Sunflower Love

--~❁

Theo

--❁--

Seeing Winnie after this morning was hard enough. She was doing her best to avoid looking at me and to make matters worse, that Tanner guy was a little too clingy for my liking. Kissing her on the cheek? Who the fuck did he think he was? 

She called me Cade. Cade. Had she ever called me Cade? What did she usually call me? My mind was reeling now and everything was just building up.

And the cherry on top, Liam is stepping on every attempt I make to interact with Winnie on my own. I turned to glare at him, his face showed mock boredom as he eyed me back. "You've got an issue with me, Liam?" I ask as I take a step towards him. Bodies moved around us as soon as they saw my movement. Knox's hand came to my shoulder, halting my advancement.

"I do, actually." Liam folds his arms across his chest as he nods in the direction of where Winnie disappeared to, "You're not gonna ruin today for her anymore than you've already managed to, got it?" I scoff at his weak attempt to sound intimidating. "Today is about her. She just held one of her best galleries and I don't want you to stomp on it with whatever you and Julianna are planning. Did you not see how exhausted she looked as we came in?"

Obviously, I didn't miss that. It was hard to miss. Her shoulders were slumped and had been constantly sighing or shifting as she painted. She was tired from either the gallery or the events from earlier this morning. And if I had to bet on the one that exhausted her the most, I think it was the morning's event. No matter how quickly things had spiraled.

"I just need to talk to her, that's it." I say as I run a hand through my hair, "Ya know to explain myself." Liam shakes his head as he walks up beside the painting, "Well, you can wait till tomorrow. Tonight we're celebrating Winnie." He says as he grabs the edge of the painting and a tightness occurs briefly in my chest at the thought of him taking home the painting.

This wasn't for him.

I grab the other side of the painting to halt his movement. "Fine, I won't discuss it with her tonight. But you're not taking this painting." Both of us stand there, eyeing one another. We were sizing each other up, probably debating on how serious the other one is about this piece.

"She said it was free to whoever." Liam says as he rolls his eyes, but I scoff at his words.

"That was Kate, not Winnie. If she wanted to give it away to whomever, she'd give it to the first couple who approached her when she finished." I send him a look to try me as I take a step forward, "Until Winnie says who she wants to give the painting to, it doesn't go home with anyone. You hear me?"

"Okay!" Julianna breaks out heated glares and quickly taps both of our hands, "Leave the painting here and let's go help Winnie out by closing up the studio for her." She tugs Liam to come help put away the paints and brushes. The guys move around to help too, but Knox stays next to me and pats me on the shoulder before moving to help out.

--❁--

I'm filled with regret as soon as Winnie and Kate return. She's in another cocktail dress, lilac in color and awfully bad at hiding anything up for imagination. If I never knew Winnie and you tried to tell me that this girl never went to a club, I wouldn't believe you.

But I do know Winnie. I've gotten to know quite a bit about her this past week. Maybe I'm observant or maybe she's easy to read, but just from having one conversation with her I knew that I wanted to talk to her more. And I know without a doubt that she has never been to a club.

Heading to Cosmo's was probably good in the sense that it was a regular hang out for most of the team, but this also meant our usual puck bunnies were there as well. We lost last night, but I had seen a couple of guys mentioning they wanted nothing but to forget about the game. So I wasn't surprised to see my teammates scattered throughout the club. Not many were drinking much other than water actually. Most had eyes on the tv screens, watching other sports. Anything to keep their minds away from our jobs. A couple of them had girls at their sides, but the girls were recognizable as their significant others.