Luke
I fucking hate running.
My body moved through the streets with ease only because of the absence of people. Rain hit my waterproof jacket, and my breath billowed softly in the crisp, cool air.
I was good at running, I just didn’t like it. It helped me with the chaos in my brain, which had started after Portugal. Usually, stress or challenges didn’t affect me that much; I could compartmentalize just fine. It actually motivated me. But now my thoughts were tangled in the memory of the tiny pearl necklace twirling between her fingers and the slight tilt of her head when something amused her. A distraction big enough that it had started to disrupt my work.
Two days ago, in a staff meeting, I yelled at a colleague for choosing a ridiculous font for our presentation to a big client. In my defense, it was Papyrus. Nobody approached me that day. The only one was Ethan, who brought me a coffee that Hazel had made me.
Even after I... after we...
I exhaled heavily, trying to push thoughts of her away. After all, I had started to run so early for that sole reason—to clear my head, to regain some control. Or at least, that’s what I wanted to believe. And I’d lied to myself about the empty streets. Deep down, I knew that every morning, I had this strange, aching certainty that I’d woken up too late for some reason.
My shoes splashed through the puddles as I turned for the park, my breathing paced and controlled.
Fucking rain.
My shoe caught on some rocks on the way, making me stumble, and just like that, an image of her smile when she talked about her mom flashed in my mind.
Fuck.
It would be like this from now on? Every smallest, the most ridiculous thing would remind me of her?
The pebble was the same form as the one I gave her. The rain smelled the same way when we sat together on that beach. Even the girl far in the distance looked like Hazel.
I shut my eyes, ready to ignore everything and sprint past, but that girl... It really did look like her. Lush hair, small, delicate nose, rosy cheeks. Her hand raised to her neck, twirling the...
I wiped the rain from my face, blinking, and slowed down. The girl was holding a yellow umbrella, partly blocking the view, and there was something tied to the handle.
I approached. She turned, and my heart skipped a beat.
My Hazel.
She noticed me and gave a small smile. Her presence made the hair on my arms tingle. I couldn’t have confused it with anything else. I closed the distance, trying to steady my breathing. The rain streamed down my face, but I couldn’t have cared less.
“Hi,” she said with a soft voice.
“Hi,” I said back. “How did you know I was going to be here?”
“Norah told me where to find you. Although I would’ve found you anyway,” she said, and my heart stirred, flooding my soul with hope I wasn’t ready to embrace yet.
“I hate running,” I said, filling the silence and looking around.
“You do?” she asked, surprise in her voice.
“Yeah, but it’s good for me,” I said, and she nodded. “It’s no cliff jumping, though,” I added, remembering how much energyI had spent fighting it—the jump, all this,her—and yet how much I had actually needed it. It made her smile, too.
“What do you have there?” I referred to the object tied to her umbrella.
“A balloon,” she said, untangling the ribbon. “It’s erm... the first one in a balloon arch,” she said with a shy smile, sowing seeds of hope in my heart. “Because, you know, everyone deserves a balloon arch once in their life. A wise person told me that.”
I averted my gaze to hide the emotions coursing through me. It was 6.47 AM on a Sunday, and Hazel was here with a balloon in her hands.
“And love, too. Everyone deserves love,” she continued, the light gray sky illuminating her blue oceans as she held my gaze. “You deserve love, and I deserve one, too. I think I know that now.”
Hazel lowered her gaze, shifting nervously from foot to foot. Her face deepened with emotion. I fought the urge to pull her into my arms. I needed to let her say her piece.
“I promised myself that nobody would break me anymore, because people always showed their colors if you watched them long enough. But I broke down as soon as I reached Mady after the airport.” Her eyebrows furrowed together. “I watched and watched and watched you, but instead, I just fell for you.”
