Save my heart (Sunstreaker)

* Chapter 3. Saturday *

I was waiting at the Gallery for twenty minutes. The event had already started but I was waiting for Sunstreaker. I still had high hopes to see him show up. I looked around and waited for the beautiful Lamborghini 2021. He had changed his alt-mode to the latest Lamborghini only four weeks ago and gosh he looks stunning. Everyone is trying to hitch a ride with him. So far, Sunstreaker hasn't shown up yet. "Paige?" I turned. Ben walked over to me. "Ben...? What are you doing here?" I asked. Ben shrugged his shoulders and pointed at the building behind me. "I assumed I could find you here," he said. I hummed and bit my lip. I felt like my mom was behind this. I know how much she likes Ben and how badly she sees me dating him. Ben isn't into art, not even a single bit so unless he really wanted to visit the gallery I knew my mom was behind this.

"Shall we go inside?" Ben asked. I looked at the road again. "Yeah, sure..." I followed him inside. "Where are you waiting for someone?" he asked as we passed the ticket check. "No... n-no." I shook my head and looked around. "That's an ugly painting..." Ben pointed at the wall. I gasped, "you can't say that! It's an Salvador Dalí." Ben snorted and inspected the painting. "It's called The Temptation of St. Anthony..." I mumbled. "You like this?" he asked. "Yeah," I sulked. Ben snorted and walked off. "You get cranky over a silly painting?" he mocked. "It's art... not just a painting," I stated. "You became a little bored, Paige. What have you been up to the last few weeks. Don't you work at a military base?" he asked. "I do... and I love my job very much. Major Lennox promised me that I will start my training soon," I stated. "Oh..." I glanced at him. "What 'oh' why do you make that noise?" I scoffed.

"You want to be a soldier?" he asked. "Yeah...why not?" I asked. "Aren't you too skinny for that?" he asked. I looked at myself. "Too skinny?" I repeated in disbelief. He shrugged. "No offense, Paige but... you are a girl and too chaotic. How can you operate in a stressful situation?" he asked. "I can do it... my dad was a soldier once too," I snorted. "Why haven't you started training yet? I mean, how long do you work there?" he asked. "Now we have summer break five days a week," I said. "Precisely. In all these weeks, they never asked you to join their training program. What is your job at the moment, cleaning?" he mocked. I snorted and looked away to hide my embarrassment. "No, I don't clean. My job is very important," I scoffed. "yeah, well... the point is, they haven't recruited you for their program and I don't think they will."

"Major Lennox promessed so..." I trailed off. He hummed and walked ahead of me. I stopped at some paintings to look and talk to the artists but Ben wasn't really into it like I had predicted. "Shall we go to McDonalds?" Ben asked. "Already?" I complained. "There's another room I want to see," I stated. Ben sighed, "Come on... it's boring." Ben grabbed my arm. "I am hungry," he said. I sighed, "I really looked out to this event, Ben. If you want to go to McDonalds, then you go," I said. "You became really boring, Paige. Come on, let's go." He grabbed my arm and dragged me with him outside. To make things even worse, we left Sunstreaker parked and headed for the art event. I mentally scowled.

Ben and I settled and while I only had a small Milkshake, Ben had an entire menu. I watched the yellow Lamborghini. People were snapping photos of him. I barely listened to Ben. I sighed irritated. If Ben never showed up, if my mom never said anything to him, I could have had a nice afternoon at the art gallery with Sunstreaker. "I am going home." I got up and just walked off, heading back home. I slammed the door shut behind me. "How was it?" mom asked. "Well, if you never said a damn thing to Ben, it might have gone perfectly! Sunstreaker showed up but instead I had to entertain Ben. He doesn't even like art! I had planned this day with Sunstreaker not with Ben," I spat. I stormed over to my room and slammed the door shut behind me.

I laid down and hugged the pillow. "Honey..." My mom walked in and sat on the edge of my bed. "He came... you ruined it," I sulked. "Look, I bumped into Ben at the Walmart and he asked me about you so I told him you work at a military base and I told him about the art gallery. I thought it would be a nice surprise because you hadn't seen him for nearly two months," she said. I brushed a tear off my face. "He came... I can't believe he actually came. I was waiting for Sunny. Sunstreaker and I share the same passion for art. I had planned my entire day with him," I muttered. "I am sorry, honey." Mom hugged me. "What did you do with Ben?" she asked. "I was pissed off so I just left and came straight home," I muttered and got up. "I am going to take a shower," I sulked, grabbing my clothing. "I am sorry." I gave a small nod and disappeared in the bathroom.

Monday, I was early at work. I spotted Sunstreaker but wasn't sure if I should approach him or not. He wasn't doing anything so I walked up to him. "Hi..." Sunstreaker ignored me. "Have you seen The Temptation of St. Anthony?" I asked. Sunstreaker glanced at me. "I have..." he said. "Do you like surrealism?" I asked. Sunstreaker turned fully towards me. "It's a nice painting, I like Salvador Dalí. The story of the third-century saint who lived on an isolated mountain top in the Egyptian desert. It's an interesting story. Although Surrealism interests me, I think my favorite period is modernism. What about you?" he asked. It was the first time he actually asked me something and that caught me off guard. "I love illusionism but like you said, I love modernism."

"You paint?" he asked. I gave a small nod. "I do... all kinds of things. I prefer Oil paint," I said. "Do you have a photo?" he asked. I nodded and grabbed my phone showing him a couple of photos. "That's really good," he said, taking my phone. A blush spread over my cheeks. Sunstreaker just gave me a compliment. I couldn't believe it. Sunstreaker never gives anyone compliments, especially not to humans. "Thanks... can I see a photo of your paintings?" I asked. He gave me my phone back and scrolled through some photos before showing me. "Oh my gosh... how did you get these colors? The color intensity is amazing," I said, looking up. "Different layers, I like to work from dark to light. Especially in paintings like these, it can work really nice. It's experimenting. My style is different from yours but you can try," he said. "I will..."

"You draw really realistic and good, maybe you should share it with people."

I never felt so proud as I do now. "Thank you... I posted it on Instagram" he hummed and walked off. The happy feeling never faded throughout the day. That night, I told my mom about what Sunstreaker had said to me. "I never imagined he would compliment me but he did..." My mom placed the plates on the table. Dad joined as well. "Dad, Sunstreaker and I had a chat. He showed me his paintings and they are amazing. You know what he said? He said that my drawings are realistic and good."
Dad didn't respond and started eating. "He complimented me..." I added. "Go to your room." My eyes widened. "What did I do?" I was confused. "NOW!" he shouted. I got up and headed towards my room. Before I had even reached the door, my parents started fighting again.