I'll Steal You Flowers (Pierce the Veil)

Chapter 38

Lily's POV

Another Friday and another day. I've been slowly trying to ignore the facts of life that are trying to chase me down. Now, standing in the whipping wind, all I want is to escape.

"Lily." Vic said, snapping me out of my thoughts. It was just us today. Mike was looking for jobs in town and Skylar tagged along for the heck of it. Tony and Jaime said they both had some meeting to attend, but I really don't mind. Life doesn't revolve around your friend group.

"Sorry, what?" I said, trying to hold onto his words. He rolled his eyes at me as we started to walk again.

"Do you want to do anything? Go out for a bit?" He asked. Yes, desperately yes. Home is hellish and my mind is worse.

"What like?" I asked, wondering what there even is to do in San Diego when it's cold. Apparently, this is a weirdly cold fall/winter for San Diego, yet it feels normal for me.

"Secret beach?" he asked and my heart nearly did a flip as I stared at him with wide eyes. I nearly forgot about that place.

"I can't even explain how much I want to do that." I said. I grabbed his hand and swung it, starting to skip. He laughed as he ran along side me. "Come on let's go, let's go!" I said. I could imagine lying in the cold sand, not caring about anything, and standing at the ocean and letting the ice cold water freeze my feet. But I won't care, because I'll be focused on everything but the negative.

"Whatever drugs you're on, I want some." He said and laughed jokingly.

"Vic, I wish I was on drugs." I said as I stopped skipping and returned to a walk. When we got to our houses I was glad to see my mom wasn't home and continued walking to Vic's. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and remotely unlocked the truck. This isn't the freedom I'm seeking, but it's a start. I dropped his hand and nearly ran to the passengers side. I could hear him laughing, he probably thinks this is amusing. He got in as I buckled my belt and started the engine.

"Is something bothering you?" He asked as we started to drive. What a silly question.

"Almost everything is. My home life, my school life. For a teenager what else really is there? If those two things are shit then-" I said but stopped when he touched my hands. I didn't expect him to, and it was probably a good thing. My words were getting ahead of my mind.

"Everything is gonna work out just fine, darling I promise you'll be okay." He said and the way he said darling made my heart beat a little faster. I like that word, like being called it. Darling. Such a simple word yet it's nearly calmed me down.

"Sometimes I feel like nothing is happening and this is just my imagination. That I'll go downstairs in the morning and see my dad, and go to school without the anxiety of something other than a pop quiz happening. It's nearly surreal." I said. He squeezed my hand and it gave me a sense of comfort, though he should probably have both hands on the wheel. "Vic, not that I don't like the comfort, but shouldn't you keep both hands on the wheel?" I said and he laughed.

"Cute, but I only need one hand to drive. Especially if you're with me." He said with a little laugh, but it didn't alleviate my fears.

"Vic." I said, trying to not laugh.

"Okay, okay." He said and took his hand from mine and onto the wheel. When we pulled onto the dirt path I couldn't wait to get to the beach. I have an overwhelming desire to get out of the car and run. All I want is to see the ocean right now, it's all I want. Vic parked and as soon as the doors were unlocked I jumped out. Closing the door behind me I pulled off my shoes and started to walk.

"Hey! Slow down Lil!" Vic called out. He ran to catch up and I noticed his shoes in his hands, his bare feet in the cold sand like mine. It was breezy, but the cold doesn't bother me. In this moment I don't want anything to bother me, I want to forget everything. We walked in silence to the edge. A bunch of stuff washed up on the shore, I could even see a doll, odd enough. There was some storm in Japan, so I guess that's where it's all coming from.

But I focused on the ocean, and how it never ends. I could take it in many ways. The ocean is my pain, it never ends. Or I could see it how I want. The ocean is my hope. It never ends. "No matter what happens I will always have hope" I said out loud so that I would really believe it. Another thing I couldn't believe was how dirty the beach was, it was littered with things that washed up probably from the hurricane.

"I'll always have hope in you, for you." Vic said and kissed my cheek. "Can you believe all the stuff that's washed up? This looks like peoples lives washing up over here." He said, walking along the shore. He was right. There were regular things everywhere. Ruined books, picture frames, lamp shades, and even a dresser drawer. The world did this. The world is able to ruin peoples lives, and it can sure as hell try to ruin mine. I felt tears welling in my eyes, but pushed them back. I'm strong, I have hope. But I bent down and picked up the biggest rock I could see. The weight in my hand felt strange. It reminded me of the weight on my shoulders. Taking a deep breath, I drew my arm back and gathered up all my strength.

"Fuck the world!" I screamed as I threw it as hard as I could. Taking deep breaths, I watched as it fell into the ocean and caused a ripple effects. The weight on my shoulders might be gone, but it causes ripples in my hope.

"Thats right, fuck it!" Vic said, and I turned just in time to see him throw something into the water. He looked at me and smiled. How could I have gotten this lucky as to have met him? I smiled and turned to look at some of the stuff that washed up. This isn't really what I came here to do, but it's better than sitting in the sand and making metaphors about the ocean and my emotions. I nudged some piece of porcelain with my foot and wondered where it came from in Japan. Who it belonged to. If they're still alive.

"Holy shit." I heard Vic mutter from a couple yards away. I turned and saw him kneeling in the sand, digging a little.

"You're gonna get your jeans dirty!" I yelled, even though he probably doesn't care. It seemed like he didn't hear me, even though he obviously could, because he didn't respond at all. He got up, holding something small in his hands and walking to the water. As it lapped over his feet he jumped a little bit. "God, this is cold." He said, but dipped his hands in it. Washing off whatever was in his hands.

"What are you doing?" I called out. He brought his hands out of the water and gasped with an ecstatic look on his face. "What's happening!?" I called out, confused. He kept staring at whatever tiny thing was in his hands.

"Come here." He said in near disbelief. I walked towards him, wondering what he could've found to get him like this. I stepped next to him and looked at his hands, letting my jaw drop in shock. It was what looked like a diamond ring with a gold band. Of course, it was dirty and didn't look like it should, but a quick clean up and it could be as good as new. It a small diamond in the middle set around smaller diamonds in a ring. Something too fancy for an average day, but on the weak side of a wedding ring.

"Holy shit." I breathed out. Vic laughed.

"Exactly." He said. We were both at a loss for words. I have so many thoughts and questions running through my head. What do we do with it? Who's could it have been? Is it from Japan or a clumsy person from here? If it's from Japan is the owner still alive? What are the odds that he would've found this? "Good thing we came here today." He said, laughing.

"This is unbelievable." I said, starting to laugh. "Maybe we should keep looking around." Neither of us knew what to do. The moment seemed to not move, as if everything had stopped waiting for us to do something.

"What do we do with it?" He asked. We looked at each other and it wasn't hard to see the shock in his face.

"You found it, you decide." I said. There was an odd moment of silence before he slipped the ring in his pocket.

"We can talk about it later." He said, still giggling with each word. Now we were both high on adrenaline, what could stop us?

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Jx XOXO