“People love my work,” he says, sweet and pure like an angel. “They love it so much they chase me around for more,” he murmurs.
I bite my lip to stifle a grin.
“It’s not for everybody, and it’s an acquired taste, but it makes people tremendously happy,” he says, adding a charming smile to his charade.
Evelyne opens her mouth to comment.
Faster than her, Jaden turns to me.
“You must be hungry, love,” he says, lacing his fingers through mine.
He waves them goodbye, and I do the same while Lance and Evelyne watch us walk away.
As we put some space between the partygoers and us, Jaden takes his hands off me and undoes his bow tie, his smile fading abruptly.
“Who the hell are these people?” he asks, pissed.
We near the corner of the building when he tucks the bow tie into his pocket.
“Jaden?”
I grip his arm. He turns to me, his eyes heavy with disappointment, light-gray like piles of ashes.
“What happened?” I ask.
“Nothing.”
“That’s not nothing. Did they say something to you?”
He tilts his lips into a sad smile.
“Do they really need to?”
“They can be mean sometimes,” I say.
“That’s not mean. I don’t give a fuck about them being mean. I couldn’t care less about that. Besides, mean is genuine, but these people are just...”
He pauses, looking for the right words.
“They think so highly of themselves that they resent anything that doesn’t fit their views on life.”
“It’s just a different world. They don’t like me either, if that’s any consolation,” I murmur.
“No, it’s not... Why would they not like you?”
“I’m different than them.”
“You mean you’re not stuck up.”
I smile.
“Yeah… You can put it that way.”
“Money is a wonderful thing if you don’t let it go to your head,” he says, bitter and disillusioned. “Do you mind if I go back?” he asks.
My eyes stay on him, the emotions flitting through his eyes, showing me a different side of him.
He looks so much different than the man propped on his bike in the back alley selling his body for a buck.