Between the Perennial Blooms || Paul Lahote

Ten | Hydrangea

"there is sweetness
in the way you say my name
a word swathed in silk;
honey slicked lines,
rosebud loops.
a name breathed
on a heavenly sigh."
—i.m.

• • •

Bailey Swan had always longed to believe in fairytales. Preconceived notions of knights in shining armor come to save her and happily ever after's soon to follow had developed in her mind at a tender age early on in her youth. The princess was always locked away, held back somewhere far out of reach, and the monster had to be slain before the handsome prince could finally lay claim to her heart. There was a pattern the tales followed: a backstory, a main conflict, and then the final ending victory. The tale of Sleeping Beauty had always been her favorite; she loved the idea of awakening to true love's first kiss and riding off into the sunset on the back of a trusty steed. Her Gran had always thought the admiration to be fitting, because come time to awake in the mornings, Bailey more often than not slept like the dead. "Sleepy Aurora," her Gran had often teased her. "Did you prick your finger last night? I know we don't have a spinning wheel, but I'm sure I've got an extra sewing needle laying around in this pigsty of a house somewhere." Then she would laugh and walk off into the kitchen as Bailey fixed her with a grumpy pout.

However, as Bella and Jacob retreated somewhere outside the little white house with the yellow marigolds out front and left Bailey sitting at the table without a backwards glance, she couldn't help but feel like she should have looked up to a different Disney princess altogether. Bailey had always admired Aurora and her picturesque tale of good vs. evil.

So she never imagined her own life to more closely resemble that of Belle and her Beast.

Paul Lahote stood just outside the screen door. Leaning on his elbows perched atop the porch railing, he stared out into the trees with a brooding look on his face and gazed seemingly lost in thought. Bailey watched him from the kitchen table, unable to help herself from admiring the way the early morning sun shone against his rich, tanned skin and made it glow almost amber. He appeared upset, not angry like earlier, but more so troubled -as if the weight he ordinarily bore on his shoulders suddenly proved far heavier than it ever had before. For some reason, that saddened Bailey. She had seen him smile, had seen him laugh and joke with Jacob as they walked through the front door of Sam and Emily's house only minutes ago, and as she stared at those same lips that had once tugged up beautifully at the corners but were now worn lowly into a downturned frown, a heaviness settled in her chest. Paul Lahote was far too beautiful not to smile.

Even more so, Paul Lahote was far too beautiful to be sad.

"Go talk to him," Jared urged her quietly, having caught her lingering glances at the boy he knew was entirely too afraid to admit he wanted her and conjugately explain just what she truly meant to him. "Go on," he encouraged upon sight of her nervous reluctance. "He'll be glad if you do."

Bailey inhaled a grounding breath as her heart beat a mile a minute. She hesitated just inside the screen doorway, pausing to look back over her shoulder at Jared and the rest of the boys -minus Jacob and Bella and plus Emily- and felt the tension in her shoulders ease slightly at their reassuring smiles. "It's okay," Jared mouthed to her, waving his hand in a gesture to continue on. "It's okay."

And that was all the push she needed.

"Um, P-" her voice caught in her throat, momentary panic taking over as she watched the boy in question's shoulders draw so taunt that she feared the bones would crack under the pressure. His hands tightened around the porch railing, fingers squeezing with so much force that the knuckles turned pale, and his throat bobbed so thickly as he swallowed that Bailey could hear it herself. His entire body appeared to close in on itself, seemingly hunkering down for the sole purpose of shutting her out. Bailey didn't understand why. Nevertheless, it made her heart plummet to her feet.