Our Little Secret {n.h}

chapter 23

I walked into the bank, bag in hand, and stood in line, waiting for a teller. I finally made it to the front and pulled out all of the checks from the gallery and handed them to the man, shaking my leg in anxiousness. I watched him enter all of them after I handed over my debit card so he could access my account and after a few moments, he printed out the receipt. I felt my jaw drop at the total amount that went into my account. Thirty thousand dollars. Holy shit. That used to be how much I made in nine months.

I left the bank and walked to my car, climbing in. I pulled out of the parking lot and started driving to the gallery, ready to lock my studio door and just work. I was exhausted and if I didn't have a family picking up a painting today, I would have stayed home. I parked in my usual spot and went inside, offering Lana a small smile. I shut the door to my studio and clipped my hair back, getting out the painting I had been working on. It was just of a flower and they were paying six hundred dollars for it. I didn't get rich people.

I turned on some music and started painting, trying to perfect a small part. I kept messing up the colors and I groaned to myself, wanting to bang my head on the wall. I took a deep breath and eventually got the color right, sighing to myself. I turned the fan on in the room and put it towards the painting so it would be dry when they picked it up. I went to the dark room and grabbed some pictures that I had hung up last night, bringing them back to the main room. I made sure that they looked okay and put them in frames, setting them in the stack with the others.

"Hello?" I answered my phone, not checking to see who it was.

"Hey, babe." I usually smiled when Niall called me, but I wasn't really in the mood. "Wanna go get lunch?"

"I have a lot of work to do." I said quietly, rubbing my eye out of tiredness. "Maybe tomorrow."

"I can bring something over there." Niall suggested and I sighed a little.

"Sorry, I just have no time right now." I stumbled over my words and I could tell Niall was confused.

"Are you okay?" Niall wondered and I hummed in question. "You sound different."

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied. "I'll see you later."

"I love you." He said and that made me smile a bit.

"I love you, too."

I hung up my phone and sighed to myself, setting my phone back in my purse. I grabbed the stack of frames and left the studio, heading out to the front of the gallery. Lana helped me put them up against the walls and I made sure that they all lined up and looked good. I decided to walk across the street and get a coffee from the little cafe. I went back to the gallery and into the studio, sipping on my coffee as I sat on my stool.

I started cleaning all my painting supplies and tried to get the brushes all cleaned out so that I could use them later on this week. I heard a knock on the door and I looked up to see Lana leading the woman who ordered the flower into the room. She smiled at me and I showed her the painting, asking if it looked okay. She nodded and wrote a check, handing it to me. I helped take the large painting out to her car and put it in the trunk.

I went back inside and immediately my phone rang so I had to do a consultation for a painting. I finished writing down the information and put my phone away, getting a clean canvas. I started sketching out what the man wanted and eventually called it quits. I looked at the clock and it was already eight o'clock. I gathered up my stuff and left the gallery, locking up and heading to my car.

Once home, I dropped my bag at the front door, beyond exhausted. I trudged to my bedroom and almost flopped on my bed but refrained, knowing I had to brush my teeth and stuff. I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth before putting my hair up into a bun. I washed my face and got all the makeup off that was worn off partially. I stripped off my clothes and put them in the hamper, tugging on one of Niall's shirts that he had left. I climbed into bed and curled up, turning the lights off, ready to just go to sleep.