Ships in the Night

Chapter 10: Secret Garden

"Thank you, Y/N," she smiled at you softly with gratitude. You smiled back just as softly, shaking your head.

"You don't need to thank me for being a good friend Lizzie," you laughed and she laughed back.

"I know I don't but, I still will. It's rare to get a decent friend now," she let out a watery laugh and you hummed in agreement.

She certainly wasn't wrong in that department. You'd always struggled to gain a decent friend in your life. It wasn't exactly you not being friend material- just more the concept of you feared trusting people.

You let out a huff of air before turning to look over at Lizzie who was looking at you strangely.

"What?" You laughed confused slightly.

"What are you doing today?" She looked at you with a certain curiosity.

It was a strange question, rather out of the blue but intriguing all the same.

"Well, aside from driving up to you, most of the day has passed it's evening now Liz," you pointed at the time that now read 5:45pm.

God, time passed fast when it came to being with her, but you could never put your finger on why. You never complained about it though, time really does fly when you're having fun.

"Oh! I never noticed, but still, you busy tonight?" She shrugged glancing at you.

"No, not that I'm aware of, why?"

She smirked at you before nodding and headed into the living room leaving you standing on your own on the kitchen stool in confusion. While you waited for her to come back and explain whatever was going through her mind you took in the kitchen. Or, at least you were going to attempt to until your eyes came into focus with someone else that was interesting.

It was the same garden patches you'd saw when you'd first arrived at her house, however this time they were in her back garden. The kitchen was overlooking the garden, especially with the open spaced windows allowing you to gain a clearer view. You stood, looking out the window and your eagerness was getting the better of you, but how could it not?

You knelt down slightly by the windows, trying to get a better look at what seemed to be growing there, but the angle you were at seemed to be getting in the way. It was possible to go outside to have a peep at what she was growing, but you weren't going to start snooping through her garden.

"Is the window really that amusing for you there?" Her voice came from behind you making you jump instantly.

Jesus Christ, she really knows how to make people scared shitless.

"Oh, sorry," you said spinning around standing now only a few feet away from the older woman.

She was looking at you, her eyebrow raised expectantly. That's when you realized she was waiting for an explanation as just what the hell you were looking at in the first place.

"I was- looking at the... garden," you made your point by emphasizing things with your hands, before pointing over at the little garden patches she had outside.

Her lips twitched, before breaking out into a smile. She shook her head before walking over to the patio door that you'd failed to actually notice, purely due to being in awe of her garden. Lizzie opened it, before gesturing you to follow her outside, which you did like some sort of loyal puppy.

She giggled at your eagerness, shaking her head before leading you out into her garden. You'd noticed it was rather chilly out, but not too cold that you were going to freeze your tits off entirely.

That's a relief.

Lizzie, lead you to her several garden patches and your eyes widened in shock. She literally had her own fucking grocery store out here. Literally... Carrots, radish, fucking... is that paprika? Peas, fucking onions, holy shit. She physically was harvesting her own garden.

"Finished gawking, dear?" She teased you smirking at you gazing in awe at her little private harvesting area.

In your defense it was fucking cute.

"Sorry, it's just... It's incredible Liz, this is what you do?" You said recalling prior conversations you'd had in your first encounter.

"Yes, it's nice right? When I first started, gardening and harvesting my own shit, nothing gave me more happiness than watching a baby shelling pea get fat or plump, or harvesting kale."

You watched as Elizabeth waved her hands around as she rambled about how her gardening and harvesting her own fruit, vegetables and her food in general made her feel happy. You enjoyed listening to people ramble and explain their biggest passions and how their eyes lit up.

"That's so sweet Liz, I remember how you said you wanted kid's to learn to garden. I understand why. It's a really inspiring thing to do, I'm more than ready to learn and listen about more!" You said tilting your head in anticipation.

You watched as Lizzie's eyes glinted with amazement, as someone was just as eager to listen to her explain how to harvest and how to take care of your own garden as she was explaining it.

So you did, you listened as she rambled and pointed out each plant following her stories. Explaining how despite not growing up with a garden she'd always wanted to produce her own shit for the longest of time. You didn't miss out on how her eyes gleamed in excitement as she pointed at her little fruit trees and how Liz explained to take care of them.

You had however, failed to notice her picking up different foods on her way past each patch, as she pointed at each one. She collected certain one's, as though she was preparing for something, but your eyes didn't catch on being too busy listening to her every word.

As you both made your way back to the patio door's she flushed a little in realization of how much she'd rambled on in her passion for gardening and foods in general.

"I'm sorry if I did bore you, Y/N. I didn't mean to, sometimes I just get a little carried away with myself you know?"

"Hey! You definitely didn't bore me, in fact it was amazing listening to your passion, but now I've just noticed what are all the vegetables and other various foods for?" Your eyes caught sight of the foods as you entered back into the house.

She smiled softly at you, scrunching her nose up out of happiness and a little bit of mystery. She sauntered over to her kitchen placing down each food she'd taken out of her garden, before dancing around her kitchen to get different ingredients.

"Well, I was thinking of making a Cabbage dish. It has toasted sesame oil, sesame seeds green onions and amino acids! I'll add some thing's on the side too, that's if you want to stay... If you don't-"

You started laughing, causing her to tilt her head at you in confusion, as you tried to stop your laughter.

"The rambling is funny Liz, but I assure you that sound's amazing. I'd love to stay. Do you need any help though?" You smiled at her waiting for her response, as you watched her face melt into relief.

"Thank you, I do it often- I am sorry. Thank you for offering, but no I'm good, you can go and choose a film for us to watch though," she smirked pointing at the TV remote on the side as she gestured for you to head to the living room.

You picked up the control, shaking off the feeling of how oddly normal this felt, you didn't usually feel this relaxed straight away around friends. A little odd, but it is what it is.