This book is a sequel to Flowers and Pop Rocks but can be read as a standalone.
~~~
"If I could only stop time for you," he sighed.
"I can't wait until we can do this all day and not be worried about someone catching us," I breathed.
"Me too," he ki...
My hand flew to my lips as I registered what was going on, and I turned to my boyfriend, hugging him tightly as the joy showed on my face.
"You like it?" he chuckled, hugging me back.
I nodded eagerly. "This is probably one of the best surprises you could've ever given me."
My dad did the same thing to my mom like twenty-five-ish years ago. He wanted to bring her to a garden with her favorite flowers, but there weren't any of those in Arizona, so he took her to a cactus garden instead.
Ever since my mom told me that story, I'd always wanted to go on a date at a cactus garden.
"Well, then let's go in," he prompted, tugging lightly on my arm after he let go. "We have a lot of green to see."
I followed excitedly as Nate led us to the path of the garden. He held my hand as I looked at every cactus we walked by.
"This one's so cute!" I pointed at a cactus with one tiny flower growing from it as I grinned at Nate. "It has a white flower and the one beside it has a red flower."
Those were our favorite colors. White for me, and red for Nate.
"Seems like a sign," he chuckled. "Why don't we take a picture?"
He pulled his phone out and got closer to me, making sure the two cacti and their flowers were in-frame before he kissed my cheek and snapped a picture.
"You're almost as cute as the cactus," he joked, showing me the picture. I had the biggest smile on my face.
"Shut up," I rolled my eyes, laughing as I took his hand and continued to walk.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
We found a bench to sit on about half-way through. There weren't many people around, so Nate and I figured it was okay that we took up the whole bench space for ourselves.
"Was the long ride worth it?" he asked me as I took a sip from the water bottle he brought.
I nodded. "Now that I think of it, it wasn't that bad."
"Good," he smiled. "There's a few gardens closer to our houses, but I wasn't sure if someone would see us. There was also a nice one in Palm Springs, but I knew you would hate how long the ride would be, so I picked this place."
"It was a great choice," I assured him. "If you took me to Palm Springs, I might've ripped your head off before we got there."
A soft laugh escaped his lips. "Well, it's a good thing I know you well. Otherwise, you'd have a headless boyfriend."
"True," I shrugged before a comfortable silence settled between us. My hand was still in Nate's as we sat there.
"You know why my mom loves cactus gardens so much?" I asked Nate.
"Because your dad brought her to one on a date, right?" he responded.
"Yeah, but you know why that date was so special to them?"
He shook his head, "Why?"
"My mom told my dad she loved him that day," I smiled, remembering how giddy my mom was when she recalled the memory. "And my dad told my mom he loved her too."
"Is that your way of telling me you love me?" he wiggled his eyebrows.
I smacked his arm. "I was sharing a wholesome moment with you, Dyl."
"I love you too, Mimi," he grinned, making me blush. He'd already told me that many times before, but the place we were at made me feel like he meant it a little more that time.
"I love you, Pickle boy."
"Good," he kissed me. "Now, let's finish this cactus tour, shall we?"
It took another ten minutes for us to finish walking around. It was only three in the afternoon, and we planned to be home by around five so Nate could drop me off a decent amount of time before Archer was home.
"Ice cream?" Nate suggested as we got into his car.
I grinned and nodded excitedly.
We ended up at an ice cream place five minutes later. I found us a table and waited while Nate got us our ice creams.
"Your favorite, as always," he handed me a cone with a giant scoop of salted caramel ice cream.
"What's the flavor today?" I asked him, eyeing his ice cream as I licked mine. Nate could never pick a favorite ice cream, so he always got different things with the hopes of finding the one.
"Honey Pecan," he reported before trying it. "I figured it'd taste like pecan pie."
Although I was allergic to tree nuts and peanuts, I was still interested in what it tasted like. "And? Does it?"
He shrugged. "I guess. But even if I told you it was spot on, it's not like you could imagine the taste. It is good though."
"Okay, true, but also rude," I chided. "It's whatever, I have a question for you."
"What is it?" he leaned back in his seat, enjoying his ice cream.
I leaned forward. "Are you sad we aren't going to Homecoming next week?"
"Not really. I would've wanted to go with you, but we can't go without people getting suspicious. Besides, we're going to a charity ball that day anyway, so we can still dress up and dance, and we might even get wine instead of some spiked punch that tastes horrible," he answered.
That made sense. "You promise me a dance?"
"Even if I can barely dance, sure," he smiled.
My eyes lit up in delight. "Wait, actually? I was joking because I thought you'd say no, but you said yes!"
He chuckled. "Yes, Mimi, we can dance at the ball."
"I can't wait."
♢♢♢
Author's Note
long time no chat! okay, i'm exaggerating, it's only been a week and a day lmao but i'm back! i know this one's short, don't be mad, but at least there aren't any problems in this one, just cute maddie and nate :D
i'll be back next week as usual with the next chapter, but i genuinely can't believe we're in chapter 10 already! i don't really know how long this book will be but all i know is i have a few things planned before it ends, so get ready for that! i'll see you in chapter 11!
♡, dani :p
Be a cactus in a world of delicate flowers. — Unknown
