𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐓 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓⁰²ʰᵉᵐᵐⁱⁿᵍˢ

20 mosaic hall

asari
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I counted how many kinds of flowers I encountered. I knew it didn't matter in the end, I just wanted to distract my fleeting mind from the thought of how alone Luke and I were. Deep into the garden, buried by the hedges, swimming past the sea of scents all the flowers offered - it was near perfect. The flowers almost distracted me, his laugh was almost a soundtrack to my dancing butterflies, and the time almost stretched our seconds into hours.

I felt like a poet just by replaying the memory.

"Ase! We were looking for you!" Mike's voice raised from the noise, approaching me with calum by his side. Neither of them looked fazed by the fact that I'd been gone for some time, both donning enjoyed grins. "Ah, you met Luke,"

Luke grunted awkwardly. "I was just showing her the garden,"

Calum stayed silent, instead, keeping his eye on me as if gauging for my reaction.

"Mhm, yeah it looks pretty full this year," Mike said, keeping his hands on his pocket and keeping his gaze locked on the man by my side.

Luke shrugged, far less up on the subject compared to Michael. "I guess so. We got some seeds and fertiliser so we made use of some land here,"

I furrowed, turning to my side but not completely at Luke. "'We'?"

"Ase, I wanted to show you and Calum the mosaic hall," Mike interrupted, disregarding my previous question.

Luke seemed to like the idea, his shoulders relaxing a bit at the mention. "If you want me to -"

"We don't want you to,"

I froze, noticing Calum do so as well at Mike's quick reply. Their whole ordeal felt like pulling on a taught rope, neither forces giving in, though one being more forceful than the other. It was clear they weren't just strangers; at most, there was a bitter past. And I remembered asking Mike if he knew Luke. I also remembered he hadn't given an answer.

I stepped away, siding towards Calum and snaking my arm around his, unsure which person I was meant to comply with or not at all. On instinct, it was Michael. He had brought Calum and I to the organisation, he'd shown nothing but signs we could trust him. Which didn't go to say that Luke wasn't to be trusted, but we had more cause to trust Michael.

I turned and began searching for other distractions, the pulling on the taught rope beginning to pull on my attention as much as I didn't want it to.

"We know you're busy and all with the next meeting, we don't want to bother you with any of our business," Mike gave Luke a sour smile before grabbing my arm and dragging me with him deeper into the church. In my hand was Calum's grasp, and we walked in a hurried trail on Mike's lead.

I gave one last glance at Luke, a frown settling on my face when I recognised a wounded look from him. I was unsure if it was at me or at Mike, at himself, or it was simply the way his face rested.

Calum and I were pulled into a long hallway, my view of Luke cut off as the hand Mike held was let go. "What's up with people grabbing me today," I huffed out.

"Mike! Hey, man, you -" Ashton's familiar voice emerged, the suddenness of everything happening all at once making me want to press myself against the wall and dissolve. I just wanted to return to the garden where no sound was trying to overpower the other in hopes of being heard, in result, silencing each other out. "Ase?"

My eyes widened at my name being enunciated with confusion, Ashton's upturned face tilted at me as though I was a peculiar meseum artifact. At that moment. I wished I wasn't an artifact, perhaps instead one of the cracks in the paint, or the dust on our shoes.