Bright rays of sunlight began to change the color in my cheeks, but all I could feel was his strong, warm arms wrapped around me.
"It's a nice day out," He murmured half-heartedly. I placed one hand on his cheek and patted it gently.
"Don't fall asleep on me, Cam. If one of them catches us, I'm dead meat. You don't want that to happen, do you?" By them I meant anyone who lived in Konohana. When I first moved here, they all made it clear to me that it was forbidden to have any sort of relationship with someone from Bluebell. If I chose to disobey, I'd be kicked out of the town. Bluebell wasn't as traditional as Konohana. Although they weren't fond of the idea that Cam was dating someone from the opposing town, they made an exception for me. I found that since they were more western influenced, Bluebell citizens only cared for the happiness of one another. And Cam was happy with me.
"No. I don't." He turned to frown softly at me. I smiled reassuringly and leaned in closer, resting my head on his chest. He smelled of lavender and soil. Manly, yet delicate.
We had been going on dates almost every day for the past month. Our simple little run in at his flower stand triggered the foundation of our entire relationship. After that day, my daily routine consisted of finishing my chores on the farm, and traveling straight to Bluebell to help him with the shop until closing time. I helped with simple little things such as keeping the plants hydrated and taking over the stand when he had to run a quick errand. It wasn't much, but it was just nice being with him.
"Your birthday is coming up." I said, "I think I know what I'm going to get you."
"Oh… Is it?" He asked, slowly bring his arm back down by his side.
"What is it? Do you not enjoy birthdays?" I asked.
"No, that's not it." He obviously had something on his mind. But I decided to let it go. Cam wasn't one to open up much. Even when I begged him I was barely able to squeeze out a tiny bit of information.
"Okay." I sat up straight and looked down at him for a moment. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed as he looked off into the flower bed. I leaned over and snatched his hat off his head.
"Hey!" He growled playfully.
"If you want it, you have to catch me." I teased, then quickly pushed myself off the ground and began dashing around the flower garden. The grass felt cool beneath my bare feet. The mud was soft and raw.
"This isn't fair, Lillian." He pouted as he chased me around. Eventually I let him catch me and he wrapped his arms around my waist, as the two of us fell into the bed of flowers. I could feel the stems bending as we both rolled into the planting box. I looked at him and saw something I rarely saw. His eyes were gleaming and I could tell he was genuinely happy at that moment. Knowing Cam, this meant I must have been doing something right. We both laughed as I placed the cap back on his head, making sure it was secure.
"There we go… Nice and perfect." I grinned at him. He looked at me and cocked his head quizzically. I realized that in the midst of our tumbling, I had somehow landed on top of him. But neither of us seemed to mind. I looked at him for a while, and slowly leaned in towards his face. I could see his eyes slowly falling shut.
"Lillian!" I stopped and Cam's eyes suddenly opened as a familiar voice called out my name. "Lillian you mustn't be playing around those flowers!" Suddenly something wrapped itself around my ankle and tugged roughly, pulling me out of the flower garden. I winced at the slight pain and immediately fell hard to the ground.
"Ahh…" I mumbled, rubbing my ankle. I looked up to see who in the world would have done something so random, when I met two sweet brown eyes staring down at me. "H-hiro?" I gasped. I didn't know whether to feel panicked that he saw us, or surprised that he had pulled me away so abruptly.
"Lillian, you're extremely allergic to pollen. You shouldn't be here!" The expression on my face immediately changed to worry as I saw deep concern in his eyes.
"What are you doing here?" I heard Cam growl. I could tell he was not playing around like before. There was genuine anger in his tone. He stepped out from the bed and stood beside me, extending out one arm. Hiro, completely disregarding Cam's presence, continued to warn me.
"I'm serious. You haven't got the best immune system, and even being in a place like this could get you seriously sick." He too, reached out an arm for me to grab. I scoffed, and ignored both of them, pushing myself up from the ground. They were acting as if I was incapable of standing up on my own, and I hated more than anything to be pitied.
"Get out of here." Cam said, now dropping his arms and turning to look at Hiro. "We don't want you here."
"Cam, stop it." I put on hand on his shoulder but he shook it off.
"Why are you even with this guy? He seems to have quite a short temper." Hiro asked me.
"Hiro that's none of your business. Please, both of you stop it." I said. I looked at Cam and could see burning angst in his eyes. Whether it was because Hiro was from Konohana or because he interrupted us, I couldn't be sure. Cam never necessarily got angry enough to do anything violent, but I still didn't like seeing him upset. It was the only side of him that I didn't like being around.
"I'm just saying." Hiro's voice softened. "I'm sorry for intruding, but you wouldn't want Lillian sick, would you?" I wondered what was causing the both of them to act so out of character. Usually Hiro was quite a gentleman and was able to hold his composure even in the most dire situations. Right now he was taunting Cam like a five year old.
"No, of course not," Cam mumbled, "but that doesn't give you the right to just come here and ruin our date."
"Ruin your date? I'm doing this for Lillian's health! You're clearly the one being inconsiderate here!"
"Stop." I interrupted. "You two aren't acting like yourselves. It's just a stupid little incident, so let it go. Cam, calm down. And Hiro, I appreciate your concern, but you really shouldn't be here right now. Please be more considerate about other peoples' privacy." I looked at the both of them as they stood there glaring at one another. I turned around and headed towards the café. Hopefully Laney was home.
"I just hate that they're so immature." I sighed, sipping a cup of freshly brewed tea. Howard still had the shop open by the time I entered, and offered us some tea to keep us up for late night venting.
"Mmm, I know sweetheart. I've lived with Cam practically my whole life and I have never seen him get jealous over anything. Guess it just comes to show how much he really likes you." She took a small nibble out of a cookie and placed it back on the plate.
"I just wish he didn't have to overreact so much." I rested my cheek on my hand and took a sip of tea. I cringed as it singed my tongue.
"Well… Hey, it sounds like that doctor guy has quite a thing for you, huh?" Laney nudged at me playfully. I only scoffed in reply and set down my cup.
"Hiro? No, he came to warn me about my allergies... He's just a caring person, that's all."
"Yeah , sure. Lillian, when are you going to stop living under a rock? Can't you see he clearly cares for you?" She gave me a look that for some reason suddenly made me feel uncomfortable with this whole conversation.
"Well yeah he cares for me. I mean I just said he's-"
"No I mean really cares. The poor guy's in love with you and you don't even know it." She clicked her tongue and shook her head in disappointment. "Look, take it from someone who's lived around here long enough to know these things. Hiro's a sweet guy, but if he's willing to come all the way here just to warn you about some silly allergies, he's clearly got more feelings than just being friends." She said knowingly. She stood up and grabbed the plate of cookies from the table. "You gonna eat these?"
"No." I replied. She shrugged and went to put them back into the jar. I saw a heart engraved onto the corner of the wooden table and used my index finger to trace it. Inside were the initials "C + L". I smiled and tapped my finger on it. As if he knew I was thinking of him, Cam suddenly burst through the door and walked over to me. He sat down in the chair that Laney had been sitting in and stared across at me. Laney looked up from where she was standing in the kitchen and stopped rustling around so she could listen.
"Lillian, please move to Bluebell."
hello everyone~
I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, cause I really loved writing it
I just love love-triangles, don't you ? kekeke
I hope you guys don't mind, but I time skip a lot. i didn't want to have to spend a whole chapter on how her and cam got close,
I wanted to get right to the drama c:
and this is just a little bit of it,
wait till it gets really complicated bwahha
reviews are greatly appreciated!~