Flowers from a lover [rewrite]

4.0

Leo and Lucas found other ways to communicate, with Lucas having the brilliant idea of Leo leaving a time capsule buried somewhere in the backyard for Lucas to find. Lucas uploaded his work project onto his computer, and walked outside with a shovel he had recently purchased. Leo had told him it was put in the corner near the fence, and had hoped no one had taken it out since it was put in. With that information, Lucas started to dig. He wasn't the strongest physically, but he persisted with each stab of the shovel into the cold dirt. Out of the corner of his eye he saw someone looking at him. It must have looked weird, to be digging a hole in your backyard. He must have looked like he was digging a grave to dump a body in. Lucas shrugged at the man, which prompted him to walk away.

The man looked quickly into a pocket notebook while he was walking away, and wrote something down. Lucas was scared it was notes about him being suspicious that he was going to report to the police. It had been over 15 minutes, and Lucas sighed. He took a look at the pile of dirt on the ground and shook his head. Someone must have found the capsule before him. He was about to shovel the dirt he worked so hard on digging out back into the hole when a glimmer of light reached his eyes. There, buried into the ground was a hint of metal. Lucas's eyes widened as he ran for the shovel again, picking at the ground until he found a pill-shaped metal container. It had masking tape on it with the word "Lucas" written.

He did not even bother shoveling the dirt back in, he ran back home to rinse off the outside of the container and shuffled into his room. Right on time, the phone started ringing. Lucas picked up, "Leo! I've got your capsule." Leo chuckled, "So you do. Well open it, I'm curious how long the things in there survived." It took Lucas a while, as the rust created a sort of lock in between the seams, but eventually it popped open with such a force that Lucas was thrown back a little with a groan. "You alright?" Leo asked worriedly into the phone. Lucas got back up, "Yes. Just fine."

A couple of things inside the capsule scattered around the floor due to how it opened. Lucas grabbed the first thing he saw. He squinted at it, "Pow-Chew?" He tried to read on the wrapper. "Yes!" Leo said excitedly, "I love those." "What is this?" He held it up to his nose and sniffed it, it smelled like rotten candy. "It's gum. Check the expiration date." Leo ordered. The wrapper had a barely visible blob of ink that represented the expiration date. "August 22, 1971." Lucas read out loud. "I can't believe this never attracted ants." Lucas put the candy on his desk and reached for something else he found on the floor. It was a rock.

"Is this quartz?" Lucas asked. "Yeah. It's my favorite one I own." Leo admitted. Lucas held it tightly in his hand, "Why give it to me, then?"

- - -

Leo lay on his bed, letting his records play in the background and staring at the wallpaper. "Why give it to me, then?" How was Leo to answer that? He gave it to Lucas because he wanted his favorite person to have his favorite thing, but all of it was so wrong. He cared about someone who didn't even exist yet.

He cared about his best friend Daniel too, but not in the way he did for Lucas , someone he had never even met. "Leo?" Lucas mumbled into the phone. "Oh- uh yeah, I guess I just don't think I'll need it in the future." He answered untruthfully. "Hm, alright." Lucas sounded like he was scrambling to pick up more items. --- In the capsule were other little things such as an old music cassette and baseball cards. After a while, Lucas saw a little canister and held it up to his eyes. He then opened it, it was dry, cracking, and expired (formerly) lime paint that was now a dark foresty green. "What did you open?" Leo asked quietly.

"Green paint." Lucas dipped his finger in, and what he saw surprised him. His finger broke into the hard cracked layer and into a watery, preserved lime paint that he was sure was the original color. "I'm sure it's ugly now, right?" Leo joked, but Lucas looked at his finger covered in paint. "No. It's perfect." Lucas had an idea. He spilled a good portion of the can onto his hand and spread it around with a finger. "Are you there? What are you doing?" Leo asked, but Lucas walked over to his bedroom wall.

He glanced at Leo's handprint, and with one movement, placed his paint-covered hand right next to it. The difference in sizes of their hands was interesting, along with the detail that Leo's handprint was old and cracking, while Lucas 's was clean and fresh and still a bright color. Lucas grabbed the phone with his clean hand, "Yeah, I'm here." "What did you do?" Lucas stared at the two handprints, "Nothing." He mumbled. "Oh." Leo murmured, "Well there's one more thing in there. Taped to the inside of the capsule. You can look at it but I'll have to hang up." "Why?" Lucas asked. "Bye, Lucas . Have a good night." Leo bid and before Lucas could ask for an explanation once again, their connection cut.

Lucas put down the phone with a sigh and checked the inside of the capsule container. Inside was a piece of paper. A polaroid. It was of Leo. Seemingly candid taken by another person. He was smiling, with beautiful dirty blonde hair and a tall stature. He was holding a pet cat and was in the very bedroom Lucas was in at that moment. Lucas thought he was quite handsome. He was getting sleepy, and his eyes fell closed with the photo held close to him.