She ate macaroons, leaving crumbs of Paris on her lips, He fell in love with the whole city in one taste of her kiss.
-Earnest.
"I'm so sorry!" I said as I stepped back hesitantly.
"Its okay. You have the phobia thingy, I get it." He smiled reassuringly.
The same old smile that lights up my days. The same old smile that made me feel so nostalgic. The smile I could see forever and ever.
Him and I, it was a tale as long as time. Back then, he was cute, relentless and above all, sweet - When I fell in love with him, he didn't have a jawline or a sturdy body to offer, he just had chubby cheeks and undying energy. He didn't earn drools from girls back then, he was just a normal ten year old.
But I loved him because he agreed to help a girl whom nobody wanted to help. I loved him regardless of his appearance, I loved his soul. His every phase, his broken arm phase, his muscle ruptured phase, his chickenpox stricken phase. Everything, I stood by him.
And now here he was, looking better. Oh god, better than good. Better than anything, honestly. I knew it. I knew it all along. I knew he would mature up good.
Holding my emotions back with an inhale, I led him to the door, it had gone pitch black outside now, moreover it seemed like it was drizzling outside. I opened the door and we stepped into the veranda and I wasn't wrong, it was pouring outside.
Raindrops rambunctiously pattering upon the cemented pavements with such a melodious symphony. Petrichor wafted around in the air as I inhaled the inviting fragrance.
"Its raining pretty hard." Ash said as he scratched the back of his head, "Should've came a little earlier."
I couldn't describe how beautiful the feeling was, the night sky, last rain of summer and a little colder weather, vast woods beyond soaked in rainwater, the scent, the scenario, him and me. I couldn't help but look ahead at the grass drenched in water, the garden was barely lit by a few flickering street lamps that my mother had installed in our garden. Like I had mentioned earlier, my house was in between woods and so a lake was right ahead my house. There was more and more water dripping into the lake and the sound was bringing me back to life.
Ash harrumphed, pulling me out of my reveries, "Do you, um, have an umbrella?"
"An Umbrella? Don't tell me you're planning to go in this weather." I pointed towards the rain, "You'll catch a cold."
Ash giggled at my response and I realized why it had been raining all day, he had hidden the sun beneath the curve of his smile.
"What's so funny?" I glared at him mischievously.
"Nothing. Its just your thick British accent." He laughed, "You said, 'Jou'll khetch a khaold, Instead of 'You'll catch a cold'. And that's really cute."
I blushed insanely and I shifted my gaze to hide it.
"And getting back to the topic, what else am I supposed to do," He bent arm to flaunt his biceps, "Despites, I'm a man, I have a strong immune system."
I crossed my arms as I arched an eyebrow at him,
"Oh really?" I said as I lightly pushed him into the rain, he sobbed and quickly ran towards the shelter.
"Oh my God, its raining ice water!" He sobbed.
"I told you, and besides, my house is in the middle of woods so you won't find broad hard roads, there are mainly narrow broken trajectories, so I won't suggest you to go through woods at night while its raining so hard." I frowned, "Now get inside."
We entered back into the house and I led ash towards our fireplace so he could dry up.
"I think you should dry up and then text your mom that you're at a friend's house for dinner and that you're fine and will be back just as soon as the rain stops." I said as I put on my apron.
Our kitchen was open and was close to the fireplace so I could clearly see Ash settled on the couch as I chopped the vegetables on the plain white marbled countertop that opened into the living room.
"Are you sure it would be fine with you?" He took off his jacket and began to dry it up, "I don't wanna cause trouble."
"Its okay." I assured him with a polite smile.
I began my work on vegetables as he continued to warm himself up. I could not avert my gaze from him, it had been so long since I had seen him so closely, I couldn't waste a single moment of this opportunity. Four years was a long wait.
He slipped out his phone from the back pocket of his denim jeans and unlocked it and what I saw next shattered my heart into a billion tiny pieces.
He still had Misty's picture as his wallpaper, one in which she was smiling brightly and forming a peace sign with her fingers. Still. This meant that he was still intensely in love with her. He was broken, hurt. Ash was betrayed. And he was hiding it. All I saw now was Ash when he was younger, when he was little, He needed my help and all I wanted to do was embrace my little best friend into a tight hug and tell him it was going to be alright. But I couldn't.
"Ash? Can I ask you something?" I mumbled, pursing my lips.
"Of course, what is it, Serena?" He replied, looking up from his phone.
"If - If Misty comes back to you, Would you - take her back?" I questioned.
He went silent at my question before curving his lips into a smile.
"As much as I'd want to - I won't." He spoke nonchalantly, "She's not in love with me and its pretty obvious, nothing can change that. And I'm not that desperate to have her back. She's in love with him and that's that."
"What if she's still in love with you, she's just confused?" I argued.
"I've known her for long, she really loves him. It was evident whenever she saw him. He was her childhood friend after all, they had met after so many years. That's when I realized that she liked him. And then, he saved her life once, he became her hero. How couldn't she develop feelings for him?"
"Saved her? Gary, right?" I asked.
"She was taking extra swimming lessons and then she abruptly started had an asthma attack there and began drowning helplessly. I wasn't there to save her, he was. He saved her and everything became clear." He spoke.
"So do people develop feelings for those who save them?" I fiddled with my fingers.
"Maybe." He shrugged.
It was so obvious. I had also developed feelings for Ash because he had saved me once. He was my hero. It all started there.
"Was Misty beautiful?" I stuttered anxiously.
"Nah - oh heck, she was gorgeous." He smiled to himself.
"Oh." It was a cracked broken 'oh' that escaped my lips. All my sadness condensed into a word.
"But there are so many gorgeous girls in this world. The thing that made her different was that she wasn't just gorgeous, she was my friend." He smiled to himself, his words were pure, without a hint of lie.
Oh.
I pursed my lips as I continued to chop the vegetables, my vision began to go blurry with salty tears forming on my eyes. I blinked, trying to hold them back until I could no longer focus on the vegetables. Consequently, I felt a sudden pang on my left thumb.
I hissed in pain as I tossed the knife away, I wiped off my tears to find my thumb bleeding, a piercing pain coming along. Ash gasped and quickly made his way towards me and examined my thumb with a frown plastered on face.
"I accidentally -" I was cut midway through my sentence.
"Where's the first-aid kit!?" His tone was serious. Dead serious.
I pointed to a cabinet as he rushed towards it and brought it near. He carefully examined my thumb and wiped of the blood, applied some balm on my wound and then cautiously wrapped a bandage around it. I felt waves of warmth rush through me as I gulped at our close proximity.
He was so close, he was holding my hand, he cared, he was there, back in my life acting like a prince charming again.
"Its no use." I spoke, entranced by the bittersweet memory of our first encounter in my head, "It still hurts."
I don't know happened next but he flung his hands his and flailed them as if casting a magic spell. My eyes grew wide and my lips parted in shock.
"Pain, pain, go away!" He said with a frown on his face before shaking his head in confusion, breaking out of the trance.
"I don't understand. Why'd I say such childish thing? I can't remember. There's something at the back of my mind - I just don't know." He spoke in frustration.
"Why does it feel like we have met before? Like, Do I know you?"