was it possible to get cheek muscle cramps? I wouldn’t mind if I did. It was worth it. I don’t think I’d ever been this completely happy in my entire life.

At some point during the evening, Christos whispered in my ear, “Do you realize we’ve been standing here talking to people for almost two hours?”