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Virginia saw the world with a particular view. A rosy outlook, so to say. It's safe to assume that when she entered a room, it felt brighter and the people in it felt warm.
"This is your room?" Sam asked in awe, gazing around.
Virginia felt horrified at the reality that Sam would have to be comfortable in her own house but not in her room as per Ponyboy's advice. Darry and Soda still had no clue about him and Virginia was fortunate enough to find a time when both were at work and Ponyboy was watching a movie at the theater.
So she had a boy over. In the house. Alone.
"Amazing," Sam gasped. He stared at the paintings she hung on a line across her wall even with their embarrassing mistakes and imperfections. But she didn't know he didn't notice.
"No wonder my mom loves you," he chuckled, his eyes drifting from one masterpiece to the next.
"They're just some sketches," she reasoned. Virginia felt her cheeks burn up at how her significant other was acting. Her room was nothing extraordinary but he looked like he stepped on Mars.
Sam observed the strings of mismatched feathers and beads draping from her mirror and the rings of wildflowers hung on her bedpost. He recognized some of the blooms and mentally recited their scientific names without fail.
Virginia occasionally heard a mumble of "Rudbeckia hirta" and "Iridaceae" and she smiled behind his back. His biology brain was working.
Sam felt a little awkward with how he paced around like a child in a candy store. He wasn't sure why he expected anything different than, well, Virginia Curtis.
He kneeled down and gave his girlfriend a questioning look and she nodded, encouraging him to pull out a few stacked canvas leaning against her desk. One of them was the house at sunset and he marveled at how she captured the fading light against the rooftop. The next was a landscape of a cottage surrounded by a gorgeous meadow. Sam didn't recognize it so he assumed it was from her imagination, making it all more beautiful with its feather-light strokes and figurative glow.
The third...
As soon as Virginia saw it, she released the breath she was holding in.
It was the two birds. The warm morning on the roof. Her on the side of the house with white knuckles. Letting go. Dally's arms. The press of his rings against the crook of her knees got harder as he held her tighter. The paint in her hair.
"What, did you kill a bird and tape it on here?" Sam asked, pivoting on his foot and facing her. He gestured at the canvas. "Well, this is amazing. I don't know how you do it, darling."
Darling. She's locked into 'darling' now. There are no birds. This was her rosy beginning.
Virginia crouched down and held his toned arms and bent him down so she could kiss his cheek. "Thank you."
