Writer in the Dark - J. HALE

83 - ʏᴇꜱ

THEY REACHED the hill after a slight detour into the forest, as Athena got a little distracted by a collection of animals in a corner of a forest. They sat hidden away from the animals as they - well Athena more than anything- watched them with great interest. Neither had been up the hill since last autumn, so it was a rather delightful and familiar sight to see.

Athena gravitated towards the growing flowers, sitting down in the grass as she began to pick a varied collection of flowers from the grass. "You sure you don't have enough flowers?" he laughed, laying down on the grass next to her in the direct sunlight that bore down onto the area.

"Nope, I have a good few more vases to fill. Plus I'm going to dry these ones, put them in the vase upstairs with the lavender by the bed," she smiled briefly before her attention got caught on another flower, hidden so far away that she had to stretch to reach it.

He chuckled, half watching her through a squinted eye due to the light, "But you won't let me buy you flowers?"

She smiled softly and shook her head, adding a rather large leaf to the small bouquet, "No. Because wild ones are much prettier and you'd pick the healthier ones where I think that the less vibrant ones are just as beautiful, in most flowers cases."

"Most?"

"It just depends on the flower, it's a judgement call really," she half shrugged, mind elsewhere as she untied a bow of brown twine on her notebook, instead winding it around the very bottom of the collection of flowers. She looked at it for a split second then plucked another flower from the ground, filling in the necessary gaps.

He moved his arms to the back of his head, propping his head upon them, "And I wouldn't make a good judgement?"

"I don't doubt that you would, I'm just very picky when it comes to flowers," she replied, triumphantly holding the flower bunch up into his view. She smiled brightly, "See, beautiful and perfect in every way."

They lounged away most of the day, having conversations in between large swoops of silence where they were just soaking up the sun and each others company. Jasper remained laid in the grass, eyes closed or covered with his arm while Athena peaceful read her book while making various little bouquets. "Sit up please," she half-whispered, breaking another silence that befell them. He opened his eyes, turning his head to be rid of the light. He, after little convincing with her eyes, sat up with a smile. She, without catching his questioning gaze, placed a small daisy chain onto the top of his head and set it so it sat properly. "Absolutely gorgeous," she chuckled, admiring her work with a soft smirk. He just laughed and lay back down, putting a hand up protectively against the chain before he settled himself again.

A minute followed, then he opened a single eye and half frowned at her sudden change in emotion, "Why the sudden confusion?"

"It's funny really," she sighed, laying down in the grass next to him."Billy used to paint you out to be such a scary character, one that I should be careful around. You are nothing like that, I mean come on you're laying the grass with a daisy crown without any complaints whatsoever."

He raised a brow, "He thought I was scary?"

She nodded, painting a picture of sympathy that would not easily be detected since she knew he hated it, "I never believed it for a second though, quite frankly there is nothing scary about you."

"Even the bites?" he asked softly, as if not wanting to hear the answer himself.

"What these?" she whispered back, trailing the marks along his forearms with her finger. "Each one of these tells a story of something you've been through and come out the other side of, that could never be scary." She smiled as he pressed an extremely loving kiss to her head and the silence befell them again, as they lay there in silence other than the sounds of nature around them.