youngblood // p. hockstetter // 0.1

//fourteen

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Not once in his life had Victor ever gone to someone else's house out of concern, at least until the day after Mother's Day. Neither Jude nor Rosemary had turned up to school and as he stood before the front door, a folder of assignment slips in hand, he begun to regret his decision.

Someone that was neither Jude nor Rosemary opened the door. A tall, muscle ridden boy covered in a sheen of sweat and dressed in one of the Trucker Bros uniforms stared down at him in confusion. "Can I help you?" He smiled politely, much to Victor's surprise.

"Uh..." Victor licked his lips nervously, "Hello sir, I'm a classmate of Rosemary's" The man leant against the door frame, an amused grin tilted upwards on his face. "I didn't know how long she'd be away from school so I brought all the assignments we got today from her teachers"

Stepping forward, Victor hastily pulled the folder back and backed away, the porch creaking under his weight. "Thank you young man, if you want to give it to her yourself-" He pointed to the side of the house, where a pointed black gate ran from the side of the house to another lining the sides of the property. "-the gates unlocked, she's in the garden"

Victor nod, swallowing nervously. "Thank you sir"

"Call me Nathaniel" Holding his hand out, Victor took his warm grip, giving it a firm squeeze as he shook hands.

"Victor"

Jumping down from the porch, Victor hastily walked around the house to the black gate, memories of having jumped it fresh in his mind. Like most of the house, it was no longer overgrown with ivy and had been repainted earlier that month. Pushing it open, Victor gaped at the garden in complete shock.

The last time he'd been there, he'd done mushrooms with Henry and Peter. They'd jumped the fence to find a hard overgrown with bramble bushes and weeds, the gazebo in the centre of the garden partially destroyed and the garage still full of random crap from the previous owners.

Now, he could follow a clean and distinct path of gravel through the garden towards the rebuilt and pure white gazebo. From where he stood, he could see Rosemary's bob of blonde hair facing away from him in the gazebo.

He'd never seen so many flowers in his life, his fingers dusting against one or two as he approached the stairs leading to Rosemary. It was raised from the ground, with a crossed wooden guard protecting underneath from pests. The scrape of his feet drew Rosemary's attention and from where she sat on her swing, she jumped up and swiftly came across to greet him.

"Vic!" She wrapped her arms around his waist and he stiffened, evidently shocked by her gesture. Albeit slightly surprised, he hugged her back. "It's so good to see you. I haven't seen you since Thursday"

He grinned as she pulled away from him and turned to sit back down on the swing. His smile slipped slightly when he realised what she was wearing. A large oversized shirt which hung precariously off her shoulder, and extremely small pyjama shorts. She grinned at him as she pulled her legs up to sit cross legged. "So what brings you to our humble abode?"

"Sca.." He cleared his throat, "Schoolwork" Sticking his arms out quite suddenly, he stared at the roses lining the gazebo as Rosemary carefully took the folder. As soon as it was out of his hands, he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Well that's everything-"

"Could you sit with me?" Vic was silent and wide-eyed as she pulled her slim legs up and tucked her heels near her butt. She tapped the spot next to her, smiling.

"Sure..." Slowly, he lowered himself down, a good few centimetres between himself and Rosemary. Silence grew between them before she sighed, resting her forehead against the rope holding the swing.