Azalea
Brandy Lovett's face is absolutely captivating. I gaze up at the brunette, frankly in awe.
Her eyes are a specific shade of brown that makes me think of the inside of a gold mine, and the slight tilt of them makes her constantly look wistful.
Her hair tumbles in thick waves just past her shoulders in various shades of deep brown someone would only find in wet soil. I wish my hair could be as stunning.
A small thing I pride myself on noticing is how much I love her nose. The front of it is just barely tilted up, with a small divot in the middle. She has a bump on her bridge that makes me want to run my finger over it. The beginning of summer freckles is just visible across her nose.
One other thing I find to frequently be on her nose is a light dust of dark pink blush. In fact, she's blushing right now. Maybe I should say something.
To avoid my persistent stare, she turns her head and scans the beach, focusing in on the rest of our house mates in the water.
"We," I hesitate, "can go out there you know." The idea of me and Brandy being a "we" gives me a warm fuzzy feeling in my stomach.
"I don't think I want to," Brandy replies. "I just..."
Our comfortable silence continues for a minute or two.
"They always look like they're having the time of their lives, don't they," I sigh out.
"You do too!" Brandy exclaims, almost defensively. "I don't think I've ever seen you without a smile. Or laughing."
"Maybe you've never seen me not smiling and laughing because you've always been there," I say. I can tell my words and my small smirk is making the little blush on her nose get darker.
We watch my friends for a while longer. Patrick and Carmen have been having a splash contest for what seems like the entire time they've been out there. Lee is in the water with them, but, without anyone else noticing, he's been staring at Louise, who lays out on the beach reading a book.
It's about 5:00 now, and the weather is cooling off, which means I have a good enough excuse to ask Brandy to go somewhere with me.
"Brandy," I start. She turns her head to meet my gaze as I say her name. "There's this Market down the road that's here every summer. I think we should go since it's probably too cold to go down to the beach now."
"Oh," she says. Not the response I was exactly hoping for. "Do you... want to ask them to come too?" she asks, pointing out to the water
"No," I respond quickly "it can just be us two."
-
10 minutes later, we've been walking down the street in silence. It's not an uncomfortable silence, but it's not the most comfortable I have ever been.
"Um, what's in your tote bag?" I ask.
The girl walking next to me opens the bag around her shoulder, as if to remind herself what is in it.
"I have my phone. Sunglasses, chapstick, a very old library card I forgot to take out of here, and a book."
"A book?" I question. "Why would you need a book for a walk to the beach market?"
"Excuse me for trying to be prepared," she says while raising an eyebrow at me.
"Prepared for what?" I laugh out.
She thinks about it for a second and then says, "I don't know. Maybe you leave me at the market, find a prince charming to run off with, and I'm left alone with only my book to keep me company. I know the characters would never leave me."
My smile is growing wider and wider. I find myself thinking, God I love the way this girl thinks.
"First of all: offensive that you think I would leave you alone. Second of all: I am 99% sure that I am your prince charming. You were just locked up in your tower for hours, and I helped you escape, and I'm taking you to a new land."
I watch as her cheeks cheat up and the pink dusting reappears in her nose.
"Okay then, Prince Charming. Lead the way."
She is smirking at me right now. She is totally smirking at me right now. Help.
Once we reach the market, my heart starts beating faster. And not just because I came here with a pretty girl.
This place has been a staple of my summers. I love the stalls and I love the old people that sell you anything from fruits to quilts to new dresses. In fact Flora's Dresses and is the first place I dragged Brandy. Every year I visit and I get a new dress, because what's a summer vacation without a sundress.
Eventually, I convince Brandy to get a dress with me. Now she'll always remember coming to Flora's on the first day, too. It almost feels thrilling to have that in common.
I agreed to go to a book stand with her after we've gone our dresses.
Her eyes light up as soon as she sees the impossibly messy stacks of books. She rifles through them like a kid looking for the right toy and eventually finds at least three that she recognizes. Book nerds are absolutely wild.
One thing she does that captures my attention is grab an old book and says, "This is perfect for you."
What surprises me is that when she buys the book, she doesn't just hand it to me. She stuffs it in her tote bag and continues walking. I don't know what she's going to do with that book that reminds her of me.
-
a/n
Now, what do romantics do when they have a book that reminds them of a person? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
ALSO, SO SORRY i neglected this book for so long, but i'm back baes!!
YOU ARE READING
august girls
Romance"remind me why we've never kissed before?" "i have no fucking clue." - two girls brought together for an entire summer form a bond to last many lifetimes.
