CLAY - “So no girlfriend or boyfriend or kids...Okay then, so what makes you happy, throughout the day what are you looking forward to the most when you can finally relax at home?”
WES-” Television, mostly Downton Abbey, my pajamas, and maybe a glass of wine.”
CLAY- “Other than that? What makes you want to go home when the day is over?”
WES- “I don’t know, really, a dog?”
CLAY- “So, do you have a dog.?”
WES- “I don’t and if I did, I probably wouldn’t have put that on a resume...but, maybe I need to get one, as I am beginning to think I don’t have anything in my life besides my paintings and my pictures. I might need to venture out of my comfort zone a little, at least I have been told that. Not just by you, but others... my mother, and my cousin.”
Clay begins to laugh and looks at Wes and smiles.
CLAY- “I really like you Wes. I think we could be friends.”
Wes looks at him, watching those dark blue eyes but doesn’t respond to Clay’s statement about being friends. He doesn’t know if he was being serious, and if he was being serious, if he really would want to be friends. He seems nice enough, Wes thinks and would probably make good friends under different circumstances, but this guy is Clayton Hawthorne, and he is supposed to be Wes’ stepping stone toward a ridiculously successful career. He doesn’t want to undermine that just because he is nice and laughs at his jokes.
Wes takes a seat at a picnic table in the square, not far from the corner where he met Clay just a few weeks before... Clay takes a seat across from him.…
CLAY- “Look, Wes, you are an ambitious guy. I get it. I am too, and I am supposed to be like a mentor I suppose, not a friend, but when my first boss offered me this same offer I was like you, a little hesitant. But taking her up on it was the smartest thing I had ever done. It is really nice to have someone to talk to, to confide in with your work. Especially when it is someone that can actually help. I mean by helping you, I help the gallery, right? I mean I am not telling you that you need to come in the office every day, this is not that type of career and I am not saying you need to tell me everything that is going on, because that wouldn’t be possible, even if you tried, as I can tell you are a very private, quiet man. But we are on the same team, Wes. I am not a judge or jury. I just want you to do what you can do...create beauty, which you do very well. Which in the long run will make my life easier as well, please don’t think I am doing this for purely selfless reasons ...so what do you say? Friends?”
WES- “Sure, friends.” Wes said somewhat reluctantly.
