Painting Love a Picture

Summary: Three years ago, Sunny Morgan was swept off her feet by Jackson Connelly, only to fall back hard on the ground with Chad Carlson to catch her. Now, Jackson's back in her life and Chad doesn't seem too happy about it. But Sunny doesn't understand why Chad cares. What they did back then was only pretend, right? And to complicate matters, Jackson doesn't seem to be happy about Chad either. With her heart on the line, Sunny must make a choice.

A/N: Well, here we go... Another end in a story. I dunno, I hope I did this one well and good enough for you guys. :) Wouldn't know either way if I didn't hear from you... Ehehehe. Cheers to all! Thanks for going along with me in this artsy fantasy story. See you in the next one! :D

+ read, enjoy and review +

Chapter 20 – Painting a Picture of Love

The ocean lay before her like a blanket of silver blue. The sky was bright overhead, with the sun peeking out from behind the clouds. It was almost a beautiful day, picturesque even, except Sunny sat on the shore thinking that Chad was never going to speak to her again after this. She tried to make things work but he just didn’t want anything to do with her. To top it all of, she had no idea how she was getting home.

She sat there, her knees drawn up and her arms resting on her knees. She slowly dropped one hand down and sunk them in the sand. She lifted it, letting the sands fall away from between her fingers. She sighed heavily as she watched the sand filter away.

“I just realized my mom left you here.”

The unexpected sound of his voice made her look up.

Chad dropped down next to her, sitting nearly three feet away. He stared at the ocean, drawing up his knees and propping up his elbows on them.

“I think that was her plan,” Sunny murmured, wiping her cheeks. She sniffed.

He was quiet.

She didn’t know what else to say. Aside from repeatedly apologizing, what else could she say? She snuck a furtive glance at him, and then turned back to the ocean. He came back though. That was a good thing, right?

“I wish you’d stop apologizing.”

It came from him, almost so quiet that she didn’t hear. “What?”

“I wish you’d stop telling me you’re sorry,” he said louder this time.

“But I feel I should,” she insisted fiercely, “Everything that’s happened is all because of me, and you’ve warned me so many times and I didn’t listen. For that, I’m sorry. You’d probably think I’m crazy but the fake date was a bad idea, being rude to you was another bad idea, not believing you and not trusting you was the worst idea of them all.”

A corner of his mouth lifted. “You make me sound like a saint.”

“And you are,” she answered earnestly, glancing over at him. “Chad, you watched out for me. You didn’t want me to get hurt even if I kept ragging on you…And you took a punch for me. Not many guys out there would.”

He didn’t look at her when he said, “I’d gladly take a punch for you, Sunny.”

She laughed pitifully. “You see? I don’t know why you would. You’re a saint, Chad.

He finally turned to her, his eyes serious. “I’m not a saint, Sunny. A saint wouldn’t crush on his best friend’s girlfriend. A saint wouldn’t chase way his best friend so he’d have the girl to himself. A saint wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t take pictures of her either, and hide it from her. He wouldn’t call her names or make fun her or be with sarcastic with her. Most of all,” he turned back to the ocean, “a saint would never dream of hurting her.”

She realized he was referring to Anna. Something tugged at her heart, making her feel a little sad. Although she didn’t remembering anything about Anna and Jackson dating, she shrugged the thought away.

“Chad, I’m sure you did all those with good reason,” she insisted. “This whole thing about you and Jackson, I mean, he probably didn’t deserve her or something. He probably liked her less than you did so…that’s okay,” she continued, “And the stuff about the pictures, and the name-calling and the making fun of her, I guess it was part of everything. You must’ve felt bad so it was how you coped…”

He didn’t say anything.

“…And how can you say you hurt her if you haven’t even talked to her? Maybe you didn’t hurt her.”

At this, Chad faced her, his expression incredulous and awed. “You don’t get it do you?”

Sunny wrinkled her brow. “Get what?”

“I’m talking to her right now.”

He’d said with each word punctuated with a pause as if to let the words sink in.

Sunny gave a nervous laugh. Her heart just skipped a beat.

Was Chad saying she was that girl? She wasn’t Jackson’s girlfriend. Chad didn’t have pictures of her. He didn’t call her names or any of those things. Then something inside Sunny clicked. She remembered what his mom just told her earlier, about walking in the Dark Room and seeing pictures of her.

“Chad, I don’t understand…what you’re saying,” she said in a shaky voice that was almost a whisper.

Instead of answering her, Chad reached over and pulled out his wallet. He opened it, plucked out a folded piece of paper from between his wallet. He put his wallet aside and handed her the piece of paper. “You asked me before and there’s your answer. That’s why I stopped drawing.”

Tentatively, she took the paper from him and began to unfold it, her heart beating fast. When she opened it, she saw a drawing of herself.

Her breath caught.

She couldn’t believe it was herself, smiling, looking so happy and so…beautiful. “Chad,” she gasped out. She looked up at him.

“I’ve had that for years,” he said sadly. “I couldn’t throw it away so I kept it. You can keep it though. It’s yours, if you want it. It’s the last drawing I ever did. After, I kind of got tired with…A camera’s easier. It’s faster and less…I don’t know. Taking pictures was just easier.”

Sunny’s heart did a slow roll.

She realized that at that moment, Chad was baring more of himself than ever before. He was telling her a well-guarded secret of his past, something he’d kept hidden for years. That secret was her.

A slow smile crept up her face and she breathed out evenly. She’d been wrong all along. It wasn’t about Jackson. It was about Chad. It wasn’t that she was fool for choosing Jackson. It was that she didn’t realize sooner Chad was the one she should’ve chosen all along.

She was about to say something but Chad spoke up first.

