It was only a week after her ex had decided they should take a break- but after all they'd gone through together, Emma shouldn't've been surprised to see him already posting a picture with another girl. Careful not to accidentally like the photo, she read the description, words about being excited to see where this goes getting blurred by the anger and annoyance clouding Emma's mind- not just sorrow over his betrayal, but frustration that she was stupid enough to let him get away with it. She should've seen this coming from a long way off, but she'd given him the benefit of the doubt all this time, only to find herself trampled on.

 She unfollowed him on Instagram, then on Facebook, and was well on her way to deleting and blocking his contact in her phone- when she noticed she hadn't opened the text that Killian had sent her before she left the museum. It was just the picture they'd taken together, which she immediately saved to her phone, then figured she should probably say something in response.

 "Thanks for the picture. Had a great time!"

 She was half tempted to post their picture on her Instagram story, just to rub it in her ex's face that she had a date this weekend too, coupled with some caption about how it wasn't every day she met such a talented guy, but she felt it might be petty and shallow, and generally uncool to get Killian caught in the crosshairs like that out of the blue.

 She turned off her phone screen and set it down on the couch, then flopped her head back.

 There had to be something healthier than social media to handle this annoyance and betrayal- wasn't that why she went to the museum today anyways?

 She looked back at her newspaper covered coffee table with a canvas and paint supplies all set up. It had been a while since she'd painted something with feeling, so she'd been hoping to find a little inspiration at the museum.

 She picked up the canvas and a pencil and tried to sketch something out. How could she describe how she was feeling after the fallout of this week? Broken? Betrayed? Small?

 Small. Believing you're someone's everything for months, then finding out you're more replaceable than a double A battery- the only thing she could call herself was small.

 She sketched out a figure, a young girl, just an outline, with her head hung down. She didn't take up too much of the canvas. She then drew an outline around her, one not unlike a shadow across the corner of the page, like it was coming from someone off the canvas- and like his shadow was part of why he felt so small.

 "That's got a message." she thought. She then thought about the message that Killian had included in the three paintings she'd seen with him. Maybe if things worked out well on Friday, he'd walk her through his whole exhibit sometime, explaining the story behind every painting.

 She wondered how much social media presence he had for his art- his Instagram had been mentioned in one of the brochures.

 "Maybe I should take a fresh look at some of his paintings for a touch of inspiration."

 She opened her phone to get distracted from her painting, but found herself distracted from that as well- Killian had replied to her text.

 "You're welcome. Did you make it home safely?"

 She smiled, endeared at the concern for her in those words.

 "Yup. Thanks for asking." she texted back.

 He replied almost immediately.

 "Pleasure's all mine. See you Friday at 5:30!"

 "Can't wait."

 Then she opened instagram, and tracked down his art account. She tapped on the profile and viewed his story- a link to a newsletter about the benefit dinner, a snapshot of a view of the city out the window of what was apparently the apartment the museum had him set up in, a screenshot and a link of a news article about his display, the picture he'd taken with Emma….

 She held down the screen so it wouldn't disappear before she read the caption.

 "Always a pleasure to meet a new fan! @nolan.blanchard.art.museum"

 Emma's gut reaction was a hint of annoyance at her photo being used as a publicity stunt- but it made her feel special as well. As she realized she was charmed by this and not appalled, she also realized that she would now seem a lot less petty to do the same thing. In fact, since she'd seen the story, it would almost be impolite if she didn't respond.

  So, she screenshot his story, then uploaded it to her story, adding a caption of her own.

 "The pleasure was all mine! It's cool meeting such a talented artist @artists.life.for.me @nolan.blanchard.art.museum."

 If he was gonna get clout from their picture together, she felt no shame in doing the same.

 She then went back to his profile and followed it, then liked some of his recent works.

 "The 'don't like after three days' rule doesn't apply to influencers," she reasoned, so she felt it alright to like every picture of his paintings that spoke to her.