Steal My Heart (Victor Blade)

Chapter 10

We worked and sailed away in silence. Victor was quite good: he remembered everything I had taught him, and his moves were becoming swifter and faster. He was definitely getting the hang of it.

I didn't mind the silence though: he seemed to have a lot on his mind, and just needed some time to cool off and think. The sound of the waves had suddenly become reassuring again, and I realised that it was Victor's presence that made the difference.

"Hey Victor can you grab me the scissors from the shed? I need to cut down this rope a bit." I shouted. Victor gave me a thumbs up and went to get what I had asked for.

As I kept working, I could hear him rummaging through the shed to find the scissors. His footsteps finally got closer, and I felt him drop a box on the floor.

"What's this?" He asked as I turned around.

My eyes went sad as I saw the box he was pointing at. It was Colton's lantern box. I pressed my lips, remembering all the good times we'd had, just throwing lanterns in the sky.

"What's the matter?" Victor asked, bringing me back to reality.

"Oh nothing." I quickly smiled. "This was my brother's lantern box." Although I didn't mention which, Victor immediately understood which brother I was referring to and grew quiet.

"He was the one who sailed the most, so the shed is full of his stuff." I explained, smiling sadly at the shed. "I was supposed to clean it, but to be honest... I haven't worked up the courage yet."

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VICTOR'S POV

Avril looked away, eyebrows furrowed and lips pressed together. It was the look she made every time she was thinking about her brother.

It was still unclear to me how he had passed away, but by the look on Avril's face, it mustn't have been pretty.

"What's in this box?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"Oh, paper lanterns." She said smiling genuinely this time. She bent down and opened the box, that revealed a variety of majestic paper lanterns and matches to light them up. "Colton loved throwing them in the sky and watching them float away." She murmured smiling sadly.

"Wanna do it?" I finally asked, as she looked up to me in shock.

"What?"

"Light a lantern, I mean." I shrugged, but in reality I just wanted to make her feel better. She looked at the box, confused, and then back at me.

"Alright." She finally decided, playing nervously with her hands. "I'll put the mast in a standby position, and we'll do it. You can start choosing the lantern if you'd like."

She stood up and walked away as I inspected the box: full of paper lanterns, of all colours and types, matches and... a flower.

I picked up the blue flower. It looked fresh, even though it probably had been locked up there for awhile. Next to it was a beautiful electric blue lantern with a sun drawn on top. I smiled. This was the one.

I grabbed the flower, the lantern and a box of matches as I walked over to the hull of the boat.

Avril was already there, sitting on her knees. Her hair was let loose as always, but this time, the two front strands were pulled to the back. As I walked towards her, I slipped the flower in her hair, to which Avril blushed, turning red as a tomato. I smiled.

"I found the lantern." I said as I looked behind me. Avril hadn't turned around. She was touching the flower with her delicate hands, probably still blushing.

After a pause she finally turned around and smiled as well.

"Ok, light it up and throw it in the sky. The wind should do the rest." She got closer to me, as I kneeled down as well and took out a match.