Sunflower Love

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Theo

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"Remember when I said I knew you weren't an idiot," Knox says as he pushes open the door after me. "Well I meant to add 'used to' because you're a fucking moron, Cade." I watch as Winnie drives down the street for a moment, but as soon as she is out of sight I turn to Knox.

Fuck.

"She probably thinks I'm some psycho." I mutter as I push back into the Boutique, "Why was she here anyways?" I looked around at all the people that were whispering amongst themselves. Most met my eyes and sent me reassuring smiles, but Jules. She was making sure that we didn't make any eye contact at all.

"Jules." Her shoulders bounced slightly at me calling out to her, "Why was Winnie here?" My voice came out soft and completely innocent, but Jules and I both knew I was anything but that at the moment.

She pulls a deep breath in before turning to send me a smile, "She was hired for pictures remember. Liam's best friend from coll-"

"I know who she is." I cut her off as I began to make my way towards her, "Why was she here today?"

"I wanted pictures, T." She stretches her arms out to the people around us, "This would be cute behind the scene pictures, right?" Jules was still not meeting my eyes, looking past me or around me. "But ya'll had to get all messed up and I should've tried to get ahold of her before came," she huffed as she twists her lips to the side, " 'Cause who wants your ugly bruised mug in wedding photos anyways."

I glare at her and take a step toward her, but Liam pushed himself between us, "Cade leave her be. She just wanted photos, what other reason would she have for calling Winnie here?" Something about the way Liam said this made me think he had an idea what was actually going on, but was daring me to continue.

And I wasn't one to back down from a dare.

I looked past him at Julianna, "You complained to me that Winnie wasn't someone that you wanted at this wedding. So, why is she helping you pick out the cake? Why did you go dress shopping with her? And why is she invited to the close family and friend fitting day?"

Liam glanced back at her, before turning back to me. "Jules wanted Winnie to come to the wedding, she asked me to get in touch with her and even asked if I could buy a painting of Winnie's."

I raised an eyebrow at Julianna, but she just sighed before finally meeting my eyes. "Are you just pushing me to say it, Theo?" She groaned as she wiped a hand over her face, "Fine! Listen, Winnie is this cute little thing that was like a baby deer trying to walk. I knew that Liam and her were close during college. Potentially, at some point, more-"

"We weren't." Liam cut in, but Julianna just shrugged past him.

"I thought it would be nice to have her around and if I pretended to have some resentment for her..." She bit her lip and waved her hands around to find the words, "Then you wouldn't notice that I was trying to ya know..."

"Set us up." I finished for her. Liam slightly shifts and I see his eyes narrow slightly between the two of us. I raised an eyebrow at him as our eyes met, but he just quirks his back at me.

"Yes! I mean kind of. I thought she needed friends and maybe someone could've been something more to her. Wasn't really meant for you, T! But after I saw how you two instantly clicked during the dance rehearsal, I just..." She sends me a smile, "I just wanted to help out a little."

"Jules..." Liam begins, but she cuts him off this time.

"I invited her today because I knew you guys had a little bit of rough game last night and I thought having her here would help alleviate the tension. I had no idea that things would go this way or that things had been this bad." She winced as she eyed all of us, "I thought it was just the usual bad hockey game."