August was lying on her bed sketching out a garden of baby’s breath flowers and smiled when she thought back on Claude telling her how she made him nervous and how he thought she was pretty. He was kind and silly, but very sweet. She zoned out as she wrote out their names amongst the flowers, sighing with the thought of seeing him again.

》》》》》

Two days later

August and Claude continued to cross paths at school and spoke during lunch near the small garden in the courtyard; after school as he assisted her at the greenhouse, and after they finished up with the replanting of the baby sprouts. She could see how much he enjoyed helping her and speaking with her more than anything else.

The bell rang, and August walked out of the classroom to find Claude standing there like he did for the past two days, waiting for her. “Hey, stalker.” She grinned.

He chuckled, “I’m still considered a stalker after all the time we spent together?”

“Yes, because you still follow me everywhere I go.” August said, moving closer to him, as he smiled sweetly. She rested a hand on his right shoulder and closed the distance between them so that her lips were by his ear. “Are you going to follow me today, stalker?” Claude turned red at their closeness, his blue eyes darkening as he hesitantly rested a hand on her hip.

“That depends.” Claude whispered.

August pulled back, a smile playing on her lips, “oh?”

“Yeah, do you still consider me as a good person who unintentionally stalked you?” Claude asked. She burst out laughing, her hands at his chest as she cracked up. Her laughter made him laugh along, and he shook his head at how cute and full of life she seemed in that instant.

“You—you’re so bad. You are not a successful stalker. Not unless your intention was to become my friend by spending time with me, then try to kidnap me…” her eyes widen as she grinned. “Oh! Is that it?” she went slightly serious, even as she tried to contain her smile. Claude’s face brightened as she fell over his words.

“N—no, I’m just an average teenage boy w—who admires a girl that’s crazy about flowers.” Claude said, feeling his heart in his throat.

August’s eyes softened, and she glanced down at her hands that were rested on his chest and hummed. She played with the collar of his gray shirt for a second before looking back up into his eyes. “Wanna get lost together?” August asked. He arched a brow and she smiled. “Let’s get lost, Claude. You drove your car today, right?”

“Y—yeah, why?”

“Good,” she pulled back, and took his hand then tugged him away from the wall, “did you hold your camera too?”

“Y—yes, I did. What do you have going on in that head of yours, August?”

She turned to flash him a smile. “You’ll see, I just need you to drive.” She pulled him after her, racing out of the school.

The teens got to Claude’s car and August paused. “Wait, what about your brother? How will he get home?”

“My big sister drove him.”

“Oh, yeah, there’s more of you.” She noted, he chuckled at her remark.

 “Are you going to leave me hanging until we reach wherever it is you’re making me take us?”

She hummed softly. “Yeah, don’t worry. It’s not so I can kill you, and hide the body. I like you too much, besides, I left my handsaw at home.”

Claude chuckled, unsure of how he should take that. She arched a brow her way and she laughed.

“It was a joke, you laugh at those?” August said, beaming at him. She pushed the right side of the double doors open with one arm, since she was still pulling him along. “Where’s your car?”

“It’s the silver one, over there.” He pointed to the far left, seeing how the parking lot had already been emptied of the majority of cars from students, staff and, others, so spotting his silver car was fairly easy.

August waited as he unlocked the jeep and then helped her with the door, “Chivalry clearly isn’t dead on you. Thank you.”

“Thankfully for you, it isn’t.” Claude said, then got into the driver’s side. She tipped her head to the right. “Compliments to your mother.” He blushed and rolled his eyes playfully as she reached for the seatbelt.

“I’ll tell her you appreciated her hard work.” Claude buckled in as August snickered while he started the jeep. He took hold of the steering wheel and looked at her. “Are you going to tell me, so I don’t feel like a lost puppy driving around in circles?”

“I won’t get you lost? Don’t you trust me, Claude?”

Claude met her hazel-green eyes for a pause. “No, your head resides in the clouds, and your imagination far exceeds any other.” August smiled, and he cleared his throat, his cheeks reddened unknowingly to her. “You’re something else August… now tell me where I’m going before I get us lost.”

“Go left, then head straight until you come up to your first right on Steven’s Ave. Then drive until you see nothing but fields.”

Claude hummed. “So, you sure I shouldn’t be worried that you’re gonna kill me, and bury my corpse among the pastures?” the outburst from her surprised him, she laughed until she had to wipe the tears from her eyes.

“You sure your imagination isn’t bigger than mine?” August licked her lips, when he didn’t answer, “it seems so. And no, I want to show you something.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t worry about it, you’ll see when we get there.”

Her small smile made him question her just a little, but he kept driving along to the directions that she gave him. The drive was quiet as the radio hummed on low while the wind moved through the vehicle. The drive was peaceful as August enjoyed the wind blowing through her locks. Once they hit fields as far as the eye could see, August told him where to park. They came up to fields of dandelions on either side of the street.

“We’re here.” August exclaimed, hopping out of the jeep.

