Flowers from a lover [rewrite]

9.0

Lucas was thankful for living in 2020. The age of the internet where, if you had no idea how to do something, with one click of a button you could after ten minutes. Though Lucas had this advantage, he himself was the problem. He had watched different tutorials but he was still confused. He was visible to the cars passing by and must have looked absolutely stupid. He groaned and put his hand through his hair, planting flowers could not possibly be that hard. "How does Jason do this?" Lucas whispered aggressively to himself before crumbling onto the hard dirt. The man who had watched him dig up the time capsule was once again writing furiously in his pocket notebook, before spotting Lucas and walking towards him.

Lucas started to panic. Why was this stranger walking toward him? Who was he? He did not have time to think before the stranger appeared in front of him and pulled down his hoodie to reveal a young man in a beanie and circular, gold rimmed glasses. "You look like you're struggling. May I help?" Lucas watched him suspiciously, wondering why a passerby would help someone like him with such a seemingly easy talk like planting flowers, "Er- I just don't know how to do this." The man knelt down in front of the plant pot, "I'm Ryan. Ryan Jones. I live a couple houses down with my young son." Lucas was a bit more relieved when he learned the man was a father, "Lucas Davidson." They shook hands, "How old is your son?"

Ryan gestured over to a line of trees in which a boy and his friend were sword-fighting, "The blonde one's mine. He's 6." Ryan watched the two young boys play. "You took my toy and broke it! That toy was so important to me!" One of them said as he slashed his foam sword toward his smaller, brunette friend. His poor friend cowered slightly but swung his sword nonetheless, "It's just a toy, Oliver !" He said in a high pitched voice, but Oliver was not giving in, he kept going at it, which highly amused Lucas. "Oliver !" A blonde woman with a soft voice called to him, "Play nice, please!" She seemed used to yelling at him for that reason. "But he took my-" Oliver began to sputter but was interrupted immediately. "It's a toy, Oliver ," The woman told him, "we can get another one easily."

Oliver shook his head angrily, "It won't be the same." He complained, and his brunette friend rolled his eyes before dodging another sword hit. "They seem close." Lucas told Ryan, and Ryan nodded with a smile. "Practically been friends since birth." Ryan seemed experienced with planting flowers, expertly burying the seed and watering as if he's done so many times in the past. "Thank you." Lucas sent a small smile to Ryan, "I assume it's not that hard and I'm just extremely dense." "No pro-" Ryan began but his son ran toward him suddenly, tears in his eyes. "Daddy! He's here again!" The boy sobbed, collapsing into his father's arms.

"Who's here, Oliver?" Ryan comforted the young boy. "Uncle!" Oliver cried into Ryan's chest, pointing to his far left. Ryan looked at Lucas apologetically, "He's afraid of his uncle." Lucas was about to ask why when suddenly a man with a tall stature, boots, and hair with black highlights shouted, "WHERE IS OLIVER?" Lucas understood why Oliver found him intimidating.

He was terrifying and his voice boomed across the neighborhood. "I heard a little someone is fighting people for a toy. If that's you, come here and fight me to the death!" The uncle shouted, before spotting Oliver , "Was it you?" "N-no" Oliver whimpered but Scott moved closer, not believing his lie, "Okay yes. I'm sorry Uncle Scott." Ryan looked to the blonde woman, "Did you call him, Mary ?" Mary gave an apologetic look, "He was being mean to William, and this is the only way to stop him." Uncle Scott" grabbed the sword from William and marched toward Oliver, "I'll show you what fighting for possessions looks like."

"AAAAAAH" Oliver ran past Scott , who attempted to grab him but he was too slippery. He made a beeline to William, "I'm sorry, William." William smiled, "It's alright Oliver." He said before giving his friend a hug. All was well. "That was easier than I thought." Scott shrugged as he watched the boys embrace, "Bummer, I thought I'd actually get to fight a child." He threw the sword down before walking away. Lucas laughed during the whole situation, they seemed like such a happy family. A sting of jealousy filled up inside him. From seeing Oliver play with a friend, to Ryan's and Mary's hilarious parenting style, he wish he had grown up like that. "Well I should go." Ryan told Lucas, "My father's coming in tonight for dinner, and he hasn't done that in a while so it's quite a big deal."

Lucas grinned, "Nice meeting you and your family, Ryan." He got up and brushed the dirt off his jeans, "I hope we'll get to talk again." Ryan yelled for Oliver, "So do I. Have a nice day!" He walked toward his son, picking him up and urging William to follow so he could get back home to his family safe and sound.