Painted Angel (Artist! 2p! America x Reader)

The Incident

        Samantha was many things: beautiful, observant, talented. Her least endearing trait, however, was her ability to manipulate like no other. You had become friends with her in middle school, trying to use the status of being in the inner workings of her little circle to your advantage so that the bullies who had followed you from elementary school would finally leave you alone. It worked, but you never exploited your position in Samantha's clique for any other reason. You were faithful to her and her group for the most part, going to their parties and participating in their monthly shopping sprees for the latest fashion. There was a time when Samantha had promoted you to the position of her most trusted friend, though you refused to behave like all the others that came before you.

You had seen at least a dozen of her so-called friends take up that particular spot by her right side, and every single one of them was cast to the wind when she no longer found them useful. Samantha was essentially the Regina George of your school. You had come to terms with that when she first invited you to be her friend, but you remained unapologetically yourself through your school together. Not much changed when her friend's group split for college. She held facetimes regularly throughout the week, much to your dismay. They interfered with your studying, but you made the best out of a poor situation. Yes, you could just up and leave her group of friends, but that would mean leaving the decent people you did manage to meet through her.

One of those people happened to be her boyfriend, ex-boyfriend at this point, Allen. Allen had come into the picture junior year of high school. He was a transfer student from Brooklyn, New York, and instantly became one of the most popular boys in the school. The two of them became a power couple in no time, and he fit right in with Samantha's group. You befriended Allen rather quickly. Despite his thick headedness and tendency to be a bit sleezy at times, he was fairly down to earth. He did volunteer work, raised money for charities, helped out his parents with their businesses when he was able to, but nothing surprised you more than his artistic abilities.

He was gifted when it came to the arts, specifically with painting and photography. That wasn't to say he wasn't good with any other mediums. He was well rounded when it came to his mediums. The brunette just found himself more closely drawn to those two. You had been with him when you pitched the idea to the school's principal about having a student art show and inviting museum curators from the area to visit. Samantha, of course, was with the night it took place, hanging off of Allen's arm in a less than modest outfit like an accessory. She had made him clean up nicely, forcing him into a suit with slicked back hair and all his piercings taken out. Well, all except for his tongue piercing and his other non-visible one located in a less than savory area for conversation.

That night, Allen was approached by not one but two of the eight curators that were invited. They both offered to pay for a few of his displayed pieces to showcase in their museums for upcoming exhibitions. Before he could even utter a single word, Samantha had taken over the conversation, stating how Allen would gladly take the sum of money from the two of them in exchange for his paintings. When he opened his mouth to protest, you watched as Samantha dug her heel into the toe of his shoe. Allen immediately shut his mouth, forcing a smile and nodding to show his approval.

Against your better judgement, you stayed out of their relationship, keeping all the comments you so desperately wanted to speak to yourself. Allen and Samantha were always in an on again-off again relationship from day one. The longest you had ever counted that they stayed together was seven months, and each and every time they broke up, Allen would go crawling back to Samantha. She was a drug to him, and the redhead had him hooked. Even throughout college you watched as time and time again Samantha had weaseled her way back into his head when you finally thought he was stone set on keeping her out of it.