Serenity hasn't got much of a story to tell. She's been sick her whole life and after getting her taste for freedom she's forced to move back home with her parents to figure out the next move.
There she meets a night eyed Arizona boy who just neede...
"Where are we going" Kris asks as we walk around. His fingers laced in mine as our feet hit the pavement.
Today I decided to take him to the Chicago botanical gardens to get away from the city life we've become accustomed to. He had just gotten back from a road trip and he was over working himself trying to make sure he was this perfect athlete for people to look up to. I know, I make his schedule. And I also made sure that he had time to enjoy the finer things in life. Not just sit around and worry about baseball all the time. There's so much more to life than the games we play. And we will never know it sitting in the same place not seeing what beauty this world holds in places we are too busy to see.
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So I brought him here, the same place I always run to when I need to get away for a while. Don't get me wrong, Chicago is great, but it can be very cold hearted. Kris knows, if he doesn't get a hit every game there's people down his throat saying he's a bust and overrated. I don't need to know a lot about baseball to know that life is unfair. And nothing cleanses the soul like a nice walk where you're surrounded by space to be free.
"We are going wherever our feet take us" I finally tell him.
"That sounds... spontaneous" he admits.
"I think we can both benefit from a little bit of spontinuity" I insist.
"I swear only you use words like this" he laughs.
I smile to myself as I nod my head in agreeance. "You read as many books as I have you will learn a lot of words. It's makes the world just a little bit bigger to explore" I admit.
We come across a little bench and we decide to stop for a little. Neither of us had our phones out and I left the books in the car. It was just him and I and it was... beautiful.
He leans over and picks a flower before turning to me. He slips the flower in my hair and I couldn't help but smile. He sits back and admires his work making him smile too.
"What's this for" I ask.
"Because, you're like a flower" he claims.
I touch the soft pedals in my hair and let out a sigh. Not a bad one, just one from keeping so much in and wanting to confide in him. But being so scared of him not wanting to deal with it.
"My mom used to call me wildflower. She used to tell me "May your life be like a wildflower growing freely in the beauty and the joy of each day". She always wanted the best for me. I was sick a lot as a kid so I spent a lot of time inside sheltered away from most things in life. But a flower who doesn't get enough sunlight dies. Slowly and painfully it withers away.
So she started taking me to places like this. There's nothing to read here, you have to create your own story. That's where I realized that like a wildflower I have to allow myself to grow in all the places people never thought I would" I explain.
He smiles down at me as he adjusts the flower in my hair. "You're my wildflower. I picked you out of all the other roses and daisies I can find here in Chicago because I didn't want another perfect looking flower. And even though I picked you, you're still wild and you're still free. You don't belong to me, you belong to this world. And now you're brightening my world like you have been doing for so long for your family. You're unlike any other flower I had been walking by for the past 23 years.
And I stop and I pick you every time" he says softly.
I lean over and rest my head on his lap. I look up at him and see how his head is encased in the sunlight. Like a angel sent from heaven. I look right into his eyes and they were like the sky. So big and so deep. And they hold just as many wonders too.
"You don't make me feel like a famous athlete" he claims.
"What do I make you feel" I wonder.
"You make me feel like...
Like I'm the only one in this world that matters. You make me feel real, like I'm a actual human being who wants love and hope. I love that you don't treat me like a athlete or a famous person. You treat me exactly how I wished everyone would treat me.
Because when I'm with you I don't think about hitting or saying the right things so I don't make someone mad at me. I know better than to talk around you because I'll learn so much more by listening. I'm listening to what you have to say and I swear every word sticks with me.
Just being next to you makes me happy. Knowing that you're thinking of me too makes my heart race. I swear I've never felt like this with anyone. Not even baseball brings me this much joy.
But I wouldn't change a thing. Not about you or us or anything. Because we get to share moments like this where nothing is happening, yet everything feels just right" he explains.
I reach up and softly touch his face. Making sure this was real life and my heart didn't fail me and send me to heaven. "How lucky am I? That out of all the girls in the world you picked me" I say softly.
"You're my wildflower" he claims and I smile big.
We finish waking around before we eventually had to head back into the city. It was nice to get out of the city but it was still my job to make sure he gets to do his job. So I take him over to a photo shoot for a partnership he was doing with Red Bull. This man never puts any type of poison in his body unless it's a Red Bull. But for someone who is always on the go and needs the energy I guess there's worse things he can do.
So I watch them get him all dolled up in his baseball pants and a Red Bull shirt. I didn't need to know what a four seem cutter looked like to know he looked damn good in those pants. Before he gets started he comes over to me and holds his arms out in one of those "how do I look" poses.
"So? Clean up nice huh" he teases.
"Oh sure. Because you can look bad in the first place" I scoff.
"I have my days" he defends.
"I have yet to see them" I accuse.
"There will be plenty of them and you'll get to see them because you'll always be around, right" he asks.
I feel my heart start to beat out of rhythm and I get a pain in my chest. And not the pain that comes from being with Kris. That doesn't exist. This pain comes from trying to think of a life without him in it. And just how much of a possibility that is with my heart in the condition it's in now.
"I can't promise you the future Kris. I don't make promises I can't keep so I can't give you that. But I can promise you here and now. And I can promise you that I will give you all of me" I say.
"I think I can work with-that" he teases and I giggle.
