The Artist and the Actor – 7

 

 

Turning back to the patrons, Colin apologized and then asked them to excuse him momentarily. When they nodded, a couple of them looking with some amusement between him and Shane, Colin strode off, heading for the gallery's front door. Even without looking, he knew Shane was following. As soon as they were outside he rounded on Shane, asking again, "Why the fuck are you here?"

 

"It's good to see you, too," Shane replied.

 

"That doesn't answer my question. Why the—"

 

"If you say 'fuck' one more time, I might take you up on your offer." Shane grinned evilly.

 

"Not in your wildest dreams."

 

"Colin, you have no idea how much you still figure in my…imagination."

 

"I can't say the same about you," Colin retorted snidely. "You are, at the most, a very distant and rather bad memory." He said the words with a conviction he realized he didn't feel, as much as he wished they were true. Seeing Shane again reminded him too strongly of what they'd once had, before everything went bad. Taking a deep breath, he asked again, but more civilly, "Why are you here?"

 

"I'm in town with the musical that opens next week at the Buell Theater and saw the announcement about your show in the Post. Being at loose ends until Tuesday, I decided to stop by and say hello."

 

"Right."

 

"It's the truth."

 

Colin snorted. "I'm not sure you know the meaning of the word." He made a pretense of looking around before asking, "Where's your latest conquest? At some hotel waiting for you with bated breath?"

 

"That's not fair," Shane protested. "But to answer your question, I don't have anyone in my life right now and I haven't for sometime."

 

"Turning over a new leaf? Why do I find that impossible to believe?"

 

Rather than reply, Shane sighed. "This was a mistake. I'm should have known you wouldn't want to see me again after the way I screwed things up."

 

"More like the way you screwed…hell, I don't remember their names. Jerry? Robert? Kevin? Whatever, you did it behind my back and then denied it when I finally caught on. So you're right, I don't want to see you." Having said that, Colin walked away, returning to the gallery.