Bring Me Fire

Bring Me Fire

Emily Stone

Text Copyright 2014
Emily Stone

All Rights Reserved

Chapter 1

The moment Sky
Sanders pushed through the door at the art gallery
Prelude
she knew that something was wrong. Her morning ritual included stopping by
Café Del Mar
to get one whole milk latte with two shots and whipped cream, and one whole-milk mocha with two shots, extra mocha, extra whipped cream. Sometimes, she’d buy a muffin, especially when the muffin of the day was blueberry crumble, because that was Aidan’s favorite. They would split it, and as they ate, in the quiet of the gallery before they opened for the day, he’d gaze at her mildly with those gentle hazel eyes and say, "What did I do to deserve such a great employee?"

It was a rhetorical question, of course, though Sky herself had said thanks on more than one occasion that she had finally found a job she liked with a boss she could get along with. The owners of the other art galler
ies she’d interned for had run the gamut of absolute flakiness to anal retentive OCD. Being hired at
Prelude
, only six months ago, had restored Sky’s faltering belief that art was something she was supposed to be involved in.

This morning though, as she struggled through the door with
the two drinks and her purse in hand, she knew immediately that something was amiss. Baroque classical music poured from the speakers. The honey-colored hardwood floors gleamed, reflecting the recessed can lights overhead. All of this, plus the icy chill Sky sensed in the air, told her that Aidan was not here. He’d never put on baroque classical and the gallery lights didn’t go on until they were at least halfway finished with their coffees. Instead, she’d be working with his wife, Ashley.

Sky let the door close behind her and walked toward the back room, the kitten heels on her cobalt blue pumps clicking smartly across the floor.

"You’re late."

She heard the voice right as she was setting the two coffee cups down on what Aidan referred to as the
"community desk" because everyone just piled their personal effects onto it. Sky turned and faced Ashley, glancing at the clock as she did so. It was two minutes past the time she was supposed to arrive, which meant she had probably walked through
Prelude
’s door one minute late.

"
I’m sorry," she said. She picked up the mocha and held it out. "I got you a coffee."

Ashley looked at the offering as though it were dog shit on the end of a stick. She was a petite woman, blon
d hair with frosted highlights and a tiny, almost child-like body that she had to have clothes altered specifically to fit. Sky knew this because Ashley had "confided" it to her in the first few weeks she’d been working there. It had seemed to Sky that they were going to be good friends until one day, a few months ago, when it seemed that Ashley abruptly changed her mind, for no reason that Sky could readily discern.

It had happened before though and Sky had realize
d over time that for some women
everything
was a competition. From appearance and finances to the level of education and your current relationship status. And the more you had of something, often the worse off you were. She'd always been told that she was attractive but she just couldn't see how that could be true. Her limbs were too gawky and her face could best be politely described as angular. Sky could only dream that one day she might develop the smooth lines and curves of the women in her favorite paintings.

"
We actually need to have a little chat," Ashley said. "You can just put that drink down. I know you got it for my husband, anyway. The last thing that man needs is more sugar. Go dump it out. What is it, anyway?"

"
A mocha."

"
Skim milk, I hope."

"
Whole actually."

Ashley rolled her eyes.
"You keep drinking things like that; you’re going to get fat. You better watch yourself."

Sky looked at the drink in her hands. She popped the lid off and then took a long, over-exaggerated sip, complete with audible swallowing sounds. She could tell just by the feel that a rather glorious foamed milk moustache had formed on her upper lip. She smiled at Ashley.
"Why would I need to watch myself when I’ve got you to do that for me?"

"
God, there really is something wrong with you, isn’t there?" Ashley snapped.

Sky laughed and picked up a crumpled napkin off the community desk. She wiped her face.
"It was a joke, Ashley. I’m just joking around a little."

"
You are by far the most undignified person I’ve ever met. I hope you know that."

Sky shrugged. She’d been called worse, and, as far as she was concerned, dignity could be a little stifling. Too much dignity and it was like walking around with a stick jammed halfway up your ass.

"What did you want to talk about?" Sky asked, putting the lid back on the mocha.

"
There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to say it," Ashley said, and Sky felt the iciness in the air intensify. She set the drink down on a stack of papers and turned to face Ashley. "Aidan and I have decided to let you go."

"
What?" Sky said, certain she had heard wrong. Let her go where? To that new gallery opening next weekend? To Chelsea for a whirlwind tour of the most popular and beloved galleries?

"
You’re fired," Ashley said evenly. She folded her arms across her chest. "It isn’t working out."

"
I see." Sky bit her lip, frowning. "I also see that Aidan isn’t here to tell me about this decision the two of you arrived at. I didn’t realize I was doing such a bad job."

"
Aidan has never been good in matters like these," Ashley said. "Had we ever had children, he certainly would’ve been the, what’s the term, the
permissive
parent, while I, of course, would be the disciplinarian. This gallery is, in a way, like our child. And bear in mind Sky, that though Aidan and I are life partners, the gallery is mine and always will be.
I
have the final say.
I
was the one who decided to give you a chance by hiring you, and unfortunately, that has come back to bite me in the ass."

