cardigan [h.s.]

Chapter 23

Diana

"All Fired Up?"

I'm currently standing outside a building, with my arms wrapped around myself to protect me from the bite in the air.

Apparently the sweater I decided to wear wasn't the best option because it doesn't do too good of job keeping me warm with all the little holes in it. My face illuminated from the red glow of the sign on the building I've never been to before.

Harry stands beside me, smiling. "Yea. It's like a paint your pottery type of place." My eyebrows furrow and he must of caught on that I still don't understand. "You get to pick out whatever little pottery figure you want and then you get to paint it. I thought it would cool if we each picked out something for each other and painted them? We have to wait though about a week or so to see the final product."

I smile big up at him. The way he thought out this whole thing I find really endearing and my heart warms at his idea. Dempsey never really tried like this. His idea of a date was me coming over to his house for a quick fuck. Or on the rare occasion he would take me to see a movie, but he would just end up wanting to make out halfway through. He never really planned out sweet things for us to do.

This is different than what I'm used to and I can't help but to think how nice that is.

"I like that."

"Really?" he asks like I'm lying to him. Like he doesn't believe that I find his whole date idea the most adorable thing ever.

I nod. "Yeah. It's really sweet."

"Great," he breathes out and takes my hand in his to lead me to the front door of the building.

When we walk in, I am bathed in a light yellow hue of the overhanging lights. The feeling inside the place is warm and inviting. And I catch onto the scent of course paint, but also a dash of vanilla, and I don't know if that's coming from the building or from the smiling boy beside me.

Harry pays for everything at the front desk and only then does he let go of my hand. "Okay," he starts. "You find something for me and I'll find something for you. But we can't see what the other picked until they finished product, alright?"

"Alright." I nod my head and leave him to search on his own. I scan the many shelves that have little white figurines ready to be painted. My eyes searching for something that makes me think of Harry.

The most obvious choice being either a hockey skate or stick. But I don't want to do something that's obvious. I want to pick something that only him and I will get.

It feels like I have been looking over the shelves for hours before I find exactly what I want. A little ice cream cone, that I know exactly what flavor I am going to paint.

I smile to myself as I take the ice cream cone over to a station to start painting, and my eyes catch on Harry who is already seated at one of his own, painting away. "You already found one for me?" I ask him, trying to peak over the divider that's hiding his figurine.

"Hey, hey, hey no peeking," he playfully scolds. "You can see it when it's done in about two weeks."

I giggle a small bit before taking a seat across from him, hiding the ice cream cone and getting out the necessary colors I'm going to need. Music quietly plays in the background and you can hear the light chatter from the other people in the place. It a nice little place that I never knew about until now.

I look up to see Harry deep in concentration as he paints. His eyes narrowed in on whatever he's painting behind the divider. The tip of his tongue poking out a little of the corner of his mouth. And I catch myself staring — admiring — him instead of doing my own painting.