«𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬» - Camilo Madrigal x OC

01

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I love it when the townspeople begin to sing outside the shop. The music flows through the air, and it's the best feeling ever when you're dancing alone in an empty room, surrounded by hundreds of your art pieces.

I wiped the green paint on my apron, humming along to the words.

"Welcome to the family, Madrigal.." I mumbled under my breath as I grabbed the orange and squeezed it onto my palette. I paused to watch the children run by the building to keep up with a brunette girl.

I love that skirt. Hm.

"How's it going, Marie?" My older sister asked, walking through the door. I quickly came down from my stool, stepping away from the scenery.

"Pretty good- I finished 5 other medium large paintings, they're over there if you want to take a look." I took off my apron and hung it up on the wall next to the door. Sofia looked around at the shop and found my new paintings, full of waterfalls, mountains, rivers and plains.

"These are gorgeous," Sofia picked one up and took a closer look. "Why do you paint so much nature though? We have such a colorful town, I figured you would've painted the pathway through the shops or something."

I sighed and sat down on the counter. "Sofia, we're surrounded by green mountains. There's obviously more to the world than hills. I just like imagining what it's like out there." "Hmm." Sofia set down my painting against my other dry canvases and walked to the back room, probably to take off her work uniform.

"Oh, I saw Isabella again today. She invited us to her cousin's gift ceremony tomorrow night." "Little Antonio?" "Yeah, that one." I looked down at my hands and began picking the dried paint off my fingers. I hated parties. Too many people...

She came back around the corner and crossed her arms looking at me. "Marie, you have to get out of the shop. Just come to the party with me, maybe introduce yourself to Mirabel. She's a very sweet girl. She's not going to bite your face off." She stepped closer to me and set her hand on my shoulder, looking down at me. "I can introduce you if you want."

She'll drag me there anyways. Not like I have a choice.

"Fine," I muttered, "But you owe me new paints for this."

"Deal. I can make some new colors for you later. How about a light yellow? Dad just gathered some marigolds for me to use." She stepped away and I continued picking at my painted-splattered hands.

The blue paint isn't coming off. Shit.

Dad walked in and set down today's income next to me on the counter.

"Dad, how much is that?" I swung myself off the counter and looked through the back, counting the coins. "Enough for a full week of food," He looked at us, proud of the merchandise. "And we're eating well tonight!"

Sofia and I looked at each other smiling. We haven't gotten this much money in so long. I guess my scenery paintings are working.

"Marie has been painting more landscape sceneries," Sofia picked one up from my 'in-progress' pile and showed it to our dad. "This one isn't even finished. And it still looks majestic."

I smiled to myself and went to clean the paintbrushes I was using earlier.

They're already getting dry.. shit. I need to keep these ones working for just a little longer.

Dad and Sofia were still talking in the background when I stepped out of the shop to rinse off my paint brushes and palette under the faucet on the side of the shop. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and got to work. A shadow loomed over me and I breathed in and out, letting my body cool itself down.

Hold up. That's a funky looking shadow.

"Hey, you're Sofia's younger sister, right?"

I turned around faster than the speed of light and hit my head against the side of the workshop in the process. I groaned and rubbed my head, looking up to see a big girl, a lot bigger than me, staring at me with worried eyes. She kneeled down to meet my face and picked up the cup of paintbrushes I had knocked over in the process.

My eyes focused again and I gathered the courage to answer her.

"Yeah, yeah I'm her sister." I replied. She set the cup of brushes down again next to me and smiled.

"My name's Luisa. I've never seen you around here before, are you new here?"

"No, just don't come out very much."

"Come out from where?"

"My workshop. I'm an artist.."

"Oh, well that explains the paint brushes!" She laughed to herself quietly. What is this girl doing? I need to wash my brushes or they're going to get crusty.

"So what's your name?" She asked me. I picked up a brush and turned on the faucet, rinsing it under the water. "Marie Hernandez." "What?" "Marie Hernandez," I looked back at her. I turned off the water. "My name is Marie Hernandez." I turned on the water again, rinsing off the rest of the brushes.

"Oh, cool. Well it's nice to meet you, Marie. I hope to see you at the ceremony tomorrow." Luisa stood up again and walked away smiling.

"You too," I mumbled.

That was painful. I haven't had human interaction with anyone outside of my family in so long, I had forgotten how to talk to people.

I think that girl was a Madrigal. Oh god, I probably seemed like a bitch!

I made sure to hurry up and finish rinsing my brushes to get inside as fast as I could before anyone else walked up to me. Slamming the door behind me and taking a few breaths, I turned around to see my dad and Sofia looking at me with big smiles.

"Were you just talking to a Madrigal?" My dad asked. "Luisa Madrigal," Sofia corrected him.

"Yeah, it doesn't matter though. I had a heart attack just trying to talk to her with a straight face." Last time I spoke to a Madrigal I had a panic attack. That's how bad this whole "ceremony" situation is for me.

I set down my brushes and walked past them, treading my feet up the stairs. "I'm going to my room. Buenas noches, familia."

I took off my green skirt and white ruffle shirt and threw on a nightgown, the crisp image of Luisa Madrigal still in my head. I finished my nighttime routine and dove into bed.

I need to work up enough courage to say anything to anyone tomorrow night if I don't want to end up crying. Just remember your breathing exercises, and you'll be perfectly okay.

You'll be perfectly, fine...

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