“Aren’t those white?”
“Yeah, they have fur that basically camouflages in a way. In the winter, it frosts to white in order to blend in with the snow, and in the warmer months, they look like that to hide in with the brush and trees.”
“You think I could catch it?” I ask, turning my attention to the little bunny, feeling like I need to channel my inner Snow White.
He looks up at me skeptically, almost like he can’t tell if I’m being serious or not. “No, I don’t,” he says, and I glare at him.
“I think I can,” I say, slowly standing up to my full height and tightening my ponytail before turning to face the little bunny.
He doesn’t say anything, but I feel his stare on me as I slowly creep towards the small, unsuspecting creature. I tiptoe towards it, crouched low. Somehow, this little bunny has the survival instincts of an acorn, because it all but lets me walk right up to it before it ever sees me. But by the time it does, it’s too late, I’ve scooped it up into my arms. It kicks and fights for only a few seconds before I’m able to snuggle it into my arms, and it calms down.
I turn to Beckett, a big smile on my face as I hold the surprisingly soft bunny in my arms. He stares at me wide-eyed, probably more surprised that I caught the bunny than I am.
“I can’t believe it let you just pick it up like that,” he says as I walk over to where he’s standing, kissing the top of the bunny’s head as I scratch behind its ears.
“I’m going to take it inside and get it something to eat. I’ll be right back,” I say after a few minutes. Beckett nods, going back to work on my garden boxes. I head up the lawn towards the house.
The bunny seems perfectly content in my arms as we sit at the counter, doing some research on what bunnies can and cannot eat. Turns out you’re not supposed to play with or feed the wildlife. So I pout my lip and give it another kiss on the head. You’re also apparently not supposed to do that, since I don’t know if it’s carrying any diseases, but it looks trustworthy.To me.
“Sorry, buddy, I guess I’m not supposed to feed you,” I say, pocketing my phone when I stand and taking it back outside.
“What did you learn?” Beckett asks as I stand right above him, the bunny still in my arms.
“That you’re not supposed to feed them,” I pout, setting it onto the ground, sad as I watch the little bunny hop away. “How come you don’t have any pets?” I ask, kneeling down next to Beckett, who is now by my plants.
“I’m not home enough to take care of a pet,” he points out.
“I remember when Mason and I were younger, you took us out kayaking and we found Myrtle, abandoned, tied to the dock. Mase and I begged you to let her go and take her with us.” I pick absentmindedly at some of the grass by my knees.
“She was the best damn dog I think I’ve ever had,” he admits.
Myrtle was some kind of lab mix, and we indeed took her home with us that day. She lived for probably seven or eight years after we found her.
We spend the rest of the afternoon quietly working in silence, he teaching me how to build.
“You wanna watch a movie tonight?” I ask as I stand over the stove cooking.
“Sure.”
I nod, feeling myself blush for no reason at all. I internally scold myself for my childish behavior.
We’ve had a couple of movie nights since I moved in, and they are quickly becoming my favorite nights.
I make us popcorn as he sets up the TV. We sit on the same couch, but there’s a good amount of space between us.
He hits play, and we both finally relax. We reach for the popcorn between us at the same time, our fingers brushing. Sparks shoot up my arm, and I jerk it back. My face turns what I’m sure is the shade of a tomato.
I cough awkwardly, waiting for him to take his hand out of the bucket before grabbing my own handful.
I really need to pay better attention, because I reach in for another handful blindly and grab his entire hand. I’m so fucking weird, because instead of pulling away, I find myself wanting to lace our fingers together. I don’t do that because I’m notthatfucking weird. But the thought is there as I pull my hand away. I chance a look over in his direction, and he’s already looking at me. Neither of us says anything; we just turn back to the movie.
I lay out on the pool deck, the next day, and think about how much I’ve missed these summers. It might be one of the things that I do actually miss about Colorado.
After a couple of hours, I go inside and make myself something for lunch.
I sit on my bed scrolling through my phone, trying to figure out if there is any kind of specific content that everyone wants to see when I get an idea for a KoVi video.
KoVi videos take up so much of my time most weeks, between filming and editing. I’m trying to put out one a week with two of my days in my schedule dedicated to it; one to filming, one to editing.
