When Flora awoke, it was still dark; she checked the clock and it read 5:04 am. She stood up and started getting dressed. Back home, if she ever woke up before the sun, she would take an early-morning hike and watch the sun float into the sky.
She hadn't tried this in a while, and decided to do it once more. Flora put on a pair of old, but comfortable jeans, and a forest green t-shirt. She threw on her hiking boots, and left a note for Bloom in case she woke up and wondered where Flora was.
And off she went, simply walking through the forest surrounding Alfea. The general direction she was heading was Red Fountain, but she wasn't planning to wander that far. She did go farther than anticipated though, never halting as she traveled deeper and deeper. Eventually Flora reached the edge of a small lake, and sat down on a log right on the bank.
She ripped of her boots and dipped her toes, hesitantly at first, into the cool water. The liquid massaged her skin, and she sighed deeply, now perfectly relaxed. Light was beginning to illuminate the sky, and Flora waited patiently for sunrise. The tip of Red Fountain was visible in her view, closer than she had expected.
The sky was just starting to turn a slight orange-ish color when Flora heard footsteps behind her. She turned to find Riven walking towards her, staring back, obviously surprised that she was there.
"What are you doing here?" he asked while glancing suspiciously at her.
"I….uh…..I—"
"Well?" he cut her off.
"Well I uh….. I just woke up too early and felt like taking a walk. I didn't purposefully come here; I just sort of wandered around and stopped here…."
He shrugged and sat on the opposite side of the log, staring at the sunrise as well.
"Well?" she questioned him.
"Well what?" he snapped.
"Why are you here?" she continued.
"This is where I always come when I need to think. It's my spot." He stated, as if that should have been obvious.
"Oh" she replied "I'm sorry. I won't come here again."
He sighed, frustrated with himself "No, it's not that….it's just tha…." he was having a lot of trouble choosing his words, so Flora gave him some time to think. She gazed up at the horizon, amazed at how beautiful the sky looked when the sun greeted it in the early hours of the morning.
"I was just surprised that you were here, that's all. I didn't think anyone else but me knew about this spot." He eventually managed to get out.
"If it helps, I didn't' know about it before this morning. I just sort of stumbled upon it." She comforted.
He grumbled in reply.
They sat there, admiring the sunrise for a while before either one of them spoke again.
"I was thinking about what you said last night" he said without looking at her. She showed him a confused glance, and he explained. "About not being mad at Helia for what he did."
Flora anticipated her heart to wail in pain, but hearing his name didn't bother her as much as she thought it would. Mind you, there was still a dull ache. However, she realized that the abrasion in her heart was finally starting to heal.
"Well if he doesn't have feelings for me anymore, then it's not right for him to lead me on." She said.
Riven stared at her perplexed "is that what you think?!" he exclaimed. Flora nodded her head. "That lying—" he started to say, but Flora gave him a stern look, and Riven corrected what he was about to say "—jerk" he continued, obviously upset he couldn't use a stronger adjective.
"Is that what he said to you?"
Flora nodded, wary about what was coming next.
"Helia lied to you" Riven continued. "The reason why he ended it was because he met someone else."
That sentence caused a stronger pain than before, and Flora guiltily realized she was feeling the emotion of jealousy. She wasn't angry—just hurt; hurt that he broke up with her, even more so for lying to her about it, and jealous of the girl with whom he now cared for.
"But he sounded so sincere that day—" Riven cut her off "that guy has always been a good liar; it's the reason why you believed him."
Flora stared at the ground, waiting for the tears to come; they didn't, but instead she felt a variety of painful emotions: jealousy, betrayal, guilt for feeling jealous, sadness, and emptiness. She also felt confused, trying to figure out which of these emotions she felt the most strongly.
A strange thing happened that morning.
As Flora wallowed in her sadness, she felt a pair of strong arms envelop her in a hug. Nothing sappy or romantic, just a hug; Riven's way of telling her everything would be all right. "I'm sorry" he muttered.
Is this the same Riven I've known since freshman year? Thought Flora.
He's changed a lot—matured a great dea,l she realized.
I never thought Riven could be this way
People change was all that the other half of her mind stated.
That was true, and as Flora realized this, she began to see Riven in a different light.
Who knows? Maybe we could even be friends.
Riven suddenly left without a word, giving her one last look before heading off into the wood. He left Flora some time to sink into her own thoughts, more confused than before.