"
I don’t understand how someone can be fired out of the blue like this. No one has said anything to me about any issues with my work. I
love
what I do. And I really enjoy working here." She felt an ache growing in her throat that could either be anger or the onset of tears and swallowed hard to force it away.

"
There are plenty of galleries. I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding another job."

"
But..."

"
The matter is closed as far as I’m concerned. In fact, I’ve drawn up your final paycheck, including a generous severance which is far beyond my obligation. After today, I do not plan on ever seeing you again." She took a step closer to Sky and thrust a folded up piece of paper at her.

"
Um, thanks" Sky brushed a tendril of hair from out of her face. She had long, unruly blonde locks that she often wore loose when she worked because Aidan would sometimes pull on a tendril as he walked by, laughing with delight like he was some lovesick boy on the school playground.

"
Your hair is so...springy," he’d said in an awe-saturated voice the first time he’d done it.

Now, Sky looked at Ashley, and her thin, stick-straight hair, washed out, dishwater blond. She saw the fine lines around her eyes, her mouth, though they were barely visible under the
thick layer of concealer.
You’re old and you’re worn out
, she wanted to say, though she didn’t. She plucked the check from Ashley’s hands.

Nothing had ever happened between her and Aidan; the closest they’d come to intimacy besides the hair-pulling had been Sky confiding in him the pathetic state of her previous relationship. In fact, today she had been looking forward to telling Aidan that she’d taken his advice and been completely honest with Lucas and the fact that his vanilla, almost prudish, bedroom preferences had been just one part of the reason that their relationship was doomed to fail.

"What’s the main problem you have with Lucas?" Aidan had asked her one quiet afternoon.

"
He’s not as...adventurous as I’d like him to be," Sky said, though what she really meant was: he just doesn't excite me like I want him to.

"
You are an adventurous girl," Aidan had said. "You do need someone that can keep up," and Sky scrutinized his face for signs that he was suggesting
he
was just the person, but there was no hint of any such thing; he appeared to be a man lost in thought, trying to figure out a solution for a benign, yet troubling, problem.

She left the gallery, aware of Ashley standing at the door, watching her go, like she might try to sneak back in somehow and then refuse to ever leave the premises. She walked briskly, fumbling in her purse for her phone. She called her best friend Julia and asked her to meet her at
Solstice
in ten minutes.

"
Aren’t you working?" Julia asked.

"
Just meet me there," Sky said, stumbling momentarily as she sidestepped a man in a gray suit who was trying to catch her eye. Why was he even looking at her, did she have something gross stuck to her cheek?  "You’re like a foal," Aidan had said to her one day, when she’d tripped over herself and nearly knocked one of the paintings off the wall. He’d said it like a compliment though.  "Just meet me there," Sky repeated, wiping her hand quickly across her face. "Please."

Chapter 2

The morning coffee crowd had invaded
Solstice
, and the place was packed with people stopping to get to-go orders on their way to work, or bleary-eyed college students who had stumbled in to get their a.m. jolt. Most of the tables and booths were already occupied and the table-tops scattered with a range of digital devices and the various types of coffees steaming beside them. There was an array of mismatched furniture that took up the remaining open space in the café, and Sky was able to find two unoccupied wingback chairs in the far corner.

She watched the entrance for Julia, who walked in the door exactly ten minutes after
Sky had placed the call to her. Sky had known Julia for five years now, and they’d hit it off immediately when they found themselves roommates their freshman year of college. Julia had short, dark hair and a natural athletic ability that Sky secretly coveted, but knew she’d never possess because she was far too uncoordinated. So she lived vicariously through her best friend, who excelled at exciting things like mountain bike racing and martial arts.

"
What happened?" Julia asked when she finally made her way through the crowd to the back of the room, coffee in hand. "Let me rephrase that. Am I going to need to add a shot to my drink before you tell me?"
"No." Sky dug through her handbag again. She pulled out the paycheck, which she’d crumpled into a ball. Now, she smoothed it out and held it up. "This is what I got this morning."

Julia squinted.
"A paycheck? Sky, sweetie, just because getting your degree in art history is basically the equivalent to taking a vow of poverty; don’t you think you should be rejoicing that you’re actually
making
money?"

Sky smiled despite herself.
"It’s a final paycheck. As in, I was fired."

Julia’s eyes widened.
"What? Why?"

"
I have no clue. I went in expecting to see Aidan, to tell him the news about me and Lucas, and instead Ashley’s there and within two minutes she basically tells me to walk my ass out of there and never come back."

"
Well, we all know Ashley’s a gigantic bitch."

"
But...what the fuck! I really liked working there. And I felt like things were finally starting to go right with my life. I had this great job, I finally broke up with Lucas...I mean, really, Julia, I was literally just thinking last night, Hey, I’m pretty happy with the way things are right now. I felt like an adult, almost. Like I’d finally arrived at the point in my life I’d been waiting for, all along." Sky stared at the paycheck, at Ashley’s sharp, jagged signature.
That signature is a direct reflection of her soul
.