“I’m sorry I did those things, Sunny. Even sorrier that I got in between you and Jackson,” he said. “I shouldn’t have ignored you these past few weeks but I couldn’t help myself! I hated the fact that you liked Jackson more than you liked m-” he blanched. “I guess you’re right. It was probably my way of coping. I’ll help you get back with Jackson if that’s what you want-”

“Chad, shut up,” she interrupted with a smile.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise.

Sunny let out a giddy laugh as she curled her legs underneath her and moved towards him. “It’s been you all along,” she stated without hesitation. She laughed again and wiped a tear that fell from her eye. She searched for the right words to say.

“Chad, I’ve been so stupid! You were always there to help me or to take care of me. You teased me, you made fun of me, you were sarcastic with me but now I understand why. You took me home when I thought I didn’t need it. You told me I was beautiful when I didn’t feel like it, and you drew me a picture that I didn’t know about. You gave me a sunflower, my favorite flower, when I didn’t expect it. You saw my painting and encourage me when I didn’t feel so brave-”

And she remembered something else.

She remembered that day when Anna told her about having her picture taken for documentation purposes. She had gone to the Art Room with her, and Chad was there. As usual, they bickered with each other. Then she remembered he had teased her, wondering out loud if she was photogenic. He smugly reassured her that, as the photographer, he’d make her look nice. Sunny had haughtily answered that she didn’t need him to do that because she was beautiful the way she was. She slightly turned towards him even as she headed for the door. And then that was when he took her picture.

She sat down on her haunches, comprehension dawning. “It was me…That picture of yours from the exhibit,” she whispered with a feeling of giddy delight.

Chad looked up at her, a smile creeping up his face too. “Yeah, it’s always been you, Sunny.”

“You gave it to the exhibit?” she asked breathlessly, amazed he would do such a thing.

“Well, not really,” he replied sheepishly. “I printed the whole bunch of pictures for Anna but I wasn’t intending on showing that one picture. I must’ve forgotten to take it out from the bunch because she saw that one and practically begged me to lend it for the exhibit.”

“Anna never…mentioned anything to me.”

He flushed. “I agreed only after I begged her not to tell you.”

“But why did you?” Sunny bristled, wanting to know.

Chad looked her deep in the eyes. He reached out and held her arms. “When I first developed the pictures, and I saw that particular picture, I wanted to keep it. Kind of like that drawing I did. I don’t know.” He laughed lightly, shaking his head at himself. “It felt like I caught…you, and I didn’t want to share it to anyone. After I begged Anna not to tell you, she teased me…told me I looked like a ‘besotted fool.’”

Sunny giggled. “Besotted?” she echoed. “Sounds like a word Star would use.”

“Yeah well that’s what Anna said.”

“You know, now that I think about it, during the opening night of the exhibit, she was trying to tell me something. But she didn’t and I was too distracted to ask. Little did I know…” she paused, “It was about you.” She looked at Chad in a new light. Something tugged at her heart, making her feel just a little happier and hopeful.

“That day when we met at the steps, when you ran off, Anna insisted I should talk to you. But I was too proud and stupid. I just watched you walk away.”

“And to think I felt so jealous!”

He grinned. “Did you?”

Wanting to tease him a little, Sunny said impishly, “Did you know your mom thought I’m your girlfriend?”

“Whoa, how did that happen?”

“Your pictures,” she answered simply and watched him slowly redden. “She thought you’ve been taking pictures of me as your girlfriend and keeping me a secret from them.”

“Just how long did you talk to my mother?” he demanded suspiciously.

Sunny laughed. “I’d say…maybe a little longer than usual.”

“What else did she tell you?” Chad asked impetuously.

“Um, my memories a little hazy…,” she trailed off, scrunching her forehead as though she couldn’t remember what else Mrs. Carlson said. She gazed at Chad and smiled coyly. “Maybe…if I see those pictures, I’ll remember?”

Chad leaned in closer to her. “Okay, I’ll show them to you. But…” He took a deep breath. “Only if you let me take you home even if you don’t want to… Only if you let me tell you you’re beautiful, and not just nice,” Sunny laughed at this, remember the ‘beau-nice’ moment, and his eyes danced, “even if you don’t feel like it. Only if you let me give you sunflowers even if you don’t expect them,” She softened her gaze at him, remembering that day, “Only if you let me look at your paintings so I can always tell you what an amazing painter you are.” He stilled, just a breath away from her. “Did I leave anything out?”

The smile didn’t leave her face as she gently shook her head. “No, but…” She pretended to think then looked at him deeply in the eye. “I’d let you do those things only if you keep on taking pictures and maybe… start drawing again?”

He smiled, laughed softly and looked at her as though seeing her in a new light. “I figured you’d say that.”

“You’re good at it, Chad. I mean, the pictures you take are good too but… It’s like what you said. A camera’s easy and anybody can take a picture. Heck, even I can. But I choose to paint because like drawing, it comes from the heart.”

“Okay, I will,” he conceded, “As long as they’re all of you.”

“Chad,” she murmured, “you’re making me blush.”

“As long as it’s just because of me,” he responded with a wicked grin.

She laughed. “Oh, trust me, it’s just you.”

They stared at each other, two besotted fools, smiling silly. Then Chad grew slightly serious as he reached up, and cupped her cheek. He slowly leaned in and pulled her close.

“Are you still besotted with me, Mr. Chad Connor Carlson?” Sunny whispered to him.

“Always, Ms. Sunshine Morgan,” he answered huskily, “Always besotted with you, Sunny.”

Then he kissed her, moving his lips over hers lovingly slow as though making a wish come true after years of waiting. For Sunny, it was like the first few careful strokes of a brush over a blank white canvass that held a promise of what would be the makings of a magnificent picture.

For that was how one was, in painting love a picture.

THE END.