Page 40 of That Summer
Butterflies swarmed in her belly. Three long, successive trips. Each longer than she’d done before. Her chest tightened at the thought of it. What if she couldn’t do it?
A quick glance to him. He still smiled at her.
He swatted her shoulder playfully. “Stop worrying. It’ll be fun.”
“I’ll have to believe you. For now.”
“A date at eight.”
“Don’t be late.” She smirked, the tightness in her chest easing.
“Never.”
As promised, Lucas knocked on her door at eight p.m. He walked in all cleaned up in a nice pair of jeans and a ST. FX shirt.
Sitting in the living room, she lifted her nose to the air. “Oh my god. I smell orange. What are you hiding?”
A sheepish grin played on his face as he sauntered over. “You can smell that?”
“I can,” she said. The scent of orange mixed with another floral scent.
Lucas pulled out a bouquet from behind his back. “I didn’t think you’d be able to smell these.”
A small gasp came from her as she noticed a flower with white petals. “Are those mock orange?”
She stood and buried her nose into the blooms, deeply inhaling the scent. With it came a flood of emotions. She was seven or eight, and remembered sitting in the best spot on the front porch where if the breeze blew just right, she would be covered in the orange smell—fragrant without being overpowering. “Wherever did you?”
“It wasn’t hard. I called around to a few greenhouses and picked up a few branches. They kinda thought it was weird.” The wrapped flowers were pushed into her hands. “The others are–”
“Stargazer lilies, white roses and hyacinth.”
“Wow,” he said. “You know your flowers.”
Holding them under her nose, she breathed in the scent as she walked to the kitchen. She hunted for a vase from the back of a cupboard and filled it with tepid water. A quick unwrap and she tenderly added the flowers, sniffing in the memories again.
“They’re really beautiful,” she said.
“I’m glad you like them. You mentioned loving an orange smelling plant.”
Her heart swelled. “Thank you for remembering.”
It surprised her that he remembered, but then again, it didn’t. Not considering everything he’d done.
“So you’ll be happy to know, I checked in with mom today.” He shifted from foot to foot. “Even had dinner with her.”
The confidence he’d had moments ago flittered away as he fidgeted like a boy in a trouble.
“What’s with the hesitation?” she asked.
“Well…”
“She brought it up again, didn’t she?”
Lucas nodded.
Her hands landed on her hips. “And you cowered, right? Didn’t stand up for yourself and tell her how much you’re hating engineering and how you’d rather be in psychology? How you have a natural gift for sensing people’s emotions? When are you going to tell her? When you graduate?”
“It’s complicated. As much as I’d like to tell her off, I can’t. It’s disrespectful, and I was raised better than that.” He bit his top lip and refused to make eye contact with her.