laminated lavenders | dreamnotfound

0

0 - book-pressing

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"hey george!"

the nine year old boy looked up to see his tall, blond friend with a missing front tooth - clay, who was a year younger than him. george, smiled, and gave his friend a small wave. timid, in comparison to clay's loud and obnoxious personality - but it didn't matter, for the brit adored the blond for who he was; flaws, and all.

"what's up, clay?" george asked, looking up from the small, old, neon coloured portable gaming console he held within his small hands.

"the sky." clay joked, and while it wasn't really that funny - george found himself suppressing a laugh, and to tease the taller boy, he didn't give clay the satisfaction of hearing him laugh at his stupid jokes.

"ha ha. very funny, clay." george replied, sarcasm reeking from his tone. twirling the lavender he has plucked from the ground around his fingers. "mom made cookies for me today, by the way, if you want some." george offered, clay smiled widely and took the brown bag from george's outstretched hand; sighing when he opened it to see health bars instead. "oh, lighten up, clay! you need to cut down the sugar you consume."

"i know, i know." clay replied, defeated, but he took a health bar from the bag nonetheless. "what's that?" clay asked, coming closer to inspect the flower between george's fingers.

"my mum said that it's a lavender! isn't it so pretty?" george smiled, placing it on clay's free hand where he wasn't holding a health bar. "such a shame that it will wilt soon." the brit mumbled quietly, but no matter how soft george made his voice to be - clay had a talent of picking up whatever he said.

after seeing the smile leave george's face, clay scrambled through his mind to find a way to make him smile again. clay had the tendency to be upbeat in order to keep george happy, that's what matters to him most - keeping his best friend very happy. george made him so, so happy effortlessly - and so, he didn't want the brit to be sad. george rarely smiled, so whenever he did, clay tries his best to make sure that it never leaves george's face.

"wait, my mom does something to preserve flowers," clay trailed off, and george perked up, staring at the blond intently - clay knew he was doing the right thing when he saw a sliver of a shine within the brit's chocolate coloured eyes. "my mom like, puts it in between a big book and squashes it."

"it will still wilt." george mumbled, clay sat down beside george and leaned on his shoulder, looking at george and smiling at him - reassurance, clay provided reassurance for when george needed it the most.

"still! even if it wilts, the book keeps it together so it doesn't fall apart." clay said, staring at the flower resting between his fingertips and handing it back to george, "even if the life has left it, its beauty is still there."

"that...actually makes sense." george smiled, gracefully accepting the flower from clay's grasp, "but, what did you want to tell me? do you have another pun to tell me?" he asked. clay had the tendency to make jokes about wordplay, and even if george insisted they weren't funny - he still lets out a hearty laugh whenever clay made those jokes.

"no, but seriously george! i found the most coolest game in the world! and i want to try it out with you!" clay said, enthusiastic and happy. george found everything his best friend did to be endearing, his natural cheerfulness wasn't an exception.

george didn't comment on clay's redundant use of superlatives, but instead, asked his best friend what game it was. clay can be a bit loud, obnoxious, but george didn't mind, he was used to it - after all, they were best friends since diapers, and george had to live with clay's loud voice since the beginning of time. but, along with the loudness of clay's voice, was something calming - whenever they have sleepovers and george couldn't sleep, clay would talk and talk and talk, filling the silence and effectively calming george down.