Sunflower Love

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My gallery didn't start until around noon today, which usually meant I didn't have to wake up early. But Julianna had something to say about that. She called me yesterday just before I went to bed to ask me for help. Why she felt the need to call me when we spent a majority of the yesterday together...I had no idea. I don't know what made her suddenly come up with this, but I seem to have a hard time saying no to the Montgomery siblings. 

Yesterday, she had all but kidnapped me so she could take me to go on another shopping date. She seemed to enjoy the idea of torturing me with long adventures to the local outdoor mall because she joked about making this a weekly thing. At least I think she was joking about this.

I did also happen to put in an order to fix my phone's screen, so I still didn't have a cell. But luckily every call was transferred to my home phone otherwise I wouldn't have gotten this urgent call from Julianna. Note the roll of eyes at the word 'luckily'.

Now here I was on my way to take photos of the wedding party trying on their suits, dresses and other things. Apparently she wanted me to try on the dress for the wedding, seeing as it finally arrived after the 'few' adjustments. So I am here at this boutique...at 6:30 am with a killer headache and a really bad feeling. I think the bad feeling is that maybe a donut or two might've made it so I won't be able to fit into the dress, or maybe I'm nervous about seeing Theo. Because he was 100% gonna be here too.

I sighed as I pulled myself from the comfort of my car and shivered as a gust of wind rushed past me. "Fricken fall chill." I mutter, picking up my pace to the front door.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me, right? Do you think I'm an idiot?" Theo's hostile voice cut through me as soon as I entered the Boutique. I froze, my eyes widened as I took in how upset everyone looked. There was unease on Julianna, who was worrying away at her bottom lip. Liam stood with one hand pressed to Julianna's hip and the other pressed to Sebastian's shoulder. Sebastian had a bruised cheek and his lip was cut, the tension in his shoulders was evident.

Lincoln and Parker were here too, both with bruises as well. A couple of other people were scattered variously throughout the room, exhaustion was the common expression on many of their faces. Lincoln had a girl leaning against him, tears in her eyes. I winced as I saw a couple of eyes flicker to me, but was glad to see them instantly go back to the main attraction.

Theo scoffed, bringing my attention to the two people who stood in the middle of the room. A soft gasp left my lips as I see his nose is wrapped a little, his eyes slightly bruised. His lip was cut and as I let my eyes take in the rest of him, I noticed his knuckles were bruised with slight cuts and one of his sleeves was a little bumpier which probably meant it was wrapped. Knox also had a cut of his lip, but the side of his jaw was bandaged as well. He had his right hand wrapped and he wasn't putting much weight on his right leg.

What the hell happened?

"I know you're not an idiot which is why I think there must be something wrong with you. I've already told you that you can't do anything and that everything is fine. I'm fine." Knox bites out with a growl pulling at the edge of his words. "Now, let's start on this. I have places to be." Knox goes to turn away, but Theo grabs ahold of his arm causing a hiss of breath to leave Knox.

"You're fucking full of it. We're supposed to be a team." If Theo notices that he had grabbed Knox's hurt arm, he doesn't show it and instead tugs Knox back to where he originally had been. "You keep lying like this. You're hiding things from us. Hell, you even pull shit like you did yesterday during game day." Theo sweeps his hand across the room, "Look at us! We got into one of the worst fights all year. Two of us are out for a game, you're out for two, and you're probably going to get suspended for that shitty hit on Newmann."

Theo pauses as he brings his hand through his hair, the tension easing slightly as he adjusts his tone, "We're your teammates, yes. But we're also family. We have always had your back, why can't you trust us to help you with this?"

Knox groans as he brings his face to his hands, a sigh being heaved through him. "This was new to me. I haven't even been able to wrap my head around it yet. Why would I bring you all into this mess if I didn't even have the details myself? You're all busy. Busy with the wedding, with your lives, with hockey..." Knox brought his head back to look at the ceiling, "And I just needed hockey to be easy. Hockey was always easy." He mutters.

"Easy? We had our biggest loss all season last night!" Theo reached forward and squeezed Knox's shoulder, " Listen, I'm not even that upset about the game. I'm upset that you aren't talking to us and you left last night before we could even try to talk to you. And then you show up here as if nothing is wrong when we very clearly can see that something is eating at you."

"I just needed some time to think." Knox mumbled as he pulled away from Theo. Lincoln reached forward to massage Knox's shoulders, whispering to him about something which had Knox nodding with sadness pushing to the front of his expression.

Theo nods too, "Okay, let's get this fitting over with and then we ca-" His words get cut off as he finally comes to notice me. He was turning to talk to Sebastian, but caught me in the reflection of one of the many mirrors that lined the back wall. "Winnie." He breathed out as he spun to face me. His face twisted and he huffed out as more tension pulled at his shoulders. "Of course you're fucking here right now."

The hint of anger in his tone threw me for a loop. The way his fist clenched beside him had me take a step back, but it was his expression which caused my throat to squeeze. My chest squeezed and I felt like I couldn't breathe.

"Theodore Montgomery." His mom hissed out. Julianna's eyes widened at Theo's hostility and turned to me, sending an apologetic look, "Winnie, I'm sorry about all of this. I had no idea this was gonna be how the morning was gonna start." She rushes out as she takes a step forward.

Liam scoffs, pushing past Theo, but I just shook my head. "I think I should've read the room when I got here and left." I smiled, feeling sweat begin to form in the palm of my hands that were clenched at my sides. I hadn't eaten anything yet and my brain began to feel a little foggy. "Um, I'm going to head out. I have..." I pressed backward, "something." I finished as I turned, letting the door close behind me. I was at my car door by the time the door opened again behind me and pulling out of the parking lot by the time I realized I was holding my breath.

Letting air push past my lips and then dragging it back in just as quickly, I had a lot of things reeling in my head now. They played hockey, Knox had something going on, they all appeared to be quite beat up so the game did not go well last night...But most of all, I couldn't get over how disgusted Theo looked that I was standing there. I yanked the steering wheel to the side to pull me into an empty parking lot.

"Such an idiot!" I slam my hands onto the steering wheel and press my forehead against them. The throbbing in my hands was beginning to cause a ringing in my ears and I wanted nothing more than to take back all those moments so I wouldn't have this feeling gripping at my heart.

Theo wasn't anything special, Winnie. You're better than this. You knew that there was no way he was actually even remotely interested in you. So why did you show your whole heart on your sleeve back there? 

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enjoy.

xoxo,
happiness