SUNFLOWER.

apollo lets out a small chuckle. “yeah, i’d say we definitely all need it,” he agrees before taking another sip from the bottle. as ellie talks, he continuously holds the bottle to his lips, not paying attention to how much of the wine he’s drinking. his mind is too busy racing with thoughts of ellie with someone else, like had the other night in the bakery. why was thinking of her with someone else so difficult? finally, he pulls the bottle away from him, handing it back over to ellie. he crosses his arms over his chest, pulling his denim jacket tighter around his abdomen. “yeah, but sometimes it’s not that easy,” he replies absent-mindedly. “even if you weren’t together, it takes time to get over it. it’s still the same process as a break-up from a relationship. you’ll think about the what-ifs, you’ll think about the other person all the time -- until, eventually, it starts to hurt less.” at this point, apollo is rambling, the wine and whiskey mixture fully affecting him. a part of him knew that he wasn’t just talking about ellie and whoever she had just ended things with. he was talking about him and ellie.

the snow had just barely started coming down, but the night was just getting started for apollo. he had already downed about half of the liter of whiskey he’d pulled from the top of the bar and was itching to find something else to do in this stupid resort than sit around and fight for a spot by the fireplace. he had been nestled by one of the big windows overlooking the slopes when an idea hit him. he glanced around at the crowds of people, making sure no one was paying any attention to him before shifting on his big columbia jacket and making his way towards one of the exits. the ski lift was sure to have been long turned off by now, but his drunken mind hadn’t paid any mind to that chance. he just wanted to get up on one of the lifts and see the snow falling over town -- a perfectly sane decision. he was halfway to the first lift when he heard footsteps behind him crunching the freshly fallen snow. he whirled around on his heels. “can i help you?”

apollo watches ellie’s hands as she refills her glass. “right, they do,” he agrees, his voice a little quieter than before. he had plenty of his own good memories that outweighed his own shitty ones. but it wasn’t something he wanted to think about right now, quickly shaking the thought from his mind. he took the bottle once more and started to move it to his lips, but stopped, hand frozen as ellie talked. did she just say dumped or was he hearing things? it took everything in him not to ask about any details, reminding himself that ellie’s personal life wasn’t any of his business. and it honestly probably never had been. “well, cheers to being one really nice boss,” he quips, holding up the wine bottle to her glass. “i’m sorry about the whole dumping thing though. that shit really sucks.”

“you’re welcome,” apollo replies as he takes the flask back, downing a few swigs himself. the warmth of the whiskey shoots down his throat and through his body. he twists the cap back on the top of it, figuring he could help ellie finish off the wine bottle first -- he was pretty buzzed anyway. he glances over at the blonde as she talked, eyes softening and a smile appearing on his own features to mimic the one on hers. “it’s not lame at all,” he reassures her quickly, “it’s actually pretty sweet. memories like that are a good thing.” apollo puts the wine bottle to his lips, shrugging before tipping it back. “don’t mention it, really. i’m glad i could help. -- if that’s even what i did. regardless, i’m glad you aren’t feeling as down tonight. or at least, that’s what it looks like to me.”

the blizzard was an incredibly unwelcome surprise for apollo. honestly, trapped inside the resort with the whole town sounded like a nightmare and he wanted desperately to escape from the throng of people huddled around the giant fireplaces in the main room of the building. so he did what he did best: located the bar, snagged a bottle of whiskey to refill his flask, and retreated to one of the lesser crowded parts of the resort. shockingly enough, he came across ellie and took a seat on the couch next to her, eyes widening slightly at the bottle being stretched out towards him. “well, if you’re offering,” he replies smoothly before taking the bottle and downing a few gulps. he passes it back to her before taking his own flask out and holding it towards her. “in case you want something stronger. courtesy of the severely undermanned snowcliffe bar. -- excited for the snow?”

it takes everything in apollo to stifle the laugh forming in his throat at the sight of olivia, messy hair and all, as she catches sight of the horse in the living room. he takes tentatively steps closer to where the woman is standing, his eyes staying on the chesnut creature in the middle of the room. “wait, wait, you think it was me who did this? where the hell would i find a horse, liv?” he practically whisper-screams at her, trying his best to avoid any sort of excrement the horse might have left on the floor. as comical as the whole situation was, apollo was dumbfounded as to how the horse might have ended up in olivia’s house -- the previous night was a blur and he couldn’t account for half of the shit that him and olivia might have done as drunk as they were. “what do we do? call animal control?” he turns his head to side slightly at it hits him: “oh, my god. isn’t that nellie? the horse for the carriage thing that takes tourists around town? you don’t think..?” he trails off as he looks over at olivia in clear shock.

