Flowers In The Rain
The lake was packed, and even that wasn't a strong enough word to describe it. There was barely any room for people to walk and yet more of the town was arriving.
"Saffie, over here!"
My eyes scanned the crowd by the trees and spotted my small group of friends. I smiled and made my way over to them - with difficulty, of course.
"Hey, Lola," I greeted, smiling at my red haired friend. "Have you guys been here long?" I asked Ethan and Nate when I realised Lola wasn't listening to me anymore. Her attention was now on the group of tourists, one of which had his shirt off and a smirk on his face.
"About an hour," Nate told me, settling against the tree and smiling at me. "Please tell me we aren't going to lose you to the tourists."
With a laugh I shook my head and sat down next to him. "Don't worry, Natey. I won't be swooned by their charms."
Ethan chuckled and nudged my side. "Are you sure? There's a few that seem to have their eyes on you."
Ignoring his comment I leaned against Nate's side and put my legs on Ethan's lap. "Now this is comfortable," I commented, grinning. "I could spend my whole day like this."
"Please don't," Ethan grumbled, flicking my legs but he didn't make a move to shove my legs off him. "I think Lola has her eyes on a guy."
Following my friend's gaze I saw Lola near the edge of the lake, her feet in the water and her eyes on a guy floating on his back. I chuckled and shook my head. Our Lola was one of a kind.
"Yeah, I think she might do," I agreed, leaning back and closing my eyes.
We must have been sitting there for an hour before Lola came rushing over, a wide smile on her face. "You won't believe it," she said, clapping her hands together. "He's totally gorgeous, very smart and the best part? He's Italian!"
Laughing at her love struck expression I patted her arm. "Your dream guy," I pointed out. "Is he here for the summer or permanent?"
"He's going to the university an hour from here and was told to check out the lake, that's why he's here," she said, beaming. "He gave me his number and said to meet him later on tonight for dinner!"
"I'm happy for you, Lola," I told her, smiling. "Go, have fun with your future hubby."
Nate and Ethan chuckled from either side of me. "I just hope she doesn't get hurt," Nate commented, watching Lola skip back to the lake, just avoiding stepping on a small group of children, who were skimming rocks with their parents.
"She knows how to keep her head on when her mind is in the clouds."
After grunting in response we went back to watching Lola flirting with her new love interest. I smiled and rested my head against Nate's shoulder. I knew it would work out for Lola, she was lucky like that.
*
"Have you seen the pretty flowers in the water?" Lola asked as we waited for our drinks. "I don't think they're real."
I looked at her and shook my head. "Nah, I haven't. What flowers?"
She nodded her head towards the lake. "Yeah, go check it out once you have your drink."
After taking my can from the woman and giving her the correct money I smiled at Lola and headed towards the lake, the closest I'd been to it all day. The lake was the most popular part of town and hundreds of tourists flocked in every year to check it out, and the town’s people didn't mind, our sleepy town could use the excitement.
As I walked past all the people in the crowded part of the lake I couldn't keep the smile off my face. Everyone was having a good day, and I was here to witness it.
Once I was at the edge of the trees and the final part of the lake I finally looked out at the water, noticing the different coloured flowers floating above the gently waves. There was green, blue, pink, red and yellow flowers moving around, and a light pastel blue one was floating towards me. I walked to the edge of the water and scooped it out, realising it was made of paper.
"Origami flowers," I murmured, feeling a wide smile spread across my lips. I loved making these when I was younger and letting them float across the small pond in my family's backyard.
My eyes scanned the edge of the trees, hoping to spot the person that put these in the waters but came up short. I walked into the trees and looked through the small gaps that led down to the water.
Soft music met my ears and I blinked in surprise - where would music be coming from in the middle of the forest?
I made my way down to the edge of the bank and looked along until I spotted a hunched figure, a small black speaker next to him and bright coloured paper by his side. Bingo.
"Hey," I called out softly, making his head snap up and a sheet of paper to drop into the lake, slowly floating away. "Are you making those?" I asked, pointing to the flowers.
For a moment his gaze stayed glued to my face before nodding his head slowly. "Yeah, I am. How did you find me?"
"Followed the music," I told him as I made my way carefully across the small rocks to get to him. "Why are you making them?"
"A reason," he said, looking back down at his lap then he realised his paper was now in the middle of the lake. "Damn, I didn't want any pages to go in the water."
My head cocked to the side as I looked at him. "Are you a tourist?"
"Sort of," he responded quietly as he started folding another piece of paper. "Why you asking?"
"You have a different accent to everyone else around here," I pointed out, walking past him to sit on the rock a few meters away. "Where you from?"
"Ireland," he muttered, lifting the finished flower up and looking at it before me. "What?"
"Nothing," I said, quickly looking away.
If Lola was here and heard he had an Irish accent, she would freak - she knew how much I loved them, she would try to convince me he was the one. Her mind was mostly in the clouds, dreaming that we all get our perfect opposite.
"Want to make one?" he asked, raising his eyebrow. "Otherwise it'd be weird if you just sit there."
As I looked at the other sheets of coloured paper then his face I knew I couldn't resist. "Okay, sure. Though I haven't made these in a while." I watched him pick up a pen, uncap it with his teeth then scribble something down on the blue piece of paper he was working on before folding it - very quickly, I might add - into a beautiful flower. "Wow, that was fast."
He nodded and didn't say anything, just silently handed me my sheet of paper. His eyes met mine when our fingers brushed against each other's, almost sending a small shiver down my spine but I remained straight backed.
We made our separate flowers in silence, every so often our eyes would meet each other's but we didn't say anything, just carried on making them until we had three each.
"Want to put them in the water?" he asked, leaning back to look at me. "I think some of them have been taken out of the water," he commented, nodding towards the crowd of people that was plucking them out of the water to get a closer look.
Shifting towards the edge of the lake I held a faded red origami flower in my hands. "Will I ever know the reason for you doing this?" I asked him as I watched my flower float away.
The boy looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Maybe. You might know if you stick around for long enough."
"You're very odd," I commented, smiling slightly. "I have to admit I like that."
"You like that I'm odd?" he asked and I saw the corner of his lips twitching. I felt my cheeks slowly start to heat up as I nodded. "Are you sure it's not because of my accent?"
Laughing off his comment I just smiled at him but I was agreeing on the inside. Irish accents were definitely my weakness. "So, are you going to tell me then?" I asked, trying to get the hotness away from my cheeks.
"Open it," he said, holding out a flower to me.
With a confused smile I took it from his hand and unfolded it. Never forget to smile, was written in beautiful handwriting. I looked up at him and smiled, realising what he was doing.
"What happens if people don't open them?" I asked, resting back and watching him.
He shrugged and smiled slightly. "I'll know some people might and it could make them smile," he told me, shifting so he was sitting down from resting on his feet. "Why did you decide to find me?"
"I thought it was rather odd that there was flowers’ floating in the water," I said, feeling a grin spreading across my lips. "Don't you think so?"
"I have been told I'm rather odd," he said, nodding.
As we met gazes I could feel my heart beat start to thump harder. I didn't know his name, I didn't know where he was from - besides the general idea of Ireland - and I didn't know another thing about it. The only thing I did know was that he liked to make origami flowers and leave little messages in them for other people to see.
He was odd, and I liked that.
♥