The Lilac Gardens

Meet Again

It was love at first sight.

But Will couldn't really vouch for that.

Ok, so it wasn't really love at first sight. It wasn't like Cinderella when they met at the party and instantaneously fell in love the second they laid eyes on each other. It was nothing like that.

Also, Will did not have magical talking mice.

Will just got this feeling inside when he looked at Erica. Warmth and comfort radiated from his core whenever he looked at her, like he was home. It made him calm but it also made him feel like he was having heart palpitations. Either way, it felt good to Will. More than good. It made him in into a gooey, lovesick, utterly disgusting mess.

He was thinking so much of her that he forgot to take his allergy medicine.

"ACHOO!" sneezed Will. He looked up from the crook of his elbow.

"Bless you, Will." the teacher said from her desk, for probably the twentieth time today. She eyed Will suspiciously, as if he were some raw juvenile delinquent to throw to the jaws of detention. As if Will was going to cheat on his AP World exam. He didn't even have the guts to ask the waiter for more ketchup.

"Thank you," Will replied in a congested tone. The teacher nodded and resumed her work.

"ACHOO!"

The teacher's head snapped back up to Will, but saw the boy run to the side of the room with the tissue box, holding a hand to his face.

"Snot," Will muttered as an excuse through his cupped hand, grabbing a tissue.

...

Saturday mornings were meant to sleep, not stress about seeing the cause of his probable and very near death.

Will was back at the Lilac Gardens again, allergies on the high, pushing his grandma along the cobbled stone road as she rambled wildly, gesturing with her hands. The sun shined through the leaves and the birds chirped happily, dancing along the wind. Will got a sense of deja vu while passing the white antique house and into the shade of a giant tree.

However, Will wasn't dreading this visit to the garden today. He was excited, like the inner five year old in him had awakened and was injected with ten pounds of sugar.

He would get to see Erica.

Well, hopefully.

Will prayed to the Lord, to the Greek gods, to his dead grandfather, to any kind of wish or prayer granting celestial being that Erica would be at the gardens today, and that he wouldn't embarrass himself and that his face didn't look like he just smoked the devil's lettuce.

He pushed the wheelchair along the bricks at fast pace, but slow enough so his grandma wouldn't fly off into space, trying to find the place where Erica was last time. He rounded a familiar curve.

Then there was the lilac stand. The blue canopy stood above the two foldable tables, holding lilacs galore. There were rows and rows of magenta, violet, white, even periwinkle, bouquets of flowers, lying on the tabletop and hanging from the tall spiral stand. The table to the left held people in green aprons with small garden shears, chatting and cutting the stems of the lilacs, creating the floral masterpieces.

Erica was in the very front, grouping the flowers together and laughing.

Will's heart almost exploded.