Beyond The Sky

42

After another minute or two, we approach another small, fenced-in area. This area had two benches beside both sides of the fence with a huge fountain in the middle. And when I say huge, I mean huge. So I guess the area wasn't all that small. I look over at Lance, amazed. "Wow!"

"See? I told you you'd like it."

I laugh. "Yeah, you did." He smiles at me, and I return it. We sit down on one of the benches.

We talked for a few hours, and it started to get dark sooner than we thought. We both glance up at the sky as we notice the sun setting. Time felt like it flew.

"It's already really late, huh...?" Lance turns to look at me.

I look over at him, seeing him in desaturated color.

Wait.

No way.

"It is..." I respond, trying not to get overly freaked out.

"I actually have something to give you, before we, um... part ways for the night."

Why am I not surprised by this?

"What is it?" I ask, genuinely curious. I see his hands fumble inside his hoodie pocket. I decide to talk to him while he does that. I wanted to tell him that I was finally seeing some color, even with the sun now hiding from us.

"Lance..." I start. He glances up at me, a curious look on his face. "...we're officially soulmates."

He pulls a few objects out from his pocket. "Y-You're... seeing color?"

I nod enthusiastically. "Finally, right?"

He would laugh. "Yeah, finally. Considering I'd been seeing some for almost a week."

"It's... not super bright yet. But I'm really hopeful by the time we finish up here tonight... it won't be less saturated and I'll be able to see everything in full color again."

He smiles, scooting a bit closer to me. "Here's what I brought you."

I look down at the things in his hands. A folded up piece of paper and two small lockets. Cute.

I start by taking the paper he had folded up so nicely and open it up. "I started this for Arlo back when he was first telling me about you..." Lance starts, really unsure of what to say. "I had no idea who you really were, but... I tried to draw you for him." He looks up at me. "I think now... I captured you fairly well. It's... obviously not perfect, but..."

I smile. "I wouldn't say it's not perfect, either... but then again, everyone sees themselves differently. I think... it's amazing, Lance. I had no idea you were an artist."

I can't really tell since it's so dark, but I'm pretty sure he's blushing.

"...Thanks." He smiles at me again. "I added something to it on the back, did you notice it?"
"No, I hadn't gotten that far yet." I turn the drawing of me over. He wrote something. A quote of some sort.

"What's that say?" I ask. "It's kind of hard to read your handwriting."

"Sorry about that, I... kind of added that when I had thought about it."

"No, it's okay. It's best to get it down the second you think of it. But... what does it say?"
He takes part of the paper into one of his hands, quickly looking at it. "One special person always brings another two closer."

"That's... adorable."

"I thought so too. But, wait, let me show you this." He gently pulls one of the lockets from his other hand, clicking it open, revealing two open slots with nothing in it, and the one in the middle had that same quote engraved into it. "This one is yours... the other one's for me."

"How long ago did you think of this...?"
"Maybe a month or two. It obviously takes a while to get these things done..."

"What was the purpose for the other two open slots? There's usually pictures put inside them..."

"Well, I'll leave that up to you. I was hoping that..." I cut him off.

"One of them would be us?"

He would nod, looking away shyly. "Only a little..."

I giggle. "I was thinking that too. Don't worry about that." I smile. "We'll take a picture for it and get it developed in the right size when it's a little brighter outside."

"Sounds like a good idea." He'd start to stand up, and I would too. "Want me to walk you home?"
"Only if you're willing to."

"No... I didn't actually mean that as a question. I'm walking you home whether you like it or not."

I laugh. "Okay, okay, fine." He'd laugh along with me.

"Let's go, then."

We walk out of the fountain area with not much time left until the sun fully sets. Because of it being late fall and almost early winter, the sun sets really early. Of course, we didn't mind that much at all. It made today almost perfect.

Almost.

Oh, who am I kidding? It was perfect.