City of Smoke // Brian 'Otis' Zvonecek ✔️

19 || PARTY

Painting always came as a welcome distraction for Rory, something she could do to pass the time and avoid the thoughts that rattled around inside her mind. Thoughts she didn't really want to think about as they weren't exactly welcome at that specific moment in time.

For example, how it had been a few weeks now since she and Otis reconciled and yet he still hadn't shown any indication that he wanted to move things forward, despite Rory dropping so many hints herself that she was ready for something more.

It was easy to get lost in the art world when she had her paintbrush in her hand, working away at whatever she'd come up with the moment the blank canvas sat in front of her. But when it came to this particular painting, the one for Otis himself, she found that she couldn't quite seem to fall into that headspace anymore.

It's not that Rory wasn't happy doing this particular painting, it was rather the opposite in that she was thrilled and still over the moon that he'd asked her personally. No, it was more like she was completely on edge about whether or not it would turn out as good as Otis expected it to. She was so nervous that she'd mess up, that she'd make his parents look weird or not at all like the picture he'd given her, which is why she couldn't allow herself to become distracted by the fantasy world she fell into when painting.

Rory needed to focus, needed to keep her mind sharp and centred on what was currently in front of her, what she was now calling the most important painting of her whole art career, which wasn't easy when she couldn't seem to get Otis out of her mind. She knew he'd would love it either way, that he would gush over it and compliment her talents until he was hoarse, but that didn't mean that Rory didn't want to make this painting the most perfect one she'd ever done.

"Okay..." Rory breathed out, talking to herself as she sat in the spare bedroom of her apartment, aka her art studio. She leaned back, taking in all the progress she'd made on Otis's painting. It looked decent, so far, she'd made a good bit of progress today working on the base layer, which to her was the most important part. "Okay, we're looking good... I hope."

Taking a breath, Rory set her brush in the murky glass of paint water, the one that actually had the words 'paint water' printed on the side as she often liked to drink whilst painting and the last thing she needed was to mix up her glasses... Again. She stretched her arms above her head, arching her back, which had begun to get stiff over how long she was sitting, as she glanced over to the clock on the wall.

"Oh shoot." Rory mumbled, her arms dropping as she began to clean up her supplies. She'd totally forgotten that she was having everyone over to her place tonight for a little fifty-one get together/party and now she'd spent so much time worrying over her painting, she barely had any time to get ready before they were all supposed to show up.

Rushing to clean up, Rory had just enough time left for a quick shower, to remove the paint she'd no doubt smudged on herself, and a quick change of clothes and touch up of her make-up before the first knock on her door had her grow a little nervous. She'd never had any of the guys bar Sylvie and Jimmy over to her place, so it's safe to say she was rather nervous to see what they'd think of the colourful space that was her home.

"Mouch, Herrmann." Rory greeted with a smile as she answered the door to the two men, both of whom had beers, snacks and whatever else you brought to a party in their hands, even though Rory had plenty. "Come on in." She stepped aside, allowing the two of them to enter the colour zone, as her apartment would be called from then on.

"Why am I not surprised to see your apartment looks like a paint chart?" Herrmann joked, setting the beer atop Rory's kitchen counter as she closed the front door, chuckling a little as she wouldn't have expected anything else from Herrmann.