Mirroring the Endless Night | Elliott x Female Farmer |

5. The Unpacked Box

"What- how on Earth did she do that, it's only been minutes since she put the batter in the oven, this is simply not possible," Elliott sputtered, watching the television in disbelief.

Maria giggled, taking a swig of her ale and swirling the half-empty bottle in her hand, "you know all the cooking on these shows is done ahead of time, yea?"

"Pardon?" he quickly asked, turning his head to look over at her.

The two were seated on the couch (though really it was more like a love-seat as Maria had previously pointed out). They brought over the blankets from her bed and made themselves cozy, though with the size of the couch, there was little space between them, their legs brushing up against each other whenever either one made the slightest of movements.

They'd busted out the ales bought from Gus at the festival and had started skimming through various television channels (Maria was shocked to hear that it had been over a year since the last time Elliott had taken the time to sit back and watch, well, anything since his cabin had no cable and his only access to the internet was via his phone or the laptop at Leah's house).

They'd settled on watching The Queen of Sauce, today's episode being centered around various types of cakes and pastries.

"Ha, yea, all the food is made before the show. All the ingredient mixing and prepping she shows us is just to explain how to make the thing, it's all for the show, but the finished meals are already done," she explained, incredibly amused by the confusion on Elliott's face.

"This is simply preposterous! Where is the artistic integrity? My, I would have never agreed to watch this program if I was aware of the sham it was beforehand!" he ranted in an incredibly exaggerated manner, throwing Maria into a fit of giggles and causing her to nearly drop her bottle of ale.

"Elliott I think... I think you've had too much," she managed to say through her laughter, noticing how the writer had already downed two bottles.

He shook his head in disagreement. "Nonsense, I am more than capable of handling my alcohol. Now then-" he began, abruptly standing up from the couch and nearly tripping but catching himself before Maria could notice, "I have been staring at this box for the last ten minutes and I am simply dying of curiosity to know of it's contents."

The farmer was confused, before spotting the box he was referring to. In the corner of her house was a moving box she'd neglected to unpack. She tried picking at her memories to see if she could remember what was packed within it, but nothing came to mind. "Hmm... well, I can't think of what's in there, and it's not labeled... wanna help me unpack it?" she asked him with a smile.

Working together, the two lugged the box over to the couch, and for a moment the only sound was a box cutter swiftly slicing through packing tape. Sitting back down and flipping the top flaps open revealed what was sat on top... a painting.

A weak smile tugged at Maria's lips as she gripped the aged canvas and pulled it out of the box. It was a painting of a beach. Her skill level was amateur at best when she created the piece as a teenager, but you could easily pick out the tide pools that the waves rose upon, a small seaside house, palm trees that littered the shore line, and a setting sun that painted the sky orange and peachy tones.

"Did you paint this?" Elliott asked in a soft tone, tracing his fingers across the few dotted clouds in the sky.

She nodded her head, flipping the canvas over to show her full name scrawled on the back of the board.

"Maria Lucia Ortiz... what a gorgeous name," he murmured, causing her to blush and look away, flustered, "can you tell me where this is?"

"This," Maria began, flipping the canvas over once more to look at the painting, "is my childhood home. It's on the complete opposite side of the country, a small coastal town in the deep south. My family and I lived on the beach, and everyday was like waking up in a dream. I'd wake up before everyone else just to watch the sunrise and I'd sneak out of the house during the summer to watch the turtle migrations."