Page 27 of Our Secret Moments

“Since you’ve done the first round of interviews, Coach said we should invite you out and luckily for you, we’ve got our monthly painting session at Fired Arts today. Maybe you can put something together about how good I am at painting,” Sam explains and Wes laughs.

“That’s cute. Do you paint little daisies and roses with those giant man hands of yours?” I tease, pushing both of their hands off me.

“Very funny. You should know these man hands can do more than just paint,” Wes says. I pretend to gag. “Redford’s mom owns the store, so we get the pieces for free. It’s an easy Mother’s Day gift or stocking fillers. You should come. Could be good for photo opps. Bring Elle and Nora too. I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.”

If I had one wish in life, it would be a picture of the exact moment I told Elle and Nora to come with me to paint pottery with the football team and have it framed and sent to my house with a bright red bow.

I wasn’t surprised that they said yes. Elle minors in photography and is always taking pictures on her phone and her digital camera whenever she has the chance. She’s also a budding influencer, but she is yet to go completely viral. Nora is here for the vibes and the vibes only.

After rushing around to make our way to the store, we’re huddled together outside the door, ready to walk in when Archer Elliot, Wes and Connor’s roommate, exits the store. If I thought Connor was tall, Archer is something else. He’s like a Greek god – scarily tall, sharp cheekbones, hair so dark-brown that it’s almost black, a compression shirt that just shows he’s built on pure muscle and a tiny gift bag in his huge hands.

“Oh, hi,” Elle says. Out of all of us, she sees him the most. The dance teacher she’s had pretty much since she was born also happens to be Archer’s mom. You wouldn’t believe the amount of awkward run-ins they’ve had. One of those being a time where she bumped into him, and she toldhimthank you.

“Eleanor,” he greets gruffly. I look between them as Archer’s grey eyes zone in on Elle, she drops her gaze as her cheeks flush pink. Nora saves the day as always.

“Archer Elliot, I never thought I’d see you out in broad daylight,” Nora quips. She’s always going to try her best to ease awkward tension wherever she goes while the rest of us stand and watch painfully.

“Nora Bailey, I never thought I’d see you without that hideous green stuff on your face, but here we are,” he replies, giving her a sarcastic smile.

She jabs a finger in his face. I don’t think he even notices because he’s that fucking tall. “It was a face mask, and you know it was.”

“Are you joining the painting session?” Elle asks quietly. He clears his throat when she looks up at him, averting his eyes to a spot behind us where the main street bustles.

“No. I’m just picking up something,” he responds coolly.

Nora and I shimmy our shoulders at the same time. “For a girlfriend?” I tease. His face remains serious. Jesus. This guy needs to lighten up.

“No,” he says simply, “Goodbye.”

And then he’s just… gone.

“Goodbye?” Nora repeats angrily, pushing open the door. “Who the hell saysgoodbye? He’s a twenty-year-old man not a viscount from the nineteenth century. He might as well have said good morrow.”

“I think he’s cute,” Elle whispers, looking back as Archer’s huge body walks away from us. We all step into the warmth of the shop, the tiny doorway barely fitting all three of us in there.

“You think that six foot something giant man person iscute? Elle, respectfully, that man could easily break every bone in your body,” Nora retorts, shrugging off her coat.

The loud roars coming from the team messes up my senses and all I can hear for a second is the loud obnoxious chatter coming from the boys. I swear I hear Elle mumble ‘I think I’d let him,’ but it’s too loud to tell.

We walk into the small shop where eight of the team members sit on a low table in the middle of the room. Around the room holds smaller stations with two seats where other team members sit quietly. All the noise is coming from the table of eight as paintbrushes fly around, the pink aprons they’re supposed to be wearing in every place but the correct one – Wes is wearing his on his head like a chef hat and Connor has his on backward.

Not only are they arguing with each other, but there’s a small red-headed girl – probably Michael’s sister – who is bossing them around like it’s her job. Her little apron is covered in paint splatters, her hair an unruly mess as she stands between Wes and Sam, peering down at what they’re drawing.

When Connor’s eyes land on mine, I swear the whole world stops. Suddenly it doesn’t feel like the room is loud and chaotic, it feels like it’s just us.

After seeing a more vulnerable and caring side to him the other day, looking at him now feels different. He brings this weird and overwhelming sense of peace over me. He might look ridiculous and huge at that table with his apron on backwards, but the shy smile he has on his lips when he sees me makes fireworks explode in my chest. Not the loud kind that you hear up-close, but the ones far in the distance that you only see and hardly hear.

I don’t get a second to over analyse it before Wes sees me. “Cathy, Elle, Nor-Nor! Take a seat. We don’t bite,” he says, winking at us.

“I’m just going to stay near the window. I’ll get better lighting that way,” Eleanor says, taking her camera out of its case asshe squeezes past me to the window area where two boys paint quietly.

“You two better take a seat before Eve here drags you by your ear,” Connor grumbles. Eve shoots him a look, but when he sticks his tongue out at her, she bursts into giggles. There is something so undeniably hot seeing a man interact with a child.

It’s truly sick and twisted.

Kill me and my uterus now.

We do as we’re told and I take the empty seat next to Connor while Nora takes the seat next to me that is next to Wes and Sam. Elle gets comfortable across the room, lifting her camera and trying different lenses before she starts to walk around the room, looking for a good place to start taking pictures.

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