The Garden [G.BLYTHE]

[10] THE ONE THING YOU DON'T HAVE

'could love me and love me and love me without...needing space'

"Six geese a-laying
Five golden rings
Four calling birds
Three French hens
Two turtle doves"

Mrs. Lynde clapped loudly, preventing the young choir from making any more painful noises. Aurelie was very thankful as she could finally focus on carefully placing her flowers in the bouquet decoration. When Aurelie heard that the town's play needed a volunteer florist, she immediately jumped to the task.

Around her, in the large room, were others who either practiced their lines or took on another task that involved the decorations and planning. She bent down to the level of the flowers, slowly lowering a rose into the pot.

"This certainly requires a lot of precision and focus."

She was startled by a voice from behind her, resulting in the wrong placement for the rose. She groaned. "Yes, and you're interrupting it." Aurelie sighed, removing the flowers to make another attempt. She already knew Gilbert was behind her from his voice, so she found no purpose in turning around.

"Looks the absolute same to me." Gilbert shrugged. Aurelie scoffed. "Of course you'd say. A placement of a flower is extremely important and must be done with extreme care. One rose out of placement can ruin the entire set." Aurelie stated quickly. "Besides, are you not supposed to be working the farm at this very moment?" She questioned.

"Well, I've decided to help with the play. Shame to leave you all by yourself." Gilbert grinned. Aurelie nodded slowly with a huff. "Oh, my hero. It's not as if everyone in this room is already working on the play." She remarked sarcastically.

Gilbert smirked, staring at the focused girl, who still hadn't spared him a single glance. Aurelie spun around, holding another rose in her hand. Due to this, she and Gilbert stood very close to one another. Aurelie's eyes widened. "Here. Hold this." She handed him the rose, then walked past him towards a bouquet set across the room. Moody stood by it, holding out his hands towards the vase.

"Moody, don't touch that!" Aurelie shouted stressfully. "It's very fragile, and it's very important this stays in order. Here." She handed him an empty vase with water. "Be very very careful and go set this down on that table by the new batch of roses, understood?" She instructed, pointing off to the other side of the room. Moody nodded quickly, before making his way off.

When Aurelie looked back around, Gilbert still stood in the same place, admiring the pattern on the vase. Aurelie slowly approached him. "Cole painted that himself." She looked off to where Cole was painting the top display of the stage. "He's very talented." She stated.