Page 150 of Infatuated as They Come
“They’re so pretty!” another girl said.
All I heard was a chorus of “yays” as they hugged at me, watching as Holly just stood there and laughed. “Okay, thank you, ladies,” I muttered, patting them on the back. “Appreciate it. Thanks for coming.”
They let go of me and took off running around the corner and I finally got to lock eyes with Holly with no one else in the way. “You wanna get out of here? Maybe go somewhere I can stop getting harassed every five seconds?”
Giggling, she nodded. “Yeah, okay.”
I grabbed her hand, pulling her through the never-ending crowd and right towards the back of the building where all the studios were. As soonas I shut the big, heavy doors behind us, I felt pure relief. There had been too many people in my face back there, but as I guided Holly over to my section of the space, all we had was pure, comfortable silence as we walked through the dark.
“You weren’t having fun in there?” she asked.
“Not exactly,” I said, switching on one of the lights. It offered only a soft glow, but it was enough for me to see Holly’s face. “Was getting kinda bored of shaking hands with everyone.”
“But everyone loves you.” She circled her arms around my shoulders. “You don’t wanna bask in your glory?”
“No. I can’t imagine anything worse. This is the last time I do anything like this.”
“You mean paint me? I’m sorry it’s such a difficult task.”
“No. I love painting you. I don’t love having to talk to everyone.”
“You’re more of a reclusive artist, hm?” she said, her fingers softly playing with the strands of hair at the back of my neck. “How mysterious of you.”
“I just don’t like having all that attention on me.”
“How do you think I feel with you painting me all the time?”
“You don’t like being my muse?”
“It’s a little overwhelming sometimes, actually,” she said, her cheeks going a little pink. “Sitting there having you stare at me is pretty intimidating.”
“You’re used to people staring at you.”
“Yeah, but you’re the only one who gives me butterflies when they do.”
I hummed, my lips pressing to hers as my tongue softly slid into her mouth. It wasn’t easy standing out there all night yapping away when all I wanted to do was feel Holly close to me. She was so soft and warm, her pretty scent in the air as we kissed.
“I’m so, so proud of you, Sawyer,” she said against my lips. “You deserve this. This and so much more and I know you’ll get it.”
“I couldn’t have done any of this without you. Literally. Someone wants to buy all those paintings of you.”
She gasped. “That’s great! Why do you look so miserable?”
“I don’t like the idea of some guy having your face in his house.”
“You get the real thing, though.”
“Yeah, I guess the real thing’s better.” I squeezed at her waist. “But thankyou for being my inspiration and all that. You make everything brighter and warmer. I guess that’s why everything I paint these days looks like that.”
“You’ll make me cry again,” she said as she avoided my eyes. “I love how you remember everything, even the small things. The things most people would forget.”
“Well, you make me wanna remember everything about you and us,” I said, pressing a finger to her chin and tilting her head up. “Those paintings are all my best memories. I’ve made so many with you and I want to keep on doing that. I want to give you as many happy memories as I can.”
“I want that too.” She smiled softly. “The house was my favorite. It looks exactly how I remember. Like you ripped the image right out of my mind.”
“I didn’t just paint it because you love that place, I painted it because…” I took in a long breath. “Because that’s what I wanna give you and I’m gonna do everything I can to make sure you get it. The house and the lemon tree and the place you wanna be forever. Your home. Our home. The place that makes you feel happy and warm and safe. The place where you wanna make all those good memories. I want to give you that future, Holly.”
“You think about that?” she whispered. “About our future?”
