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❝ i know you were way too bright for me ❞
▬▬CHERYL AND LUCY WERE walking to the art gallery since they had to open for Cheryl's Beauty of a Woman showcase. Usually when they open up the art gallery first thing, there was no one there and during the day, bigger crowds filtered in. However, there was a line of people waiting outside. Lucy let out a small laugh of disbelief as they walked past the groups of people. Some people even sent Cheryl small waves, to which she returned.
It had taken Cheryl and Lucy a few minutes to hang up all the paintings. They had left some up, like the sunflower specifically. Lucy had also called Pierre so that Cheryl could have some extra help on the floor.
People started filtering in once Lucy opened the doors and Pierre had arrived just a few minutes after. This seemed to be the one time where no one seemed confused about the no phone rule, almost as if everyone already knew about it. Cheryl was pleasantly surprised to see so many people here this early and she really felt like she was touching people's hearts when she saw them looking at her paintings. There was whispers everywhere and she was only overhearing positive things. It warmed her heart.
As time passed on, Cheryl had talked to about four different people already and sold two paintings and Pierre had sold three. Some people were even coming up to her just to meet her and say hello. She quite liked these interactions, but one thing that was extremely confusing to her was some people were saying they discovered her through Harry Styles.
Cheryl had found Pierre, who had just finished talking to someone, since she figured he would know about this Harry Styles situation. "Pierre."
"Yes, pretty?" Pierre greeted with a small smirk on his face. Cheryl smiled and shook her head before getting to her point. "People keep saying they found me through this Harry Style guy."
"Styles and yeah, he was liking all of your posts about your gallery. Lucy told me he was here last week?" Pierre questioned, still shocked by the news Lucy had told him.
"Apparently, but I'm glad so many people found me." Cheryl spoke with a smile on her face, fond of the idea of her gallery being this full. Pierre smiled at her joy and crossed his arms before informing, "You should be. I just sold another one of your paintings. You only have one left of the women series."
"I've never sold an entire series in one day before. This is so exciting!" Cheryl exclaimed before walking off to go help some other people. Pierre only shook his head, finding her easy excitement so endearing. One could say that he loved this look, one could say that he wished this level of emotion was shown towards him, but Cheryl only showed him platonic emotion. He had to live with that, but Pierre done it long enough that he's gotten used to it.
Cheryl had found an elderly couple who wanted to know about the last Beauty of a Woman piece. It was the one of a girl floating in water flooded in a pink room. Her face was just out of the water and this was by far her favourite piece that she had made. The elderly couple had moved on after Cheryl told them about the piece, which was apart of the process, so she was still optimistic.
Just as the elderly couple had walked off, Cheryl felt someone tap her on the shoulder, so she turned around and was faced with her enchanting mystery man. "Hi stranger."
"Harry." Cheryl clarified as she pointed at him, wanting to make sure she had the name right. She had been meeting a lot of different people today. Harry only smiled and mimicked her by pointed at her as well. "The woman with no name."
"I'm a mystery." Cheryl whispered as she wiggled her fingers in front of her face for effect. Harry's smile only grew at the girl's eccentric nature, but stopping himself from staring at her beauty, he looked over at the painting next to them. "This is new."
"This is the last piece of the Beauty of a Woman collection." Cheryl explained, a ghost of a smile forming on her face. Just saying that brought her so much pride. This was the best her career has ever been and it was all thanks to one man. Whoever Harry Styles was.
"Can you tell me about it? And before you ask me for my interpretation, you've already had a glimpse into my brain. I would like to know how the great mind of Cherry Mae works." Harry asked, wanting to see how she thinks and also just hearing her voice was music to his ears. Cheryl looked from Harry to the painting and tilted her head slightly.
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"Well, I call this one Drowning in Normality. I see it as a girl stuck in a stereotype. The room is very feminine and she appears feminine and she feels like she's drowning in this gender norm. Her face is just out of the water which signifies a breath of freedom. She wants to be herself, appear as herself, but she can't. This painting is really just a girl wanting to be herself, but the gender norms of society are stopping her." Cheryl explained.
Harry's eyes hadn't left Cheryl's during her entire explanation. Harry somehow loved how deep and meaningful this girl seemed to be. He had never seen someone seemingly understand him so well without even knowing his full name. One painting had shown a part of Cheryl that was clearly sensitive and deep and it hit a special part of Harry's mind when he saw it.
Cheryl was looking up at Harry, wanting to know what his opinion was, but he was just looking at the painting. Finally, he spoke. "How much?"
Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows for a second, a little confused by the bluntness. "For what? Th-The painting?"
Harry nodded his head before complimenting, "Yeah. This is...This is..."
"Perfectly imperfect?" Cheryl finished his sentence, remembering those two special words they used when these two had first met. Harry smiled, feeling a pleasant feeling of déja vu. "Yeah. Perfectly imperfect."
The two smiled at each other, but Cheryl felt a moment of quick nervousness. She couldn't place a finger on why, but she felt this odd, fluttering feeling in her stomach. "You know what? For you, it's free."
"Cherry..." Harry went to protest since he felt bad just getting this for free, especially when these two had really only met twice. Of course, he felt some sort of connection or at least he had seen something different in this girl that no song in the world has ever described, but he couldn't fathom Cheryl's perfect art being given to him for free.
"Please, it's the least I can do. You are the only person I've ever met that has truly seen my art. No one has understood my true meanings without me telling them and...I don't know. You just made me feel like my art was actually beautiful." Cheryl said a long thanks. Harry had truly made her feel accomplished that day. When he saw the sunflower painting and described what he saw, it made Cheryl feel complete. It made her feel seen.
"So, please. If you want this painting, have it." Cheryl offered. Harry's smile only grew and he finally gave in, seeing how much this meant to her. "Thank you."
"Thank you. But, um, I will talk to Lucy about this painting for you." Cheryl sent him one last smile before going to go to Lucy, but before she could get far, Harry had called her name. "Cherry."
She turned around and a very small ghost of a smile was on her face. "Are you free for lunch today?"
Cheryl was slightly taken aback, not used to being asked to lunches like this. Cheryl wasn't used to feeling these emotions around someone or interacting with someone this way before, but Harry was different somehow. "I am."
"Then would you be interested in going to a small cafe I found the other day?" Harry officially asked her out. Cheryl's smile grew and she nodded her head. "I would be. I have my lunch break in an hour."
"Then I will come back in an hour." Harry expressed as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "And I will have your painting ready."
Harry matched Cheryl's smile as she slowly started walking towards Lucy. She did turn around and actually head over to Lucy, but those two could've stared into each other's eyes for hours. It was mysterious to the fact that these two have only ever seen each other twice, but everything about the other person seemed euphoric. Golden even.
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