These Lavender Petals | Semi Eita

fifteen

We walked along the beach slowly with our shoulders brushing against each other's ever so slightly. I would have blushed or even inch closer to Eita if he hadn't met Briell. The crunch of the sand as we step into it was satisfying.

We had left a trail behind us. Two sets of footprints; one large and the other small.

If anyone were to pass by it they probably would have thought we were a couple taking a romantic stroll down the beach at a late hour.

I spared a glance in Eita's direction. He had a small smile across his pale face. His cheeks were tainted pink from the cold and his eyes were glossed over.

How I wish this moment would last forever. I yearn for his presence, for his comfort, for him.

"What are you thinking about?"

He caught me staring at him and quirk an eyebrow in my direction.

"Just..." I smiled softly and broke the gaze, staring at our synchronised feet. "When we were little." I lied.

From the corner of my eyes, I see Eita staring at me.

"I remember..."

"Eita!" I had yelled, waving my arm frantically from the top of the tree. The other hooking around a thick branch like my life depended on it. My sweat dripped from my forehead and trickled down my chin, dropping onto the grassy ground.

We were only eight years old, but Eita was far much larger than me both in size and height.

He swiftly rushed over to me and stood under the tree, staring up at me in distress and fear.

"Mer!" He yelled back, furious at the position I'm in. In an instance, he held his arms out for me, as if telling me he would catch me if I were to fall down at any given moment. "Are you crazy?! What are you doing up there?"

The hand that I had been waving to Eita held a large tangerine. It was tangerine season, and Eita loved tangerines so I had thought Eita would like one.

Except I had not expect the tree to be that high. It seemed pretty low when I was on ground.

We laughed at the memory Eita had recovered. Eita sighed loudly. "You were so heavy."

"Hey!" I punched his sides lightly and he feigned hurt, clasping the side of his arm with a pained expression. He brought up his elbow next to his face, pulling down the fabric of his sweatshirt to expose a long scar which had faded quite fairly overtime.

"See? You did this." He grinned and pointed to his healed wound. We had stopped walking to examine it.

"It's longer than I remembered." I muttered as I tenderly trailed my fingers along the long scar.

He didn't reply and just watched me do so. Realising what I was doing, I quickly pulled away from him and looked away.

"You used to call me Mer too, back then." I placed the back of my hand on top of my lips and let out a little giggle. "When did that stop?"

He didn't reply. His face had been drained from emotions and was replaced with a bittersweet expression.

"I wonder..." He trailed off slowly, lost in thought as we continued to walk down the beach quietly.

The silence wasn't awkward, but it had gotten heavy all of a sudden.

"You still like tangerines, don't you?" I questioned to break the heavy air. I fondled with my hands.

He hummed in response. The small smile returned to his face at that mention.

"I'm going to miss you, Eita." I whispered into the thick fabric.