"
Did she give you an explanation?" Julia sat down in the chair and easily arranged her legs into the lotus position, a position Sky could never seem to manage to get her gangly legs into without a lot of painful contorting. Julia made it look comfortable, even.

"
No. Other than she was thrilled she’d never have to see me again. But...she did say she
and
Aidan had made the decision together."

"
Oh."

Sky looked at her friend sharply.
"What do you mean,
oh
? Why do you say it like that?"

"
I was just...well...that probably had something to do with it, don’t you think?"

"
Aidan? You think Aidan had something to do with me getting fired? That’s ridiculous! Aidan is my
friend
. Why would he want me to get fired?" The idea that Aidan might actually be in agreement with Ashley had never crossed her mind. It still seemed implausible, but maybe that was why he hadn’t been able to show up today. Sky felt tears prick the corners of her eyes and she furiously wiped them away with the back of her hand. She certainly wasn’t going to cry over this if Aidan had anything to do with it!

Julia shrugged and reached out and patted Sky’s hand.
"It wouldn’t surprise me, is all I’m saying. I’m not saying I think he
wanted
you to get fired; I just think that Ashley probably sensed something. Between the two of you."

"
But there was nothing to sense! I never did anything with Aidan. You know that."

"
I do, but she doesn’t. And it’s not like if given the chance, you wouldn’t have taken it."

Sky considered this.
"I don’t know if I would have," she said after a minute. "I mean, of course I’d want to, but he is married, even if his wife is a douchebag. I’m not a home-wrecker, and I don’t want to be the other woman. Or someone’s one night stand."

"
That’s not what you were saying sophomore year," Julia said slyly.

"
Yeah, yeah, I know, I used to be a big whore."

"
I’m not saying
that
. You haven’t even slept with that many people compared to some. I’m talking about your nineteenth-century art tutor. Who
was
married."

"
Yeah, and which I did not know at the time. God, it’s not like the sex was that great, anyway. I was so sure it would be, him being older and all. More experienced."

Sky sighed at the memory. She’d slept with Neil twice, and both times he’d been so aroused by the sight of her naked body he’d
he'd climaxed within minutes, nowhere near enough time for Sky to even get close herself. And for a man with such elegant, tapered fingers, he’d proven himself to be virtually useless, jabbing at her as though his index finger was a tiny dick as opposed to something that could bend and swivel and move about with dexterity. The whole thing had been a huge disappointment, and he ended up giving her a hard time in the class because she’d broken things off after she found out he was married.

"
It’s not just sex, though," Julia said. "With you and Aidan. It’s the emotional part. I’m thinking Ashley probably sensed that Aidan was having some sort of emotional affair with you. I mean, that’s totally what you were doing with him."

"
This is the first time you’ve ever mentioned this theory," Sky said. "Which I don’t agree with, by the way."

"
No? You weren’t getting from Aidan some sort of emotional connection that just wasn’t there with Lucas?"

Sky twirled a strand of hair around her index finger, something she only did when nervous or deep in concentration.
"Well, yes," she said finally. "I guess I did get something from Aidan that Lucas wasn’t able to give me; namely some stimulating conversation and the ability to be empathetic toward another person’s needs."

Julia grinned.
"I’m sure you would’ve liked it if Aidan had been able to stimulate other things."

"
Oh my god, will you stop!" Sky let the hair unfurl itself from around her finger. "Aidan just helped me see that staying with Lucas was ridiculous. We were so wrong for each other. Having similar interests in a couple of things doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a match made in heaven. Or more accurately; in the bedroom. Okay, lesson learned."

Julia laughed.
"I still can’t believe he only wanted to do the missionary position. I mean, what guy out there doesn’t want the girl to climb on top every once in a while? Reverse cowgirl, that’s the only way I can climax through sex. We’re not all as anatomically gifted as you are."

Sky grimaced.
"I think it would be accurate to say I could count on one hand the number of orgasms I had, through sex or otherwise, with Lucas."

"
Then I’m surprised you stayed with him for as long as you did. He is very handsome, so I guess that plays a part." Julia raised an eyebrow, "Plus I hear that he was very...uh...gifted in the trouser department."

"
So, the size of the dick does not a good lover make. I guess with him I just thought that because we liked some of the same stuff and had a good time hanging out that we’d be compatible in other ways, too. Why is it the one man that I actually get along with and enjoy being around is married? And has fired me, apparently?"
"I don’t know, Sky. It sucks though. I’m sorry. What are you going to do now?"
"Find a new job I guess. After it fully sinks in that I got fired. I just...I don’t want to be upset about it, but how can I not be? Because I didn’t do anything wrong, and I actually really liked working there! I don’t even want to think about how long it’s going to take me to find a new job, considering how few art gallery positions are available that actually pay." She sighed again. It’d taken her months to find the job at
Prelude
. Prior to that, she’d done temp work, which she had hated. She supposed she would have to put a call back in to the temp agency, sooner rather than later.