Bloom

53. eyes like Starry Night

Haven

The Albert Cuypmarkt was the biggest day market in the Netherlands. The market was named after Albert Cuyp, a painter from the seventeeth century. Zephaniah had wondered if someday, a street would be named after me, he thought I looked artsy. I had laughed at that, even when he had sounded so genuine.

I wore high waisted, denim flared jeans, a Vincent van Gogh shirt I had bought yesterday on top of that. My hair was let down as always- it was too short to do something with it except for a palm tree looking ponytail. The weather was pretty warm today, therefore no jackets were needed.

It was extremely crowded, tourists strolling through the streets, some suddenly stopping to observe the products they had laid out on the stalls. There was too much to see, too much to smell. It reminded me of the market we had in my hometown once a month, though it wasn't to compare when you looked at how big and busy this one was.

Cheese was sold almost every ten stalls, Dutch delicacies such as herring with raw onions that people held up above their heads, sinking it into their mouths, pancakes with sugar or something that looked like thick syrup, stroopwafels- some sort of waffles that were very popular- there was too much to choose from.

"I kinda want to save the best for last. What if it's so good? Nothing would be able to beat it afterwards, which would only be a disappointment." I said, thoughtfully as I stared at the stroopwafels, that seemed too good to be real- we hadn't even talked about the smell that lingered around the stall yet.

"Agreed. Let's try herring, it seems fun to eat." Tara implied, looking up at Luke who nodded in response.

"Let's stink out of our mouths, delicious when it comes to kissing." He grinned, pressing his lips to Tara's ones. Norah cheered, so did Louis. Abel simply chuckled, while Zephaniah stared at the both of them with a frown on his face, sighing when he looked away. I silently agreed with him, wondering when it had become this official.

"PDA much?" Abel shoved Luke away, the two of them starting to fight, tourists glaring at them. Tara rolled her eyes and separated both boys, scolding them while the boys simply laughed, Luke bringing his pouting lips up to her cheek.

Luke reached for his wallet, glancing at us. "I'll pay, if you pay me back later. Who wants it?" Some raised their hands, Louis practically screamed that he wanted one as well. "Hiya, I'd like six herrings with raw onions, please."

I frowned, counting seven when he included himself. "Luke, there's seven of us."

Luke rolled his eyes, pointing at Zephaniah. "That autistic creature doesn't talk. I wouldn't know if he wanted one, so yeah, excluded him."

"Luke!" I frowned deeply at him, staring into his eyes for as long as it took him to look away. "You're such a.." I stopped, looking into the woman's eyes that was still hesitating about the order. "Make it seven, please."

"No problem. That would be seventeen euros, please." She answered simply, handing us the herring in no time. Luke slapped it into Zephaniah's hands, glaring at him while turning around so his back was facing him.

Zephaniah eyes lingered on Luke's back for a while, after that he wore his numbing headphones and awkwardly stood near the group. We made eye contact, I waved him over. Once he stood beside me, he simply played with the onions, Luke and Louis already having devoured the fish.

I wondered if everything was too much for him. Even I felt rather cramped, being squeezed into the mass of people that visited the market at this very moment. He had almost lost it yesterday at Dam Square, and it hadn't been this busy. Part of me wanted to hold his hand again, it had calmed him down yesterday, even when he had quickly let go of it after he came back to his senses. But I knew I couldn't do it again.