Within the Flowers

Chapter 6 - Friendship

I sit there on the blanket and stare at him blankly, realizing he's not going to answer my question. I roll my eyes, pick up my book, and continue reading. It's peaceful and relaxing as the wind softly blows the leaves on the trees. The grass blades flow so gracefully on the floor next to me. In New York, we don't get much of this because it's the big city. The City That Never Sleeps.

Eventually, I hear light snoring and turn to look at Leo. He's sleeping; I don't know what he did today, but he must've been tired. I look at my phone and see that it's 2:45 pm. I can take a little nap as well. I put my bookbag on the blanket and rest my head on it.

It's warm. A nice, comforting warmth that surrounds your body. The wind isn't cold and it's not humid; it's the perfect temperature. I notice that my eyelids are becoming heavy as I start to blink slowly, so I let myself drift into slumber.

I slowly open my eyes and it's starting to get dark, aside from the lanterns that hang from the tree branches. I sit up and stretch as I look at my phone to see the time. It's 7:30 pm.

"You're finally awake." I turn around and see Leo sitting upright against the tree behind us. I rub my eyes and sit up, "Yeah.. You weren't watching me in my sleep, were you?" He chuckles softly, "That would be creepy as fuck." I laugh as I stretch my arms in the air. I stand up and Leo does the same. I start to pack my blanket and the rest of my things in my bag. I put my bookbag on my back and we leave the flower garden.

We stand outside the gate to the flower garden and I face him, "Well, it was nice meeting you." Leo goes back to being silent and nods while giving a small smile. I return the gesture and head right, only to have him also go in the same direction. I look up at him as we walk next to each other, "You're not following me, right?" I say with a nervous laugh. He lets out a small chuckle, "No, I'm going to my dorm. I'm assuming we both attend The University of Diversity since we're headed in the same direction."

"Yeah, I'm going there as well. What hall do you stay in?" I ask, trying to make conversation so we're not just walking in awkward silence. "D Hall. You?" He keeps his eyes ahead of him as he talks. I do the same as I play with my hands behind my back, "Same. What room are you in?" He looks at me and squints a little, "Why do you wanna know?" I look away from him, "I'm just trying to make conversation. You can always choose not to answer." He looks back in front of him, "Room 325. I have a single room." I look up at him, "Really?!" He looks at me confused, "Yeah, why?" "I'm in room 324." I say as I laugh at the coincidence. He smiles a little, "Well, maybe I'll see you more often, bellissima." I scrunch my face at him and he chuckles.

As we continue walking back to our dorms, we make small talk. We talk about our first day, our trip here, where we're from, etc. He keeps calling me nicknames from his language, which I think is Italian. Every time I ask him what it means, he chuckles and refuses to answer my question.

Eventually we got back to our hall. It seems like it took quicker than when I was on my way to the flower garden.

We got in the elevator and made it to the 3rd floor, still talking about whatever came to mind. It was nice and a little relaxing, not that I was stressed out.

We reach our dorms. "Well, I'll see you around I guess." He says as he takes out his dorm key. I muster up the courage to ask what I've been waiting to ask, "Can I have your number?" He looks at me and a mischievous smile appears on his face as he leans against the wall, "Are you hitting on me, Serenity?" I feel my cheeks flush and I look away, "N-No.. I just thought we should t-talk more. That's all." I can practically feel him smiling at me.

Ugh.. You and your stupid mouth, Serenity.

He lets out a soft chuckle and takes my phone out of my hand. He puts his phone number in and then texts himself. "There, you have my number. Text me whenever you wanna chill." He says as he hands me back my phone. I look up at him and my eyes meet his, then I immediately look away and turn around, "O-Of course. See you later."

I go into my dorm and close the door behind me before he even gets a chance to respond. I look up and see Ivy watching a movie on the TV. "Hey, Ivy." I say as I take off my sneakers. She looks up and waves, "Where were you all day?" I laugh, "I should be asking you that." She pauses her movie and laughs, "You're right. But my story is probably more exciting. So, you go first." She's not wrong.

I start to get changed as I tell her about my day, nothing really exciting happened. Apparently, she heard Leo and I talking outside the dorm and she was giggling to herself. She started teasing me for getting nervous when I asked for his number. I rolled my eyes.

"Soooo..." I say after I finish telling my story. "Where were you this whole time? You didn't even come back to the dorm last night." She laughs and sits up, excited to tell her story, "Serenity, you have no idea, girlie. After I went jogging yesterday morning, I ran into this group of girls. One of them was gorgeous. She had perfect lips, perfect eyebrows, long eyelashes, and the body of a goddess." She started fangirling over this girl and I couldn't help but laugh.

She continued, "After I apologized for literally running into them, I offered to treat them to coffee. Mainly to continue talking to the girl I ran into." "Obviously." I said after giggling. She laughed as well, "It was 4 girls in total. Their names were Melissa, Sofia, Maria, and Avery. The girl who caught my eye was Sofia. We talked at the cafe a lot and I started to subtly flirt with her. And she was flirting back." "Ouuuuuuuu" I said with a huge grin on my face.

Ivy blushed a little and laughed, "She told me she was bisexual, but had never done anything with a girl before since there's not a lot of girls who like girls where she's from." "Where's she from?" I asked out of curiosity. "Houston, Texas. She's also Dominican with a sexy ass accent." I laughed as Ivy said that with such emphasis. She continued, "Basically, her friends started realizing we were flirting and they left saying they were gonna go shopping. I thought Sofia would've wanted to go with them, but she wanted to stay with me and talk. So, that's what we did. We left the cafe and talked and walked for what felt like hours, but it was only 30 minutes."

I could see Ivy's eyes light up as she talked about Sofia. It seems like she fell hard, I just hope she treats her good.

"Apparently, she goes to this college, but she's in A Hall and shares a big ass dorm with the other 3 girls. When we got to the dorm we sat on her bed and continued talking. Eventually, we got all touchy and I kissed her. I started to apologize for not asking first, but then she kissed me back. It was like fireworks. We started getting sexual as our kissing progressed. But she said she didn't want to go all the way, which was fine by me. We ended up cuddling and falling asleep before the other girls got back." "Awwwwww" I say in response.

"We had breakfast together and I got back to the dorm at around 3pm." She finished. I squeal, "That's such a cute story." She laughs and goes back to watching the movie.

I start to relax in my bed and text Mateo.

S: Wya?

I waited a few minutes before I got a response.

M: At another party.

S: Damn, another one?

M: Yes, n there's gonna be another one. Ur coming next time!

S: We'll see.

M: "We'll see" my ass.

I laugh & put my phone down. I go to the bathroom to do my face routine. I use a make-up wipe to clean my face. I use a cleanser, acne serum, and then a moisturizer. I look in the mirror to inspect my face.

No pimples or acne. Good job, Serenity.

Tomorrow is the first day of class. Luckily, I share this class with Mateo.

I lay down and put something on to watch on my phone. I saw that CoryxKenshin uploaded a try not to laugh video on Youtube. It's been 2 years since the last one. I put it on as I lay in bed and wait to fall asleep.

Word Count: 1575

Good evening! I apologize for the wait. I have been extremely busy and have had a little bit of writer's block, but I'm back. I'm hoping to get to my previous schedule of writing 2 chpts per week. But tell me your thoughts on this chapter! Any new feelings about our new character? Tell meeee!

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