cleo.

Twenty-four-year-old British painter Cleo has escaped from England to New York and is still finding her place in the sleepless city when, a few months before her student visa ends, she meets Frank. Frank is forty-years older than her, an alcoholic, and self-made success, much different from herself.

Cleo is depressed, lonely, and with-drawn. She’s artsy and analytical, very deeply fascinated by artwork and philosophy. She loves the deeper meanings of things. She is shy, yet not a cute shy, a more broad and introverted, shrink-into-her-shell-at-confrontation type. Very dedicated to getting everyone, even strangers, to like her. Very proud of her work, despite her low self-esteem. Knows very few phrases in french.She doesn’t speak often, kept to herself. When she does speak, Cleo’s vocabulary is witty and smart and funny. She is wise beyond her years.

She’s ethereal, with winged-eyeliner and a heart-shaped face framed with golden curtains of blonde hair. It was long when she first met Frank, but after she moved to Rome and divorced him she cut it to her chin. Blue piercing eyes, sharp thin pink lips. A true pearl. Gorgeous, but hopelessly sad. Extremely pale, her eyebrows are so blonde they are almost intelligible from the rest of her defined face. Defined cheekbones. Probably a model in another life. Eye bags frame the lower lid of her eyes like raccoons or sea-shells. Half-moons of purple.

Hippie skirt fashion. She likes to paint on her clothing. A long scar runs down her wrist from her suicidal attempt, which is sewn up with stitches. Her scars are a salmon pink, which she attempts to hide at all costs.

Her and Frank had a horrible marriage. Toxic, abusive, one-sided due to her depression and his alcoholism. He was twenty-years older than her, married her to support her financially. She thought she loved him, but turns out she only wanted to love him. He ends up with his co-worker, Eleanor. She thinks they’re well-suited for each other. After her and Frank’s divorce, Cleo moves out of New York when she gets an art fellowship in Rome.

Quentin, Cleo's troubled best friend. Hasn’t spoken to him since she moved. Drug addict. Impulsive. She doesn’t mention him.

Cleo’s mother passed away in her first year of college. She killed herself. Cleo doesn’t like to talk about it. Her father lives an hour away from her art fellowship, who she visits frequently. They have a strained relationship..