Rosy Cheeks

gardenings, 3.02

The collage above is my favorite place to go, maybe some of you have been here before idk. But this is where they went basically.

This is my favorite chapter ever.
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When the boy suggested a week later that the girl should choose a date for them to go on, she almost laughed. Her making a decision?

"You do know who I am, right?" She asked, her pale eyes twinkling in amusement, while sitting with her legs tucked up on her favorite chair in her room, and her elbows resting on her knees so she could support her head.

The boy nodded and bit back a smile. "You said you were going to help me, so I'm going to help you. First step: teaching you to make decisions based on what you want. And not always making them based off of what others want."

After a severe amount of blushing and pillow throwing from the girl's part, and laughter and dodging from the boy's; it didn't take her long to realize what she wanted to do.

So that was how they ended up on another long car ride with the windows down and music blaring (and who couldn't forget the off key singing?). This time it was one of the boy's favorites, The Neighbourhood. The girl had never felt so free then when she was driving with the boy. And the boy had never felt more at home then when she let her true colors shine brighter than a rainbow's.

It almost seemed to short, the car ride.

Soon they were at the girl's favorite place in the world: the botanic garden.

The girl was terribly nervous when she suggested her idea, as it wasn't something she pictured any boy liking. She even expressed her worry to him, and told him he didn't have to go if he didn't want to. But when he heard what she'd said, his face lit up and he grabbed her hand to squeeze it gently.

"Why do you seem so excited to spend a day with flowers?" She'd asked.

It only took a moment for him to reply, "Because you're choosing to welcome me to your special place, your safe haven. Like I did with the cliff. And that's something to celebrate."

She'd blushed deeply again, and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek.

The joy that filled Pale Eyes as she exited the car couldn't be contained in her tiny frame. Her lips were stretched in the widest smile and she was bouncing on the balls of her feet while she clutched her camera to her chest. She couldn't wait to start taking photos (she'd even brought an extra battery with even though they were only going to be there for a few hours.)

The boy, despite the beautiful flowers, trees and shrubs they saw on the trail into the gardens, could only keep his eyes on the girl. In fact, his first picture was of her admiring a budding tree branch, with her lips parted in awe. He'd even caught her soft pink blush and shy eyes in the second picture he took. To him, she blew nature out of the water with her beauty.

That was how it went most of the day. The girl rambling off facts about the gardens and the plants inside of them, with the boy listening contently. The two holding hands, swinging them gently, when they weren't taking photos. And when they were, she was admiring the world around her and he was admiring the one who stood, wonder struck, before him with the landscape behind here merely a background.

There were so many places for them to explore, each one more beautiful than the other. A path of cherry blossoms, a garden filled with rhododendron bushes and azaleas and pulmonarias, a walkway of hundreds of types of roses, a waterfall stairway. A bonsai tree room, greenhouses of different tropical weathers. And so many more places they didn't have time to visit this time.

When it came to a few hours after noon, the two grabbed a lunch from the little restaurant at the welcoming center, and settled down in a garden with a large circular pool in it, where they dipped their now bare toes into the cool water and nibbled away at their sandwiches. They conversed, and laughed, and splashed each other lightly with their wet feet. They showed each other their pictures, and the girl blushed at how many of them she was in from the boy's camera. She wanted to beg him to delete them, as she'd always hated pictures of herself. But somehow, she found that she felt beautiful in the ones he took.

Soon they'd finished eating, but they couldn't find it in them to leave the serenity of the garden they were in. Instead, they decided to bring out their sketchbooks again.

And away the sketched.

The girl had decided on drawing from the view she had, with her and Rosy Cheeks' legs dangling in the circular pond, and all the beautiful landscaping. The trees, the stone walls, the little girl admiring a flower from a far. The fountain they could see in the distance. She wanted to remember this moment forever, as it was one of her favorites to far.

The boy wanted to remember this day too, as he'd never felt happier in his life. But instead, he drew the girl. He sketched her relaxed figure lightly, observing the curve of her lips as she smiled contently down, scratching away at her paper with her favorite pencil. Observing, admiring, the way she reached up to tuck a stray curl behind her ear, being careful to not displace the flowered twig Rosy Cheeks had placed their earlier (although shed been mad he'd disturbed the cherry blossom, she couldn't help but be bashful about the gesture). Rendering the wrinkles in her clothing as best he could. He formed the background around her, but had already decided he wouldn't put as much detail on it as he did on her.

The two lost track of time as the drew, like they always did. It was just who they were. They got lost in the beauty around them, but were unable to find it in themselves.

It was late by the time the exited the garden, nearly closing time for the place. But they made sure to have someone take a picture of them in a few of their places before they left. They were so thankful for all the memories they had saved from their day. Pictures, drawings. The ones in their heads.

And as they drove home, the rain decided came down from the puffy clouds, and the girl decided it was a good sign. Rain had always brought good things to her.

For once, everything seemed to be clicking together for both of them.

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Bella's note: akfjfjal there's like eight chapters left and I'm so sad. But seriously this is my favorite chapter ever. It made me so happy! (If you didn't look, see the picture I posted on this chapter. I wish I had better pictures on my phone but they're all on my camera. Most beautiful place ever. Most of the stuff described in this chapter I saw there in person and holy cow.)

Question of the day: Do you prefer reading in 1st person or 3rd person? Or do you not have a preference?

I prefer reading in first (as I get more perspective from the character), but writing in third.

By the way, when I post the memory book of these two, it'll mainly feature chapters like this :-)

Important news: I will not be posting until the night of June 6th, as I have exams. I'm so scared ;-;

Much love!

-xx

(p.s. the spacing might be screwed up on this because Wattpad is malfunctioning for me. And also I've never done anything but hold hands and hug a guy, so sorry if this totally doesn't seem like a relationship oops.)