as bennett sits down, apollo scoots over slightly on the bench to make more room. it takes a bit for him to register the joke in his mind, but a slightly smile appears on his lips and he lets out a dry laugh. “ha, ha. very funny,” he mumbles. he starts to say something else, but sharply winces away from bennett’s touch -- in part due to the pain in his abdomen, but also in some ways because he didn’t want to be touched. “sorry,” he says a little too quickly. he sets the ice pack on the edge of the bench, away from the two of them and out of the way. he realizes that he hasn’t actually looked to see if there was a bruise anywhere on his body after getting the ice from ellie, so when he pulls up his hoodie and t-shirt, he’s surprised to see a red spot above his stomach, the inside of the mark already turning a light purple. “doesn’t look that bad, right? i’ve had worse bruises than this, i think.”

apollo isn’t sure what he’s expecting ellie to say in response to his question. regardless, it’s hard for him to imagine the girl sitting in front of him engaged at one point. honestly, whenever he looks at ellie, he still sees the girl she was that summer after graduation, but he couldn’t live in that daydream anymore. they had both grown up so much since then, they were practically unrecognizable to each other. he tried to picture her happy, in love with someone else, planning a wedding -- but his mind kept going to a teenage ellie that felt like a ghost now. instinctively, he reaches out to put his hand over hers as she talks. a part of him wants to pull his hand away just as quickly as it touches her, but he doesn’t, the desire to comfort overpowering anything rational. “i get it,” he says softly. “it’s hard to watch someone we love sacrifice anything for us. but you know, ellie, you can’t dwell on the past like this. wondering about what-ifs will only hurt you more in the long run than the actual situation does.” he pauses for a second, turning his eyes to look out the window at the crowds in the street. “have you talked to anyone about this? it’s good to have a support system. that way you aren’t carrying around all of this shit by yourself.”

“always,” apollo cooes as georgia sits down. he’s about to comment more about the article and the failed tree lighting overall, but the waitress interrupts. he waits patiently as georgia orders then orders himself a plain black coffee and a chocolate muffin. he’d been so preoccupied with getting to work when he came into the coffee shop that he hadn’t even bothered ordering anything, the wait staff obviously picking up on his need to work in peace. but he’d make an exception for georgia, the promise of the interview in the forefront of his mind. though, it was nice catching up with the woman in front of him, something he always seemed to enjoy. he scrunches up his nose slightly at her question, decidedly shrugging it off as the waitress came back with their drinks and his muffin. “i’m a little bruised from the festival, but no big deal,” he replies before taking a sip of his drink. “what about you? aside from working the whole night, did you enjoy the festival?”

apollo stays quiet as ellie talks, knowing how important it is to just let her vent without any sort of interruption ( a therapy tactic he learned in school ). he’s suddenly faced with the fact that he hardly knows ellie at all. it’s been years since they last saw each other and even then, he probably hadn’t known her all that well. he had to wonder how he could care so much about a person he hardly knew. his eyes widen at the word engaged, not even bothering to hide the shock on his voice. it only confirmed just how little he knew about eleanor mclaren and it saddened him, unexpectedly. “wow,” he breathed out, still processing the information. he took a beat before responding, “you don’t deserve to be punished for anything like that, ellie. i mean, to be fair, you don’t owe anyone anything. but if you’re truly concerned about it ... answer me this, okay? -- were you happy with him? could you have seen yourself actually getting married to him? because if you weren’t and you couldn’t, then you made the right decision. don’t beat yourself up because of it.”

at first, apollo is sure that he’s done something wrong when ellie gets up without a word. he suddenly feels awkward and uncomfortable, silently willing himself to get up and leave before she comes back so that she doesn’t have to be around him anymore. but she comes out with an ice pack that he takes willingly, pressing it to his abdomen gently. “thanks,” he mumbled, not mentioning how he’d been looking for ice before walking in here. the less words he said, the better, he assumed. her words catch him off guard and he quickly turned his attention to her. he notes the shakiness in her voice, the puffiness of her face from crying, and he feels his stomach drop -- he can’t help but wonder if he had ever caused her this much pain. “i believe in karma, yeah,” he offered, keeping his voice quiet. “but it’s not just bad karma, you know? there’s good too. -- and i know i don’t know the whole story, but you don’t deserve whatever it is that has you upset like this. you’re a good person, elle, really good.”

