Piercing Hatred | ✔️

28

~Flora's POV~

A smile formed on my face as Knox pulled up to the breakfast diner called The Good Egg, which was a diner that we used to go to together in middle school, but I hadn't been here since we stopped being friends. I'd tried to go maybe once or twice afterwards, on my own of course, but being here by myself had only made me sad so I simply stopped going.

"I haven't been here in so long." I mentioned, peeking out the window at the cute diner. It still looked just as it had in middle school, and something about that felt very calming to me.

"Really?" Knox asked with a surprised raise of his brows, causing me to cast my gaze towards him. I nodded, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. "Yeah. I didn't see much of a point in coming back since you were the one I always came here with." I explained, giving him a small smile. "But it actually feels nice to be here again." I admitted softly.

Knox chuckled softly and the two of us got out of the car, his hand finding my lower back as we headed into the diner together. The bell above the door jingled softly as we entered, causing the middle aged woman behind the counter to look up, a welcoming smile forming on her face. "Good morning!" She greeted us happily, much happier than any employee I remember having worked here. I smiled back, giving her a wave as Knox guided me towards a window booth towards the back, where we used to sit a lot.

When we sat down I glanced over the menu, growing excited when I saw that they still had the same thing I used to order every time. I ended up ordering the french toast with whipped cream and strawberries, as well as my favorite mixed berry smoothie.

My stomach grumbled when our food was brought over to us, the scent of it causing my mouth to water. This place had been probably my favorite place to go for breakfast, simply because of their french toast. I'd never found anywhere that had better french toast, and I'd never really expected to.

I gave the waitress a thankful smile and began to dig in once she walked off, a hum of happiness leaving me at the taste. It was sweet and fruity, the cut strawberries fresh and the french toast warm and just perfectly crispy.

Amused, Knox watched me as I practically devoured my food, taking a bite of the breakfast burrito he had ordered. "I see you still love their french toast." He chuckled, to which I nodded and took a sip of my smoothie. "And their smoothie." I added, popping a forkful of food into my mouth. A smile lingered on his lips as he looked at me, not teasing but rather filled with a type of affection on his face that nobody had ever looked at me with. I swallowed my food, a warmth in my cheeks as I looked down at my plate and continued eating.

It was new to me to be looked at like that, and I was simply too overwhelmed to look him in the face without feeling like I'd turn into a puddle in this booth. So I just stuffed my cheeks full of food again, hoping he didn't find me weird.

"Cute." He murmured, voice low enough that I knew he wasn't saying it for me to hear. Somehow, that just made my heart flutter more.

**

I frowned as I looked at the jewelry Knox was making a few feet away from me, already having made a bracelet that he'd finished. Now, he was making something else, though I couldn't see what it was since he'd cover it from me every time I tried to peek.

While he was working on that, I, on the other hand, was struggling to even finish the first thing I had started making almost forty-five minutes ago. I was learning that jewelry making might be something that was not for me, at all. "How the heck do you do this?" I grumbled, struggling with the bracelet that I was trying to make. Though I was struggling, I refused to give in, wanting to make mine for Knox.

Knox wasn't really the type to wear rings, mostly necklaces and bracelets, but I had noticed that he had only one bracelet while having a plethora of necklaces. Therefore, I decided that I wanted to make him a bracelet.

After a few more minutes of struggling with the thin metal that I was using, I finally got it into the correct circular shape instead of the wonky, uneven oval that I'd accidentally made it into at first. I sighed in relief and brushed my hair out of my face, sitting up straight when I realized that I had subconsciously been hunched over in my focus. There was a large option of assorted little add-ons that you could add to whatever jewelry you were making, and I stared at all of them in thought.

Unsure what else I wanted to do, I looked over at Knox, unabashedly staring at the side of his face in hopes that it'd somehow help. And miraculously, it did.

I grabbed a few different dangly charms, three of them black onyx beads while two were silver skulls and the last four were silver moons. A satisfied smile grew on my lips as I finished carefully putting the charms on, happy with the way that it had turned out. Hopefully he actually liked it.

Right then, Knox gently rose from his chair and moved closer, plopping down into the stool beside mine. "Done?" He asked, stretching one long leg out beneath the table. I nodded, peering up at him. "I only made one, though. It took me a while to get the hang of it." I responded, frowning. "You can make as many as you want, doll. I don't mind waiting." He hummed, and I paused, thinking it over. "Maybe just one more." I said hesitantly, wanting to make him a necklace but unsure if I could really just make him sit around while I did so.

Still, he didn't seem to mind, returning to whatever it was he had been making while I began to make the necklace. I ended up making a simple necklace, a silver chain that I decided to put a pendant of a small robot on. 

Once done, I went to sit in the stool beside Knox, watching as he finished making the bracelet that he had been working on. I looked at him, a smile growing on my lips when he held up a really pretty bracelet with a small opal stone in the middle of it. The necklace he made was a short chain, only reaching my collarbone when he put it on me, and had pretty opal stone flowers on the chain. 

"The stuff I made feels less...impressive than these now." I said, brushing my fingers over the bracelet around my wrist. He bumped me, giving me a look. "Don't say that." He scolded. I smiled slightly, grabbing his arm as I pulled the bracelet out of my jacket pocket and carefully put it on his right wrist. I looked down at it, brushing my finger over the tan skin of his arm before I pulled away and flicked my eyes up to him. "It's not too girly, is it?" I asked, a bit worried.

Knox shook his head, a smile on his pretty lips. "Not at all, and even if it was, I don't mind. It's pretty." He told me, causing a smile to form on my face. I then reached into my pocket, pulling out the rather simple necklace that I had made. His brown eyes flicked to the dangling robot pendant, amusement sparkling in his eyes when he saw it.

"Don't tell me you put that on there to tease me." He said playfully, a grin growing on my face as I rose from the stool. "I have no idea what you're referring to." I fibbed, shrugging my shoulders. He simply snorted, his gaze following me until I stepped behind him. "Sure you don't." He hummed knowingly, allowing me to clip the necklace into place. It fell over the top of his shirt, laying on his chest, and I smiled happily to myself before I plopped beside him again.

Though I had played dumb, Knox and I both knew that I had picked the pendant on purse. When he and I were in the forth grade, Knox had always worn a pair of robot slippers when we'd have sleepovers, but he'd thrown them out when we got into the fifth grade. I had always thought they were cute, but he said they weren't cool.

"Do you like it?" I asked hopefully, reaching out to touch the shiny pendant. He wrapped his hand around my wrist and tugged me closer, almost right off of my stool. "Even more than you used to like those slippers." He answered softly.