Claude looked around, and hummed. “Where is here exactly?”

“Here, is a half hour away from school. It’s park of the park that’s allowed to grow dandelions weeds. Take your camera, come on.” She smiled and moved around the jeep, then knocked the window to get Claude’s attention. “Get out.” she mouthed.

He laughed and reached into the backseat for his camera. He set the bag back and got out. Claude took a moment to inhale deeply and smiled to himself.

“Enjoying the fresh air?” August asked, seeing his smile grow. His dark hair blowing in the breeze.

He turns around to see a smiling August and shrugged. “I never think of all the bad air that we breathe in on a daily basis, so this is truly a breath of fresh air.” He lifted his camera, and snapped a picture of her laughing. Her eyes widened and she blushed.

“Follow me, handsome.” August skipped off down the small slope next to the car into the fields with Claude in tow.

“B—be careful, August, you might trip.” He cried out, making her turn around and wave him off. “Take a picture of me.” She said, waving her arms.

Claude’s face got hotter and he muttered, “gladly.” He lifted his camera, and captured her beauty with his lens. “Beautiful.” She chuckled, then motioned him over to her with her finger. He walked up to meet her as she reached a hand out and he somehow knew what she meant. He handed her the camera and she caught his wrist, pulling him in then wrapped her arm around his neck. August smiled and he took that short second to gaze at her in the soft glow of the mid afternoon sun. The camera shuttered and captured their image.

August pulled the camera in to look at their picture, and her eyes widened as she saw how deeply he was gazing at her. No, how he was admiring her. He was so cute in that moment. “Claude…”

Claude hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her face to his, he paused to give her a chance to back out, and when she didn’t, he brought her closer, and pressed his lips to hers. August’s eyes fluttered close as his fingertips touched her waist and their kiss deepened. When they parted she pulled back slowly, and smiled. “That was nice.”

Claude nodded. “Your lips taste like cherries.” She blushed as he brushed a thumb over her hot cheek, her eyes fluttering closed as she hummed.

“Yeah, my lip gloss is cherry flavored.” August’s heartbeat was becoming apparent to her, she swallowed softly, then touched his hand. “Hey, do you need to be home at a certain time?” He shook his head. “Great. The sunset looks so beautiful when it sets—have you ever set a dandelion on fire before?”

His eyebrows arched and.August grinned from ear to ear. “Come, I’ll show you.” she took a lighter from her pocket then turned to him. “No, I don’t smoke. I like looking at fire.”

“Oh, you’re a pyromaniac… cute.” Claude said. She shoved him playfully, and he snickered as he followed her to a clearing close to the car.

August sat down, and he joined her as she picked a dandelion, causing a few pappus or petals to float away. She flicked on the lighter, and touched it to the flower to which it burnt in an orange blue glow for a few seconds before it dissipated into smoke. Claude was amazed as he watched her burn another one.

“I thought you loved flowers and nature. Why burn them?”

“I love flowers, but my mom owns a flower shop which means cutting off their life source and putting them on display. They’ll only manage to stay alive for a week and a half, maybe longer. But that’s all very natural. We begin to die once we take our first breath at birth… All life on Earth was born dying. So, burning these flowers was just doing something that was inevitable.” She explained, picking at one as the soft breeze took it from her fingertips.

“That’s one way to look at it.” Claude said, looking at the dandelions petals blowing on the wind.

“The wind will help the seeds reach more places to grow and honestly, these plants are seen as pest, weed. They are quite resilient, and are an invasive species, but a good one that aids in the reduction of soil erosion.

Claude stole a glimpse at her, before looking back to the skies. “How’d you find this place?”

August shrugged. “My uncle took me here once when I told him I wanted to make a wish.” She smiled at the memories. “He said that dandelion pappus captures your wish, and then when you blow it, it sends the wish out into the world and it comes true.”

Claude pondered for a second, then really looked at her. “Did you get your wish?” An unexpected silence joined them, then he noticed a shadow of darkness fall over her face and she shook her head.

“No. My dad still died of cancer… he fought hard, but eventually, it wasn’t enough. We managed to deal with the loss…” She sniffled, sighing as she brushed her eyes.

He had said the wrong thing. “I’m so sorry.”

August waved him off, turning to smile at him. “Don’t be, he was at peace when he passed. It was stage four terminal brain cancer… It couldn’t be helped. He died surrounded by family.” The silence between them was unmoving and tense, lined with an uneasy stomach turning stillness. August knew that Claude was thrown by her sudden over sharing of her father and his death, but she didn’t want to be the cause of their day ending badly. She took Claude’s camera and stood up, then captured him as he was deep in thought. He pocketed the lighter that she left on the ground and stood.

“Pose for me.” Claude took back the camera and backed up slowly.

August took her time to admire Claude’s features as he found the right angle, the way he held his camera, and how his blue eyes were so focused on taking her picture.

The sunset was beginning to fall, and Claude found the perfect angle where the golden glow of the skies matched her flawless ebony complexion perfectly.