Kendall Schmidt Imagines

Imagine #111: Flowers

- White Lilies,
You stand there -

I was on my phone talking to my brother, Kenneth, in Portland as I walked along footpaths in Los Angeles. He was asking me how the new photography job was. I was telling him the details of how I had a say in what the person being photographed had to wear and their make-up and I was telling him about how excited I was to have everything happening have a piece of me in it. I was so excitedly chatting away at how the colors were so vibrant and how good I thought they would look printed in glossy magazine pages. Kenneth was congratulating me and telling me how proud he was and that he missed me-

But then my eyes fell on her. A short girl in shorts and a crop top. She was talking to an elderly woman who could have been her mother because they looked so alike. She was laughing, and the sound was carried into my ears by the wind and it was a sweet melody. I could faintly shear her voice and I felt like I could write poems upon poems about the music it produced and I thought of myself never getting tired of ever hearing that sound.

I had stopped walking and I was staring transfixed at the girl. Her hip was jutted to the left so I could tell she was putting most of her weight on one side. She was smiling. Her smile was so cute. Her eyes- blue? - were alight of the emotion that coursed through her.

All around the grass behind she girl bloomed bulbous white flowers. I could tell they were lilies. Perfect, delicate, paradisiacal lilies. The girl just stood there laughing. I could have stood there all night mooning over her, but Kenneth was calling out in my ear and I had to get back to him.

- Violets,
I see you everywhere -

I was in Barnes and Nobles, signing some copies of my photography book when the door opened and the same girl entered. She shot her adorable smile to the man behind one of the counters and I pocketed my marker to rid myself of all thought. She moved through the shelves and I scurried around to keep her in view. I wanted to go and talk to her, maybe ask her name but I couldn't think of a way that wouldn't make me look like a creep.

The funny thing was I thought I would forget about the girl the way you see an attractive stranger on a drive out and you never think about them again and you never see them again. But the thing was I had been thinking non-stop about her. I couldn't get her laughter out of my head or the image of her smile.

Even when I wasn't on my own I could have sworn I had seen her along the sidelines somewhere.

I watched as she grabbed two books about Mythology and walked up to the counter. I walked slowly over behind her. The girl turned around and I whipped about, pretending to look at some bookmarks in one of the mugs. I ran my hand over the leather-bound Harry Potter books and when I looked back the girl was exiting the shop.

With a small wave to the white bearded man I stepped outside. The girl was already halfway down the lane. I didn't follow her, but when I looked down I saw some violets budding on either sides of the building.

Only a few days later I was walking by a florist's shop. The glass windows showed the shelves of wallflowers and exotic breeds, but outside on a little cart were scores of different flowers bound into bouquets- and the girl from the other night, wearing a denim jacket and black jeans, stood there twirling the stem of a flower I didn't recognize between her fingers.

Timidly but definitely I walked up to her.

- Lavenders,
"You're cute as shell" -

The girl turned to look at me as I approached. Her face was blank for only a moment before it split into the same small smile. "Hi," She breathed.
"Oh hey- um,"
"Are you following me around?"