the second ellie spoke, apollo could tell that he wasn’t entirely welcome in the bakery right now. but at this point, he was too comfortable sitting down and didn’t want to put in the effort to get up. she’d just have to deal with him for a little while. “okay, so then we won’t talk about it,” he conceded with a nod. “but keep in mind, i am a therapist so i’m probably the best person to talk to about shitty life things.” apollo knew that there was a fine line between him and ellie, drew firmly in the space between them when he went off to school without talking to her all those years ago. he wrapped his arm loosely around his ribs, shrugging. “just got into a fight with sonny, no big deal. i think he got stronger since high school, though. i’ve never had a punch to the ribs hurt this much,” he joked, offering a weak and strained laugh.

honestly, apollo wasn’t sure how he’d made it home from the festival. the whole night had been one blurry interaction after another ( in part, due to the steady stream of alcohol in his system ). all he wanted to do now was just lay in bed, fall asleep, forget this whole night had happened. but the throbbing pain in his ribs kept him awake, tossing and turning to find the perfect position to fall asleep but failing. the matheson household was cold, quiet -- his sister was staying at a friend’s house for the night and his dad had been passed out in his own bed by the time apollo had gotten home. so when he heard something hit his window, his brows instantly furrowed in confusion, unsure of who it could be. he went to the window, letting out a sigh when he saw that it was frankie. he made his way downstairs, opening up the front door for his friend. “isn’t your boyfriend gonna’ be pissed your checking up on me and not him?” he called over his shoulder as he made his way into the living room, plopping down on the couch in the darkness, the only light coming from the streetlight outside.

apollo sat in the corner of the local coffee shop, trying to buy his time as he waited for georgia to walk in. the winter festival had taken up most of his time this weekend, so he needed to catch up on work -- which included reading over a lot of college essays and making sure there weren’t any grammar issues in them. the longer he sat staring at them, the more he figured this should be an english teacher’s job, not the guidance counselor. upon hearing the bell above the door chime, he looked up from his laptop, a smile spreading across his face at the sight of georgia. “well, hello to my favorite reporter,” he cooed, motioning to the seat across from him and closing his computer. “i saw your story on the front page. i can’t believe sonny actually did it -- the whole fucking up the tree lighting.”

the last thing that apollo remembered from last night was answering a call from olivia to meet him outside town square. the last night of the festival had been in full swing and after the night he’d had previously, he needed a fun time with one of his closest friends. when he woke up the next morning, the smell of something putrid hit his nose. his eyes fluttered open and he recognized olivia’s living room right away, assuming he must’ve stayed the night after getting too drunk. what he didn’t recognize, however, was the horse standing over him on the couch. he jumped to his feet, trying his best not to startle the creature. “liv! i think you should get down here!” he called over his shoulder to wherever in the house his friend might be, as he took tentative steps away from the horse.

the whole night had been one giant disaster and apollo had the bruise on his abdomen to prove it. and now he was sitting on a bench near the ferris wheel, watching parents with their kids or couples in love riding in circles on the mechanism, an ice pack courtesy of ellie pressed firmly to his ribs. he could hear footsteps all around him, so it was no surprise that he didn’t hear bennett approach him. he’d spent the whole night doing a pretty damn good job at avoiding his ex-boyfriend, but, of course, he couldn’t run from whatever painful interaction they were going to have tonight. “whatever you do, just don’t crack a joke at the expense of my pain,” he warns, not even bothering to look at bennett. “my ego has been bruised enough tonight.”

after coming up short in his hunt for ice, apollo had almost given up completely. maybe it was better he just dealt with the pain in his ribs -- served him right. he was just about to find his sister to tell her he was going home when he saw a shadow in the window of the bakery. at first, he thought it was just a figment of his imagination, but as he grew closer, he saw that it was ellie. with furrowed brows, he made his way to the storefront, knocking once on the glass before pointing towards the door. was it the best idea for him to be walking into her bakery like this after everything? probably not. but he could tell that something was bothering ellie and he wanted to make sure she was okay, the throbbing pain in his ribs completely forgotten at this point. he entered the bakery and took a seat next to ellie by the window, mimicking her position by placing his own forehead against the class. “why so glum, chum?” he shifted slightly so that he was facing her better, the movement causing him to wince, but he quickly brushed it off. “it’s your bakery and you’ll cry in it if you want to, huh?”